IT'S ABOUT TIME for STELLALUNA!

 

Introducing my learners to Stellaluna, by Janelle Cannon, is one of the things I most look forward to in October. Immersing my class in all things BATS is just so fun. Check out these resources:

Extending the learning for Stellaluna has never been more fun! This thematic unit includes activities for literacy centers, math centers, writing, poetry, & word work.  Also provided are math journal prompts, lots of printable worksheets, and more!

THE BAT CAVE Literacy Center is a word sort to practice rhyming words. Students will move each bat/word card to the bat cave with a rhyming word. This FREE activity exercises onset and rime exchanges with basic C-V-C vocabulary, as well as with irregularly spelled words. THE BAT CAVE is also available in digital form on TPT Easel.

Promote phonemic awareness of initial consonant blends with this bat themed phonics sort. BAT BLENDS is available in print and digital versions (TPT Easel).

Students will sort words with the long and short sounds of /a/. This activity is provided in print and digital versions (TPT Easel). 

Tangram puzzles exercise concepts about geometry (transformation, rotation, congruence, symmetry, etc.). This differentiated activity is great for center or individual work in primary grades.

These resources are available in a bundle.  Purchasing the bundle will save you 30%!

COMPUTATION RIDDLES

 

The first quarter of the school year invokes review as students and teachers dust away the cobwebs. Make review more fun with COMPUTATION RIDDLES.   

Start the year off with SCHOOL RIDDLES. 

These math computation task cards give your 2nd and 3rd grade students addition within 100 practice while solving riddles about school.

To begin, they solve a set of addition problems.  Then use those sums to decode the answers to the riddles.

Stock your math center with the 20 task cards.  Also available for digital learning on TPT Easel.

Post them around the classroom for RIDDLES AROUND THE ROOM. Travelling around the room allows movement that reduces restlessness and improves learning.

Use them for math journal prompts. Just print the cards in grayscale.

Provide more review fun with:

There are holiday riddles as well, allowing you to provide continuous practice throughout the academic year.

If your learners love COMPUTATION RIDDLES, as I'm sure they will, check out the bundle.  Varied grade levels and operations are included.  And, the bundle is 1/2 price through Sat., 9/10/22.

Freebie February Day 7

It's day 7 of Freebie February!  Today's offering is Animal Ordinal Number Task Cards.  

These task cards provide practice with ordinal number concepts and words from 1st - 35th. There are 4 sets of cards included; each set tells a story in a different animal theme. 

Through these tasks, your students will not only practice ordinal number concepts, but also patterns, interpreting data, logic, critical thinking, A-B-C order, and computation.  

If you are enjoying February Freebies, please consider leaving some feedback on TPT. Thank you.

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Do You Speak Math?

It's time for a guest post about the language of math.  Do you speak math?  More importantly, do your students speak math?  

Today’s guest post comes from Toni, an elementary school teacher with a  specialty in differentiated instruction and designing hands-on lessons that incorporate the multiple intelligences.  You can often find Toni writing for TeacherLingo.com, where teachers can buy and sell their original lesson plans, worksheets, and more.  She is married to a middle school math teacher and is a mom to a mystery loving 7 year old sweetie-girl and a quirky little light saber toting 3 year old. 

The Language of Mathematics

The vocabulary of mathematics is a foreign language for students. Words like fraction, division, and multiplication are rarely used outside of the classroom. The more opportunities we give children to talk about math, write about math and listen to math vocabulary in context the more they are empowered to become successful young mathematicians.

Math vocabulary must be taught systematically and with purpose. New math vocabulary should be presented in context. Math themed picture books can be a fun and extremely effective way to introduce new mathematics concepts and vocabulary, especially for your more visual and verbal students.

Often students fail to remember new math vocabulary because they are unable to connect it to their world. Engage your students in a discussion about how a new concept is used in the world around them and create a class poster they can reference. It’s much easier for students to remember what division means when they can connect it to sharing cookies or dividing up a pizza.

All students, and especially younger students, need opportunities to say their new math vocabulary words aloud. Math songs using familiar melodies can be used to help students properly pronounce and remember new math vocabulary. The following example is sung to the tune of “Row, Row, Row your Boat”.

Mode, mode, mode’s the most.

Average is the mean.

Median, median, median, median...always in-between.

Once new math vocabulary has been properly introduced, it can be displayed on a math word wall. When displaying math vocabulary the use of symbols and pictures can be very helpful. For example, writing the vocabulary word perimeter around a picture of a fence or the word area on top of a grid helps students see what the words mean. These visual clues can help jog students’ memories when they forget the meaning of a word. 

Effective math word walls are interactive and should be used to revisit math vocabulary daily. The length of the review is not as important as the consistency. Five to ten minutes a day is sufficient to review math vocabulary. Quick word walls using math games can be a fun way to review. You can use various clue games and have students try to guess the word. Once students are comfortable with new math vocabulary, allow them to make up their own clues. Traditional word wall games can easily be adapted for use with math vocabulary.  Here are just a few math word wall games to get you started.

1.         Mind Reader:  Challenge students to “read your mind” and guess what math vocabulary

word you are thinking of as you give them clues.

2.         Riddle Me Math: I have no vertices and no sides. What am I?

3.         I Spy: I spy a word that is the name for a shape with four sides.

4.         Analogies: Addition is to subtraction as multiplication is to ___________.

Student math journals can also be used to give students the opportunity to take ownership of new math vocabulary.  To effectively 'own' a word, students should be able to restate its meaning in their own words, give practical examples of its use, and construct their own visual representation of the term.  Using the area and perimeter as an example, students may draw a picture of their dream tree house and then discuss how area and perimeter are used when building a tree house.  Students may add to their math journal as they develop a deeper understanding of the word.

The key to helping students develop a firm understanding of math vocabulary is to introduce it in context, connect it to their lives and provide daily opportunities for students to revisit and use it. Consistent use of math vocabulary will help create students who are comfortable with the language of mathematics!

Thanks for the great post, Toni!

Hooray for Hats thematic unit FREEBIE

It's about time, teachers, to start planning for the new school year.  As a primary teacher, I {heart} thematic units. Immersing children in a topic, carrying it across disciplines, and finding creative ways to meet the Common Core Standards are my passion.  One of my favorite thematic units is Hooray for Hats.  

This unit integrates ELA, math, HOTS, and creativity.  It is intended to last for 1 week, but I freely admit that I usually stretch it into 3 weeks.  There are so many hat related books to read aloud, so many writing topics, so many math activities, ...


The ELA components include vocabulary work, comprehension, poetry, alphabetical order, writing center ideas, and a 14 page booklet for students to make about Hat Idioms. You can download the Hat Idioms Book for FREE on TpT or TN.  Following is a preview of the Hat Idioms Book:

Hooray for Hats! math activities include computation, graphing, patterns, Venn Diagrams, journal prompts, sorting, measurement, and money.  Following is an example from the math portion:

Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) are also included in Hooray for Hats!  There are homework assignment sheets and a craftivity.  If you like thematic units, I hope you will check out Hooray for Hats!

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Mad about March unit FREEBIE

It's about time, teachers....for spring!  At least we can hope.  Yesterday there was snow on the ground; today it's 66.  Gotta love March weather in the heartland!

Speaking of March, I have launched my thematic unit, Mad about March, for primary grades. You can find it on TpT and, now, on Teachers' Notebook.  The unit includes ELA, Math, HOTS, and music curricula.  The ELA activities are:

And here's a FREEBIE from the ELA portion of the unit:

The math portion of the unit includes:

If you like what you see, blow on over to my TpT store or  my Teachers' Notebook store.