...and share with you this certificate that I use at the end of the year. I noticed that this certificate really makes my students feel very proud and happy about what they feel is their best accomplishment.
I also make a class book by taking each student's picture and putting in the sentence "I am an expert ____." (mathematician, climber, reader, etc.) The students in the past have come up with so many wonderful accomplishments, things that I would have never thought of. One student told me she was an expert shoe tier. And I could have kissed the child who told me they were an expert problem solver. Wow! Don't you love those kids?
I'd love to hear your wonderful ideas for the end of the year!
Oh! I almost forgot. I wanted to let all of you know that Education World has started a really cool, new online teacher store. It's very similar to TPT, but there's a special feature to align products to Common Core standards. You can click here to get to my teacher store at EWE (EdWorld Exchange).
Hello, blog friends! Can you believe that it's almost the end of the school year? Well, it is for us, in America. But in Australia, they're moving into winter as our summer approaches. By the way, you HAVE to check out the blog of my new Aussie friend, Jody. She gives so many really fab ideas for games in her classroom.
Ok, with the new Common Core standards I know you're all aware that we have to teach numbers to 100 now in kindergarten. So, I thought I would do a post about it and tell you some of my trials, tribulations, and triumphs. To start off, I remember writing my numbers to 100 when I was little. I HATED it! I thought it was so boring, and after a while I just sort of scribble-scrabbled. I mean, let's face it. It's just too much to write one hundred numbers. So, some of the things that I'm doing with my kids have to do with puzzles, cut-and-paste activities, writing some missing numbers from a hundreds chart, and tracing dotted numbers.
This puzzle hundreds chart worked really well. I used the large, separate pieces to model it for my class on the easel. Actually, I put them up on the easel and I called up different students to place the pieces correctly for the rest of the class. Then, I explained to the students that each table (I have 5 tables of kids) would get a Ziploc bag with 5 puzzle pieces inside. They would then have to put them in the correct arrangement, glue them, and present them to the class when we went back to the rug. Since I have a color-based behavior system in my class, I told them that the table(s) that worked most cooperatively together (i.e., no fighting about who would put the puzzle pieces where) would get the top color for the day. They were so on-task! It truly worked really well. Here is the file that you can use. I had the first page cut up into pieces for each table to put together.
Another idea I had was to do sort of a chunking paper where the kids cut out four-number chunks and find the right places on the hundreds chart to glue them. I noticed that this type of paper is much easier for them to do than cutting out single numbers and gluing them on. I think it still accomplishes the same goal of learning numbers to 100 and what they look like. For kids who are still having a little trouble writing numbers independently, I made a couple hundreds charts with some of the numbers dotted, for the children to trace. Here are those pages:
Of course, I have to mention a few really great songs. This week I started using "Zero the Hero" by Dr. Jean, "Techno Count" by Jack Hartmann, and "Grouping by Tens" by Mar Harmon. I love all three of these artists, and I feel that these songs really give students an opportunity to get up and experience numbers in a fun and kinesthetic manner. My friends, I have decided I am all about the fun!
And speaking of fun, take a look at this video made by Mr. Harry:
Also, here are some web sites I found with really nice games:
I really like matching my computer center to whatever I'm teaching for reading and math in the classroom. Hence the computer games practicing numbers to 100. I'm really interested in finding out how all of you keep counting to 100 exciting and fresh. Please let me know what fantastic ideas you have!
