My Almost Halloween Post

Hi, everyone! Happy almost Halloween! My kids have been loving this book that's really the classic 5 Little Pumpkins finger play. We have been using this story for subtraction. Here we are holding our pumpkins over our faces while doing the song (because I have not gotten picture release forms back yet)!

Here's a little video if you'd like to hear how the song goes. My ESOL kids know all the words to the song now. If you leave the pumpkins in Math center, it's really sweet to watch the kids singing and talking with the pumpkins.

So, my county decided that this year we would do addition and subtraction in October! :) Yikes! Some of my kids don't even know their numbers yet! I have to play catch-up and surround them with numbers all day long, especially for those that didn't have pre-K. My kids have also really expressed an interest in all things Halloween-y this year. Hence the creation of my Halloween Addition Cards.

I found that the party store has spiders and bats, and the grocery store has candy corns and pumpkins. I haven't done the ghosts yet (you can see the ghost clip art in the product), but I'm thinking of using white marshmallows. The thing that I like about the candy corns and the pumpkins is that they are not mushy like chocolate candy. I put them in Ziploc bags, ten to a bag, and the kids can use them during math class for problem solving, then take them home and ask their parents if they can eat them.

You can check out the Halloween Addition Cards HERE

I would love to get messages from you and find out how it's going in your classroom!

Captivating Numbers

Hello, everybody!

My curriculum this year for math is very different from every other year. In the past, we've started with shapes and positions. But this year, we started with numerals, quantity, and counting. I found that many of my students that did not have pre-K were calling numerals "letters," "shapes," and all kinds of other terms that weren't numbers. You know what I mean. So I thought it would be really motivating to make differentiated number puzzles for my kids and have them work on them during morning work, and whenever they finish their other school work. After I assessed them and found out what numbers they needed to work on, I differentiated instruction by giving them these puzzles: 

We used Microsoft Publisher to fit the range of numbers on a single page. Then we printed them out on colored card stock. We cut them individually, without guide lines, so that each puzzle would be unique. And the color of puzzle matches the color table they sit at. I put the cut-up puzzles in sandwich bags and had them in the kids' chair pockets by the time they arrived in the morning. They LOVED them!

We also took pictures of the students. I can't put them up yet, because I don't have all my photo release forms collected. But the students really enjoyed having their pictures taken while they were saying the numerals and putting the puzzles together. Teacher tip: You can also use these pictures for your students' portfolios and conferences.