Mathematical Monday! February 3

Hello everyone!  Long time, no see!  

I have been busy taking some "me" time, as well as creating some fun things for my TpT store.  But today I'm linking up with I {heart} Recess for Mathematical Monday!

In math for the past few weeks, the third graders have been working on Input/Output tables.  As an introductory activity, we created Input/Output Monsters!

The two white squares in either corner and the rectangle in the middle are laminated, creating a dry-erase surface that is perfect for practicing input/output!

For example, I told the students the rule was subtract 7, which they wrote in the center.  I also told them the input, which was 49.  They had to use the rule to figure out the output.  

Occasionally, I would give them the output, and they would have to find the input using the rule.  Some of my students even chose to grab their Monster when they had an input/output table, using it as a tool to complete each part of the table.

Here's how we got started:

1)  BEFORE doing the project, we cut out the squares (2.5 inch), and rectangles (4 inch by 2 inch).  Each student will need 2 squares and 1 rectangle.  Then we laminated all of the pieces and cut them out so they were ready to go for the project.

2)  We also cut out some card stock "templates" for the kids to use to trace and cut out a body.  We had circles, squares, and rectangles available for body shapes.  If you prefer, you can have students "freeform" a body shape.

Materials students will need:  

- A 9x12 piece of construction paper for the background

- 2 laminated squares

- 1 laminated rectangle

- assorted construction paper to create head, arms, legs, and body

- scissors and glue

- stapler

The process:

1) Have students cut out their body shape and staple the laminated rectangle to the body.  (Trust me, it is much easier to staple the rectangle to the body first before gluing… I learned this the hard way.)

2)  Staple the squares to the corners of their background paper.

3)  Begin to lay out the body, arms, legs, and head.  I made sure my students had their Monster exactly how they liked it before gluing.  They need to keep in mind that the top square is the IN, and one arm should be pointing up, and the bottom square is the OUT, so one arm should be pointing down.

4)  Once their Monster is cut and created, they can glue it all together.  Check out some of the creative monsters my students made!

Once they are all done, they can use a dry-erase marker on the laminated sections to practice Input/Output tables!  I showed my Monster on the document camera, and had a large blank input/output table on the board to fill in the inputs/outputs as we solved.

It's also a clear way for the visual learners to see that the input + the rule = output.

What have you been learning about in math?

Until next time,

- Miss Woodward

Five for Friday!

Well, we just finished our second week of school, and I am loving every minute of it!

Today I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching to share five exciting things from this week!

1.  We have been working on building our stamina for Read to Self and Work on Writing.  I LOVE how excited they get about writing.  I pretended to hold a remote control and press the "pause" button so they would stop long enough to check-in with me between practices!

2.  We started talking about place value in math.  We made a set of digit cards for each student.  In a little baggie, each student has cards with the digits 0-9.  They have four of each digit, so there is enough to make lots of different numbers.  We used them to create numbers, draw the representation, and write the value of each digit on white boards.  They loved it so much, they actually cheered when I said we would do a few more to practice before snack.  Cheered for place value!  (I love them already.)

3.  We read the story Chrysanthemum, and made this cute craft to go with it.  They counted the letters in their name, and then counted the vowels and consonants.  Some of them had names with 8 letters, which was tricky to fit around the flower!

4.  I got the idea for these Name Rainbows from A Cupcake for the Teacher.  They write their name in the cloud, and describing words on the colored strips of paper.  We first brainstormed a list of describing words, and then the kids made their rainbows.  They look SO cute hanging from the ceiling in the hallway!

5.  No picture for this one, but I am SO enjoying this year so far.  I love my kiddos, love my team, and overall feel more confident this year.  I am looking forward to seeing what this school year brings!  :)

Until next time,

-Miss Woodward

Back to School Week

After a wonderful first day of school, I was all set for the rest of the week!

It was still HOT in our classroom... In fact-- on Thursday a fuse blew and the power went out on our side of the building.... which meant no air and no fans... so we went down to a Kindergarten room that did have air, and read to the kinders while they restored our power.

Here's how the rest of the week looked in Miss Woodward's Class...

We continued practicing Read to Self.  They are doing wonderfully with this!  They are also very honest when it comes to the check-ins between practices.

We discussed our "Hopes and Dreams" for the school year and for the future.  We wrote about what we hope to learn this year in third grade, and what we want to be when we grow up.  We displayed our Hopes and Dreams with a craft.  

How cute are these little hot air balloons?!  :)

I had a template for them to trace their balloon and basket.  I also printed out their first day of school pictures for them to cut out and put in the basket.

 When the fans are blowing, their little baskets sway back and forth as if they are really floating through the room!  :)

We also made some "post-it" posters.  I found this idea on another blog.  :)  I wrote a question on chart paper, and they used a sticky note to write their response.  I asked these questions:

-What do you hope to learn this year in third grade?

-What should kids in our class be doing to make things go as smoothly as possible this year?

-What will Miss Woodward need to do to help you this year?

-What will YOU need to do this year in order to be successful?

-School is important because _____.

-Our classroom should be _______ every day.

Some of their responses were kind of funny.  They thought our room should be calm every day, they asked for lots of homework, and thought kids should be nice to Miss Woodward and each other.  :)

This week, we also did a "Who am I?" book.  

They first wrote a page about themselves... leaving out their name.

Then, they wrote their name on the next page and drew a picture of themselves.  I can't wait to bind this into a classroom book to help kids get to know each other.  I also think this could work for kids as young as kinders.  :)

You can download my version for FREE at my TpT store!

And finally, we decorated our book bins.  Read about our book bins here.  I found these book bins at Ikea in a package of five for $2.

It was quite a busy week!  Can't wait to start another one!

Until next time,

-Miss Woodward

First Day of School!

Happy First Day of School!

Whether some of you have been in school for a few weeks now, or start after Labor Day like many schools in Minnesota, "back to school season" is here.

Our school started this past Monday, and I am already LOVING how this school year is going.  :)  Here is how the first day of school went.

To start the day, I took a tip from Clutter Free Classroom and made a little ball of play dough for each of my students.  Read about that project here.

The kids were a little apprehensive when they came in, but once they started poking and prodding at their play dough, they had so much fun!  It was such a great way to ease any nervousness and welcome my students into their new classroom.

For reading, we started Daily 5... I bought the book that started it all here.  This is my first year trying Daily 5, so if you have any suggestions of how you use Daily 5 in your room, I would love to hear them!  

We talked about Read to Self, and what it should look like, sound like, and feel like.  I put one bin of my classroom books on each table, and I let them look through and choose three books for their book bins.  Then we started practicing Read to Self.  We practiced a few times, checking in between each practice to share celebrations and things they felt they needed to work on.

Some chose to read at their seats, and some chose other places around the room.  I could tell that they liked getting to choose whatever looked interesting to them to read.

For writing, I read them the story First Day Jitters.  We talked and wrote about what "jitters" might be, and a time they have felt "the jitters".  

For math, we explored manipulatives.  I put a bin of mainpuatives at each table, and students got to explore them for five minutes.  After five minutes, they rotated to a new table and explored a new manipulative.  After they had visited all of the tables, we discussed the purpose for using manipulatives and what each one can be used for.

I had things like pattern blocks, unifix cubes, base-10 blocks, and fraction circles out for students to use.

As if our day wasn't busy and crazy enough.... It was about 95 degrees outside, which meant it was much warmer inside.  We have a small window air conditioner in our room, but it has trouble keeping our room cool enough.  We kept the lights off most of the day to try and stay cooler.  We also had a "code blue" (missing kindergartener who was found after about an hour), AND an unplanned fire drill (something had set the system off).   What a way to kick off the year!

Overall though, my first day with my new kiddos went great.  I am so excited for this year!

Until next time,

-Miss Woodward

Summer Math

I am excited to show you a big project we've been working on in math!  

We didn't want our students to lose all of the valuable learning they acquired this year.  The problem is that they have very limited access to materials and assistance at home.  We wanted them to create something that reviewed important concepts, that they would be able to use at home this summer.

Introducing.... the Summer Math Book!

For a whole week, we had multiple stations set up around the room.  The kids had to visit all of the stations, but could travel at their own leisure.  If they finished the stations and filled their book, they got to keep doing the activities for fun.

So, what was everyone doing for the entire math block?  Well.....

Some kids were finishing making their multiplication flash cards...

Some kids were finding and cutting out shapes from magazines...

Some were using magnets to write and solve word problems...

Some were writing and guessing number sentences on each other's backs...

Some were making clocks to solve elapsed time problems...

And some were making rubbings of coins and then counting the total amount.

At each station, the kids had to complete the activity (and show evidence of it in their booklets).  They also had to glue in a "How can I do this at home?" sheet, to remind them of ways they can complete the activity over the summer.

There was a lot going on in the room, but after a day or so of doing the stations, the kids knew what to do and where to go, so the classroom was a focused and calm environment.

When they leave school for the summer, they will have a neat little math book that will remind them of easy ways to do math at home.

Until next time,

-Miss Woodward

Practicing Perimeter

We did a really fun activity in math today!

We were practicing finding the perimeter of a shape.  We used straws cut into 2, 4, and 6 inch pieces, as well as chenille stems cut into 2 inch pieces.  The students used the straws as the sides and the chenille stems as connectors to create shapes.

They then had to draw and name the shape, label the sides, and write a number sentence to find the perimeter.

The activity was very hands-on, and my students got practice with finding perimeter AND identifying shapes!

Until next time,

-Miss Woodward