Pigs Will Be Pigs

We have been working REALLY hard on our money skills in Math.  The kiddos are having a hard time recognizing coins-sigh!  So, I introduced the book, “Pigs Will Be Pigs,” by Amy Axelrod.

The pig family eats all the food in the house, even though Momma Pig went shopping that morning (hmmm…sounds like my house.  Why is it that my kids want to eat EVERYTHING the day I buy it?) So, the pigs all go out for dinner, but they don’t have any money.  They hunt around the house for money to go to the Enchanting Enchilada restaurant. 

I wanted my students to keep track of the amount of money they found and how much the family found all together.  Then, they had to figure out the bill at the restaurant and how much money the pigs have left. 

Here is the organizer that they used while I was reading!  I hope you can find it as useful as I did!  Click the picture below to download!

Paper Plate Clock-revamped!!!

So, we are getting ready to start out “Telling Time” unit in Math.  A while ago, I was browsing my favorite blogs and teacher websites and came across a paper plate clock that Mrs. Madden had her students create.  I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the idea of having the flap for them to look under to seethe minutes!  So, I told myself that I wanted my students to create one of those as well. 

My team teachers and I were talking about making these at our plan session and wanted to make these a little less prep for us teachers, so I was messing around on my computer and designed the following document to match Mrs. Madden’s wonderful idea, but be less prep work for us.  I hope you like them!

By the way, my daughter made a sample clock (so I could see if my dimensions were correct in my document,) so I just had her use a marker to color in her numbers and hands.  Take a peek:

November Goodies

I apologize for posting out of order, but I just brought my camera home this weekend from school.  I absolutely HAVE to share my fun tradition that I brought to my new school from a school that my children go to.  Every year, the Kindergartners dress up as turkeys and the 2nd graders dress up as Native Americans.  I think the First Graders were the Pilgrims.  Well, at my new school, we eat with just 2nd grade and Kindergarten, so 2nd grade girls are the Pilgrims while boys are the Native Americans.  The Kinders dress up as the turkeys for our Thanksgiving Dinner Lunch!  They look absolutely adorable...don't you think!

We also sent home a family project for the students to decorate a feather with things that are special or things they are Thankful for.  We then do a speaking assessment with them as they share their feather.  It teaches them how to look at people while they are talking, keep things in order, have good details, and not fidget with presentation aids!  They are getting so much better with all of our practice.  This is our finished Turkey with ALL the feathers!

 

Last, but not least was a lesson that we did on triangles.  With our new curriculum, we are presenting some pretty advanced vocabulary (seriously, I don't remember even hearing about an isosceles triangle until I was in middle school or later...I am getting up there in age though, so maybe my memory is failing me ;o)  So, we talked about the angles of a triangle and also the three different kinds of triangles.  Instead of them just doing a worksheet, we had them build them with pretzels.  Next year I will probably have a cuter presentation, but this is what we have this year.  They LOVED it!

Math Strategy Posters

I know a lot of you have been asking me to post these strategy posters that I created...well, I FINALLY had the time to sit down and do it!  I created these posters to help my students not only remember the strategies that are presented to them, but also to VISUALIZE those strategies.  Enjoy!

Zero Property

Counting On

Doubles

Doubles +1

Magic Nines

Sums of 10

10 and Beyond

Problem Solving Strategies