Mother's Day Gifts

This year I wanted to change what I have done in the past with my students for their Mother’s Day gift. It took me a while, but I think this year turned out to be very special. :)

1.    I had each student write about his or her mom…

2.    After, on the other side of their paper, each student wrote why they loved their mom. 

3.    I recorded each student reading why they loved their mom using Audioboo. This website is very user friendly. Each student read what they wrote while I was recording. Then, I saved the recording to my account. When you login you can see all the recordings and make a specific QR code from the website. Super easy and very cute!

4.    And finally, the students planted his or her own Petunia for their mother. (What mom doesn’t love a pretty pink flower?!)

Happy Mother’s Day!

Math Centers

 
Every Monday to Thursday in my classroom students participate in Math Centers. I have finally figured out a way to manage and feel like students are learning from the centers! 

Here is how it works…The students are put in four different groups. These groups may change as their skill levels change. Each day they move to a different table to complete an activity, project, game, or use one of the five classroom ipads.  I change the centers based on weekly math lessons, a newer skill that may be more challenging, and any concepts that I want the students to have more practice with.  I also have one table that is with my paraeducator. She is able to work with the small group directly on various challenging math skills. I try to keep the activities engaging, independent (so I am able to spend my time working one-on-one with struggling students), and purposeful. 

This week math games were played. I was impressed with my student’s ability to take turns and play fair! (I can say that some adults are not able to do this!)


Check out our Math Center Activities from this week!

Two dice addition—flip over the numbered bottle cap of the sum from the dice.

Addition/Subtraction Game—roll a die and add or subtract the number of chips to fill the board.

App on iPads called Animal Math (see previous post)

Students were playing ‘Cordelia’ to practice skip counting. 

Subtraction Count—roll & subtract, whoever had the lower number gets a chip.

Fun with the ‘Show Me’ app….

Our tech team showed me how to use the ‘Show Me’ app back in December. I sat there thinking that I would never be able to utilize it because it was too hard for Kindergarteners.

Boy, was I wrong!!

In our Language Arts Reading Street Unit, this week’s book was the well-known story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. I got the courage and decided to try this app. I put the students into groups of four. Each group was in charge of retelling a part of the story. This app records what the students draw and say into the microphone. When they are finished they save the project and when every group had completed their retelling, I was able to use the reflector to put their stories on my computer. The class saw Goldilocks and the Three Bears retold by their peers.

What fun we had learning!!

Here are some pictures on their collaboration process: 

 

A New Math App...

I love finding apps that are fun, interactive, and easy to use for my students (and me). This app: Animal Math is just that! Each day in Math Centers, my students are working on different skills. I try to have one center where the students use the Ipads. We have played many different games and used the Everyday Math website. I was looking for something else to keep my students involved in Math skills. This app combines number recognition, patterns, counting, addition, subtraction, and many other math skills. The colors and pictures are fun and exciting. All my students were engaged and working hard when they used the app. 
Check it out… Happy Counting!  

Sight Word Scanning

This has been an exciting week! I tried something new, which made me a little nervous, but I am so happy with the results. :)

Sight word QR scanning! It was really simple and very effective for my students. I found these QR codes and printed and laminated them. During word work, the students used an iPad to scan the QR code. After scanning, a sentence popped up, which they had to read. I also had the students write the sight word down for extended practice. Then, they continued scanning the different QR codes, repeating the process. 

I was so happy all my students were able to complete the activity and really enjoyed scanning the sight words. What a great learning experience!  

Schools of Rock!

Friday was our district's 5th annual Schools of Rock Show. This is where each school preforms a dance to compete with all other schools in the district. It can get competitive, but it is all for a good cause. This year we had a lot of fun! It was clear that everyone worked really hard and brought their best.

Here is Pleasant Ridge's School of Rock performance. Enjoy! :)

Winter Writing

This year my students are really enjoying writing (and they are getting pretty good at it!). 

Every day at writing the students are able to write about any topic they would like.  Most times they write about the fun things they have done, their favorite toy, favorite video games or favorite movies. But, sometimes I will give writing prompt to the students. It is always great to see how they answer them. After, I have taken the writing prompts, laminated and bound responses to make a class book. The students have loved reading these books over and over to see their peer’s responses. I have noticed it makes the students even more excited about their writing.  If you would like to utilize these writing prompts, check out my store on TPT. (http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Winter-Writing-1039207)

Hope this gets your students more excited about writing! :)