Place Value Fun, my Intern Rocks!

 

I don't know about you, but my kids are struggling with place value. They can tell you 123 is one hundred twenty-three, but have no clue what place the 2 is in. We have been struggling early on with this concept. I say 'we' as in me and my intern, Christina. We have been trying everything, using base 10 blocks, drawing pictures, ten frames, using kids as physical representation...ugh... we are going crazy! Then BAM! Christina arrives at school on Wednesday and says.."Kids today we get to use scissors!" ahh the magic phrase! and look at what these kids did...they made their own base 10 blocks and labeled their own 3 digit number.

 

 

 

Here, as you can see, she hasn't got the 4 hundreds as 400 yet, but once I snapped this picture I said to her, "Hey I was looking at your number, how do you pronounce it?", She quickly used her finger to track her words(numbers) and said "four hundred...OH!" and fixed it!

 

 

Here you can see all the tools we used!

 

 

Once they made a number. They glued it down in their Math Journals. (A little folding was needed.)

 

 

Here is a great example of neatness! This kid is a really 'clean' worker...notice the problem solving pencil? I got that from a bloggy friend's (Farley over at Oh Boy 4th Grade) TPT store! Best idea for problem solving ever!

Stay tuned for my Science post, we did a STEM activity!

I Have Nothing to BLOG About...said No Teacher Ever!

Thanks to Elizabeth over at Fun in Room 4B, I am posting today!

I have been in a funk, of not knowing what to write, I have no pictures of things I have been doing...I feel like I am behind the 8 ball with the beginning of the year and all the new curriculum changes and the new Marzanno changes...and...and...and...my excuse list just gets bigger and bigGER and BIGGER....No MORE!!!

 I am here today to blog!

What IS happening in my room...Let's see...

1. Math time is going great, even my sweet intern has embraced the routine of Guided Math, and taken over my Math time! (yeah)

2. The Daily 5 is in full swing, now I can start my small groups on a regular basis...plus continue to work one on one with a higher frequency. TODAY I found time to teach writing! (HUGE news since we are missing our usual time to write by working with Math Tools)

3.We are on Book 5 in the Magic Tree House series, the kids love it! (so do I)

4. I LOVE Science! This year I have started a "Science Log" to go with Jack and all his note taking...so today we went outside with our hand lenses and examined soil! Good Times. We then wrote in our "Science Logs" all about what we saw, smelled and felt. The kids are so excited to act like Jack and real scientists too!

5. Our Tool Time is a lot of fun too! My sweet intern has taken that area over too, and is really experimenting with all the base 10 blocks and getting creative with place value! I know the class is having fun and learning!

6. Next week we are going to write to our Pen Pals in Missouri for the first time! I let my friend know we are writing! AND a 5th grade teacher e-mailed me today and invited our 2nd grade class to be their Reading Buddies! So excited to collaborate with an older grade!

7. How could I forget, Constitution Day and FREEDOM week coming up...doing a lot of patriotic activities!

So here I am thinking about "I have nothing to blog about" (waaah, waaah, waaah) and look! WOW it's like a whole article!

We are busy, just like you.
Elizabeth thanks for the kick!

MATH-aliscious! (TOOL TIME revisited)

Recently I posted about our school's new  (Math )TOOL TIME!
On Wednesday we had our first Professional Learning Community (PLC) featuring the Math Manipulatives. We are grouped together for this PLC as: K-1; 2-3 and 4-5...I like the pairing but hope that at the end of the year we can meet with 1st grade too, so we can discuss what they need to be doing to help bridge the Math gap.
At our first meeting, the 3rd grade team made a list of Math deficiencies, or concepts that seem to be problematic, and I must say I agreed with the list. They listed things such as : Basic Math facts, subtracting across zero, problem solving...
As a team we also made a list: place value, basic math facts, transposing numbers, following directions (problem solving)... but I felt that our list wasn't as helpful to the 3rd grade team as it would have been to the 1st grade team!
 I wonder if we can articulate these needs sometime during the year?? No I don't want ANOTHER PLC, just maybe visit with our colleagues and have a math discussion now and one at the end of the year...at least we know what to fix for our 3rd grade teachers and they see what our issues are.

During our time together on Wednesday we had a lesson presented to us using manipulatives. They used buttons. We sorted them by categories that we had to come up with. Then we were challenged to use this manipulative or idea in a lesson during our TOOL TIME. Easy enough...we were also asked who would like to teach a lesson using manipulatives for next month's meeting...yes I did volunteer first...but I also have the intern remember...funny thing is I have to work with a 3rd grade teacher on this lesson. My friend in 3rd who also happens to have an intern volunteered first too...we are thinking the new kids on the block can handle this challenge! L.O.L

If you know me then you know I already have an idea that I want to share- (Place Value of course). ...  the Math Coach posted a base 10 block math mat  and someone else posted "Mystery Number" build the number and solve the mystery...yeah for my fellow blogging buddies and Pinterest...lesson done! (It's not even due until October something!)

If you are wondering how my Guided Math time is going...it's FINALLY taking a turn in the right direction. I think I was over thinking it! I wanted to do it exactly like in the book:

 

...but then I really like the T.I.M.E idea that has been flying around Pinterest...I was trying to make BOTH of these ideas work at the same time and decided to STOP and re-group! I am using the "system" I used last year AND making it fit into the structure of Guided Math...so much better...I feel like I know how to function in this zone. After 19 years of teaching you would think I would know better than to try and re-invent the wheel!!!!!

 

All's well that ends well!

 

Now that I have a good handle on Math, I am still struggling to find adequate writing time...I started a Reading Response Journal as part of the Daily 5- (keep tract of your CAFE lessons type idea)...so I am hoping this will let me find a little writing time with-in the 90 minute reading block....not too worried about this YET...next week I need to tackle FAIR testing!!!

Wish me Luck!