Picture of the Day: May 12, 2015

This picture is from something that happened today as we embarked on (yet another!) inspiring project:

Screen Shot 2015-05-12 at 8.55.51 PMIt’s related to a really cool conversation we had the other day about ways to show that you care for someone, and the idea sparked a HUGE idea for venues outside our classroom that we could spread the love.  We watched a @wonderopolis video about hashtags today, and so as we began to brainstorm, Millie wanted us to create our own brand new hashtag.  Well…I think we did it.  These are the only two tweets that come up when you search the hashtag #nicethingstodoandsay, which tells me that those are the only two tweets that have been written.  And they’re both ours.   (Ok, yeah, and don’t tell us if it’s not true–hee hee). CANNOT wait to show this to Rm. 202 kiddos tomorrow!

First Grade Math Warm-Ups: Week of May 4-May 8, 2015

I had thoughts all last week of how I couldn’t wait until the Warm-Ups post to brag on the awesomeness that happened, but alas, I guess I saved it anyway….so get ready, this is definitely NOT first grade math happening here, people!

We had three problems this week, and they were all in the same vein–2-digit subtraction where kiddos were asked to try ALL 4 STRATEGIES we’ve worked on in our class this year.  And they were up to the challenge, even though it had been a while since we’d worked on subtraction.  I was SUPER impressed, and I think they were, too!

The benchmark in 1st grade says that only have to be able to subtract to 20, but since we were doing addition to 100, we went ahead and followed along with subtraction as well (why stop them if they can go farther??).  They also only had to be able to do it in 2 ways, but again, I think it’s good to be flexible with strategy and begin (even as a first grader) to learn which strategy is best for the numbers.  In this case we used each strategy each time, but talked about which ones made the most sense.  Let me show you the part we were most proud of:

IMG_3072I don’t know if you can tell, but that’s not an ordinary 2-digit subtraction problem.  Nope–it’s one that will need to use what we used to called regrouping but that honestly now we don’t really call anything.  It’s just what you do to make the problem work!  Please also notice that there’s no “stacking” or traditional algorithms here and these littles can still figure out the solution.  Nice, right?  I know some wouldn’t believe it’s possible….:)

My favorite part is when we started with sticks and dots, and we realized that we couldn’t do what the numbers told us to do–we couldn’t take 7 dots away from the 5 we had drawn.  Millie noticed it right away and then we had a great conversation about what we could do about that.  Makayla suggested that actually there were 10 dots inside each of the sticks we drew (how’s that place value work for ya?). We decided if we crossed off that last stick (which represents a 10) and added those 10 dots instead to the dots already there, then we could do it.  We ended up with 15 dots (ones) that we could take 7 away from.  We used the double-minus-1 problem of 14-7 is 7 so 15-7 is 8 to get that part of our answer.

Then, when we tried to do the same problem with splitting, we ran into the same problem–we didn’t enough to do that part of our problem.  Since we had just done it, we knew we could try it again, and moved the 10 from our 90 to make 80 and then the 5 became 15.  Voila!  It all worked out. 🙂

This is some pretty amazing stuff, and I’m impressed to hear both their fearlessness and pride when they figure out what to do.  I also love how differently 1st graders seem to tackle problems like this that are hard, or challenging, or that don’t at first seem like they’ll work–they just jump in and try something and see what happens.  They haven’t yet learned that they can’t do it, they aren’t worried about whether or not they make a mistake, they know they have many tools in their toolboxes that they can use till they figure it out.  I hope to be able to encourage this kind of approach to problem solving as I work with them again next year—crossing my fingers that I can help them keep that mindset for longer than maybe they would have…there’s hope at least. 🙂

Pictures of the Day: May 8, 2015

See this BEAUTIFUL bouquet? It was made with contributions from all of my Rm. 202 firsties! They each brought something, and Mrs. McPheeters helped put them all together. The week just kept getting better and better, and this was a nice way to top it off!

Nothing like being Queen for a Day, right? Jacob made me a crown. 🙂

Just another awesome Lego vehicle by Nate and JK!

I guess this picture isn’t specifically related to anything that happened in Rm. 202 on Friday, but it did happen in our teachers’ lounge: my 1st Grade team made breakfast for the staff! We offered waffles (both whole wheat and buttermilk) as well as 3 kinds of smoothies! It was a big hit, and festive, happy way to start a day and end a great Teacher Appreciation Week! Aloha!

Alright…then there are a few more fabulous things that came from my super-generous Rm. 202 families that I didn’t get pictures of, but that definitely added to my happy Friday.  Hummus and pita, another Old Navy gift card, a glass of candy with a Target gift card, and a really cool BEARDEN acrostic poem with chocolate attached to the wrapping!  I feel so loved and well taken care of and am so thankful for my Rm. 202 families!  You make this job worth it!

Picture(s) of the Day: May 7, 2015

I put the S in parentheses like that because there really was only 1 picture that I was going to share today (and we had it figured out by like 9 am!). Then that picture changed because of something super sweet that happened later on in the day, but I couldn’t decide. So you’ll get bith. Well really all three. Here’s what I mean:   So these kooky kids all showed up with their shirts on backwards today, and when I saw it, I knew it was our picture.  Silly!!

Yeah, but then this happened:

IMG_4608 Yeah, I tell ya, Rm. 202 friends, you’re outdoing yourselves as each new day comes!  This one is extra special because it’s handmade.  Hee hee–get it? HANDmade?  LOVE it!  And look, we found the perfect place to hang it.  This was a blank space on our wall by the mailboxes that was the PERFECT size.  And it’s right by our carpet, my computer table, the word wall–kind of in the middle of our area where everyone can see it!  Meant to be, I’d say!

THANK YOU, Rm. 202 kids and families!!

Oh, wait, and I also got another sweet gift from Kylie and her mom (which I didn’t get a picture of, but that DID become my dinner tonight–win, win!!).  Thanks a million for making me feel so loved!! 🙂

Pictures of the Day: May 6, 2015

 

Ok, hold on tight–today was a VERY eventful day and so this post is picture-heavy. I think I counted 10.  But then I may have added more. 🙂  You ready?  Let’s go!

I usually put the pics in these posts in order based on when they happen, so these would come first anyway, but I’m also putting them first because I think they set the tone for the whole day.  The way things usually work in Rm. 202 is that I have a plan and then we decide how that will work for us that day, and often times things change (sometimes really drastically, sometime they just take a little bit different direction).

I was meeting with a group today and after our book, we got out our whiteboards for word work.  I remembered that we had talked about a chart/sign to help kiddos remember what to do with the pencil sharpener (we just got 2 new crank ones–you know, old school!) and for some reason people are CRAZY with them.  What I know about what this group knows and what they need, they were the ones to make the chart!  As we talked about what the sign should be called, they agreed that “PENCIL SHARPENER RULES” would make sense (like the chart we made to help our friends remember how to wisely use our construction paper).  As we got started talking about how to write PENCIL, we clapped out the syllables, wrote the PEN part and started working on the CIL chunk, talking about how it could either be PENSIL  or PENCIL.  It wasn’t a clear decision about which was correct (I thought for sure they’d be able to tell which one looked right), so I took it to mean we needed to learn something new.  So we started talking about C and how it has a soft sound and a hard sound.

Now…being me and doing what I do, I didn’t just start saying something like “Now these are the rules for hard C and soft C and when the C proceeds these letters it’s this and when it’s these it’s that,”–you get the idea.  Instead, we started making  a list of C words and put them in the correct column together.  Almost immediately, Makayla noticed that there were lots of Os on the hard side.  We kept going and pretty soon we noticed that the letters on the soft C side were E and I and that the other letters were on the other list.  Voila! We had a rule.  Well at least a conjecture that we thought we could use and teach our friends.

So…being Rm. 202 friends and doing what we do, we thought another sign was in order.  This one they decided to hang on the word wall–right by the letter C. 🙂  Hopefully we’ll finish soon.  Who knows?  We’re working on at least 3 other interactive writing projects and we’ve only got 15 more days!  Oh well, guess there’s always next year!

Whew! That was a long one. Ok…so I know that it looks like Nate is just being a super-silly 1st grader in this picture, but he’s actually posing like that for a reason. I tried to kill 3 stones with this one picture and show you: the yummy (and tiny) chocolate bar and SUPER cute gift card he brought from Whole Foods today (yep, I said CUTE–there’s a picture next to show the detail) AND the tooth he lost on Monday. Ok, I guess he didn’t actually lose it, he had to get it taken out but it’s gone nevertheless and you can finally see his big ‘ole grown-up tooth coming through!

See, I told you it was cute! It’s funny because without the scale of that bag to Nate in the previous picture you don’t see the funny size of these 2 objects. It will be hard to spend that gift card because it is seriously one of the cutest things I have ever seen. I told the kids I’d probably ask for it back after I redeem it and save it in my Writer’s Notebook. Um…just because that’s what I do. 🙂

C.J. and I worked really hard with build a castle with the Lincoln Logs during choice time today.  It’s the first time I’ve done that.  So fun!  The rest of the class was really impressed too, I guess, because they kept coming over to take pictures of their own!

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Um…yeah, so this happened during choice time, too: Emily made me a bonnet! She came over at one point and had to measure the string so she’d know the strap was the right size, and she pointed out how she put a little tag in it, too, so I’d know what way was the back. First graders are kind of amazing, I’d say!

Alright, two more, and these fit into the I’ve-officially-lost-track-of-how-many-teeth-we’ve-lost category.  I am pretty sure it’s over 20 now, but needless to say, 1st grade mouths are VERY HOLEY at this time of year.  So cute!!

Pictures of the Day: May 5, 2015

There are more Teacher Appreciation pics, but also a couple of great ones that are just of life in Rm. 202. 🙂  Enjoy!

See? School supplies. Sharpies. Oh, and Old Navy. I am spoiled. 🙂 Thank you, Emily!

This also happened today: Amelia and Millie asked me probably at least 10 times to take their picture since they were twins in their Robinson shirts. Well, they pointed out, they were really twins all the way down to their socks, shoes and hair, too! Cute!

I love this one for so many reasons. Mainly because we could have a “caption this” contest and there would be so many options! We were outside collecting pictures of things for a scavenger hunt during Science and this was our last step before we went inside. Everyone had such a hard time capturing an image of a bird, and when someone saw one in the sky, iPads all instantly went UP! Oh, and if you could hear the conversation that went along with this picture, it would crack you up. I love that “Will you AirDrop that to me?” has become a permanent part of Rm. 202 lexicon. Go First Grade Techies!! 🙂

Two more, and these are super special:

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Each day this week the PTO is doing something special and cool for us, and today it was cake.  I had heard that we’d have a cake made by a special Robinson parent who had taken a cake decorating class (and we were her final!).  Well…wasn’t I SUPER excited when I was there as it was delivered this morning and the cake was made by Ms. Ross–Millie’s mom!!  It’s awesome that Robinson parents are so appreciative of what we do, but I feel extra lucky that we have a Rm. 202 connection to the love. 🙂  Pretty great, right?  Thanks, Shannon!

Pictures of the Day: May 4, 2015

Sorry for the blurry pictures today, but hopefully you get the idea that my Teacher Appreciation Week started out with a bang!

C.J. and his mom presented me with a scrapbook that everyone had a hand in making. 🙂 Each kiddo wrote a favorite memory of me and our class. LOVE!

Amelia’s family added a Target gift card to the mix. Wow! This is too much already. 🙂

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You guys know that school supplies are the way to my heart! (Thanks, Charlie!) 🙂

Ok, so we had to stage this picture today, but you get the idea that these guys both brought in Starbucks treats! They even had my coffee order right–down to the whole milk and agave! I’m SUPER impressed, 1st grade! Thank you, Nate and Landen. 🙂

Whew!  As if these fabulous kiddos and families don’t make me feel appreciated all the time, they’re outdoing themselves already!  THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!

First Grade Math Warm-Ups: Week of April 27-May 1, 2015

It seems that the later we get into the year (or maybe it’s just that we’re at the end of a math unit), the less interesting our warm-ups are.  I mean I guess they’re not for entertainment, but I guess I’d like for them to be fun and motivating.  We’ll see how well we did with that this week…

Monday

Guess we didn’t have a one on Monday.  Must have been a busy morning (is it bad that I can’t remember back to LAST WEEK?)

Tuesday

We continued on with data here…

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And then I showed how I would represent this data and we discussed what we learned from it, as well as other options for showing what the data tells:

IMG_4507Wednesday

Besides giving us practice with adding (and with bigger number!), and reminding us of some math vocabulary, this equation held some significance for our class.  Only I can’t tell you what it is until after Monday morning….sorry. 😦

IMG_4506Thursday

We had a fabulous field trip first thing on Thursday, so no math warm-up.

Friday

I think I’ve mentioned before, but one thing I love about how we do math warm-ups is when kids start to apply things you’ve learned (or are learning) during the unit to their work here.  For this one, I mean that someone thought we should have a t-chart to help us organize our thinking and our data.  It’s super easy to see that most kids in our class are 7.  🙂

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Pictures of the Day: May 1, 2015

I am really starting to love this whole picture-of-the-day thing.  Some days’ pics are better than others, but as a whole, I think it’s encouraged me to think about the day as a whole in a new way.  Eventually (or maybe next year!), I would love to have kids in charge of what our POD is each day.  🙂

Engagement is a GREAT thing, and you can see it all over these faces! Don’t you just love that little smile on Emily’s face? We thoroughly enjoyed the stories we heard as part of the Storytelling Festival today!

Look at those proud smiles! 🙂 You did it!

Then there’s the Science Fair. 🙂  Lauren and Millie worked together (with Millie’s little sister) to create a SUPER project for the Robinson STEMfest, which then went on to the Greater StL Science Fair and got a RED RIBBON!  WOOHOO!!  Like Lauren’s mom said, “Red means ROCK’N!!”  Way to go, girls!