Teaching Money

Hey friends! The past few weeks we've been working on counting money. I wanted to share a few strategies that really helped my kiddos!

I gave a pre-assessment from my sweet friend Reagan's Coin Crew Unit.

I started out by introducing the coin value by using this printable read aloud!

                                     

We used Cara's unit for the next activity. The kids had  hard time understanding how different combinations of coins could equal the same thing. Cara's packet provides a really fun game to practice this! 

For another center, I just added coin stickers to a pink pig. The kids LOVED this! I also added dots for touch money. This REALLY helps with kids who struggle with changing how they count money (from 10's to 5s)

Free Pig Templates: Blank Pig Cards

Stickers:

Another strategy I used was the one shown below. I hot glued different amounts of coins to a craft stick. I used these at our teacher table for students to count. Next week, we will use these as a center and they will record the amounts in their math journals. I have about 6 different sets. I color coded and numbered the sticks for center purposes so I would know which stick the student is recording. I would carry these sticks and if we had down time in the hall or waiting for a resource, I'd pull one out and point to a kiddo to tell me the amount. I also ask them to give me another way to make the SAME amount of money. 

We also used these dice to play "toss the amount". The students would take turns tossing the dice. Once they land on an amount, they would make the amount with their coins. Then, they would draw or record the amounts in the recording sheet. I just have them draw a circle with the number inside of what each coin is worth showing they know the value of each coin. You can get the recording sheets here for free. 

We also used a few centers from my April Math Packet. This packet has 12 centers for Spring!

Here are a few other center ideas for counting coins  from my Ultimate Math Center Packet : 

As Spring draws near, we have added these little picture mats and word problem mats to our spiral review center. The kiddos are LOVING them. 

Number Sense Activities

Hey friends! I wanted to take a moment to catch up what my firsts have been up to! Our curriculum is big on spiral review. We touch on number sense at the beginning of the year but really dive deep in Jan/Feb. Our math benchmark test ALWAYS hits on number sense, so I feel like my kids are ALWAYS doing number sense activities! 

We started working on Place Value right away. This is a skill we will continue to work on the rest of the school year. The kids loved making these little books! 

These little books are perfect for homework or center work! After I taught the kiddos how to use them, they were able to complete them independently! 

The Place Value books focus on expanded form, word form and recognizing numerals. Once we made a one together, my first graders were able to do these for morning work or during guided math.

This activity for a whole group lesson or a review! 

How Does Guided Math Look in My Classroom?

We typically do a whole group lesson on Monday with Guided Math the rest of the week. Our whole group lesson is based on the target skill that we are learning about. I use our pacing guide to determine which skill that is. I introduce the skill with a math read aloud. Then, our class creates an anchor chart over the skill. Sometimes I pre make the bones of the anchor chart but I make sure to fill in the meat of the skill with the students. This helps to reinforce the skill in their minds. They remember creating the anchor chart and will remember to look at it more often if they were apart of creating it. My favorite anchor chart to create with the students are the ones for telling time.

Using Math Centers During Guided Math

 I have four tables. Instead of the kiddos rotating, the baskets rotate. I pick a helper at the beginning of every two week period. The helpers are responsible for overlooking the baskets to make sure everything is in it's place. Then, the helpers rotate the baskets upon my command. This runs like a well oiled machine. The kids know EXACTLY what to do. I usually do two centers as the target skill of the week and two centers that are spiral review. That way the students are consistently practicing previous taught standards or skills.

The centers are a great way to prepare for our end of the year assessment because they cover skills taught all year long!

The students work with each math tub for 15-20 minutes a day..depending on my schedule that day. I plan all of my centers out for the week using my Guided Math Binder! 

I try to include as many hands on things as I can. However, sometimes, real world sets in. I use math word searches to minimize prep work. I use these as printable. I've also ran a set that is laminated and the kids use as wipe on/off mats. For differentiation, some students will use each word in a meaningful sentence. This can be challenging, but I encourage my students to try to demonstrate that they understand the meaning of each word.

This is how my math tubs look prior to rotating.  This is counting center where students have to correctly count the number of objects on the task card.

One of my kids favorite activities is Skip Counting Puzzles! I love using these puzzles because I can differentiate it really easily! All students appear to be doing the same activity, but I specifically plan out which students are doing which puzzles.
If you wanted to give printable skip counting puzzles a try, I thought you could try this freebie!

Just click HERE to get your FREEBIE!

The centers shown come from my  Number Sense BUNDLE! This bundle includes SO many activities to help get your kiddos ready for benchmarks or number sense assessments! I use these centers all throughout the year as a spiral review. It's great because they are low prep and  engaging! my students really enjoy these centers!

Teaching Time in the Primary Grades

Can we say whoa?? It's been a while since I have paid attention to this little ole blog! Life has been crazy and now that we are out of the holiday period, it's time to get back to business. After my break, I'm starting to get a tad jealous of my friends on a year round calendar!

We went back on the 5th and it's been full force every.single.day. 

We started working on time right away. First graders often struggle with this skill, so I wanted to come up with a few different ways to introduce this skill. My anchor charts are usually so ugly, but I feel like they are productive and accomplish the overall goal. I like to complete them with my students and have them fill it certain parts so it's not just something hanging on the wall. I find when they participate in creating the charts,  they take ownership and it sinks it a little bit better. So I created this premade anchor charts that we could fill in together. The kids really enjoyed the graphics and seeing the information in a different way than the typically parker-yellow paper format.  This little packet includes a variety of charts. I used the poster printing function to print and then I just laminated it and boom! DONE! I used a few of the other pages as well and also used them as interactive notebook pages! Kids LOVED them! 

 I know I've said this before, but I love using read aloud to introduce my lessons. I started with this time read aloud. It's great for introducing key vocabulary and it's very kid friendly!

Then we started with our math centers. You can check those out here.

We used centers from my time bundle. The kids LOVED the variety of activities and they are so easy to prep!

This activity was fun to do at my teacher table first. We did a few problems together and then the kiddos completed the rest during math centers. They really loved them. They were engaged in the entire time they were working. They actually asked me to create a second set, so I did! I was shocked! 

ALL of these activities and MORE can be found in my Time Bundle and it's on SALE! Just click the image below!

Black Friday STEALS

Hey friends! I hope you had one heck of a Thanksgiving! My family was fighting sickness,but we still made it to our family gathering! I was worried for a second that we might miss it. 

I am seriously addicted to crafting! I finally got a Silhouette Portrait and I am seriously in love! This machine is SO great for the classroom! I love all of the things I was able to make! If you follow me on Instagram , you can check out all of the great things this little machine will do!!!  

If you are like me, you LOVE a good deal! The Black Friday deals going on are UNREAL! 

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This is one heck of a sale and I can't wait go snatch up some goodies! Thanks for stopping by friends and Happy Thanksgiving!