Math Centers

I have 5 math centers in my classroom.  They are Numbers, Shapes, Graphs, Measurement, and Problem Solving.  I like making each center hands-on and interactive in some way.  I also like to have some recording sheet for each center.  Here is a summary of what I include in each center:

Numbers Center

This center changes the most in my classroom.  Activities include single digit addition and subtraction, place value up to 100, place value up to 1,000, and two digit addition and subtraction.

Some of my favorites from other TPT authors are:

Roll and Add

Roll and Compare

Roll, Build, and Draw

Spin and Add

Spin and Subtract


Shapes Center

For the Shapes center, I give students a picture card from this set:

Pattern Block Puzzles the Complete Set (made by Katie Mense)

Then, they cover it with pattern blocks and complete the graph sheet for their recording sheet.

Graphs Center

For this center, I give students a seasonal or themed spinner and corresponding recording sheet.  Students spin the spinner 20 times and record each spin.  Then, they evaluate their graphs and answer a few questions.

Here are some Spin and Graph sets that I have made:

Spin and Graph - Ocean Animals

Spin and Graph - Farm Animals and Babies

Spin and Graph - Mammals

Spin and Graph - Reptiles and Amphibians (FREEBIE)

Spin and Graph - Winter

Spin and Graph - Valentine's Day

Spin and Graph - New Year's Day

Measurement Center

My Measurement Center includes seasonal or themed picture cards for students to measure and measurement tools.  For my less advanced students, I give them Unifix cubes or a themed ruler 

Hands-On Measurement Center - Back to School

Hands-On Measurement Center - Fall

Hands-On Measurement Center - Halloween

Hands-On Measurement Center - Groundhog's Day

Hands-On Measurement Center - Winter Fun

Hands-On Measurement Center - Winter Clothes

Hands-On Measurement Center - Valentine's Day

Hands-On Measurement Center - St. Patrick's Day

Problem Solving Center

My problem solving center required some trial and error.  I eventually settled upon these activities:

Spin a Story Problem

Roll, Write, and Solve Story Problems

Make Your Own Story Problems

Daily Morning Meeting and Afternoon Meeting

For the last two years, I have dedicated the first 15-20 minutes of our day to a Morning Meeting and the last 15-20 minutes to an Afternoon Meeting.  This allows us to have a set time to solve common problems, talk about any announcements, and to bond as a classroom community.  I LoVe my Morning and Afternoon Meetings and I will NEVER go back!

Here is a brief description of our morning meeting.

1.  Songs and Dancing - We listen to a few different songs while we sing loudly, shake hands, and hug.  It is a great way to start the day on a positive note.  My favorite song is this one from YouTube.  There are also lots of other great ones on YouTube and from the people who created Conscious Discipline.  "It Starts in the Heart" is my favorite Conscious Discipline CD.

2.  Greetings - We sing and greet each other with a smile, the use of names, and a touch of some sort.  I give options such as:  bear hug, thumb touch, fist bump, pinky hug, handshake, high five, etc.

3.  Schedule and Announcements - I use this part of the meeting to make any announcements that I need to or to discuss changes in our schedule for the day.

4.  Class Problem Solving - I keep a clipboard with notebook paper at the front of the room in a set location.  Students can ask during the day to write things they want to discuss on the clipboard.  I also add things when I feel like we need to discuss them.  During the meeting, I have the student who wrote down a topic discuss it and then I lead them to brainstorm solutions and we make a decision.

5.  Good News - At the beginning of the year, I assign students one day each week to share their good news. This helps to keep the daily meeting short.  During this part of the meeting, the assigned students can share one item of good news.  The other student are taught to be good listeners and ask questions.

6.  Wish You Well - Finally, we list the students who are absent and wish them well with a song.

At the end of the day, we wrap up with an Afternoon meeting.  Here is a brief description of our Afternoon meeting.

1.  Songs and Dancing - We listen to a fun song and dance our way to the rug for our afternoon meeting.  I use this song from YouTube.

2.  Daily Reflection - We list things that we did well and things we would like to work on.

2.  Kindness Report - One of the class jobs in my classroom is Kindness Recorder.  That person writes down kind things that they notice all day long.  At this point in the Afternoon meeting, this person reads the list of people who were kind and what they did that was kind.

3.  Goodbye Song - Finally, we sing our Goodbye Song.  This is also a song I found on YouTube.  You can find it here.  I love that it is the same tune as the Morning Song!

I hope this is helpful!  Are there any components that you add to your Morning or Afternoon meeting?  Please share!

Writing Process Status of the Class Tracking Chart AND Writing Goals Chart

For our writing block each day, we have a quick mini-lesson and then work through the writing process in response to a weekly (sometimes bi-weekly) writing project/prompt.  I keep track of how students are making progress with this Status of the Class tracking chart.

You can find the FREE chart in my TPT store by clicking here.

I decided to make an illustrated version of this chart so that non-readers and struggling readers could better be able to tell independently what the steps in the writing process are.  This version of the chart can be found in my TPT store by clicking here.

In conjunction with this new chart, I wanted a way to make students accountable for the goals we talk about during our writing conferences, so I made a writing conference binder with dividers between each child and anecdotal notes pages.  Then, I made a Writing Goal Chart. The teacher and student work together to choose an appropriate writing goal based on their writing conference.  The student puts a labeled clothespin on the appropriate goal.  Then, the goal can be revisited at each conference and changed when it has been met consistently.  The chart can be adapted for different grade levels by selecting the goals most appropriate for your age group of students and using only those.

You can find this goal chart in my TPT store by clicking here.

Book Character Costume - Big Chicken!

For Halloween this year, our school invited teachers to dress up as storybook characters.  I choose to dress as one of the chickens from the book Big Chickens by Leslie Helakoski.  I dress inspiration from these pictures I found on Pinterest:  

Chicken 1          

Chicken 2            

Chicken 3

Chicken 4

I made the costume with a white dress/bathing suit cover up from Goodwill (about $3).  I bought about 12 white feather boas from the Dollar Tree (about $12) and hot glued them in zig zags across the front and across the back.  I used two bags of hot glue sticks from the Dollar Tree ($2).  

My chicken feet were made from yellow rubber kitchen gloves stuffed with paper and slid over flat shoes I already had.  The kitchen gloves were from the Dollar Tree, also ($1).

The chicken headband was made from two devil headbands I bought at a Family Dollar store ($2).  I cut the horns off of both headbands, glued a piece of plastic perpendicular to the original headband, and then hot glued the horns back onto the perpendicular please of plastic.  

I bought a chicken beak from a local party supply store ($4).

I wore a pair of gold tights I already had and a wide black belt I already had.  

My kids and coworkers loved it!  

  

It was a lot of fun to dress up as a Big Chicken!  The kids wanted to rub me.  They wanted to touch the feathers and the feet.  I shed feathers all day and the kids were collecting them in their pockets!  I have two students with special needs who were both especially enthralled by the costume.  I gave one boy the feet to take home and the other will get my headband!  

In hindsight, I wish I would have only put feathers up to my waist (or used a skirt instead of a dress).  I also wish I would have made a felt mask with an attached beak (like this one) instead of using a store bought one.  Since the store bought one covered my nose and mouth, it was hard to breathe and I couldn't wear it for longer than a couple of minutes at a time.

I must have shed more than I thought!   At the end of the day, I had a surprise in my mailbox:

What was your Halloween costume this year?

Classroom Transition Songs and Chants

For the upcoming school year, I have been working to add more songs and chants into our school day to make our transitions more fun!  The following songs and chants were gathered from the Internet.  None of them are my own creation.  I tried to include a link to my source.  There are a couple for which I do not know the original source.  If you happen to know the original source, please post in comments and I will fix it!  I hope these are helpful!

Rug Time Song

Sing to the tune of "Shortnin' Bread"

from http://www.songsforteaching.com/b/everybodyhaveaseat.htm

Everybody have a seat, have a seat, have a seat,
Everybody have a seat on the floor.
Not on the ceiling, not on the door...
Everybody have a seat on the floor.

(Repeat 2 times)

Recess Song

Sing to the tune of “Here We Go 'Round the Mulberry Bush”

from http://www.songsforteaching.com/maryflynn/recesssong.htm

Here we go out to play with friends,
Play with friends, play with friends,
Here we go out to play with friends,
At recess time today.
                          

We'll play nicely with our friends,
With our friends, with our friends,
We'll play nicely with our friends,
At recess time today.

Reading Workshop Transition Song

Sing to the tune of “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”

from http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Clap-and-Stop-Song-757221

Clap, Clap, Clap and Stop!

It’s time to move once more.

Carefully, carefully, carefully, carefully!

Activities galore!

(Repeat 2 times)

Waiting Song

Sing to the tune of “Frere Jacques”

I am waiting, I am waiting

For my friends, for my friends

To get ready, to get ready

So we can begin, so we can begin

(Repeat until ready)

Hallway Song

Doo Wah Diddy

Here we go just a walking down the hall,

Singing doo wah diddy, diddy, dum diddy doo

Hands at our sides and standing straight and tall

Singing doo wah diddy, diddy, dum diddy doo.

We look good-We look good

We look fine-We look fine

Here we go in our line

Lunch Time Song

from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66t1Vpzpm3I

I see a bunch

Who is hungry for lunch

From a sandwich to spaghetti

Please get in line

And get ready to dine

Because we’re hungry and we’re ready

For lunch

Library Song

from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnHYfNYniXM

It’s time to go to library

Where they have books galore!

From mystery to history

You’ll find what you’re looking for!

Music Song

from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzBFnZ3T2mc

Music soothes the soul

Beethoven to Rock and Roll

Please line up with things in order

Music Folder and Recorder

P.E. Song

from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lhzvsUHdQo

People who are really smart

Know to take care of their heart

Exercise is the thing to do

Learn to be a good sport, too.

Sound off:  shoes on

Sound off:  line up

Sound off:  P.E.

Let’s go!

Have fun!

Art Song

from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJiE_DxhOJY

It’s __(day)__ and it’s time for art.

Please line up and get set to start!

Wear your art shirt if your project’s messy

Can’t wait to see what it will be

Boom! Boom!

Computer Lab Song

from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soO1YpbntVU

T E – C H – N O L O G Y

It’s time for the computer lab

log on - to see

what lesson will it be

learning’s fun in the computer lab

Science Song

sing to the tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”

from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xo46LS02bAQ

S - C - I - E - NCE

Science is so fun for me

Matter and Animals

Weather, too

I hope you like them as much as I do

S - C - I - E - NCE

Science is so fun for me!

Social Studies Song

from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gC-tQLYWLXU

Let’s learn some his-to-ry

Learn the way things used to be

Regions, capitals, and states

So-cial studies

Don’t be late!

Clean Up Song

from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6uR7ZDwT70

Clean Up

Everybody Clean up

Clean Up

Everybody Clean Up

Time to clean up

Pick UP

Everybody Pick up

Pick Up

Everybody pick up

Time to pick up

Pick up the toys

Put them away

Pick up the blocks

Put them away

Pick up the books

Put them away

Put your things away

Barney’s Clean Up Song

from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJhXVg2QisM

Now it’s time to put away

Everything that we took out

When the place is nice and clean

It makes us feel so proud

We always clean up

Clean up

Show we really care

We always clean up

Clean up

Because we like to do our share

After we have had our fun

Playtime’s coming to an end

We sure know it helps a lot

If we can all pitch in

We always clean up

Clean up

Show we really care

We always clean up

Clean up

Because we like to do our share

We always clean up

Clean up

Show we really care

We always clean up

Clean up

Because we like to do our share

Yes, We like to do our share!

Writing Song

Sing to the tune of “Frosty the Snowman”

adapted from http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Poster-Lets-Write-a-Story-242030

Let’s write a story,

It is writing time again,

It will be fun writing sentences today,

Oh, I can’t wait to begin...

So, let’s write a story,

It is easy and it’s fun,

There are great ideas in all of us,

And we’ll share them one by one!

Goodbye Song

Sing to the tune of “Day-O”

from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGT9hjGcA10

Day – O, Day - Ay - Ay – O

We had fun but it’s time to go home

Day! We say Day – Ay - Ay – O

We had fun but it’s time to go home

Work all day until the afternoon comes

We had fun but it’s time to go home

Read a book and we run in the sun

We had fun but it’s time to go home

Come everybody, tell me about your day

We had fun but it’s time to go home

Tomorrow will be another very special day

We had fun but it’s time to go home

Six steps, seven steps, eight steps out

We had fun but it’s time to go home

We leave our school and then we shout

We had fun but it’s time to go home

Day! We say Day- Ay- Ay – O

We had fun but it’s time to go home

Day!  We say day, we say day, we say day-o

A beautiful day, a happy time

We had fun but it’s time to go home

We sang some songs and we some rhymes

We had fun but it’s time to go home

Six steps, seven steps, eight steps out

We had fun but it’s time to go home

We leave our school and then we shout

We had fun but it’s time to go home

Day!  We Say Day-Ay-Ay-O

We had fun but it’s time to go home

Day!  We say day, we say day, we say day-o

We had fun but it’s time to go home

Day –O Day –O

We had fun but it’s time to go home

Day-O Day-O

We had fun but it’s time to go home

We had fun but it’s time to go home

We had fun but it’s time to go home

Class Library

My class library is a very important part of my classroom!  I have dedicated a lot of time and money to its establishment and use.

Where to Find Books

There are many places to find great books for a class library.  I bought most of my books at yard sales, thrift stores, and eBay.  You can also get books for a class library by sending letters requesting donations from parents or other community members.  If you are affiliated with a local college or church, you can ask that they sponsor a book drive in honor of your classroom.

Organizing and Labeling Books

My class library consists of 3 book shelves and about 55 plastic shoe boxes (without the lids).  The plastic boxes are labeled according to book series or topics.  Then, the boxes are also labeled with a colored dot sticker that has a number.  The numbers on my book boxes go in order (across the first row of the first book shelf, the boxes are labeled 1, 2, 3, 4).  This makes it easier for students to find particular boxes and to return books to the correct box.

In each box, the books with the same topic / series are placed together.  All of the books in that basket are given a colored dot sticker to match the one on the front of the box.  So, all of the books in box 1 have a yellow dot with the number 1.  You can see this in the pictures below.  This makes it easy to tell if books are in the right place.

When I first began organizing my books for the class library, I started by looking for multiple books with the same topic, same genre, same author, or from the same series.  Books that didn't comfortably fit into one of those categories I left in another pile.  Here are some of my book box categories:

• Holiday / Seasonal Books
• Science books
• Social Studies books
• poetry
• Character Traits and Feelings
• Animal books (nonfiction)
• True stories
• Machines and Tools (including cars, trucks, etc.)
• Sports books
• Fairy Tales
• Historical Fiction
• Mysteries
• Sweet Valley Kids series
• Authur series
• Magic Schoolbus series
• Junie B. Jones series
• Horrible Harry series
• Clifford series
• Magic Tree House series
• Franklin series
• Little Bill series
• The Littles series
• Arnold Lobel books
• Dinosaur Cove series
• Franny K. Stein series
• Joke / Riddle books
• Babysitter's Club Little Sister series
• Amelia Bedelia series

The books which were left over (did not fit into one of the categories I had defined) were then divided into groups according to whether they were picture books or chapter books.  

I then put them into plastic boxes labeled "Fiction Chapter Books" or "Fiction Picture Books" and labeled them with colored dots  just as I did the others.  In the future, I hope to level and organize these books into boxes depending upon guided reading level, so that students can have an easier time choosing books that are just right for them.  

Student Use of Class Library

At the beginning of the school year, after basic routines and procedures have been established, I introduce the class library.  We discuss rules for the class library and why we have those rules.  We role play how to select a book, how to return a book, how to treat books, and how to do the class job of librarian (returning books to the boxes after students have turned them in).  Finally, I let students select a book to take to their desk.

Every month, I change out the holiday/seasonal books to keep them interesting.

I check periodically to be sure that students have only one book.  I also check periodically to be sure that students are selecting books which are appropriate for them.  I don't do this very often.  It is usually only something I do if I notice a child with a book that does not seem like a good fit for them.  Here are our rules for the class library.

New Year's Activities - 2014

New Year's Eve is today and I am frantically trying to get lessons ready for my return to school.  I will be returning to school (with students) Thursday.  So, I have planned fun, New Year's activities to share with my children.  Here are the activities I have planned:

New Year's Read Alouds

We will read aloud several books, including:

• Shante Keys and the New Years Peas by: Gail Piernas-Davenport
• Squirrel's New Year's Resolution by: Pat Miller (available as a read aloud video on YouTube.com)
• The Night Before New Year's by: Natasha Wing
• 
  

New Year's Resolution Foldables

Students will write new year's resolutions to match four different prompts on a foldable which shows the new year after folded.  If you are interested, they are available in my TPT store by clicking here.  The pack includes foldables for 2014-2020.

New Year's Celebration Kid with Party Hat

Students will trace an oval (for their face) on construction paper, draw facial features (and hair), and cut out the face.  Then, students will trace a triangle party hat on construction paper and cut it out.  Students will attach the party hat to the top of their cut out head with glue.  This will be displayed in the hallway next to the students' New Year's Resolution foldables (described above).

New Year's Color, Count, and Graph

I made these cute worksheets where students color New Year's themed graphics, count the graphics which are the same, and then graph them on a bar graph.  If you are interested, they are available in my TPT store by clicking here.  The pack includes sheets for 2014-2020.