Coin Top-It

Last week, I posted about Introducing Coins and Counting Money. I asked for feedback and Teacher Gone Digital gave me a great idea for a quick and easy coin counting game that she calls Coin Toss!

Today, as we did our introductory Envisions lesson on coins, there was a game included, but I quickly decided that Teacher Gone Digital's game would work much better for me to see exactly what my kids know at this point. So, I explained it to them and we had a blast! My students already know how to play addition top-it (from Everyday Math) and we play that often, so I named the game "Coin Top-It."

Students were put into pairs and each pair got a cup of coins. I had put them in boy/girl pairs (just happened to work out perfectly!)  


They dumped the coins out on the floor between them.

 

I told them all of the girls were heads and the boys were tails. So, they started sorting their coins however they landed on the floor.

Then, they each counted "their" coins (heads or tails). I had to remind them to not just COUNT the coins, but to actually count up how much money. One could have more COINS, but it could be worth less money. So, the "top-it" part comes into play when they are motivated to count their coins and check each other to determine who "tops" the other/has more money. Then, they just put all of the coins back in the cup and start again. EASY!

I had to work with one student because of the odd number. After working with him for a bit, I started "trading him out" with other partners, so that I could get some quick one-on-one time with students and counting money. Each student that I taught some tricks to, I told them to go back and teach their partner that trick, since I couldn't get to everyone. They loved it!

I showed them how to sort their pile of coins, then start with the quarters, then count up by tens or fives, etc.


This worked out really well and I'm glad we did this instead of the game that was planned today (straight from the book). I love when last minute decisions work out so well. This will definitely be a game that we play many more times!!! Thank you again to Teacher Gone Digital! Check out her blog!

What a fun Math Monday for us!

 

Fifty States..Please Review!

I've been wanting to try creating nonfiction passages for awhile. I have a list of different topics that I'd like to create for my classroom in my notebook that I keep for school ideas. I've decided to try a unit of nonfiction passages of all fifty states. I think my students would enjoy learning about this in our small groups when we are working on comprehension skills. They are really into learning about animals and I'm trying to get them interested and learning about some other things. Another idea I have is famous/historical people, maybe? I am just trying to think of things that I know my students need to learn about, and I know there have to be others out there that could possibly benefit from this too.

Well, I've never done this with one of my projects before, but I'm going to ask your opinion. What do you think? Useful? Too easy? Too difficult? I'm planning to try out the passages that I've completed so far with my students when I return from Spring Break. I hope I can then add to this post with some more feedback and pictures. But for now, I'm going to add the pictures of my work so far for your review!!

The first page is the actual passage and facts.  The second is the first option for the teacher for comprehension questions with the RAPP model (I use this in my classroom, hoping for a blog post about this soon!). The third picture is for the second option for the teacher to use (without the RAPP model, in case you use something different and don't want to confuse them with the RAPP.)

 

 

 

 

 

Spring Blogger Meet-Up Blog Hop

 

I've already posted about the awesome Spring Teacher Blogger Meet-Up that we had in March in French Lick, Indiana. Now, for even more details and chances for you to join in on the fun we had! Plus, you can see EVERYONE that was included by joining this amazing Blog Hop that Mrs. Pauley and Holly Ehle have put together! You are not going to be believe all of the amazing teachers that you are going to find through this Blog Hop!

 

 

One of the fun activities that we did at the Meet-Up was that we brought a favorite teacher tool that we love to use in our own classroom and we'd like to share/swap with another teacher. We had a ton of fun with this. After passing and swapping the wrapped gifts over and over, I'd like to share the teacher tool that I ended up with.

 Dorothy Wilson over at Twenty-Something Teacher Tales put together this adorable little bucket of "Tools for Teaching." You can see the full description below. Who doesn't love Expo markers, hand santizer, and Starbucks!?! Oh wait....and CHOCOLATE. Notice, there aren't any pictures of the chocolate. You can see them at the very bottom of the bucket, if you look closely.

 

Dorothy's Tools for Teaching were such a creative idea and a good reminder to take care of myself, spoil my students, and coffee is for teachers!!! (Love Starbucks!) Thank you Dorothy!

 

 

 

Also, due to all of Holly's hard work, there were tons of great door prizes! Look what I won!

$25 to Teachers Pay Teachers! (I've already spent it of course! Thank you, thank you, thank you!)

Now, although there were a lot of prizes at this EPIC Meet-Up, we did learn a few things! It was a pretty open session and there weren't any scheduled or planned speakers, but instead, anyone who wanted to share tips and tricks, could do just that. I loved this social, meet-up type format because you know how teachers always sit and talk anyway! Well, we were allowed to!

My three biggest Take-Aways from this Meet-Up:

1. NEW FRIENDS! Meeting new people and taking a fresh look at teaching. I loved hearing about another school, what they are doing there, and how some things are the same as ours, but some things are much different. It was a breath of fresh air! I traveled to the Meet-Up with Abbie (who teaches in the classroom next door to me), but we met these lovely ladies from Terra Haute!

Allison (Me!) and Abbie (Tales From the First Grade) from Fort Wayne, Kelsey (Aloha to Kindergarten), Stephanie, Sierra, and Haley from Terra Haute.

Since being back, I have already networked with these sweet ladies! Can't wait for the next meet-up!

2. ORGANIZING tips from Dana Lester (Common to the Core)  and Greg...the infamous Kindergarten Smorgasbord! They helped me get motivated with blogging again. Gave me tips on organization of my clipart, and also just tips on trying to make time each day to blog about something useful. Greg is right, we really do useful things everyday that others would love to hear about (okay, maybe some would like to hear about it more than others.) I LOVE blogging and creating products for TPT, so I truly need to find more time to blog and share my creativity and fun. That's what keeps me going in teaching, having these fun things to look forward to!! I love collaborating with teachers from all over the place and the wonderful teachers at this meet-up reminded me that I need to continue to network and blog! I love it!

3. UPCOMING LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES. I was happy to hear some ladies from Scottsburg, Indiana announce they have a Technology conference coming up that sounded very interesting to me because it sounds like I could learn even more that could help me with blogging and creating things for TPT! I love learning new things and meeting new people!!!

It's called Digi-Palooza and it's in Scottsburg, Indiana.

Okay, if you have made it this far, you are ready for an awesome giveaway! Believe me, all of this reading will be worth it! As you have already heard, we received some awesome gifts from some AMAZING sponsors! By entering our rafflecopter giveaway in this Blog Hop, you can win:

ALL OF THESE PRIZES AND MORE!

How can you win these prizes? Well, just KEEP ON HOPPING through this Blog Hop, and be on the lookout for the Rafflecopter! Good luck!

 

   

Now, onto the next FABULOUS teacher in this Blog Hop!!

Click here to visit Marissa at First Grade Stars!

 
     

Butterfly Life Cycle

Well, I originally posted this way back in the fall because at my school, that's when we do our Butterfly unit. But, I thought I'd post again, now that it's more relevant for most teachers in the spring! Happy Spring! Enjoy!

Orginally posted August 2013.


Can't wait to use this with my kids this fall! We do our Butterfly Life Cycle unit first thing in the fall. For science, we get science kits sent to us. We always get the butterfly kit first, which means the caterpillars will be arriving in the mail very soon! It's a little tough doing it first thing because the whole process goes VERY quickly in our hot, non-air conditioned school! However, it's so much fun for the kids, so it's nice to have all of that fun at the beginning of the school year! I've always grabbed a bunch of activities and shoved them together to make a mashed together booklet of activities for the kids to complete for the science unit. I've had it on my list for YEARS to create a "real" booklet for my students. (A more coherent and organized one!) I finally sat down and completed it! I'm so excited about it because I think it looks just adorable, plus I added in some of my own ideas that I'd like my students to complete. This will be my 7th year of the wiggly caterpillars and the exciting butterfly unit! After 6 years of it, I need SOMETHING to get excited about!!!!!

Check it out!!

 

 

 

 

 

Workstation Wednesday Introduction

 

I'd like to share how literacy workstations work in my classroom. Do you do workstations/centers? (We call them workstations in our district.) Are you required to do them? We are required, but we have some flexibility in how we do them. I've been doing them in this district for 7 years now and I've pretty much always used this same "work plan" idea. I've changed things as the years have gone by, but I have really found this to work well for me as a teacher and for my students. The stations are differentiated, the students can work at their own pace, and they aren't stopped in the middle of a station to move to the next one like they may be in some "center rotations."

When I explain to students at the beginning of the year how we do workstations in my room, I tell them that it's sort of like a list of chores. They can choose the order they do them in, they just have to be done by the end of the week. Students can work in partners/groups if they choose to and if those other students have those same workstations on their "work plan" or they can work alone if they wish. 

As I said, workstations are differentiated. I have anywhere from 3-7 different work plans, depending on the year and the time of the year. Many of the stations on each work plan are the same, but their work plan tells them which level to do in the workstation, for example. Other workstations are completely different on each work plan. For example, some will have sight word stations, word work stations, and phonics skills, while some students that don't need those skills quite as much might only have one of them, plus some higher level comprehension stations.

I'd like to share some pictures of my workstations in full swing. Then, I plan to do a short "series" of blog posts called WORKSTATION WEDNESDAYS where I will go into more detail on one specific workstation at a time. Also, good news, Tales from the First Grade is going to team up with me and do the fun blog post series too! So you can see how she does her workstations in first grade, and also how I do my workstations in my second grade classroom!

 

 

Here are my students' work plans. This shows a few differentiated versions that I'm using at this point in the year. I do change things around as the year goes on and as the years go by, all depending on my students' needs. The plans are personalized to meet my students.

 

 

       

Here are a few cuter examples of what I used at the beginning of the school year. As you can see, the levels of the tasks are easier because this was the beginning of the year and my second graders needed more help with those skills that are listed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Response to Literature

 

 Vocabulary Stations

 

 

 

 

Read and Retell

 

 

 Scholastic Brain Bank

Meet Miss Parker's Animal Kingdom Passages (Non-fiction Comprehension Station)

 

 

 Word Work & Grammar



 

 

 

 

This was a quick tour of my workstations in full swing. Coming soon, I will have posts that give more detail to each of my stations/groups of stations. Check back each Wednesday!

 

Here are a few freebies from my store to help out with simple workstations. Please leave me feedback on the products if you download them, I'd appreciate it!

Back to School Freebie

CVC Word Sort Apples

 

Spelling Center Freebie

 

Buddy Reading Freebie

 

Sight Word/ABC Order Freebie

Read & Retell Freebie

 

Literacy Centers Freebie Packet (5 centers!)

 

To see how Abbie does her stations in first grade, see her post here:

 

 

 

 

 

 



Introducing Coins & Counting Money

When we return from Spring Break, we are going to start digging into coins and counting money. My kids never do as well with this as I hope they will, so I'm looking for more inspiration. What is the best thing you do to teach your students money? Last week, we had a few days before Spring Break with extra time that I started to introduce things and we did a few activities for me to try to gauge where they are when it comes to money.

We read the short coin books that are shown laying across the top of my anchor chart and as we read it, we added these details to our anchor chart together. My plan is to get them to really "know" the coins so that they will remember what each one is worth.

Then to gauge where they are, I gave them this simple task of showing me as many ways as they can of making 25 cents. Most of them did pretty well. I gave them this fun "March" notepad paper to make it more engaging. Plus, the coins kept them pretty engaged.

 

I'd love to hear more from other 2nd grade teachers. What are your favorite money activities? What are your strategies?