math

“Fish are Friends, NOT Food!” {Shark Week Blog Hop!}

July 5, 2015 by Sarah Plum(itallo) 4 Comments

I’m so excited to be a part of a team of bloggers coming together to help your students take a BITE out of learning with a theme your students are sure to love! I promise that our shark-themed freebies are MUCH friendlier than the sharks patrolling the East Coast these days!

I love teaching math, and I pride myself on pulling out all of the stops to dig deep with my students and make sure that they understand the process, not just the outcome! This past year I worked hard to put together a monthly series of differentiated word problems geared toward first and second grade students (as well as third graders that need remediation). I’m extremely proud of them, and the growth that they helped my students make throughout the year!

What I’m bringing to you today is a fun, shark-themed sample of a mini-lesson (illustration with modeled examples) and two additional practice problems. These are just like the monthly packs, except they’ve got a fintastic theme to them!

Don’t miss out! Be sure to go for a swim and visit the fantastic Megan Wheeler at Mrs. Wheeler’s First Grade! Each and every blog in the Shark Week Blog Hop features a jawesome freebie for you and your students- but hurry! Shark Week only lasts until Sunday, July 12!

An InLinkz Link-up

A Peek at My Week Ahead – 3/15

March 15, 2015 by Sarah Plum(itallo) 1 Comment

Two weeks in a row?! YES ma’ams and sirs! I am on fire!!! Or, I’ve just figured out a routine for myself so I can bring you my visual plans each week. Either way, I am so excited to be linking up again with the one and only DeeDee Wills to give you a peek at my week ahead!

Disclaimer (Again): I have to do extensive lesson plans for my district, so rather than reinvent the wheel and put them in a more standardized format, I’m going to be giving you the “big picture” of what I’m up to. At the end of the post, you can download a PDF version with clickable links. Anything that’s outlined in black is clickable and will take you to that resource, video, or product. I use a mix of free and paid resources, so definitely check it out if you like what you see!

We finally took our unit assessment (the kids did GREAT, wahoo!!!) and so now we’re moving on to our next unit. We did some review last week of money concepts and place value, and now those skills will be put into our centers for independent and guided practice. I like doing that because I don’t have to waste valuable whole-group instruction time, but during guided math students still get to access, practice, and receive feedback on those skills.

This week is ALL about word problems. Two to three times a year I do a week-long “Word Problem Bootcamp” to refresh our word problem strategies. I utilize the 4.5 Step Plan, based on Polya’s problem-solving framework. My kids eat, sleep, and breathe this framework and it helps them TREMENDOUSLY. I can confidently say without it we would not be the effective problem-solvers that we are.

This week we’ll be using our March themed word problems to practice showing what we know at each step of the problem-solving process. (You can grab a freebie St. Patrick’s Day sampler, here.) With the snow days and distance between us and our last “Word Problem Bootcamp” some of my friends have gotten a little lax and it’s beginning to show in their “My Answer” boxes. So! We are going to fix that up by going back to basics, doing a little interactive note-booking, and TONS of practicing. Toward the end of the week we’re going to focus on writing our own word problems (I’ll be posting those resources shortly!).

We took our making predictions assessment (they did fabulously, by the way!) and now we’re ready to head into two weeks of intensive reading instruction before we have Spring Break. We’re continuing to meet for 25 minutes daily in a small group setting with each student. We’re continuing our “Bootcamp” to refresh our centers — pictured above — and really work on those decoding and fluency skills. I’ll be infusing another one of my favorite close reading resources with our series’ reading books too. I’m excited to continue getting to know my students as readers even better than I already do!

We’re also going to continue our group read-aloud of The One and Only Ivan, which has stolen our hearts. Friends, please please please run out and get this book and read it with your class. I have never seen my kiddos more engaged, invested, and just in tune with themselves as little humans. It is unbelievable.

In writing, we’re beginning our persuasive letter-writing unit! I adore this unit because I get to bring out some of my favorite mentor texts, including one that I was read when I did my own letter-writing unit in second grade! We won’t be doing a lot of formal writing this week, but rather we’ll be responding to each text, deconstructing what letters have, etc. I look forward to sharing our anchor charts with you toward the end of the week!

This week we’ll be diving into compound words (with silent letters) in our phonics unit, so I’ll be using two great resources from some TpT friends — Compound Words Task Cards from the awesome Teaching With a Mountain View, and Bloomin’ Compound Words Craftivity from the awesome Applicious Teacher. I’ll also be using my bloggy BFF’s new phonics card games again for review — we love them!

It’s still MATTER time!!! Gosh, I could just teach this unit all year. Really, I could! With me being unexpectedly out of the classroom a few days last week (writing a 21st Century Grant — more on that later this week), we’re still at the beginning of our study. We’ll continue to lead with our visual vocabulary posters, co-creating an anchor chart, having a learning experience using our interactive PPT, and then close with our vocabulary four-square. We’re going to do some experiments toward the end of the week which I’ll be documenting in detail… And we’re going to incorporate some informal assessments (with the exit slips pictured) as well as some interactive flipbooks for them to study at home. {My matter printables will be up on TpT by mid-week.}

If you’d like to download my visual plans and have ALL of the links to click on and refer to, click the button above. 🙂

A Peek at My Week Ahead – 3/8

March 9, 2015 by Sarah Plum(itallo) 2 Comments

I am so excited to FINALLY be linking up with the one and only DeeDee Wills to give you a peek at my week! I have always always always wanted to do this, as I absolutely love going through and seeing what everyone else in blogland is up to.

Disclaimer: I have to do extensive lesson plans for my district, so rather than reinvent the wheel and put them in a more standardized format, I’m going to be giving you the “big picture” of what I’m up to. At the end of the post, you can download a PDF version with clickable links. Anything that’s outlined in black is clickable and will take you to that resource, video, or product. I use a mix of free and paid resources, so definitely check it out if you like what you see!

We’re catching up from an INSANE number of snow days since we returned from winter break — we’ve been so behind, so this week we’re taking our unit test on patterns {number patterns, repeating patterns, growing patterns, and even/odd} and then review some key concepts before we dive into regrouping.

One of the things I’m relying heavily on this week are the anchor charts we’ve made together, our interactive notebooks {where our vocabulary pages pictured above live!}, and my money strategies pack. My kids did really well with our money unit test, but we’re increasing the amount they must be able to count {up to $2.00 mixed coins and bills} and they definitely need a refresher after our snow days. We’ll also be playing Prince Padania’s Race to $1.00 which is one of my favorite quick, low-prep games!

In reading we’re going to be taking our unit test on making predictions at the beginning of the week and then buckling down. It has been so difficult these past two months with snow days to consistently do guided reading groups! Between required assessments, once-a-year ESOL testing, and mid-year testing, we haven’t done guided reading in WEEKS.

So this week and next we’re forgoing the mini-lessons and doing extended groups! I’ll get to meet for 25 minutes daily in a small group setting with each student. We’re going to do a “Bootcamp” to refresh our centers — pictured above — and really work on those decoding and fluency skills. I’ll be infusing some of my favorite close reading resources with our series’ reading books too. I am SO READY for this change of pace with my kiddos and to give them a strong foundation for our big push toward on-grade level at the end of the year.

In writing we’re going to work on finishing up our research unit. Boy, you want to talk about difficult? Try doing a research unit with snow days all over the place! Luckily my kids have been able to keep up with things, and I really attribute that to the simple research resources pack I made with them in mind. We do a 5-10 minute mini-lesson on the carpet where I model things using a famous American (Rosa Parks) that none of them are studying — then they break into their research groups and work! I get to meet with each group as-needed, and they can continue working on it beyond the writing block because of the scaffolded supports.

We’ll also be working on getting back on track with our phonics focus, as well as reviewing those pesky skills that somehow they always seem to forget! I’ll be using my bloggy BFF’s new phonics card games for review, and one of my favorite suffixes resources from Ladybug’s Teacher Files to work on our weekly skill.

In social studies we’re doing a quick review of vocabulary {look at that FULL vocabulary reference wall — finally!} before we take our big end-of-unit test on Tuesday. I don’t know what I would’ve done without this visual vocabulary pack I made… my ELL kiddos have just soaked up this vocabulary as you can see from the anchor chart I dictated for them (and they illustrated). Fingers crossed that as we review our vocabulary four-squares and make our vocabulary word posters they are ready to go on Tuesday!

Y’all, I’m so excited. It’s MATTER time!!! This is hands-down one of my favorite science units, and this year we’re doin’ it up big with some brand new resources. I am kicking myself for not having made these resources sooner, but I’m jazzed to have them for this group of kiddos! We’ll be doing the same thing we did with economics as far as vocab — leading with the visual vocabulary posters, co-creating an anchor chart, having a learning experience (experiment or our interactive PPT — which will be posted this week on TpT), and then closing with our vocabulary four-square.

I am so ready for them to rock this, and I am so ready to get in there and be a mad scientist with them! Woohoo for science!!!

If you’d like to download my visual plans and have ALL of the links to click on and refer to, click the button above. 🙂

One thing not pictured in my visual plans is a last-minute but always present addition — our Word Problems for Success. We do these a few mornings a week and then we do two at the end of the month to take as data that we track to make sure our problem-solving skills are where they need to be. I’m excited about some of the complexity of the problems this month, as I know it’s going to lead to a great discussion amongst the kiddos.

Speaking of that — would you look at the mathematical thinking that’s going on?! I am so stinkin’ proud of my kids.

Grab your free sample on TpT just in time for St. Patrick’s Day!

Five for Friday (And it’s actually Friday!)

February 20, 2015 by Sarah Plum(itallo) 2 Comments

Y’all… can you believe I’m actually posting, and I’m posting a Five for Friday ON Friday no less?! The stars have aligned! Or I was gifted a “cold” day today. Either works as an explanation.

Henry, enjoying a bowl full of snow!

Many of you have been on winter break, which initially I was jealous about. Mother Nature apparently does not like to disappoint me, as she gave us enough snow and a cold front so that we only went to school for 4.5 hours this week! I love love love winter — but only when there is snow on the ground and I can curl up in front of the fire with my family. This week was especially a blessing because…

While I’m exhausted, I know he won’t want to snuggle me forever! *sniff sniff*

Our entire house has been a walking pharmacy for two weeks. It all started with William (my Kindergartener) and his second stomach bug in a month. THEN I started getting sick, which turned out to be double ear infections (apparently I need tubes) and a sinus infection. Then the littlest, Henry, started getting VERY sick with every symptom under the sun. We’re talking irritability, refusing food and drink, etc. Now he has an ear infection, hives, and he got Mr. Plum sick. So if it weren’t for Mother Nature, Mama would have no sick leave left and a lot less sanity! We are all on the mend now, PTL. Seriously.

Not my picture, but totally making my mouth water right now.

Despite the sickies invading every space in our house, I managed to have an AWESOME day yesterday. I’ve been teaching our PEP – Parents as Educational Partners class to about half a dozen Hispanic parents for the past two months. After school yesterday we held our graduation and had our feast! The parents were SO sweet and brought in some of my favorite foods, including pupusas! If you have never had pupusas you must find a reputable place to purchase them immediately. Do not forget the curtido on top, it’s the best part! (If you have no idea what I’m talking about, check out pupusas here.)

Right after our feast, several colleagues and I drove a half-hour north to the Kennedy Center. I know, right?! On a school night?! Well, luckily in mid-feast we were notified school was called off for today so we DEFINITELY got to enjoy ourselves! We saw Matthias Pintscher conduct the National Symphony Orchestra and perform the North American debut of his concerto, Mar’eh. It was incredible. Seriously, y’all, this was life-changing. It has inspired me BIG TIME to find ways to enrich my students’ lives even further with the arts — I can’t wait to share with you how I’m planning to do that!

Please don’t tell the Kennedy Center that I broke the rules and took a picture. 😛

Now that I’m feeling better I’m catching up on blog posts, e-mails, and my VERY long to-do list for products. I’ve been meaning to play catch-up and get my next word problem pack out LONG before the 1st of the month, so look for March’s “Word Problem for Success” sometime in the next few days… It’s going to be a SUPER fun one, with lots of leprechauns, rainbows, and LOTS of springtime things to get you ready to say bye-bye to old man winter! {You can download February’s sampler, which includes the above pictured visualizing mini-lesson for FREE! Still plenty of time left to celebrate Chinese New Year in your classroom!}

If you made it through ALL of that, I’d love for you to leave a comment with your favorite snow or “cold” day activity and your e-mail — I’ll pick a winner Sunday night to win my March Word Problems for Success pack. You’ll get it before I post it! 🙂

{2-For-Tuesday} When Inspiration Strikes…

August 12, 2014 by Sarah Plum(itallo) 2 Comments

I’m linking up today for the first time with the Teaching Tribune for 2-for-Tuesday! I’m putting two resources 50% off for today only.

Have you ever been so inspired you just can’t sleep until you’ve completed your project? Well, that happens to me A LOT. Way more than I’d like to admit! It happened to me tonight when Krista Wallden {of Creative Clips} posted these new Rock Star Kids:

I was instantly inspired. I mean to tell you my brain was FLOODED with ideas.

And so this was born – We Will Rock You {Activities for a New Year}:

Seriously. Seriously. I was over the moon!

This resource is PERFECT to supplement your first week routines and procedures — and includes options and differentiated activities that truly can be used from Kindergarten through Fifth. I’ve also included what seems to now be a recurring theme in my packs — fun reward bracelets!

Why yes, that *is* a craftivity that looks just like a CD case. You can use the included writing prompts underneath the CD, or customize your own with the blank template! {Excuse the Instagram photo — I’m headed out to training this morning and the light wasn’t there since it’s still dark out!}

To continue with the Back-to-School theme, my second item for 50% off is my Place Value Through the Year: Back-to-School edition. I haven’t blogged about this yet, but I will at-length soon — once my room is setup and you can see the dedicated center. SO MUCH love was put into this, though, because place value is near and dear to my heart!

This includes FIVE fully-differentiated centers with recording sheets and extension options. The centers will remain the same in future editions so that students do not have to relearn procedures or a new game! What will change is the level of difficulty, and of course the theme! It’s a great way to keep students excited and engaged about math.