ULTIMATE FREEBIE COLLECTION

 

I am so excited to be a part of Teaching Blog Addict's ULTIMATE FREEBIE COLLECTION!

Here are your freebies! If you take a freebie and use it in your classroom, will you PLEASE snap some pictures and send them my way?? I'll be posting some more freebies throughout next week, so stay tuned!

Here is the one I promised from yesterday RHYME GUY! To find out more about Rhyme Guy and how I use it in my classroom, visit yesterday's post Click on the picture to get your own

I have also posted BUILD math centers as a freebie on TpT 

Remember BUILD? They are choice based math centers that you can find all over Pinterest and my blog =) Click on the picture to snag your copy.

Lastly, I wanted to invite you all to a new blog that belongs to my friend, fellow kindergarten teacher and the one I swap many ideas with... Special Education meets General Education


 Adie is an amazing teacher with amazing ideas. At our school she is a super SPED teacher but she holds a SPED credential and General Education credential making her twice as good as me! Visit her blog and tell her I sent ya!

Happy Friday!
Vanessa

B is for BUILD (continued)

It's Thursday!!! I am ready for the weekend, just one...more...day...
I got caught up with putting up my new bulletin boards today after school so I completely forgot my summer school binder and my guide to everything BUILD related. For now, here are the activities that I have used and am hoping to use with my K-1 and 2-4 summer school classes. I am giving you these from memory because I wanted to be sure I posted today, I will surely forget many things so bear with me! Don't forget to pick up the BUILD freebie from my last post.

B- Buddy Games- These are various games that work on different concepts. Since this is summer school, I want to give exposure to as many things as possible in order to keep their brains fresh. If this were the regular school year, I would put games out that relate to the current area of study with a few review games.
K-1 B
-ZINGO, number puzzles, addition/subtraction puzzles, Flip (also known as war), addition/subtraction Flip, memory, Bankrupt (coin identification game), clear the board
2-4 B
-Multiplication flip, mystery number, racing rectangles, BINGO, power towers, race to the top,

U- Using Manipulatives- I really want the students to get a chance to explore the manipulatives and use them in many different ways. I don't have worksheets or reflections for this but I set many expectations to be sure that they are working on math concepts. 
K-1 U
-Balance scales, fruit & dinosaur counters, pattern blocks, pattern blocks picture sheets, rulers (showing only inches), number cubes, unifix cubes, sorting rings, and more
2-4 U
-Scales, unifix cubes, base 10 blocks, calculators, dinosaur counters, rulers, and more

I- Interactive Math- I changed this from the original "Independent Math." The freebie has Interactive Math but if you'd like to have an Independent Math pack, please feel free to ask! I will be happy to set you one to match the others. I am fortunate to have 8 iPods in my classroom so students use these during "I" time. I will also begin to get students to ixl.com and/or XTRAmath.com, I'm not sure which to use yet.

L- Learning Numbers- I have worksheets and daily practice sheets to use during "L" time. Since we do many hands-on, game-like lessons, we try to make sure students also get practice doing some fun and motivating worksheets, because, unfortunately, they just have to know how to do these. Bummer.
K-1 L
-Color by number/addition/subtraction, Connect the dots (count by 1s, 2s, 5s, 10s), domino dot counting, domino dot addition/subtraction, fact families, flashcards and more
2-4 L
-Color by number (double digit addition/subtraction, multiplication, division), number BOGGLE, division bingo, missing numbers multiplication table, flashcards and more

D- Doing Math- This is the time where I can work with students in a small group. I can teach new concepts, review, practice, etc. Doing math time is so important to meeting all students' needs. I also teach how to play new games for buddy games or explain worksheets for learning numbers.

What I forgot to mention in my last post was that I keep track of what the students choose each day. This way I can be sure that each student makes it to each letter and everyone gets a fair chance to play the "fun" things (I actually just mean the iPods, they are quite popular). If it were up to the kiddos, they would choose the same ones over and over but that defeats the whole purpose of BUILD! In the freebie pack, there is a grid to jot down what the students are choosing. You can make 2 double sided copies of it and you are ready for a month!

Here are some snapshots of the kiddos at work...

Sorting rings

iPods

Number scale. This isn't exactly how to use this but look at what he's doing! I would have never thought of that! I asked him to use different types of things on both sides to see what would happen, he was hooked!

Number puzzles

Racing Rectangles

Flip (also known as War)

Make 10. Played like goldfish but instead of pairs, you have to get 2 cards that add up to 10.

Flashcards are kept in a photo album so that I can use them for years to come!

I hope this helps someone out there and please, please, please offer any suggestions. I really am new to this and sharing how I have used it, but I am no expert! Again, let me know if you download the freebie by leaving a comment.

Almost Friday!

B is for BUILD (and a freebie)

Hello Friends!
I want to share what I do in BUILD but my goodness, it is a lot of work and information so I am breaking it up into parts.

BUILD Choice board

Organizing BUILD
I started by organizing EVERYTHING! Whenever I implement anything in my classroom, this is the first thing on my to-do list. I think about every aspect of it: how students will choose, where the supplies will be, how students will access the supplies, the amount of time per task, how to monitor time (I have a great app for this), yada, yada, yada. I created the BUILD signs, figured out the BUILD bins and was ready to rock. Next on the list: the activities. Now, for summer school, I teach incoming kindergarteners through 4th graders. There are 4 classes: two K-1 classes and two 2-4 classes. So I had to be sure to include things for each grade level to do. This was definitely the hardest part for me. During the regular school year, when I have one grade level and I know what their goals and needs are, this will come much easier but K-4 is TOUGH! You may have also noticed that I color coded everything as well. This helps all students, including me. I just made the copies onto colored paper (mostly to save ink). Having the visual organization gives students a way to access it, even if they aren't sure what the letters are or what they mean. In our inclusive classroom, making it color coded was a no-brainer.
Starting BUILD
BUILD stands for
B-Buddy Games
U-Using Manipulatives
I-Interactive Math
L- Learning Numbers
D-Doing Math
I started by listing all of the activities that can go for each letter. You may not be able to see it very well but these are the sheets I started out using. They were a great starting point for me to get my thoughts straight. I also created folders on my computer, one for each letter and sub-folders for each grade level. 

                                                                              

does anyone know how I can get these pictures next to each other?

I then put these sheets together in my BUILD folder. In the folder there are tabs for: plans (longterm), BUILD check in sheets, Doing Math problems, Intake Forms (information about my summer school kiddos, since there are so many!) and Activities.

I gathered all of the empty bins that I could find (luckily I just gave my library a makeover) and slapped those with a label. The students will be able to access their own materials AND they are separated by group, a K1 bin and a 2-4 bin (don't forget this is only for my crazy summer school).

The next steps in starting BUILD are to compile all materials, activities and sheets and start moving. Over the next couple of days I will post about each letter and the activities that I have been using, will use and hope to use. This is my first time doing this so if you have any pointers, please let me know! For now, enjoy this freebie! 

Don't worry, yours won't say freebie!

The BUILD Signs and choices board, check in sheets and BUILD activities organizer. If you download it, please comment below, I'd like to know if anyone is going to benefit from them!

I'm sure I have forgotten something, so please don't hesitate to ask questions otherwise, have a good night! 

Winner! Winner! And other things...

I have had an amazing week! This is the first time I have been able to sit down at my computer for longer than 10 minutes. I feel so left out! Let me give you the rundown of my week...
Monday a Summer school meeting. Yes, I am teaching summer school but not to worry... I have inspiration (more to come). Tuesday was my birthday so, dinner with the fam and back home to work on summer school madness. Wednesday was more summer school work and PACKING. Pack. Pack. Pack. Thursday was report card day, finish up those grades and start those comments and my sister invited me to her place for dinner, how could I say no? Friday was the last day of school. Wait, what?! The last day of school! Woopdy, Woop! But how did it sneak up on me!? I have been so busy preparing for summer school and packing up my classroom that the last day of school did not get the full attention and respect that it deserved. I made all of my students gifts (quickly on Friday morning): a handwritten note, a penny & a kiss (read my freebie post for more info), a pencil and a book. My students were such sweethearts this year. I cannot believe it is all over. *Sigh* I am really going to miss them! *Sigh* Now to start my summer! Well, kinda, I can start when I finish my summer school curriculum to start in July, finish my report card comments and finish packing up my classroom. But after all that, summer here I come! lol. Man, have I had a week!

Speaking of summer school... I taught summer school last year and boy, it was a hot mess! We have a K-4 group and a 5-8 group. The K-4 group is broken up into 4 groups 2 K-1 groups and 2 2-4 groups. Still with me? Well, they rotate between 4 classes and basically, I teach to all the kiddos in K-4. Can you imagine my panic? I teach kindergarten, what do I do with these "big kids!?" I thought I had it all figured out last year but I WAS WRONG. Don't get it too twisted, they all did a great job hanging in there with me and I had a great plan for each day, but it was not what I would want to do again. So I am jumping in again but this time with a better plan. I have to think about all those grade levels, all my students with special needs and all of my students who are below grade level. I have to think about how to organize it all, how to get to each student, and how to make it fun, I mean, it is summer! SO what should I do???? I was discussing with my co-teacher and since I am a Daily5 maniac, she simply said, "Do Daily 5 Math." DUH! GENIUS! PINTEREST, HERE I COME!
Here is my inspiration for summer school... (click on the picture to take you to my pin & the link)

BUILD stands for: Buddy Games, Using Manipulatives, Independent Work, Learning Numbers, Doing Math. 

I am changing the I from Independent Work to Interactive Math. We have a subscription to a great math site IXL and I may do XtraMath.com which is free. But since I'll have different grade levels, the site will give them their independent practice without having to make copies & figure out what they can do.

What to do for inclusion?
That one is easy, make sure every student has a choice of activity at their level, to work on their goals. Since not all students will be able to access the computers or use the mouse, using the iPods with math games will work for some students. While others will have their choice of "Interactive" games to play.

I am hoping that the plan will work out. I am starting to prepare my materials and I'm crossing my fingers, toes, arms, eyes and legs that I don't lose my mind! Any tips for me? Please help out! =) 

Lastly, we have a WINNER! 

APRIL WOLFE FROM Wolfelicious

won a $10 TPT giftcard for joining my BirthdaySchmirthdayGiveaway! 

thank you all for participating... another one will come very soon... 

Happy Sunday!