Taking on Second : Place Value

Task Card Crazy

My class went a little crazy this week, task card crazy that is! We had Parent/Teacher Conferences and fall break right on the horizon. I don't know how you get ready for conferences, but I HAVE to be on the floor with all my papers all around me. It is quite a sight:)

LOVE using the panorama function on my new phone!

We have been working on place value and using our hundred chart. Well I had found an awesome set of task cards where students had to do ten more or ten less than a number from 1-1000. Last year, I didn't introduce students to numbers above 100 for a while. This year, I want students to realize their skills do not stop at 100. They can use what they know for any number!

In my room, I use task cards ALL THE TIME! I make a lot of them but I also find a lot. I love Jamie's from Diary of a Not So Wimpy Teacher! Sometimes I print and laminate them, but a lot of times, I just print at school with no color. We use them scoot style, sometimes we use them in groups, sometimes I just walk around the room and put them on the floor. Students like this because they can just walk around and not lose their place in the circle.

This I put them on the floor. These cards need the hundred charts for numbers 1-1000. I put the task cards around the room with the charts in the middle for students to use for reference.

The best part about using task cards is that students can go at their own pace. They are able to walk around and move, not just stay at their seat.

I made a response sheet for students to just do ten task cards. They can pick and choose. They have to tell me what card number in the small box and their answer in the larger box. I think this tricks the kids into working quicker because they don't have to work soooo much, or so they think!

Fall break has officially started at my school. We are off all week! Too bad my husband has a list, a long list of things to do before we put the house up for sale. I guess it will be best to just get it over with!

Happy fall!

Five for Friday-TGIF

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I had a little bit of a crummy week. I think I just was grouchy all week. Do you ever have those weeks? Here are the highlights of my grumpy week. There were quite a few:)

I got the prettiest flower from one of my little girls! These kids always know how to brighten up my day! They are too sweet!

We finally got the room decorated for Halloween! I love our math Candy Corn! They turned out soooo well! Check out my post all about them by clicking on the picture! They took about 20 minutes (ish) to make and the kids had a lot of fun doing it.

Yes... I am one of those people who dress up their pet. I love looking for a new costume for Willy! Toby doesn't humor me as much as Willy does. Here is what we are thinking for this year. What do you think?

Cutest pirate ever right!?! It is so hard finding outfits to fit his looooonnnng body! It always looks like the shirt shrunk! I love him!

My 2nd anniversary was last week! If you like us on Facebook, you saw the most awesome anniversary gift ever! It's had to believe two years ago next week my super handsome husband and I were in Italy on my honeymoon. It was the best vacation( of course it was, we were in Italy) ever! While we were there, it flooded in Venice! We got to venture out in boots(Willies according to the English lady we ran into) and splash through the stores and streets. It was the highlight of our trip!

We have been talking about weather all week. Our story was Super Storms and I love love talking about storms. I think the kids caught on to my excitement because they loved talking about them too! We had a crummy, rainy week in Southern Indiana. I had one boy ask, " We are reading about storms, and it stormed last night. Why did it do that?" It just cracked me up! In honor of all the super storms we talked about, which of course talked about how crazy the wind gets, we made weather vanes! It was super fun! I'll be blogging about how we did it this up coming week!

Candy Corn Math

We made the cutest candy corn today! It took about thirty minutes, three pieces of paper, a little chaos management, and a messy example on the board, but wow! They turned out great!

During my prep, I created tracers for each piece of the candy corn. I didn't make enough for each person to have a set, they did have to share. The pieces were labeled so everyone could see what it was. I was so proud of how well my students shared the tracing pieces!

I kept hearing, "Who needs a bottom?!" yelled across the room. This was the only chaotic part. It wasn't even bad because they were sharing so well!

When they had all their pieces traced, the students had to cut them out!

I had originally thought about putting the candy corn together on a piece of construction paper to hang. Then duh! it hit me! The students can use both sides of their candy corn and it will look soooo much cuter hanging if you can see both sides.

Once it was put together, students had to draw two numbers( one for the front and one from the back) from a baggie. The numbers were from a 100's chart that had been cut up. I took out 1-19 because those are kind of boring to work with ones and tens. The number they drew goes at the top, in the white. In the orange, the kids had to tell me how many tens and ones their number had. In the bottom, they had to show the expanded form for their number.

I hung them up after I check them! My classroom is sure screaming fall now! I love it! If you need a template to make your tracers, just google it:)

Place Value

Generally during math, I do math stations. After our math lesson (whole group activity) for the day, my students split up into math stations. My students love this time. Often times, we are doing hands on activities. I generally have four to five stations going at one time. Sometimes more, sometimes less depending on what skills I want the students to work on. In general the four groups I have are Accelerated Math, Ipad/Proboard Activity, Hands-On Activity, and Working with the Teacher.

We needed to review and work on Place Value. During today's rotation, I decided to teach my kids a simple game (or activity) that they can play quickly at home. This game requires only a scrap piece of paper and a die. I wanted my students to make numbers to the thousands place. Therefore, I had my kids made a large rectangle on their piece of paper and divide it into four smaller rectangles, making a column for ones, tens, hundreds, and thousands. Then we began by rolling a die. The students had to put the number they rolled into one of their boxes. After everyone rolled, we went around again. The key was to be the person to make the highest number. Of course the goal would be to put a high number in the thousands box. It took some of my kids a while to figure this out. However, most caught on after one or two rounds. They figured out quickly why another student won. Of course I differentiated instruction by having my higher group make a number in the ten thousands place and my lower group only a number in the hundreds place. They loved it. It was simple and quick to prepare. They can also play at home because it requires only a die.