Ms. Tiana McEwen's Class

Beginning of the Year Math Stations- FREEBIES

Beginning of the Year Math Stations- FREEBIES: We are beginning our math work stations. The kids are really excited! They love it! We are mostly doing activities with counting and numbers. Here are a few pictures and FREEBIES!

This is called Grab and Count. I wrote about it in a previous post. You can check it out HERE and HERE along with other activities I do for math stations. I made the bag from a gift bag and added a label and I got the foam cubes from Dollar Tree. They are nice and quiet!

This activity I tweaked from a Math Investigations lesson. I have 6-7 boxes with items in them to count. The students count and then record on the sheet. I have things like buttons, beads, chips, clips, and tiny toys to count. Click on the sheet below for a PDF of the recording sheet.

This activity is an idea from Shari Sloane. She has tons of math center ideas. If you've never checked out her sight you need to go there. Click HERE for the link. I think she calls it 'Make a Train'. I added a few more ropes and a recording sheet and called it 'Make a Cube Train'. The kiddos straighten out the 4 different sized ropes and then make a cube train as long as each of them. Then they count the cubes and record the number. My kids LOVE to make cube trains. This is a very easy activity to make and lots of fun. Click on the sheet below for a PDF.

Another activity from Shari Sloane is 'Race to Trace'. She has one for numbers 0-6 and adding numbers. I made one so my firsties can practice writing their numbers 0-9. You'll need a 10-sided die 0-9 to play. Click on the picture above for a PDF.

This activity I got a long time ago but I again tweaked it a bit. I really like my kids to see the ten frames and tallies. You will also need a 10-sided die for this one too. Again, click on the sheet above for a PDF.

I don't know about you but I couldn't teach without 10-sided dice. I use them for tons of things. If you don't have any you can check them out here at Amazon.com

These are a few of the activities for my math stations this month. I try to change them every month and add new things that we've been working on.

I hope you find something that you can use in your classroom. Even if you don't do math stations, a lot of these activities can be used with your whole class or in small groups.

If you download PLEASE consider leaving some FEEDBACK. I'd love to hear from you!

Writing Pack Winner, Info, and What's Hatching??

Writing Pack Winner, Info, and What's Hatching??: Wowza!!!! I totally didn't expect the giveaway to be that big! You all are awesome!!! Thanks bunches for entering and popping by and all the super sweet comments!!!!
Rafflecopter has picked a winner.................drumroll please..............................congrats to...........................

Congrats Rachel M:) Look for my Writing goodies coming your way:) I decided since you all were so awesomely (word?) sweet, I would have Rafflecopter pick another winner! Congrats also goes to:

Congrats to you too Kerry! Look for your pack today:)

I also had quite a few questions about my Shake, Write, Learn tumblers

They are full of those lovely sight words!! The kids find one, write it, then use it in a wonderful sentence and repeat:) lol You can read more about them here. I had a worksheet last year to go with it. This year my kiddos need practice with conventions as well as spelling, so we are writing lots and lots of sentences instead of just the word:)

Also, here is the link for details about my Vocabulators:)

I wanted to give a little sneak peek at something I'll be blogging about later this week. Last Monday, my kiddos walked into the room to these on their desks.....

Can you guess what they are (or are supposed to be....)???????????

Each student each got one of these too!

Give up????

Well, one student finished one of his projects early..........

Have a blessed Sunday!

Source: misselementary.blogspot.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

Decor in the classroom

This Year's Daily 5 Anchor Charts

This Year's Daily 5 Anchor Charts: I had posted my Daily 5 Anchor Charts for last year HERE, but wanted to give you a quick follow-up with this year's charts.

I don't make them exactly like the book, and you can probably see the differences pretty quickly.

I incorporate one of our school's character assets under each of the options. This gives the kids the chance to think about that asset as they work in that session and I can also draw out some pretty cool character asset compliments during this time, like, "I love how so-and-so is showing so much respect toward our iPod!" during Listen to Reading.

I also don't always put "Teachers are:" on the right-hand side of the charts. We do that for the first chart on Read to Self, but afterwards, I like to use the space to write down choices they have during that time. This helps answer a lot of questions about what they should be working on and gives them huge visual clues in case they forget :)

Without further ado...