Math Ideas

All About Me

I’ve been working hard all summer on letters and words. I just had a little freak out about the first week of school. I always have the theme of “All About Me”, it gives me a chance to get to know my students and their families. It also allows me to do some informal assessment, in addition to the normal baseline assessments. I usually cobble together work for the students to do from different sources. This year, I wanted to do my own thing! I created a book that the students and I can collaborate to create. It includes a name writing piece, as well as drawing a picture of their head and their body. I may make photocopies of these and keep them in my assessment binder!

Letters H and T

I have completed a few more letters in the alphabet worksheet series! I worked on letters H and T. I shared what I have done so far with a colleague that teaches Pre-K. She expressed dismay that I was not doing these in alphabetical order. I assured her that I was doing the entire alphabet. Although I am making them in the order that I will be presenting them, she can also present them in ABC order. I also showed her how the QR code worked! Next up, letters I, U,and C!

Letters E and F

Following the order of easiest to most difficult when writing, I have finished worksheet packets for the letters Ff and Ee! Each packet will take about a week for Pre-K or Kindergarten students to complete. They start easy and get more refined as the week progresses. I can’t wait to start using these with my class in September!

Letter Ff Packet

Letter Ee Packet

Letters

I had an idea all this past school year to make my own packets, both for worksheets and for hands on activities, for each letter of the alphabet. I’m so happy to announce that I finally got the first letter finished! I started with the letter Ll, because it is the easiest one to write. For the first time, I have embedded QR code in my product. When you zap the code, it takes you to an instructional video of how to draw a capital L and a lower-case l. I hope to do this for all of the letters over the summer! Here are the Hands On Packet and the Worksheet Packet.

New Start

Last week, I got the new school calendar. Yesterday, I received my new class list. I don’t know why I get so excited about these two things. Maybe it’s the chance at a new beginning. Maybe it’s the chance to learn from last year. Maybe it’s a chance to try out all of my new ideas. I can’t believe that after 20 years of teaching, I still have new ideas! So thinking forward, I am redoing my assessment binder for my new class. Each student gets their own section. In it, I have a color, cut and paste activity for each month of the school year. These are arranged from easiest (straight lines, one shape) to most difficult. Even after only a few months, I can show these to parents at the conference and they are always astounded at the change in their students. From writing their name, to coloring, to  cutting on a line, these skills all come together quickly at the beginning of the year. Next in my binder, each child gets an assessment packet. I have looked at my progress reports and taken the skills that I need to look at and put them all here. It is color-coded by baseline, and all three trimesters. At a glance, I can easily see not only what they have learned, but when they learned it! The last thing in each section is a monthly calendar. In here, I write who and what the students are playing with. If there are any incidents (good and bad) that stand out. I also jot down any info by parents. This way, I have it documented and dated if that information should ever be required. So this is part of what I am doing on my summer “off”!

Writing Practice

I often use dotted lines to allow children to trace their names or words. This helps with fine motor control, learning the shapes of letters, and how to spell their name or words. I have created a writing practice packet available on my teachers pay teachers site. I will be using these along with the reading words and reading flashcards in my classroom next year.

Independence Day

With the Fourth of July right around the corner, lots of us are thinking of ways to celebrate this holiday with our students. I have put together a 4th of July Packet with games, songs, activities and crafts that celebrate the red, white, and blue and get some learning in, too!

Reading Flashcards

As I was working on my new reading word list, I realized that I could easily turn them into color-coded flashcards for use at home and in school. They are available on my Teachers Pay Teachers site: Reading Flashcards. I will be copying, laminating, cutting out and creating bundles for each student to use as they learn the words and pass through my reading program. I thought about creating a learned word wall, sticking the flashcards on there as the students master them. Maybe when we get to a certain milestone number, we could have a celebration like the hundredth day, but celebrating words instead of numbers.

Reading Words

I have revamped my reading word list. I used Fry’s word list as an inspiration. I created word lists that break these reading words into manageable chunks. In the coming days, I will make flashcards and spelling/ writing practice pages to go along with these. In the coming weeks, I will be making reading books, reading logs and worksheets to correlate to these words. I am giving this word list as a freebie here:  Reading Words List.