Daily Spiral Math Review In Kindergarten!

Has anyone else had the Smonday Blues today??  I have all day today.  I think it is because, while I had a fun filled weekend with friends, I really got nothing productive done.  And while one part of me says, 'Live it up girlfriend--YOLO!', the other part of me is sitting here staring at the laundry, dishes, etc. etc. etc.  But I choose to go with YOLO (and no I am not too old to say that ;) )


Anyway, I decided to be slightly productive on this Smonday and share something with you all that I have been wanting to for awhile now.

My district has emphasized math during our PD's these past few years.  We adopted a Balanced Math approach.  It is pretty much the same idea as Balanced Literacy--there are different components that are to be used 'equally'.  When I first heard this, I like was thinking, well duh, it makes so much sense!  It works well with literacy so why not with math as well?

The first component my instructional coach wanted us to implement was Math Review.  This is just supposed to be a quick (5-10 min. max), daily review of about 4 math problems.  So easy right?!

.....And then I remembered that I teach Kindergarten.  I am sure my fellow K teachers can relate--we are just such a different creature!  That is not to say that these things can't be used in Kindergarten, just that I need to figure out how to adapt it and make it easily accessible and engaging to my little ones.  I cannot do what the older grades did, which is print a few word problems or equations on a piece of paper, give the kiddos 5 minutes to work independently, collect papers, and move on.  Just not a reality in my kindergarten classroom.

Sooooo, with a little brainstorming of my team my Kindergarten Daily Math Review Journals were born!  There are 20 pages for each month, including a cute themed cover.  On each page there are 4 skills to practice, with the last always being a story problem.  These journals start out very simple in August and the skills progress through the months, eventually hitting all the K math standards.  The best part though is that the skills SPIRAL!  We cannot just teach a concept once in September and think that they are going to remember it in May.  So the journals introduce new concepts each month but also review previously taught ones.

Here is an example from our August Math Review Journals:

 And from September:

We have a little routine and the students get pretty independent at Math Journal Time.  We get them out and I explain each part.  I then give them a little independent work time where I walk around assisting as needed.  We then come back together and I choose students to share their journal with the class.  This share time is SO important!  It not only motivates them to do their best (they want to be a sharer) but it also works on explaining their thinking and reasoning.  By the end of the year, they are pros at explaining how they got their answer.  It also helps any kiddos who may not have gotten the right answer to see a strategy their friend used so they can try it next time.

*The KIDS LOVE THESE because they are cute and fun!  They beg to get them out and if we miss a day, they are NOT happy about it!  *I LOVE THESE because I have seen my students math skills skyrocket the past couple years we have been using them!!  The daily review really helps to build their confidence and keep the skills fresh in their minds.  *It also helps me not to stress so much--I know that if they didn't 100% 'get it' today that it's ok!!  This skill will come up many more times in future journal pages.

We are currently working in our January Math Review Journals:

They love to decorate the front and it is an excellent early finisher activity!

At the end of the month, if any pages are left I let students complete them at home and return them for Class Dojo points.  It makes a great at home practice!

One other way I have begun to use these is for intervention groups.  For example, I have a small group that is working in the October Journals right now when our Math RTI teacher works with them.  It works well because it is right at the level they need for now and she doesn't have to dig around looking for things to use with them.  She does a math journal and then a game each day.  As my kiddos would say--Easy Peasy! 

We send our journals to the district print shop and just have these ready to go!  We ask them to print the front cover and back cover on pretty cardstock to make them a little more durable.  Here are the rest of the years Math Review Journals just waiting to be used! :)

If you'd like to check these out, click here.  These are available as a bundle or as each month separately.  I hope you love these as much as we do! 

Thanks for motivating me to make my Smonday a little more productive!  This was a lot more fun than laundry and dishes!  ;)

Happy Martin Luther King Day!

Good morning and Happy Martin Luther King Day!!

Does anyone else find it super frustrating when you can't sleep in on your day off??  I was wide awake at 7am.  I guess my body knows it is Monday and was afraid I was late for work.  Grrrr.  Oh well, since I couldn't sleep, I did what any normal teacher would do on her day off--poured a cup of coffee and got to work!  :)

But before I go to work on some President's Day activities (coming soon to my TpT store) I thought I would share with you our week of MLK studies.

I know there are contradicting views, but I personally think it SO important to teach about MLK to my kinders.  However, it is a very touchy subject.  Not only trying to explain the racism, but trying to explain what 'assassinated' means and why someone would do that.....it is a sensitive subject all around.  I don't want to go into TOO much detail, yet I want them to understand the moral of the story and why MLK is so important to our history.


First, we started the week by reading a couple books that are actually geared toward early learners.  My First Biography and A Picture Book are my 2 favorites.  They explain the history in an easy to understand way.

We then read my printable reader of MLK and did the comprehension check that goes along with it.  Students LOVE 'proving' their answer by highlighting it in the text in the color the sheet tells them to.  The kinder version of using 'text-based' evidence.  :)

This takes very guided practice in the beginning but after doing several like this, most are very good and pretty independent at it.

We also watched this short Kid President video.  Who doesn't love Kid President???  He is too stinkin cute and makes more sense than a lot of us adults do sometimes!  ;)

After we had gathered all of our knowledge of MLK from our different sources, we created a Was/Had/Wanted chart.  (Usually on these types of charts, I use interactive writing and have the kids help.  However we were short on time, so I just had them tell me what to write.)

Next, we each recorded 3 facts we had learned about Martin Luther King, Jr. (using our chart as a reference).  They did a great job on these--I could really tell how much they had learned!

 

We then started making connections to MLK.  What dreams do you have?  We had a class discussion and brainstormed some dreams.  We then created this simple craftivity where they finish the prompt, color and cut MLK and glue together on a piece of construction paper.

This is probably my favorite MLK activity because I absolutely adore their answers.  Some are funny, typical 5 year old dreams (toys, vacations), and some tug at your heart strings with their sweet, innocent answers, such as these:

(Everyone be friends.)

 (People to be kind.)

And one of my sweet little girls had a very specific dream:

(To have 20 Shopkins.)     :)

These make an adorable bulletin board for all to see when they walk by our room!

We also made crowns, but with the craziness of Friday I forgot to snap a pic!  :(  Fortunately, there is always next year!  But of course I couldn't leave you without a freebie, so click here to download the crowns for free!  :)

All of these activities and lots more are part of my MLK pack.  Click here to check out the entire set!

I also just posted my Groundhog Day set with activities very similar to these.  I will be blogging about it soon, but click here to see more in the meantime!

I hope you all have a fabulous and well deserved day off!!

December Part 2!

So it took me a little longer than I thought it would to get to this second blog post.....but hey it was still December less than 2 days ago right??  So I am not that late!  As with every break, I had high hopes for myself on all the things I would accomplish, but each time something seems to 'come up' and distract me....this time its name was Grey's Anatomy....

Can anyone else relate??  The struggle is real.

As excited as I am for all the amazing things 2016 will bring, I am a little sad that December is over--it is such a fun time to teach!  I always have SO many things I want to do and not enough time to do them.  I already blogged about our Elf Adventures we do all December long here.

One of the first things we do is Reindeer.  I LOVE doing research with my kinders.  They absolutely love learning facts and new vocabulary words.  We use a mixture of my own creations and Deanna Jump's reindeer unit.  First we read and learn all about reindeer.  We record our learning on a can/have/are chart and then they make their own All About Reindeer books.  They love showing off what they have learned!  I display these on their clips in the hallway for all to see.

 We then make reindeer glyphs from Deanna Jump's reindeer unit.  We display these right next to our books!

Then we move on to one of my All-Time favorite lessons!  I have been doing these since my 2nd year of teaching and I love it just as much every year!

We read the book Santa's Stuck by Rhonda Gowler Greene.  If you don't have this book in your December collection, you are missing out!  It is about Santa eating too many cookies and treats, getting fatter, and then getting stuck in a chimney.  Excellent for problem/solution and cause/effect.  We then make text to self connections and write what we would do if we found Santa stuck in our chimney.  Their ideas are always hilarious and so creative!  We then make our Santa's in the chimney and glue on our writing--voila adorable December bulletin board!!

And finally, I have saved the best for last--our parent gifts!  I think it is so important to have the kiddos make something special and personalized to give to their parents.  I have done all sorts of things over the years--most involving painting hands and/or glitter--eek!!  While they turned out nicely in the end, it was always pretty stressful with 25 kinders to paint or glitter up and I dreaded the actual process of making them.  So about 3 years ago we came up with a better idea and I have never looked back!  :)

Students write and decorate a card for their mom/dad/grandma/grandpa/whoever they choose.  

Now for the fun part--photo booth!!  We have all sorts of Christmas props--snowman, elf, Santa, reindeer, etc.  I let the students choose what they want to be, snap a pic, print them out, and put them in the cards they made. 

SO MUCH fun and SO MUCH less stress than my previous adventures in parent gifts!  Parents adore them!

Well I think that pretty much sums up the end of 2015 in my classroom!  Thanks for joining and Happy 2016!!