Rekenreks--New and Improved!

Well, another school year is off and running, and once again, I had the best of intentions of doing better at blogging.  Oh well...And so it goes.  Time escapes me once again.  I find myself wondering once again, what has kept me so busy? I'm not sure I will ever be able to answer that question.  

Anyhoo--I wanted to share my latest discovery about rekenreks.  I think I shared a while ago that I had made some and they were working out just fine.  However, by chance, I discovered a better way to make them.  It all started when I received my materials from Frog Street Press for the make and take session I did this summer in San Antonio (which, by the way, was a complete sell out!)  In making the rekenreks for my session, I discovered that they turned out even better than before, so I wanted to share that with you.

When I constructed the first ones, I put the pipe cleaners directly into the foam board, which meant that the pipe cleaners were taped down on the back, and they showed.  This time, I started with a cute name plate (there are so many to choose from!), and THEN I mounted them onto the foam board with hot glue.  The last step was taping the edges with duct tape.  I went with a name plate that would match my Rock Star themed room this time.  Also, I decided to make them all exactly the same.  I don't know about you, but if you have several to choose from, the kids will always want to be selective about which one they choose!  So now, I don't give them a choice, because they all look just alike, and time is saved when passing them out!  

Another tip I wanted to share this time is putting the little happy face sticker in the top left-hand corner.  Sometimes the kids want to tell you the way they made their number by starting on the right and moving toward the left.  I guess this would be OK, but I really want them to proceed from left to right, just like we do when we read.  So, this way, having the little smiley face helps them to remember where to start.  

Here are a few pictures to help give you an idea of how I constructed them this time:

It is my goal in the near future to make a little video that shows you how I use my rekenreks during our "Math Talks."  So, stay tuned--but don't hold your breath! 

Shake and Share Math Station--differentiated!

Two posts in the same week--I'm even surprising myself!  Just wanted to get another thing posted before my presentation at Frog Street Summer Splash next weekend.  Where in the world has the summer gone??!!

Anyhoo, I LOVE the Shake N Share game that I first found when perusing through the awesome math games created by Shari Sloane.  She does have some really great ones, by the way.  I love using the small water bottles and the tiny dice for mine.  The kids love this game so much, so I wanted to find a way to differentiate so they can play it more often in math stations.  Sometimes I use it as a "have to" station, and sometimes I use it as a "get to" that they may do once they have completed the other station in their tub. (I have now moved to true "partner games during my math workshop block, so only two students are at a station at a time.  Each tub has two activities--the "get to" and the "have to".)

I have several recording sheets so that you can differentiate when using this station.  First is just number recognition.  There are also recording sheets for 2-digit addition, 3-digit addition, and subtraction.  Just be sure that when the students subtract that they always write the bigger number first.

Here are a few pics of a few of the bottles that I will be giving away as DOOR PRIZES at Splash--I especially like the little "test tube" ones.  They are actually from Frog Street's catalog, but they are also available from Steve Spangler.

If you would like the little recording sheets I created, just click here:


https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7-XmG7SkkblUEZKeWVyMW01b0E/edit?usp=sharing

Hope to see you in San Antonio next weekend! 

FROG STREET SPLASH!

It's hard to believe that Summer is half over already. It always seems to fly by for me.  I am gearing up for a fabulous and fun weekend in San Antonio for the Frog Street Press Annual Summer Splash conference (July 17-19), and I'd love for you to join me.  I will be doing a couple of Make and Take Sessions on Thursday afternoon, and then presenting a session on workstations on Friday.  Thursday afternoon we will be making some of the cutest Rekenreks you've ever seen, along with some other super cute games and such featuring some Frog Street Press western packets.  Friday will be a jam-packed session filled with ideas, tips, and tricks for managing math stations and reader's workshop. It's not too late to plan to come!  Hope to see you there!

Crayons!

So, this post will be fairly short and sweet.  I just wanted to share an idea that I saw on Pinterest and show you that I have tried it, and it does, in fact, work!  You may have seen the pin that someone shared a while ago where she used plastic soap boxes for individual crayon cases for each student.  I have always just dumped all of our crayons into each supply box for all to share.  This can sometimes get tricky if all the students need to use the same color at the same time, so I thought I would give the soap boxes a try.  Well--I am into my second half of the year using them, and they are working like a charm! The original post was right--a box of 24 Crayola crayons fits perfectly in the soap cases (I got mine at Wal-Mart for .97 cents each.)  The kids love them, and they seem to make life easier, along with allowing the students to keep up with their own crayons.  Now, there are times when I find crayons lying on the floor or on the table, and of course no one wants to claim them.  When that happens, they are picked up and put into a large crayon box on my teacher table.  If someone is missing a particular color, he/she just goes to the big crayon box and finds the necessary color and puts it in his/her own box.  How easy is that?  Here are a couple of pics to help explain: 

Also, I give each student a fresh box of crayons at the beginning of the year, and then again in January.  When they get the new box in January, I explain that I KNOW that they are now more responsible, so I know that they can do a better job than they did before keeping up with their crayons.  So far, so good!

Can I just close with one question?  Why is it that the BROWN and RED crayons are always the ones that seem to disappear into thin air?  If anyone knows the answer to that question, please let me know!

Happy New Year!

So, once again, here I am having had the best intentions about blogging, and not getting it done like I promised.  Isn't that how it goes?  The Christmas season was super duper busy for me, as I was part of a Christmas production at my church that took up a huge chunk of my time.  The Gift of Christmas is probably one of the largest productions in the country, if not THE largest, and although it's so much fun to be a part of it, it wore me out!

Anyhoo, I wanted to show you how cute my door and wall are for the winter.  I originally saw a picture on Pinterest, and then told my fabulous room moms that they could do whatever they wanted to on my door and outside wall.  I think it turned out ridiculously cute, don't you?

Here are a few pics:

Stay tuned--I promise that I am going to do better this year about staying connected and posting more!