Money and the November Calendar Routine

Here is my suggestion for calendar time for the month of November:  Create a pattern of coins. 

 

As each new coin is introduced, a new piece of information can be discuss about that particular coin. I used plastic money and just double-stick taped it to the laminated calendar.

As different information is discussed about each coin, an anchor chart can be created like this one from First Grade Parade blog:



So what do you think about my idea?  Leave a comment...

Even and Odd

Why do many teachers only teach examples of even and odd numbers, and not properties of even and odd numbers?

What do I mean?  Well, this is what I discussed with a 1st Grade Student when the only thing she could tell me about even and odd numbers was:
Even is 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10
Odd is 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9
And that's all....

First, we built models of the numbers 1 through 10

Then I asked her 2 separate the models into 2 groups that were alike in some way.

This is how she separated the models.  When I asked her what she noticed about the two groups, and she noted this on the models:

"This group doesn't have a partner for each part of the number

and this group does have a partner.  See, how I circled the partners."

Then we discussed how certain numbers can be divided into groups of two, and that we call those numbers Even Numbers.

We went on to talk about odd numbers too.  Since she is in a dual language class, she also wanted to write the Spanish word for even/par and odd/impar on the model.

Next, I asked her to now tell me what she knows about even and odd numbers and she wrote this:

I found it interesting that she put an arrow after the numbers and said "and on and on."  (That put a smile on my face.)

So we talked about how you look at the "on and on numbers" in the ones place to see if they are even numbers or odd numbers. 

I evaluated her knowledge by quickly using a set of teen number cards.

and asked her to classify them as even or odd numbers. 

She was correct, and we even checked our first answer to
 prove that she was correct.

Deborah

 

"Because"

When I taught 2nd, 3rd, and even 4th Grade Classes, I was always surprised how many students could not spell the word "because."


SO..... how about changing the computer log-in password that your students must use to  "because." This just might be the perfect way to make sure all of your students learn the correct spelling of this important word. What do you think about that idea?

Deborah

Developing Number Sense: Plus 1 or 2

   In his book, "Teaching Student-Centered Mathematics," John Van de Walle states "When children count, they have no reason to reflect on the way one number is related to another. The goal is only to match number words with objects until they reach the end of the count. To learn that 6 and 8 are related by the twin relationships of "two more than" and "two less than" requires reflection on these ideas within tasks that permit counting. Counting on  (or back) one or two counts is a useful tool in constructing these ideas."

 

Of course, the development of this skill is also quite useful when adding 2 + 7, or 1 + 9.

 

 There are 36 addition facts that include the addend of 1 or 2. 

 

So I hope this game will help you. 

 Click HERE to take you to my Google Drive where you can download the game board.

 

Deborah