Math Station: Spin a Shape

I'm starting to think about my math stations for September.  One station is going to be shapes. I was thinking of some basic ideas for shape identification and matching.  I came across a shape spin game but it had more shapes than my program assesses.  I decided to make my own with just circle, triangle, square and rectangle.

The students will use the spinner to spin a shape, tell the name of the shape, and then cover up the shape with a bingo chip. Students try to cover up all of the shapes on their game board. This game is for practicing 2D shapes.

You can view my game at: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Spin-a-Shape-846584

Word Walls

What are word walls?
A word wall is an organized collection of words prominently displayed in a classroom. This display is used as an interactive tool for teaching reading and spelling to children. There are many different types of word walls including names, high frequency words and word families.

Why do I need a word wall?
Word walls have many benefits. They teach children to recognize and spell high frequency words, see patterns and relationship in words build phonemic awareness skills.  They also provide a reference point for children to use during writing.  

Word walls can be used:

• To promote independence on the part of young students as they work with words in writing and reading.
• To develop a growing core of words that become part of a reading and writing vocabulary.
• To provide reference for children during their reading and writing.

How do I use it?

1. Word wall should be placed where all students can see it.
2. Be selective about words that go on word wall.  Mine starts as a Name Wall. Frequently used words should be added gradually. 
3. Use the word wall daily to practice words incorporating a variety of activities such as: chanting, snapping, cheering, clapping, tracing and word guessing games.

Types of Word Walls

• ABC Wall
• Words-We-Know-Wall
• Chunking Wall
• Name Wall
• Math Wall
• Science Wall

I just made these new word wall headers for my classroom.    

They are available at TpT store.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Purple-Word-Wall-Headers-with-Picture-842312

My Stem Experience

As I mentioned the other day, summer school is coming to an end.  I thought I share some of our experiences this summer.  The picture above show a bulletin board with the STEM process:

1.  Ask
2. Imagine
3. Build
4. Evaluate
5. Share

Our first task was to build a table out of newspaper and cardboard, that could hold a book.  This was our first attempt!  Needless to say, it couldn't hold a book.

Day 1 table

We knew some revisions were needed!

Revision chart

Day 2 table

As you can see our second table came out  much better!

Below are some picture of other tasks.

At first some of the students were very hesitant, but after the first day they were all very eager to build!  They all contributed ideas and helped with the building.  

I caution you, its hard to sit back and not interject your ideas and opinions, especially when you know their ideas are not going to work.  That's all part of their learning process!  They need to problem solve how to fix it and make it work!  

They were so proud of their creations and couldn't wait to take them home.

Please check out some of the design briefs in my previous post and try them with your class!

Design Briefs and Stem Resources

I'm wrapping up Summer School.  Only 3 days left.  This has been a great experience!  Summer School was totally Stem based.  We had a great time designing and building things.  I enjoyed it so much, more importantly my students enjoyed it and were totally engaged!  I can't wait to try some Design Briefs in my class this year! 

I was searching the web and came across this website elementaryengineers.  It has lists of design briefs and what VA SOL's they correlate with.  They are separated by grade level, grades K to 4.

If you're interested in some Design Briefs check it out at:
http://elementaryengineers.wikispaces.com/Design+Briefs+or+Ideas 


I also found this resource.  This is a newsletter that highlights activities for PreK thru 5th grade:
http://www.orange.k12.nc.us/ce/About/docs/EiE_Newsletter.pdf


PBSKids also has some resources.  They can be found at: http://www.pbs.org/teachers/stem/engineering/


Here's an article from NEA listing Stem Resources: 
http://www.nea.org/tools/lessons/stem-resources.html

I'm sure there are many more resources out there, These are just a few to get you started!

Discovery Education

I always knew Discovery Education was great for all kinds of videos to show students.  I recently discovered they have a whole lot more to offer.

I'm teaching summer school and wanted some extra things to go with a lesson about magnets.  I found a cute video that explained magnets to my rising 1st graders. My students really enjoyed watching The Blue Dragon: Magic Metal?

While searching I also can across a neat song! They loved Music Makes It Memorable: "Magnets". This song uses swing dancing to teach the concept of magnets. Partners attract by pulling together and repel by pushing away.  We made up our own dance, basically just attracting and repelling! 

I also found some Smart Notebook activities.  We used one where the students could sort what a magnet will or will not attract.

I'm so excited to find these activities and can't wait to find other activities to use this year!  Take some time to explore, it's more than just videos!

Bubbling with Excitement

Since I moved classroom at the end of the year and I can't get my classroom to unpack my bazillion boxes until Aug. 19, I figured I better get started on a few things.

I can across this cute idea on Pinterest.  I was in Walgreens today and came across these bubbles for $0.50 for a 3 pack!  The link from Pinterest is no longer active, so I made my own.