One of my goals this year was to place an increased emphasis on math in my curriculum.  This is difficult coming from a very very very literacy-oriented teacher.  I like books and words and writing, and I know how to do books and words and writing.  Doing math – not so much.  I just don’t think like a mathematician.  I think more in brightly colored Sharpies and/or Flair Pens that like to draw pictures and write stories and words.    But this year, my friends, with the adoption of Math in Focus (Singapore Math), I am changing my tune and trying to make our math block  just as engaging as I make our literacy block.  So, here’s some “math things” we’ve done so far this year to support math in our classroom…

I couldn’t tell you who this idea was from, but someone out there in the the www made a chart similar to this that inspired me.  We’ll be adding more strategies throughout the year. We’re using Cara’s Calendar Companion this year and, *omiword* if you don’t own it, buy it!  A great resource to help me connect writing to math, organize my calendar time, and add a little pizazz to my least favorite part of the day (sorry, calendar time drives me cah-razy).  Anyway, to help ease my kiddos into the routine, I made a large laminated poster that I fill out as the kids are filling theirs’ out.  We are not doing every component of this just yet.  I just filled it out for the sake of the picture 🙂

This space on my whiteboard contains a number-writing poem I borrowed from Debbie Diller’s Math Work Stations book (*love*) and our math vocabulary terms.  Let me just tell you, that poem has really helped my kiddos remember how to write their numbers!  A parent even commented that her little girl was saying it while she was doing her homework.

I’ve just started introducing math work station activities.  I used to get all bent out of shape over centers because they seemed sooooo time-intensive to come up with and create.  However, now I just kind of go with what manipulatives I have on hand, and keep them simple. { I’m sure someone else in the wide world of teaching has come up with similar activities, so please know I don’t think I’m being innovative here!}  The kids love the deviation from whole group activities, and they get 12 kinds of excited when they get to use – stop the world – buttons!  connecting cubes! post-it notes! playing cards!  This is why I love my firsties so – genuine excitement about the small things:) Since we’ve worked a lot on identifying numbers 1-10, writing the words 1-10, and representing numbers 1-10, the first activity is very “kindergarten.”  However, Math in Focus starts out with a big ol’ number review and I really appreciated the refresher for my kiddos. Activity #1 This is a super quick activity that could also be used as a formative assessment, and will give you a good idea who’s still struggling with number identification/representation.  Give each child 10 sticky notes and a pile of manipulatives (we used buttons).  Students should then label each note with a number 1-10.  Then, beneath or on the note, have the student show that many objects.

Activity #2 & 3: More is Better & Less is Best We’re also working on identifying more/less.  So, I created a recording sheet that corresponds to a fun card game that my kids love.  I feel like this might be an Everyday Math game, too, but I honestly don’t remember!  For this game, take a deck of cards (pkg of 2 for a $1 at Dollar Tree) and remove all the cards except 1-10.  Students will then work in pairs to play a war-like game using the altered deck.  Each student draws a card and records what they drew on the response sheet.  The winner, depending on what skill you want to focus on, is the student whose card is “more” or “less.”  The winner of the turn circles the number.  Students play for 10 turns and then determine the winner as the student with the most circles (i.e. drew the larger or smaller number the majority of the turns).

You can download a copy of these  recording sheet HERE.  Are you using Math in Focus?  What do you think?  We’re onto number bonds starting on Friday and I’m a wee little bit nervous!  Have a great day, friends 🙂 PS.  If there are a gobzillion typos/errors/something that doesn’t make sense in this post, I’m going to blame it on the fact that I can’t keep my eyes open after 7:30pm.  School is wearing me right out!  Ha!