Polar Bears, MLK, jr., Penguins, & Math

I just realized that I haven't posted in a while and I needed to get caught up!  I have so many pictures of these precious kids in action!  I want to make sure to share them all with you.  When we studied about Polar Bears, one of the math centers was to measure a life-sized polar bear paw with different items.  Cailyn & Sarah were working on that in the pictures below.  

Above, you will see sweet little Ava working at the Independent math center.  On this day she was doing Emoji Math and locating missing numbers on the 120 chart.

Pictured above is Jett working to complete the number puzzle to 200.

Silas, Lillianna, and Reid are at the Technology center working on math skills.  

Congratulations to Silas for being our Thunder Reading winner for the month of December!  Woo hoo!  He won this adorable hat!  He looks SO cute in it, too!

Cailyn & Murphy worked hard during the Making Meaning center time to complete the 120 puzzle!  Great job, girls!

Here are the penguins we made when we studied about them.  The kids made the craft and wrote penguin facts on the paper.  I always enjoy teaching about penguins and the kids always love learning about them!  It's a win-win situation!  

Above is our collaborative poster of Martin Luther King, Jr.  We made this the day after MLK Day.  We studied about him all day and even read about him during our reading center time.  The kids are always saddened and shocked when they hear how people were treated so cruelly because of skin color.  I always tell them that people have done evil things in our history, but it's good for us to learn about those times so that we don't repeat the bad things.  We can all be world changers!

I know this is not any of your kiddos, but this is one of my little granddaughters, Everly, who went skiing during this week. She just turned 3 while she was there on January 30th.  Isn't she so stinkin' cute?!  It popped up in the middle of the pictures I took of my classroom kids, so I had to share it!  I think I showed the kids in my classroom when my daughter sent it to me. 

I spy the place value blocks, so I know Jett and Ava are working on their place value skills during math center time at the "I" center. 

They look so focused!  Looks can be deceiving sometimes!  Ha! Ha!

These 3 are at the "M" center eating Cheez-Its and working on math.

The above kids are enjoying time at the "T" center.

 I always have math games and puzzles out in case kids finish before time to go to the next center.  I tell them if they complete a puzzle, then I will take their picture for my blog.  They love to do silly poses.  Pictured above is Reid and Silas who finished a place value puzzle.

 Kyler and Sarah completed a Valentine Place Vale puzzle together!

Yes, another picture of my now 3 year old granddaughter in Colorado.  Ugh!  I wish I could have been there for her birthday party.  

Reid & Silas were on a roll completing puzzles on this day!  Way to go boys!  That's all for now, folks!  I hope you enjoy seeing your kiddos in action!  

Place Value ~ 120 Chart

When teaching place value, we also work on our numbers to 120 using a 120 chart.  I always pull out the number puzzle cards for the kids to work on.  This helps them to discover patterns in the chart and helps them in ordering numbers.  Cailyn & Reid decided to take on the challenge to put together a 200 puzzle!  Wowie, Wow, Wow!!!!  Good job!

They actually began with putting together the 120 puzzle!  Then they moved on to the 200 puzzle!  Great job!

I couldn't help but include our cute penguin display.  We've been learning about penguins for 2 weeks!  They are a very interesting creation of God.  You'll have to ask your kiddos what kinds of facts they learned about penguins!

During center time, the kids had a challenge of putting together place value caterpillar puzzles.  Of course, they wanted me to take their pictures!  There were 10 caterpillars in a set and it took a long time to put the pieces together with the correct number!

Lillianna & Reid found the parts to this one!  

Reid completed these 3 on his own!

Silas found the pieces to the number 34.

Kyler & Cailyn completed 4 caterpillars!

Cailyn & Sarah completed 3 together!

Cailyn completed these three on her own!  You go, girl!

Cailyn, Kyler, & Sarah completed these 7 caterpillars!  Woo hoo!

Caleb, Murphy, & Mason put together the entire set!  Way to go, kiddos!

Jett put together 6!  He loves to do funny poses!  Silly boy!

Reid, Lillianna, & Silas had to strike a pose for completing all of these!  Way to go!

Silas completed these on his own!

Look at Cailyn's number 47 caterpillar!

What a cutie pie!  Silas completed number 31 all alone!

Caleb & Reid worked together on this one!

I love to use fun games and different activities to teach a lesson!  This was a great way for the kids to learn through teamwork as well as play!  I'm sure I've said it before, but I must say it again, "I LOVE Math Centers!"  

Brain Chains ~ Place Value ~ STEAM

For "fast finishers" during our math center time, the kids had "winter STEAM card challenges".  STEAM stands for "Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math.  I put out different options of materials they could use to build their winter object.  

Kyler used the magnetic building set to make a snowman.

Cailyn used pipe cleaners to create snowflake. 

Silas used popsicle sticks and pipe cleaners to create someone snow skiing. 

Lillianna used Wikki Stix to create a snowflake!

We started learning about place value when we returned from our Christmas Break.  I love to pull out the "Brain Chains" for this.  These are simply long shoe strings with 100 beads on them in groups of ten per color.  When I introduce it, I call out numbers for the kids to make and I check to see if they understand that they can count up by tens and then add the ones.  It never fails that some kids think they have to count by ones!  This helps me know who needs some extra help to count by tens.  Once they master this, I put them into pairs and they get to choose numbers to make with their partner!  They love this!  Here are some pictures of the kids working with their "Brain Chains"!

This is from another day of math centers.  You can see the kids playing games to practice math skills. 

Mason, pictured below, is counting the cubes and putting them into groups of tens to figure out what number of cubes he has in all.  

Kyler, Murphy, & Caleb, pictured below, are taking a minute math test.  The kids need to become fluent with their math facts to 10, so we work on these several times a week using a minute math quiz. 

Ava and Reid were also at the table at the same time taking a minute math quiz.  

Caleb is counting the cubes that I gave him by making tens and ones.  

Murphy is also putting her cubes together to make tens and ones!