Math Centers ~ Balancing Equations & iPads!!!!

We got a new math curriculum this year and it is challenging ~ and yet ~ the kids are doing superb!!  I love that we are implementing math centers this year so that kids can have the opportunity to work on these skills in a small group setting every day.  They can also get help from their friends when necessary!  Here is Jett working at the "M" Making Meaning center.  He is doing a balancing equations activity! 

Reid is working at the "I" Independent center.  He is doing a cut and paste balancing equations activity.  

Kyler and Annabelle are working at the "M" (Making Meaning) center.  They are playing a game where you spin and add 3 numbers.  This photo was taken on a different day. 

Silas is at the "T" Technology center and it appears he is playing Prodigy math on this day!  They love to sit in this little scoop rockers!

Reid was all alone at centers for a few days because both of his center partners were home sick!  He is at my teacher table and we were working on the lesson for the day.

Cailyn finished her center work and is working on her math facts by playing with the Hot Dots pen and fact cards!

Ava is at the "spin and add 3 numbers" center. 

Reid and Caleb are at my teacher table completing the new lesson for the day!

Lillianna, Mason, and Cailyn are balancing equations!

Cailyn and Lillianna are practicing math facts with the Hot Dots!  This is an activity the kids can do when they complete their center work early.

These kiddos below are working together to complete a center.

Jett is at the Technology center working away at a math game!

Lillianna and Mason are finishing up their "I" center.

Annabelle, Kyler, and Ava are working at the "M" center together. 

Murphy and Silas are balancing equations!

This group finished their center before time was up and they are playing games together on the carpet.  It appears there's only 28 seconds left on the board!

Annabelle and Kyler are finishing up adding 3 numbers!

Silas and Jett are playing a Lego addition game together.  This is another fast finisher game that the kids can pull out and play when they complete their centers before the timer goes off!

Murphy is working on the XTra Math app!

Annabelle, Kyler, and Ava are playing the Lego math game together!

Lilli and Cailyn are working hard at my teacher table!

Mason is working on number bonds!

Jett is showing me how well he is doing on his math game!

There's a sneak peek into a couple of different days of math centers!  We are going to be learning about pumpkins next week and making catapults!  Hopefully, I can remember to take some photos and videos of all of that fun!!!!  I am really enjoying this sweet group of kids!

Literacy Centers Week 6

Every week 6 of our Reading Curriculum is a review and assessment week.  I like to let my small reading groups listen to stories on CDs.  We have the stories we read in small group on CDs as well as the Instructional Read-Aloud stories.  I think it's both fun and educational for the kids to follow along in a book while it is being read.  Here is one of my groups at my teacher table listening to a story.

These little cutie-pie girls are in my background group and will be going to my teacher table 15 minutes later.  They are writing sentences using their spelling words.  I usually let them write as many "good" sentences as they are able to during the 15 minutes.

Kyler is using a magnifying glass to hunt for tiny "CVC" (consonant, vowel, consonant) words.  This is one of the literacy centers this week and has 20 different short vowel words hidden.  The kids loved this center!

The two kiddos below are writing 5 silly sentences using these cards for the month of September and organizing them according to the color chart.  They are encouraged to mix up the cards and make the sentences silly.  

Our literacy center time is from 2:00-3:00 each afternoon.  The kids go to 2 different center rotations and each day and they go to reading time with me at the teacher table.  They also go to a spelling practice center which we call "background group" while they are waiting to come to my teacher table for reading instruction.  This time is good for the kids to learn to work together with a partner as well as practice skills we are working on in class.  It is also a great time for me to work on reading skills in a small group setting!  I just love center time!

Math Center Rotations!!!!

I'm super excited about finally figuring out a simple way to have math centers and work with small groups to teach math!  It's so nice to be able to work with 3 students at a time to teach a new lesson while the rest of the kids are in groups of 3 at a learning center working on math skills!  This is the way it works:  

Each station is based on an acronym for the word "TIME".  I didn't come up with this, but love the concept and it's working for us!  I did create the signs, though!  I think they all turned out pretty cute!  I project these onto the Promethean Board so the students can see where they go each rotation.  They are really starting to settle in and figure it all out!  

Here's a student helping to introduce our lesson!

Here's a student at the Technology center playing on the Prodigy Math game.  I sent information about this home in the Tuesday folder this past week.  Students can also practice math skills at home on this site.  There is also an app that can be downloaded!

These kids are also at the Technology center practicing math skills with either Xtra Math or Prodigy.  The information for Xtra Math was also sent home in the Tuesday folder last week!

 This group is at the Making Meaning Math center!

They are using paint dabbers to answer math addition questions.

This group is at the Independent center.  They are practicing math addition facts.

This is a picture from another day of math centers.  These students are also at the Independent center practicing a math strategy that we learned on a previous day!

This is the view from my teacher table.  The teacher table is the Explore center.  We use this time to explore the new math lesson for the day using our new math books. 

This is another view from my teacher table.  The kids at the table are working on their math book page with me.

I am LOVING teaching math this way!  The kids look forward to it every day!

I'm looking forward to using the 2 new i-pads that we are getting this year at the Technology center! Hopefully, they will be available for us to use next week!   I have an older i-pad that I'm going to bring for the kids to use as well ~ so we will have 2 new ones and one older one at the Technology center!  If anyone ever gets newer ipads and would like to donate their older one to us, we would gladly accept!  Ha! Ha!

Spelling Word Practice

Here are some pictures and videos of the kids practicing reading their short "o" spelling words!  I roll a die and there are instructions for what "movement" they will do while reading the words!  

Here are some short videos of "Roll & Read"!

Here they are practicing reading their spelling words and moving.

I hope you enjoyed seeing your little sweeties in action!

Literacy Centers

Here are some pictures of the kiddos at their Literacy Centers during our Reading Block.

You can see 3 students at Table 1 (or background group) as we call it.  They are completing a 15 minute activity that is usually practicing the spelling words in some form or fashion!  I will read with a leveled group for 15 minutes and then switch with my background group. 

Above - these students are at my teacher table practicing reading their phonics readers using whisper phones, before we read them out loud as a group. 

She is reading aloud from her phonics reader at my teacher table. 

Here’s a picture of the boys following along with their whisper phones while the other student is reading aloud. 

These students are at their literacy center doing a word sort. They will have 30 minutes to complete this center rotation.  

These students are comparing and contrasting an eagle with a chicken using a Venn diagram that’s drawn on my door. The facts have magnets on the back so that they can place them in the correct place on the Venn diagram on the metal door.   Then they cut and paste the same facts to match the ones sorted on the door!  

These students are also doing a word sort as well.  The small group center rotations are 30 minutes each.  I hope you enjoy seeing the kids in action in their literacy centers!  We usually start these around 2:00 o'clock every day!