No School Day number two!
This has not happened once this year so I am thoroughly enjoying myself by watching Will and Grace and working on a math unit that we started last week.
I didn’t rush to get it all done at once for a few reasons. One reason, I have never taught this concept before. It is new to me and the only reason I knew it needed to be taught is because our first grade team told us how much our kids struggle with this once they get to their classrooms. This unit isn’t just for K kiddos…
The other reason, I wanted to make sure that I created things we needed as they were introduced. I wasn’t sure which activities would work best.
We have been taking it slowwwwww.
Here is what we have been doing so far.
Make it Equal was our first lesson. It took the entire math block because (like I said) we went slow. We also read this fabulous book called Equal Shmequal and brainstormed what the word equal means. Students then got unifix cubes and started to make cube trains and recorded their equations.
The next couple of days, we did whole group practice. We did a few together and then I gradually let them try it on their own. We started with just doing all addition for the first two days, then the next two days they compared subtraction equations. Then, we took it one step above that and compared addition and subtraction equations.
Talk about stepping up math.
Whew.
We also have been playing a lot of games like “I Have, Who Has” and “Match It”. It takes longer than you think because it is application. It’s mental math and something they have never done before.
My advice is to prepare for it to take them some time. Be prepared to have to pull small groups after the lesson to re-teach.
Now time for a giveaway! I would love to help you teach this concept in your classroom! The kiddos loved the book so I can’t just giveaway the unit without the book! Make sure you enter for a chance to win the book Equal Shmequal and a copy of my newest unit 🙂
Don’t forget about the freebie I made that has one of the activities that is in this unit.Â
This looks amazing!!!! I struggle the most with decomposing numbers. Such a hard concept for those little kids.
Julie
I totally agree!
My biggest challenge teaching Math is the lack of textbooks (they don’t exist) and manipulatives in my school. I think that children in the primary grades NEED the latter in order to be successful. The tacticle, hands-on experience is invaluable! So, this year, I started spending my own money in order to provide manipulatives for my kidlettes. I took this book out of the public library for the first time last year, so it would be AMAZING to own my own copy!! Your unit looks absolutely PHENOMENAL!!! I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to be the lucky recipient <3 <3 <3. Thank you for considering me =). leafsgirl@rogers.com.
You are so sweet! The life of a teacher…spending $$$ on what we know works for our kids! They are lucky to have such a fab teacher!
This is a great giveaway! Activities look cute. This is a hard concept for some kids to learn!
Oh my goodness..it’s crazy hard but they like to be challenged!
My biggest challenge in math is teaching my students missing addends in first grade. We started with it in the beginning of the year and across the board all our students in first grade were struggling. Through lots of effort, practice, and time they are finally starting to grasp it- woohoo! I love witnessing their light bulb moments! 🙂
Joyfully,
Sam C.
rigbys2014@gmail.com
Light bulb moments are the best!
This year the hardest part of teaching math for me is that we are working with a new math series and it is totally different than what I am used to. All of the concepts are spiraled rather than doing a unit on each topic at a time. While my students are learning I feel that sometimes we introduce something and don’t touch on it for a few days. My lower students do not always recall it once we get back to it, so I have been supplementing things along the way.
What math series are you guys using? We have enVision and I use it sporadically…
The hardest part this year is working with a new math series which it totally different that how I am used to teaching. The kids are learning though, so it’s all good.
What are you all using? Change is tough…especially once you feel like you get in to your groove!
You are so awesome! We are still working on addition, but this concept will be coming up soon. This looks great for introducing and teaching this concept.
Keep on rocking it girl! 🙂
<3
Many of my kids this year are struggling with mental math activities. I am trying to come up with hands-on activities to scaffold these skills to help them with mental math challenges.
This is the first time we are really addressing it and it seems to be going well…just slow 🙂
So far my kids have been pretty successful with our math lessons. However, I guess I am struggling with being sure my students double check their work….I think I say it a couple times a day, but some still forget!
That’s how I feel about names on papers…biggest pet peeve!
My biggest challenge is differentiating to meet the difference in the ability levels of the students. I have students who come in to Kindergarten knowing all of their numbers to 100 (count and identify) and can already add and subtract, then I have kids who can not identify all of their numbers to 10.
I feel that way too with reading and math! There are some kiddos that come in knowing all letters and sounds, reading sight words and then others that don’t even know the letters in their name! Closing the gap is a huge challenge!
My biggest challenge teaching math is the balance between whole group and small group with differentiation. I find math is much harder to “configure” into work stations and keep the pace our curriculum requires. (filling out 4 page papers each day!) Whew!
Do you do stations every day? I used to do it 3-4 times a week and now we do them M-F because they love them!
My biggest challenge is differentiating to meet the needs of all of my students. There is just not enough time in the day!
Amen!
We use Math Expressions. It is cumbersome for kinder babies. It is designed for a full day classroom and we are half day. It has these tiles that are foam that I lose or should I say the kids lose and it jumps around. Yesterday I taught 3D shapes and today I taught more than, greater than and extras. It would be nice to teach a concept until mastery. We attempted equal and not equal last month. UGH.