Do you journal with your kids during math time?
I have always felt strongly about doing math journals with my kids. I just haven’t been able to find a way that works for me and for my kids. I have used composition books where the kids glue down the prompts and I felt like that added an extra unnecessary step. The glue, the tiny strips of paper, kids would lose them, and on top of that I had to cut them all out. I did that for a year and quickly discovered that wasn’t the best option.
The past two years, I have had math journals for my kids in folders. I liked this method a little better but once we get a month or two in, the students have a hard time keeping their place. I have attempted to teach them the fold over trick or to use a post-it note to hold their spot. Folding over failed for many different reasons and post-it notes got lost. This year, I really have started pulling my hair out trying to come up with a better option for math journals.
For my Math stations, I have really loved the little emergent readers that my students use. That gave me the idea to make our math journals like the little emergent readers that my kids use like they do for BUILD.
Amelia is obviously a fan…
My thought is that I will keep these journals in a tub in the classroom or in a folder in their desk. The folders that we have now are shoved in their desks and quite frankly a bit of a disaster. I like this idea for my kids because it’s month to month. When little fingers are trying to maintain a folder for an entire year, it can be a bit of a challenge.
So far, I am done with February and March. I am going to have one for each month of the school year and have kids take them home as we finish them rather than try to keep up with them for the entire year.
The skills we cover in February in the journals are:
-various ways to represent numbers
-line of symmetry
-patterns
-addition
-subtraction
-making ten and proving with an equation
-shapes
-number bonds
The skills we are going to cover in March are:
-equal groups
-greater than/less than
-part/part/whole
-addition
-subtraction
-flat shapes
-3-D shapes
-positional words
-number words
I’ll let you know as I finish each month! I am going to start working on April today. What skills would you like to see addressed for April? I was thinking measurement, more addition/subtraction problems, tens and ones….
Leave a comment and let me know for a chance to win a copy of March Kindergarten journals!
It would be great to see some measurement activities!
Baby girl is so cute! These look great! Maybe some addition and/or subtraction story problems? Have a great Valentines:-) rrosario620@optonline.net
These look great! I am currently using the composition book/glue-it-in method, and you are right it does add extra steps.
Measurement activities would be great! Love this idea!
Love these! Would you uses them in addition (no pun intended-haha) to your school’s regular math curriculum?
I agree with measurement because we will be covering that! Addition and subtraction are always great. My students LOVE your math journals!
She’s so cute! 🙂
I’d like to see more addition and subtraction, maybe with missing addends and word problems. Computing to ten using ten frames. Geometry review in future journals. 🙂
I feel the same way about journals in my classroom…the management of them has kept me from using them effectively! I’m definitely interested in the monthly journals! Thanks for sharing😀
I have an advanced prek student that would love this. She already knows her numbers 1-20 so any kindergarten skills would be great for her.
I quit doing journals because I just couldn’t make them work. I would love to try these!
My students have been loving the journaling for math time and also the monthly math books in BUILD. Some math skills that would be great for them to practice would be counting groups of objects to know which is greater or less, measuring, base 10, and teen ten frames, maybe even adding with ten frames up to 10.
These are such a more kinder friendly way of jounaling and I would love to have more problem solving, measurement, 2-D and 3-D shapes, addition, subtraction, and teen numbers (ten and some more) practice, please! Thank you and enjoy your little cutie pie! She’s precious!
These look like a great solution!
I love the variety in your sets! This is something I’ve been wanting to implement. In April, I’d love to see addition/subtraction practice, and tens and ones (this is a hurdle for a good percentage of my class).
Some ideas for your April journal: decomposing teen numbers (tens & ones), comparing measurements (taller/shorter), sorting objects into given categories & counting them, word problem solving using different strategies (number line, tally marks, draw a picture, ten frame)