Room 16 Has Turned Into An Apple Orchard!

Apples, apples, apples!

My classroom has officially turned into an apple orchard! If that means cooler weather, boots, and leggings...I'm okay with it. Fall is here {well, almost-it's 78 degrees today}! 

We have had so much apple fun the past couple of weeks! Before we could start our very first opinion writing piece of the year, we had to do an apple taste test! How can you really decide without a taste test? Plus, kids LOVE food! Yes, first graders will write for apples:)!

The results are in...

I'm always surprised that green apples are the favorite. I'm partial to red:).

We brainstormed some descriptive words before the kids started writing.

Now that I've prepped you for these awesome opinion pieces...I'm sad to say that I forgot to take pictures of them! Sad, I know. They are cute little apple cut pages with matching apple color construction paper. They look awesome on our writing wall:). 

This week, we spent a lot of time learning about Johnny Appleseed! This meant informational writing, craftivities, and lots of apple food! 

I wanted to start the week off with something "different" to get the kids excited about Johnny Appleseed this week. What could be more exciting to a seven year old than walking in Monday morning and seeing a juicer on the counter!? Okay, maybe they weren't excited until they knew they'd be using this unfamiliar looking machine to make HOMEMADE apple juice! Yes, we juiced apples. A lot of apples. 

Delicious! Better than store bought:)!

We also made mini caramel apples! These were definitely a big hit. Aren't they cute? They'd be perfect for a fall or Halloween party.

Last, but not least...homemade applesauce! This is my favorite! Primarily, because it makes my room smell absolutely delicious:). 

Here we are putting all the ingredients together:).

Here they are mashing the apples {the fun part}!

Look, you can see our opinion writing hanging in the back:).

 Aren't the hats cute? We couldn't make applesauce without hats:).

Okay, we don't just eat food all day. I promise. We were able to work some science in this week (and hopefully a little more next week).

We also squeezed in some time for this cutesy craft from Smitten with First.

Last, but not least, we turned our informational Johnny Appleseed writing into these cute lil' craftivities.

Wheeeeew! That was a lot of apple fun! Stay tuned for more fun next week:)!

Happy Saturday!

Keepin' It Real {trying to, at least}!

This week has been tough. 

I knew there would be tough moments. 

Tough days. 

Tough weeks. 

This was definitely one of those weeks; grieving is not easy. Losing someone you love is really hard. I don't usually blog about non-school related topics-but this is real life. Life is filled with lots of unexpected ups and downs. 

Sometimes we get so caught up in sharing all the highlights of our week...every successful project, some new creation for our classroom, and sweet notes from our kiddos. I think that we tend to over look (or leave out) that lesson gone bad, or that moment when our class was completely out of control, or the fact that sometimes life just happens. I'm guilty of this. I tend to blog mostly about the highlights of my week. I think social media is partially to blame. We are so quick to upload, hashtag, and blog about all the wonderful things that are happening, which is awesome. I'll be the first to admit that I've gotten some amazing ideas from other teachers via Instagram, Facebook, and blogs. I love social media!  But, we all know that every day is not #perfect.

Here's my confession: My week was not perfect. You didn't think every week was perfect, did you:)? Yes, I had a couple of lessons that didn't go as planned-we all have them. There was a point during a lesson this week that I just stopped, took a look around the room, and started laughing! Things were just not going as planned (I'm a planner-in case you forgot). The kids burst out in laughter with me! These moments are so important in a classroom! The kiddos really see that you're human, too. This is how you build positive relationships with your students-and where the real learning begins.

I wish more teachers would blog about some of those "less than perfect" moments. We can all relate. Life (in and out of the classroom) isn't always rainbows and butterflies with cutesy crafts. I have found a blog that I just L-O-V-E! Kristin, over at A Teeny Tiny teacher is amazing-she definitely keeps it real! She blogs about the good, the bad, and all the in between. She's absolutely hilarious, too! 

I've learned that there will be tough days and happy days. But, you can get through it all with a little faith, the help of family, and good friends. Life is short, enjoy the moments-all of them.

Okay... I may do have a few fun things to share with you from our week. You didn't think I went the entire week without some craftiness did you:)?

In remembrance of 9/11 we talked a lot about heroes and what it meant to be a hero. I used this as an opportunity to work on our writing skills, specifically capital letters and ending marks. The kids wrote about what they thought a hero was. Pretty awesome, right?

We also worked on these 9/11 books throughout the week. Each page has a very kid-friendly story about heroism on September 11th. 

Here are our books-not on paper bags:).

Happy Friday!

Number Bond Robots!

Well, here we are again! I can't believe it's already the weekend! Don't you just love a short week?

I have a confession, I hardly took any pictures of our activities this week! Sad, I know. But, with it being a short week and still teaching beginning of the year routines and procedures...there wasn't much camera action in room 16. 

You're probably asking yourself, well, how much time can possibly be spent on rules and procedures? It's a lot. Trust me. We are still learning to walk over nicely to the carpet, without running across the room, and sliding into the carpet as though we are crossing home plate on a baseball field. We are learning how to line up without knocking everyone over like a row of dominos. We are also learning the more basic tasks like raising a quiet hand, how to properly use a glue stick, and scissor etiquette. Yes, first graders enjoy trimming their hair every now and again. Not in room 16, of course:). 

Last week, I promised I'd share more about our number bond activities this week. 

My firsties definitely needed more practice with making number bonds. I created this simple little number bond book to give them some extra practice. To grab a copy, click here.

Next up...number bond robots! Aren't they awesome?!

Unfortunately, I don't have a template to share with you. I just cut everything out by hand. Well, except the mouths. I let the kiddos do that:). 

I started by giving each student a number (between 5-9). Then, the kids had to figure out two more numbers that would correctly complete their number bond. I had an assortment of pre-cut numbers on the back table for them to choose from. Once they had created the number bond, they each wrote out their number sentences. 

I created the robots with the kids step by step.

One piece at a time.

With very specific instructions.

I highly recommend the step by step process with the kiddos:). 

I also finished up my Fall math pack this week! 30 pages of first grade fun! It has tons of number bond practice and is aligned to first grade Common Core standards.

 Happy Friday!

Week Two!

Hello Friday!

I'm starting to believe what they say: There's no tired like teacher tired! I'm

exhausted. It's been a long week.

Despite my Friday exhaustion, we did have some fun this week:)! Here's my Five For Friday!

1. Here are our back-to-school self portraits that I forgot to share with you all last week. Aren't they adorable? They are one of my favorite back to school projects. It really let's me see who can cut, glue, and follow directions:).

2. This is my absolute favorite beginning of the year activity! I read the story, Elmer. Then, the kids write about what makes them special and create an Elmer. Meet Elmer, the elephant:).

3. Next up...number bonds! Math has been quite the struggle this week. But, we are making progress. Progress is good:). I had to throw out what I had "planned" and get creative (sorta)! Each student worked with their own number bond and manipulated the beans, which seemed to make it a little easier. I also made these simplified recording sheets. Stay tuned for more number bond fun next week...

4. We used some of our new math skills to help out with this cute little activity created by Melissa Machan (you can find it for free in her TPT store).  Hopefully my firsties were able to see how math relates to real life:).

5. Last, but definitely not least...number 5! This week, my first ever Donors Choose project was accepted and funded in less than 24 hours!! Our class will be getting an iPad! I am beyond grateful! The kids are going to be so excited! I already submitted my second project in hopes of receiving a couple more iPads for the classroom. It was very refreshing to see that there are people out there who value education and are willing to give so generously. Room 16 is truly blessed.

Happy three day weekend!

Back At It!

Back to school! 

Can you believe it?! The first week of school is complete!

I'm still having a hard time believing it's already that time again. Back to school has been really tough on me this year. I lost my grandma unexpectedly a few weeks ago. She has volunteered in my classroom two days a week for the last three years. So, putting my classroom together and starting back to school this year has been pretty rough. I miss her so much and will remember all the love and joy she brought to me and the kiddos. She always read my blog posts and would call me after she read it. I sure will miss those phone calls. She's probably smiling down on me right now as I'm writing this:).

Thankfully, I had a few amazing teacher friends who helped me come back to school and hang all my paper and borders! 

 

Here is my Five for Friday and classroom reveal {With My Carolina Classroom's linky party} this year!

Here is our math meeting/carpet time area. I'm loving my new chair:). I also re-did the fabric on my crate seats.

Writing wall & word wall

These frames are my favorite:))!

Here's my "Teacher Spot!" I'll hang all my important teacher papers here...you know, schedules, reminders, and pictures. Yes, pictures are important:). I'm loving my bunting letters made by Lessons with Coffee!! She is awesome!!

Isn't this teacher wreath the cutest? My aunt got it for me before school started. I think it looks great on my desk!

Ok, we had to take first day of school

pictures! I made this frame for the kids to use, isn't it cute?! 

Don't worry...I took my beginning of the year picture too:).

Here's our picture wall! Sorry it's blurry, I had to blur the faces. Can you tell I'm obsessed with my new bunting letters:)?!

I know that was number 5...but here's number 5 1/2. :)

Jitter Juice!! What's the beginning of the year without Jitter Juice?! I read this book to the kiddos every year. Last year, I found this awesome "jitter juice" activity from Babbling Abby. The kids love it! 

I hope you enjoyed my classroom reveal. What back to school activities do you do with your students?

Blog Surf-Let's Talk Math!

Hi! Thank you for visiting my blog and "surfing" this blog hop with us! This is my first blog hop. Yes, my first! I've been so lucky to connect with such a sweet group of bloggers and join in on the fun!

I'm further away from the beach than most of the lovely ladies on this hop; however, I absolutely love the beach! The closest beach to me is about two and a half hours away-I live right in the heart of The Central Valley. To get you started and in the spirit of "surfing," we are all sharing our favorite beach. My absolute favorite beach is called Bellows Beach. Unfortunately, for me, it is not located in California. It's located in Hawaii on the island of Oahu. I was lucky enough to be able to visit Bellows a couple weeks ago on my trip to Hawaii! 

Gorgeous, right?!

Ok, moving on to the fun stuff...number talks! Some of you might be familiar with number talks and some of you might be a newbie, like me! If you are not as familiar with number talks check out this awesome video! If you're experienced with number talks, it's still a great video.

This summer, I was able to attend a week long Common Core math training. It really changed the way I think about teaching math in my class, and more specifically, how I run my daily math meeting. The trainers talked to us a lot about the 8 mathematical practices (which I wasn't so familiar with before the training) and how we can incorporate these practices into our lessons. 

A topic that caught my attention during the training was this idea of "math talks." I'd heard of them and I even started using a very basic form of them in my classroom last year. But, I wasn't really sure how they fit into my math lesson for the day. I questioned what exactly their purpose should be?

During the training, I learned that a math talk is not meant to be the math lesson for the day, and does not necessarily focus on a specific standard. Math talks focus on strategies. It is 5-10 minutes where the students will explore numbers by finding patterns, discover relationships between numbers, build number sense, and most importantly, explain their thinking. Through this process, students will use algorithms less and less. They will begin to rely more and more on their critical thinking skills.

Having students defend and explain their thinking is key in this process. It allows the teacher and classmates to understand other ways of thinking. It also provides a time for the students to self correct, if necessary.

Previously, during my math meeting, we spent a lot of time on calendar facts. We would count up how many days we had been in school, practice place value, use counters, memorize the days of the week and the months in the year; while these are all still important, my math meeting was lacking-and I didn't even know it! It was lacking those higher level thinking skills. This idea of math talks has completely changed the way we will spend our math meeting time. 

I've spent some time this summer planning what this could look like in my room this year. I will definitely start my number talks by using a tens frame to build numbers. Now, remember, this doesn't have to be anything fancy. This is not your math lesson. Keep it simple. Last year, I made a couple of power points with a math talk on each slide. I didn't feel like the class was engaged. I was up at my desk controlling the PowerPoint while the kiddos were all sitting nice and quietly at the math meeting carpet. Ha! We all know what happens when the teacher leaves and walks over to their desk:). This year I plan to keep it simple! A cookie sheet, tens frames, and some magnets! It will look something like this:

I really like the idea of using magnets on a cookie sheet because it's easy to use, manipulate, and interact with. If you click the link below you can get a copy of my classroom conversation guide and both tens frames. The classroom guide can be hung up on your math meeting wall and used as tool to help guide your students through these conversations. 

What activities and skills do you teach during math meeting? I would love to hear your ideas:).
                                                     
                                                      Click here

   

Don't forget to enter the giveaway for a chance to win a TPT giftcard  before surfing over to the next blog! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway                                              
                                                Please surf on over to the next blog here!