Thursday, November 28, 2013

Subtraction "Home For the Holidays" Freebie

Update 2019

Sorry!  The freebie from this post has been removed.  Please skip this post and find another one!

I hope you had a great week at school albeit a short one.  I am home for the holidays and plan on enjoying some turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, and a slice (or two) of pumpkin pie.  It's nice to have a few days off to recharge my "batteries" and get a few things done that I have been neglected recently . . . like dusting.  Yeah!  One thing I will pass on is the maddening "Black Friday" sales that are now more like a "Black Thursday" sale.

Here is a subtraction freebie I made for you and your students.  I call them "subtraction function tables".  Students subtract horizontally and vertically.  This is intended as a mental subtraction exercise to build subtraction fluency.  (There are no equals of minus signs.)

They can be laminated and a dry/erase marker can be used to write and wipe the answers and the same can be done with sheet protectors.  I prefer that the focus is on the mental math aspect of the activity so we use the numeral cards with Velcro fasteners.  This method allows the children to focus just on the math and not on numeral formation.  It's a bit more self-checking when the correct numerals are presented for the students.  Ashley Hughes made the graphics that I used for this center.  I love her artistic flair!  Visit her Teachers pay Teachers store at Ashley Hughes.
Here's a shot of the finished product.


There is a student response sheet so the center work can be documented.
Print each of the sheet and laminate.  Then add the Velcro coins.  No cutting! 
1.  Print, cut, laminate, and cut again.  2.  Put Velcro coins on the backs of each.

Here's an answer key so students can check their own work. The letters in the top left corner of each function table correspond with the card names . . . "A, B, C, D, E, and F".
   

Happy Holidays!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-I90irRe2FHOUlFcjRjOEpHdFE/view?usp=sharing
Click on the picture above to get this freebie.


Check back here again soon for more "Home For The Holidays" freebies!  The pretty frame shown above was made by Krista Walden.  Visit her TpT store at:  Krista Wallden

Lessons by Molly © 2013  All rights reserved.

Saturday, November 23, 2013

Santa's Bingo

I've seen some teachers collaborate when organizing their special holiday events.  Within a grade level, each teacher plans one craft, snack, game, or other activity.  The children rotate from one classroom to another during their celebration.  One teacher is responsible for one activity.  He/she repeats the activity for each group of children within the grade level.

This is a great way to reduce everyone's work load during the busy holiday season.  It also gives the children a chance to visit other classrooms and it's fun for the kids.  Bingo games are an easy, no-mess, activity that could be used for this purpose.

This post showcases my "Santa's Bingo" game.  I wanted the game to be practical for a variety of school situations as well as to have educational merit.  This influenced the type of words I used. 

The black and white option is great for immediate use.  The words could also be cut out by the children and used for word sorts after playing the game.  The children can color the pictures with the black and white bingo game if time permits.  Here are a few pictures from my "Santa's Bingo" games.



There are 25 unique bingo cards.  Each bingo cards uses the same 24 words.  The center space is the "free" space which has a Christmas themed graphic.



Students can mark their cards with paint daubers, bingo chips, math cubes, coins, mini erasers, or anything else that can fit within the squares.


The bingo cards print on a full sheet of paper.  (8.5 inches x 11 inches) 


The color version of the game could be laminated for repeated use over several years.


I used seasonal erasers from the Dollar Tree as game markers in the photo shown below.


I used common nouns and proper nouns for the words in "Santa's Bingo".  There is also a mix of singular nouns and plural nouns.  Two adjectives (the word red and the word green) were also used.  If you'd like ideas about word sorting with this bingo game, read on after the product covers shown below.

Click on either product cover if you are interested in the black and white or color version of the games.  


https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Santa-Bingo-for-Holiday-Event-or-Party-Black-and-White-Version-981251
 

Sort One - Singular Nouns and Plural Nouns:  

This sort is for 20 of the 24 words in the bingo game.  Remove the words green, red, North Pole, and candy cane.  If your students are cutting out the words from the black and white bingo sheet, have them throw away those four words.  If your students are doing the sort on the board, have students cross out those for words from their bingo sheet.  
Singular Nouns:  tree, ornament, Christmas, December, Santa, sleigh, holiday, star, wreath  
Plural Nouns:  elves, stockings, carols, candles gifts, toys, bells, lights
Singular and Plural Nouns:  tinsel, garland, reindeer

Sort Two - Common Nouns and Proper Nouns:

This sort is for 22 of the 24 words from "Santa's Bingo".  Discard the two adjectives which are the words red and green.  
Proper Nouns:  Christmas, Santa, December, North Pole.  
Common Nouns:  All the other words!

Sort Three - Number of Syllables:

This sort uses 14 of the 24 words from the bingo games.  None of the 8 plural nouns are used in this sort.  Additionally, the words candy cane and North Pole are not included in the sort.  
1 Syllable Words:  sleigh, red, tree, green, wreath, star.  
2 Syllable Words:  Christmas, tinsel, Santa, garland, reindeer.  
3 Syllable Words:  holiday, ornament, December.

Sort Four - Nouns and Adjectives:

This sort uses all of the 24 words from "Santa's Bingo".  
Adjectives:  red, green
Nouns:  All the other words!


Lessons by Molly © 2013  All rights reserved.

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Teaching Measuring Weight with Non-Standard Units

Last week was super busy!  I don't know if Halloween and "trick or treating" that has me tired or if it's just the time change along with the fluctuation in temperature. 

At the first grade level in Virginia, we use non-standard units with the measurement strand of the state standards for measuring length,weight, and volume..  While the balance scales are great for weighing small items, they're not useful for big things such as pumpkins.  This year I wanted to see if I could create something to measure a large object such as a pumpkin.

I used a shelving board for my beam and put a patio block below it. I took a large bag of rice and divided the rice into equal portions in plastic bags. I had six bags of rice in all.  The rice became my non-standard units for measuring the weight of the pumpkin.  I put the pumpkin on one end of the beam and one bag of rice on the other end. The pumpkin's weight was more than one bag of rice which caused the beam to tip to the left as seen in the first picture. Then I put a second bag of rice on with the first bag of rice. This seemed to cause balance as seen in the second picture.  
The pumpkin's weight was more than one bag of rice.
The pumpkin appeared to weigh two bags of rice.  This was not exactly correct!


Finally, I added the other four bags of rice on to see if the weight would cause the beam to tip over again. It did not tip.  I determined my teacher-made seesaw was an inaccurate measuring tool. Nonetheless, it did tell us that the pumpkin was heavier than one bag of rice! Perhaps I should have used smaller units of rice per bag to cause more measuring to take place.  I was wishing for one of those old playground seesaws to test this out more but we don't have them in my location. 

Some children have exercised with "teeter toys".  When using a "teeter toy", you place one foot on each side and then shift your weight from the left foot to the right foot to cause the "teeter" to rock.  While a bit abstract, perhaps a few children could make the connection between the similarities of how the balance worked and that of a teeter toy.

I would love to hear your ideas about how to create a simple device that could weigh large objects with non-standard units.  It can't be too technical or require a lot of carpentry skills though.  Please share!

Lessons by Molly © 2013  All rights reserved.