Happy Valentine's Day!

Yesterday was so much fun with the firsties.  We used the iPad cameras and the app Camera 360 to create some cool comic looking pictures.  Put that together with some narration and we have Someone I love… Too cute for words!

Happy 100 days smarter...

Friday was the 100th day of school and it was a day to remember.  Why do we celebrate the 100th day you might ask? We count down each day and celebrate every 10th because 10 and all the other decades are so important to greater number sense.  We worked our way up to 100 and built some incredible memories along the way.  10 friends, partners, 50s day, 80s day, and then 100th day.  We created with 100 toothpicks & 100 marshmallows, talked about our bucket list, danced to 100, sang to 100, created with 100 pattern blocks, stacked 100 cups, did a variety of things for 100 seconds.  Of course a highlight is the 100 piece trail mix. We even dressed up like we were 100 years old.  I can't help it my highlight is looking at all the the cutie centurions. The parents went all out and they sure are cute so make sure to watch the video.

Do you dream?

Do you dream?  I recently celebrated 21 years teaching and yes I do dream.  I dream about creating fun, engaging, interactive lessons where my students learn and still wonder about 50 other things so I can get going with those lessons.  I dream of my own children learning, growing, and becoming adults with a career that suits their passion.  Every year I get a new group and we talk about our dreams of careers to come and they never cease to amaze me.  We dressed the part, took pictures, and wrote about why we wanted to be those people when we grew up.  They are too cute for words so watch our video...

Firsties are so honest...I have a dream that one day I will be an ice cream worker at Disney World. So I can have some too. And I can go on rides. ~Jessie

80s day

80 days smarter and oh what an 80 days it has been.  Hard to believe today starts 2015.  Two weeks ago today we need 2014 with a pj day but more about that to come.

We have a regular math routine and counting the number of days is a favorite part.  We talk about our next Zero sighting, 1 more, 1 less, 10 more, 10 less etc.  How can we emphasize and see the importance of 10 and decades? We have super fun filled LEARNING days when those decades come up and oh the fun you can have on the 80^th day of school with an 80s day.  Honestly my parents are the BEST just look at these cutie pies!  We had fun counting and learning all about the 80s.  They loved the big hair and oh the moonwalk dancing we attempted.  I can’t wait to see they look like on the 100s day.  Make sure you check back to see those pics. 

The kids got to have a little fun posing with friends for the end of year scrapbook.  I couldn't pick just one so made a slideshow of them all.  Check them out here.  Which one is your favorite?

Jack Hartmann 2014

 Jack Hartmann is just fab-u-lous! I just love to see the firsties dance and sing and have the best time ever!

 Jack makes songs to help with reading, math, and even science.  We even exercise to his music. WOW he is so good on his guitar!

The best is the Tootie Ta!  Check out these faces.

Jack was such a sport to pose for a picture with our class and me! Thank you Jack for being you! The kids just love you, can't you see it on their faces.

Joshua's Heart

A small Act of Kindness can go a long way...

~Joshua

 While attending Miami Device I had the pleasure of listening to one of the closing keynote from Joshua.  This inspirational 13 year old totally had me in awe throughout his message. He started a foundation at the age of 4 with $20 from his grandma.  He doesn't want anyone to be hungry.  Seems so simple right.  Please take a moment to meet this inspirational young man.

His website can be found here: http://joshuasheart.org

Sharon Davison teaches K/1 in Vermont and they issued a challenge.  How can we help People that are Hungry? Watch their video here then we tweeted out how we helped @vermontkkids123


The stars aligned and the Wright's Rippers rose to the challenge.  Actually we challenged our first neighbors, Ms. Clutter's class-who can bring in the most can foods in 1 week.  Here we are with our cans.  Good looking group of firsties right...

Well we didn't win since Ms. Clutter's class collected over 150 cans.  Really the winners are all the families we helped with our joint donation.  What a valuable lesson that I hope they take with them as they grow up.  What passion is locked inside these kids as they go into 2015?  I hope I get to be a part of finding out...

Amazing Mathematicians at Work…

We have used ten frames from day 1 and 70 days later I wanted to see if it would transfer over into larger numbers so why not use those DigiBlocks… 

I had my daughter empty out over 500 ones into a copy box lid and you should have seen the firstie’s eyes while I was telling my story. I asked for a guess and one friend said 100 so I asked how many thought less than 100, 100, or more than 100 and thankfully most chose more than 100.  We will have to get some estimating and guessing going but that will be another blog post.

 I asked them to find a way to count them and let me know how many.  There was some talk counting and then a friend said that would take too long.  Put them in groups of ten came up next so I showed them how the DigiBlocks will only close when there are 10 units enclosed.  They quickly found a way to put 10 ones into a ten and then someone figured out putting the tens in the hundred to fill it up.  This time lapse took less than 3 minutes to film and I wish I recorded the ah-ha moments.  It was amazing!  I did record the discourse after so you could hear some magic.

There was a follow up to this lesson the next day.  In the past 64 was 6 tens and 4 ones.  Today we walk through other ways to see 64.  64 doesn’t have to be 64 it could be 54+10, 44+20, etc. depending on what you need to make the math work for you. Let me explain. 

I asked the firsties to make 64 and most made it with 6 tens and 4 ones.  Noah decided to use 5 tens and then count out 14 ones to make 64.  We checked that and counted it and sure enough it made 64.  We talked about other ways to see the same number and most thought let’s turn the numbers around like 14+50=64.  I was hoping for something else and then one friend chirped up “Wait just open the ten and take out the ones.” YES!! 

  We did it and then counted.  64 and I didn’t take anything away or add any more.  We continued the pattern and I recorded for later reference to notice patterns.

One very important ah-ha I found was Victoria counting the tens and ones.  At one point she counted the ten ones-arranged like a ten frame as tens and we had to stop and talk about when they are separated they are no longer a ten even though they are 10 ones.  It was an ah-ha for a few other students and then one friend explained the difference between tens and ones-and what they loo like.  It was a beautiful moment. We made some great discoveries today and I am proud of these firsties.  Can’t wait to see what comes next…