Sums of 10

What a busy week we have had in First Grade.  My liitle ones worked so hard and they are really getting the routines down.  This past week we had our first assessment in Math and are ready to move onto Chapter 2 and adding sums to 10.  I decided to spend Friday's Math time doing a lesson with ladybugs and the sums of 10.  We started out by each student using watercolors to paint a ladybug. We will be using this lady bug as a sorting mat for the next week or so. If you would like a copy you can click here:   Ladybug Sorting Mat.

  Once everyone had painted there ladybugs, and they dried, we used 10 black buttons to make math stories.  After lots of practice everyone got to choose their own math story to represent sums of 10.  They used black sharpies to make black spots.  Then we used our iPads to record each other telling our stories.

 Click on the link below to watch a movie of the videos my little ones made.

It's All About Animals

This week in First Grade, we are learning all about animals! We have learned that there are six animal types and we can even tell you some of the characteristics of each type. First we did a foldable craft project.

It took us a few days to finish our foldable.  Then we played our matching game which is a lot like the game Memory.  We had to find a pair of animals of the same kind without picking up a BAM card.  If you get a BAM card you lose a turn.  So much fun!

We will be finishing our lesson on different kinds of animals this week with our animal booklet that we started today.  My students are writing about each animal type and then adding a picture. Here is a sneak peak at our books.

IPads and More!

I am so blessed this year to have four iPads, an iTouch and a Smartboard!  This week we used them all in math, reading, and handwriting.  In math, we have been working on knowing numbers in three ways, tallies, ten frames and the number.  We used a fun app on the iPad called Ten Frame Fill, and it was FREE! 

 Interactive

Math Journals

 Interactive Math Journals are a hands on way to reinforce the skills we are working on.  It usually takes the form of a lift the flap, a foldable, a graph or a word problem.  We will continue to add to these throughout the year, a couple of times a week.  Check them out.

Pete the Cat and Much, Much More!

Wow!  I can't believe we have finished our second week of school!  This week we worked hard at establishing routines and knowing what the expectations are for grade one.  Our favorite read aloud this week was Pete the Cat Rocking in my School Shoes.  What fun!




  After reading Pete the Cat several times we did a venn diagram comparing the places in Pete's school and some of our favorite places in our school. Then we tallied our responses and recorded the data.

As you can see, our favorite place was the playground followed by the gym!