Five for Friday- Feb. 26th

TGIF! What a dang week!  Too much indoor recess for this teacher.  I'm linking up with Doodle Bug's Teaching for another edition of Five for Friday, sharing a five random tidbits of my week.

My little boy turned two this past Saturday, and we celebrated his birthday over the weekend.  I cannot believe my Ben is two!  He is such a cutie, cutie pie.  He loves trains, football, carbs, and his doggy.  I am one lucky mama.  I'm not really one for huge, elaborate parties, but I cannot resist that party aisle at Target.  So many polka dots! So many stripes!  I think it all turned out pretty well.  Everyone had a nice time, especially the birthday boy.

I launched my money unit at school this week.  We pre-test and group homogeneously for each math unit.  I teach the second lowest group out of six.  Pennsylvania Common Core has removed money from first grade, so many of our kids have zero to little background knowledge about money.  Most of my group does not even recognize the coins.  We have a lot of hard work to do.  I always use touch points for coin counting, but I'd love a few new ideas for coin recognition.  What works for your kiddos?  

I picked up this utility vest from Target a few weeks ago after wanting one for a while.  J.Crew had an adorable one, but it was out of my budget.  Target came through for me, of course.  I am loving it!  It goes with so much.  I'm all about layering in my outfits. #mombod

I've been teaching my government and election unit over the past two weeks.  It's a pretty quick one.  I LOVED how these little guys turned out!  I found the adorable idea on Pinterest courtesy of Cara Carroll.  Look at that curly black hair!  So cute!

Pretty is as pretty does has always one been one of my mottos.  Our behavior and actions will always outweigh our physical appearance.  Looking nice and put together is really important to me.  I am not a beauty queen by any means, but I try really hard to do the best that I can with what I've been given. I've been thinking really hard about my actions lately.  The way I react to situations, the way I treat others, the way I accept my responsibilities, the way I treat myself.  This is where true beauty comes from.  I had been working really hard to lose a bit of weight and make better choices, and I had fallen off the wagon the past three weeks.  This week, I vow to be prettier.  Eat prettier foods and get back to gym. Use pretty words, less grumbling, more celebrating. 

So, there you go...a little bit of my week.  How was yours? Follow along with me throughout week on Instagram. 

Pop over to Doodle Bug's Teaching for more Five for Friday posts!

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Beyond the Worksheet: Graphing

I LOVE to teach graphing.  It is, by far, one of my favorite math units.  It's such an interactive unit, and it can be so much fun for your students.  Like most things, it is what you make it.

There are a million and one worksheets for graphing: reading graphs, coloring graphs, answering questions, etc.  You know what I mean.  They're boring.   Here are a few ideas to get your kids up and moving around and really into graphing.

Class Graphs
I begin teaching each type of graph by making a class graph.  My curriculum teaches bar graph, pictograph, and line plot.  I get the kids up and gluing straight onto the graph.  They come up with the title and then form questions or write statements about the graph.  Make it theirs.  It doesn't always have to be Pinterest-worthy.  Everyone takes ownership over the graph.

Class Surveys
Do you let your kids survey one another to collect data?  If not, please start doing this!  It is so fun!  I have a survey packet that I've used for years.  It's not fancy, and it was created by a creative colleague of mine.  You'll have to teach them how to survey one another.  Specifically, they cannot just ask, "What do you like?" or "Which one?"  That's not what a mathematician does.  Ask, "Which of the following do you like best?"

Scoop and Graph or Grab and Graph
This is such a fun activity.  I love to use colored pom-poms, because, rainbow.  #rainbowtizeitall  You can use Unifix cubes, coins, buttons, whatever you have.  I do a scoop and graph as a class, and then I put out the materials for center work.  Fill a container with whatever manipulative you're graphing.  Add a Dixie cup for scooping, or just grab a handful.  Slip a graphing sheet into a wipe-off sleeve, and you're set.  So fun!  You can grab my Scoop and Graph activity here. 

Dollar Spot Erasers
I know you all buy those cute little erasers in the Dollar Spot at Target.  We're all Target teachers.  If you're not, then you're probably much  I can't resist them!  There's so many things that you can do with them, but erasing isn't one of them.  LOL! I put a handful in baggies, and then let students graph them.  This is also a great center.  You can download my recording sheet here.  It's for Valentine's Day, but Pin it for next year. 

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A Taste of Pennsylvania

Last week we wrapped up our unit on Pennsylvania.  It was so much fun.  The kids loved learning about our state, and I really loved teaching it.  Science and social studies is, by far, my favorite thing to teach.  To culminate the unit, I hosted a PA foods day, which we called A Taste of Pennsylvania.

PA has so many unique foods, especially the PA Dutch foods.  We had whoopie pies, cheese steak sandwiches, Hershey's chocolate, Turkey Hill drinks, PA Dutch birch beer, mushrooms, sweet Lebanon bologna, Herr's potato chips, Utz potato chips, and TastyKakes.  All of those foods are either grown or manufactured in Pennsylvania.  Fun fact- Central Pennsylvania is nicknamed "The Snack Belt" due to all of the snack food companies located in Lancaster, York, and Berks Counties.  Pennsylvania is also the mushroom capital of the world!

I used a super simple set up in my classroom, which led to easy clean up.  I grabbed some plastic trays and bowls from Dollar Tree and covered the tables with butcher paper in our state colors, yellow and blue.  I labeled each of the foods on the butcher paper.   My parent volunteers helped me cut up each of the dishes into bite sized pieces and arranged them on the trays.  You could definitely do this the night before if you're short on time. 

The kids were split into groups of four, and they rotated around the tables, trying each of the foods.  I asked that they tried everything, even if it was for a no-thank you bite.  They really did try everything with very little grumbling!  They were surprised at what they actually did like.  The students rated each of the foods that they tried using a scale.  You can grab it here. 

After we finished our taste testing, we gathered together.  Students took a moment to rate their top three favorite foods.  We then used that data to created a tally graph.  It was the perfect tie into my graphing unit, which we had just begun the day before.  Later in the day, we used the same data to create bar graphs.

A Taste of PA was seriously so fun!  It was the perfect end to our PA unit.  We spent about 4 weeks learning about Pennsylvania history, geography, and symbols.  I used my Pennsylvania Lap Book and Interactive Notebook for the unit.  It was perfect, as my students are loving interactive notebooks this year.  I don't have any food allergies in my room, so that kept things pretty easy.  I had all of my food donated by families.  I use Sign Up Genius for parties and donations.  I kept it simple, but organized, and it all went really smoothly.  I can't wait to do it again next year!   Let me know if you give it a try!

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Currently February

Hey, February!

You're my favorite! 

I'm linking up to Farley's Currently to start the month.  

 

Listening

My husband and I just started watching Game of Thrones last week.  #latetotheparty  

I am loving it!  I'm a sucker for medieval stories.  The gore gets to me a little, especially when it involves animals.  I just love the characters, though!  Whoa, Kaleesi! That's a girl boss!

Loving

My class participates in Jump Rope for Heart tomorrow.  My principal is allowing us to wear exercise clothes if we choose to jump with our class.  My kids are SO excited!  I'm just hoping my mom-bladder holds up.  LOL! 

Thinking

I'm super excited to heading to Orlando this July for the Teachers Pay Teachers conference.  I cannot wait to spend a few days learning from the best.  My bloggy buddies, Molly,  Cait, Kelli, and I are planning to fly down together.  I hear Tuesdays are the best days for flight prices, is that right?  

Wanting

I have not gotten new sneaks in almost four years!  It's ridiculous.  Mine look okay but are feeling like flip flops when I run on the treadmill.  I can't wait to break in a new pair.  I mean, new gym gear is always motivating.  

Needing

I've been working so hard to shed some weight, but this week I just cannot get it together.  #eatallthethings

Tomorrow, I will track my food.  It's a new day.  

Swooning

I had been eyeing up the adorable Katie Bowhead bow bracelets on Etsy for a long time.  I finally ordered few, and I love them!  I have a navy polka dotted one and a chambray one.  They are so adorable and perfect for February.  A bow always makes an outfit better!  

Thanks for stopping by my blog, and thanks to Farley for the fabulous Currently series!

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