Building Number Sense with the Number Line Mystery Game

Developing number sense is the key to success in Math!  In this blog post I share a fun number line game that our kids absolutely love to play! All you need is a deck of cards!

To prepare for the number line mystery game:

• Remove the "queens, jacks and kings" from the deck of cards.
• Lay the 4 "kings" in a vertical line. Discard the queens and jacks.
• Shuffle the remaining cards.
• Make a horizontal line of 10 cards, facedown, beside each of the kings.

To play:

• Invite one child to turn over any of the facedown cards.
• First, decide which suit it belongs to. Is it a spade, a club, a heart or a diamond?
• Go to the row with the king of the matching suit.
• What numeral is on the card? Move down that many spaces.
• Remove the card laying in the space and put your card IN that space.
• Look at the new card.
• Where does it go?
• Repeat until all of the cards are turned over.

Great game, right?  First problem, the kids get tired of that same deck of cards!  Second problem, the children are only working on ordering the numeral, not concepts of number. Here's what I did about those problems. I took the same game rules and created more games. I created different decks of themed cards that we could use all year long. I made the different decks of themed cards use different tools to develop number sense.  Here are some of them:

Back to School Number Line Mystery

This back to school number line mystery game using numerals, like a traditional set of cards. After putting the numeral 8 glue bottle in it's spot, we removed the numeral 9 scissors from that spot. Now, the children must discover where the numeral 9 scissors card will go.  Ask them, "How did you know?" Be sure to allow children the opportunity to share their thinking.

Valentine's Number Line Mystery

To play the valentine's number line mystery, the children look at the set of hands on the card. They decide how many fingers they see. After turning over the first card, the children found a picture of a heart with one finger up. That means, the card is placed on the heart row in the first place. They removed the cupcake card that was facedown in that space. Now they must decide where the cupcake belongs by looking at how many fingers they see.

Bugs Number Line Mystery

To play the bugs number line mystery, the children look at the dominoes on the card. Each time, the game follows the same rule. This is what makes the game so great! You can change the standard, change the theme, but the rules are the same. No time is wasted learning rules...all the time is spent learning the standard.

Exercisers Number Line Mystery

To play the exercisers number line mystery game, the children are sequencing sets of tally marks.  This picture show the children playing the game by sequencing sets 1-10.  However, you can play with 4 rows of 20 cards face down and sequence the numbers 1-20. Or, you can use just the 11-20 cards and play just that section of the number line.

What's in the Sky? Number Line Mystery Game

To play the What's in the Sky? number line mystery game, the children are discovering the number pattern using number bonds.

I made 6 different sets. Each set has different themes and different ways to represent the number. 

All of these can be found in the Number Line Mystery Bundle.

 This game worked great as a teacher directed activity. When I tried to put it as a center, it flopped because the kids couldn't get the cards lined up. I made this board on bulletin board paper so that the kids could lay the cards on the squares. Now they can play it as a center activity, too!

You can grab the letters to make the title as a free file below.

 

 

 

Captivate to Motivate! Mad Scientist Friday

The brain learns by pattern, but seeks novelty! The brain likes to be stimulated. It is our job as teachers to "Captivate" our young learners...to have them sitting on the edge of their seats begging for more! When we have achieved that, the children are "Motivated" to learn! While science is a subject that most littles find interesting, it is still essential to build that level of excitement that will guarantee us success. This blog post explores part of our Fun Friday Celebrations--Mad Scientist Friday, and how we get it started.

At the beginning of the year, we place a box in the office that contains all of the essential items to become a mad scientist. We ask one of the office workers to deliver the box to our room. It is then that we start building excitement by asking questions like, "Who did the box come from? What is a lab? What do you think might be in here?"

When the kids just can't stand it any longer, open the box! Talk about the things that are in the box by asking, "What is this? What are they for? Who would use them? Why have they been sent to us?"

At this time, notice that each lab coat has a child's name. We made the lab coats with large tshirts. Use spray adhesive (it was messy) to attach the ribbon. Then, use hot glue to attach the buttons.

Each tshirt has a name tag. Megan took pictures of the kids with this "bad" comb-over wig. I purchased it from a party store to wear on Day 100. (My teaching partner dresses up like a 100 year old lady and I dress up like a 100 year old man!) We took the photos the day before and made a name badge for each child.  It amazes me that they don't make the connection!

To say they were excited, would be an understatement!  The box also contained goggled and surgical gloves that I picked up at the Dollar Tree and Dollar General.

To celebrate the fact that we are now scientist, we had a special "scientist snack."  I found these plates at a party store. They had a little bit of a lip around the edge. It made them look like Petrie dishes. We mixed green jello and lined up  the dishes on cookie sheets. We tried to pour the jello into the dishes and then move the tray to the refrigerator, but that was a disaster.  We finally figured out to put the tray in the fridge and pour the jello with the tray already inside. The trays stacked on each other by turning every other one landscape or portrait. We added the candy worms before the jello could set.

We found these popsicle molds at the Dollar Tree. We cut the "tubes" out. They were easy to cut with scissors.

Each "test tube" was filled with Test Tube Juice.

The following week our first Mad Scientist Friday tub arrives.  Inside the tub are all of the supplies need to conduct a science experiment.  While these experiments teach some scientific concept, the real reason we are doing them is to teach our kids the scientific process. What do real scientist do? What tools do they use? What is the scientific process?

This was our gummy bear experiment. You can read more about that in this blog post.

Weekly Science Box Blog Post

 

4 Things EVERY Teacher Needs for Back to School

There are 4 things that every teacher needs to begin the year. This post shares those 4 things!

A Teaching Buddy

The first thing, and sometimes the most important thing, a teacher needs is to find a teaching buddy. What is a teaching buddy?
A teaching buddy is someone who supports you and lifts you up.
A teaching buddy listens when you need to vent and when you want to celebrate.
A teaching buddy shares the same teaching philosophy. That doesn't mean that you necessarily do all of the same things. It means you have a mutual understanding about best practices and how children learn.
Any teachers come to mind yet? I have a few in mind for myself!

Routines and Procedures

The next thing that teachers need at the beginning of a school year is effective routines and procedures. More classroom disruptions come from lack of procedures than from misbehavior.  Here are a few of our favorite routines and procedures:

Establish ways to get their attention quickly. These are a few of my favorite.  Effective use comes from repeated practice. That first few days of school, I'm a little obnoxious! I will use one of the catch phrases right in the middle of an activity. At that time, I can talk about what I see and what I want to see.  By the end of the first week, they have them down pat!

Kids get tired of hearing our voice. Sometimes nonverbal reminders are best. I use the Mr. Potato Head, the Snowman, and other such things to encourage children to clean up.  When it is clean up time, I turn on the music. The kids know that means to clean up. If they get cleaned up before the music is over, they earn a piece. We are trying to build the Mr. Potato Head, etc. 
Another nonverbal reminder I use is our Target Rule Reminder. When I am working with kids on the carpet, there are several rules that I want to establish, one of them being not to yell out answers.  If a child yells out an answer to a question that I asked, instead of giving a lecture, I simply remove one of the clip art bugs.  Remove a bug the first time and EVERY time someone yells out an answer. No need to say anything, just remove the clip art picture, they get it! This quickly changes that behavior! Be sure to have plenty of pictures. You don't want to run out! Slowly reduce the number of pictures you are using as your class interrupts less.

Developing a team attitude is the best way to develop a community of learners. Instead of children working to achieve trips to a treasure chest, we work together for special rewards. When we are doing the right thing, whatever you want "the right thing" to be, we earn happy rocks. When the jar is full, we celebrate with a special activity.  The good thing is that we do plenty of special activities anyways! Let's say you were going to go outside and practice writing letters with sidewalk chalk as one of your PLANNED activities. The jar is full. Guess what just became the reward? "Hey guys, you are working so hard and helping each other! We filled our jar! Today we are going to get to go outside and write with chalk! Won't that be fun!?" See how easy it is to reward little ones! No need to sugar them up or make countless trips to the dollar store.

These ideas are from this unit.



Assessment to Collect Data

My principal once said during our preplanning, "The main goal for the first day of school is to get them here, get them fed, and get them home safely!"  So true! I'm always a little anxious that they are going home to the right place!
During that first week of school we are also getting to know our kids as both people and learners.  We are establishing relationships with and between the children.
But, shortly after that first week, we begin to think more deeply about what we need to be teaching--to the whole class, to our small groups, and to individual children. To do this we must use effective formative assessments. We must decide where the children ARE and where we need to take them.  There are many ways to collect this data, but I love ESGI.  It not only makes assessments easy, it also makes building my instructional groups a snap! Here are some of my favorite features:

There are tons of tests already available. But, I can also make your own assessments and share them with my team!

The assessments can be easily conducted right from an ipad. As the children are working in centers, I can walk around and ask the children the letters. As they respond, I click "yes" or "no".

Once the assessment is completed, it lets me know how the child performed.

By conducting these assessments during the first weeks of school, I can establish a baseline. This helps me measure growth instead of proficiency.

My favorite feature...the bar graph. This graph easily shows me which children have mastered a standard and which have not. I  can now use this to help me form my small groups for instruction. 

Did you know that you can try ESGI for FREE for two months! What a great way to get your formative assessments going! If you decide to buy, you can get $40 off of the yearly cost simply by using my code, "ADSIT". Click on this link to get started on your free trial!

http://www.esgisoftware.com/ESGI/?promo=adsit

A Research Based Curriculum

Now that we have a teaching buddy, have established effective routines and procedures, and have collected our data...we are finally ready to teach! Deciding what and how to teach can be very confusing. Social media has changed the way that teachers collect curriculum.  We find things on Pinterest, on Teachers Pay Teachers, on blogs, and on Facebook & Instagram. 
Be a discerning shopper of ideas.  Just because it is on social media doesn't mean that it fits in with your philosophy of teaching. It also doesn't mean that it is based on sound practices. When you find someone who shares your philosophy, follow them on all of their social media accounts. 
When it comes to resources that are provided by your school--use them! Why not? You have them, they are paid for, and they are pretty easy to implement. However, be cautious! Use your resources to support the standard you are teaching.  Become a resource based not resource driven teacher. Think standards first, then resources. Also, ask yourself, "Do my kids NEED that activity?" Use your formative assessments to determine if an activity needs to be shared with the whole class, or would it be more effective to use the activity with a small group of children who are experiencing difficulty with the standard. 

The workshop model of teaching is an effective way to deliver instruction.  I have discussed that in many posts. You can read one of those posts here.
Developing an anchor chart during your mini lesson helps remind the kids what we they are learning. It helps them make connections to prior learning. It helps children see the big picture with all of the related concepts collected onto one chart. The charts are used as a reference tool by both the teacher and the children. These charts are from our Reader's Workshop and our Writer's Workshop units. 

 

 The goal for literacy and math centers is to be able to pull small groups! The big question? What are the other children doing while you are with a small group?  The beginning of the year is a time to develop independence in centers. We spend time introducing "how to do centers." What are the routines and procedures for this part of the day? We establish anchor charts that we display around the room to remind the children of the expectations.  One mistake I made...pulling a small group before I had developed independence! Don't worry about pulling a small group for 6 weeks! It may even take 8! During that time, spend time moving around the room. This is the time to develop that independence. When you can stand back the WHOLE center time, then you are ready to start pulling small group. These charts are from the Literacy Center Units that I wrote with my friend Deanna.

Kids love to play games. Keep the games simple! If you are spending more time teaching the game than teaching the standard, the game is no effective.  Introduce the games in your small groups. Play WITH the children until they are able to complete the activity independently. Then, move the activity to centers for repeated practice.

 Don't spend all of your time developing tons of games so that you can differentiate. Plan activities that are easily differentiated! For example, in this game the child is making combinations for the number 4. She is hiding some bears under the cave and placing some bears in front of the cave. Then, she records the combination on the recording page.  Other groups can use this same game! Simply change the number of bears to match the number combinations they are learning.  These games are from the DI Easy as Pie Math Units I wrote with my friend Michele.