Friday Round-up

Whew this was a crazy week!  I swear the weeks leading up to Christmas only get longer when working with little ones.  They are sooo excited about the holiday season which already started for my littles who celebrate Hannukah. (Of course, I took a million pics before leaving school today but not one of our Hannukah activities!)

I wanted to share a few Math activities we did this week.  I absolutely LOVE teaching Math.  It is by far my favorite!  But I hate teaching it in simple ways.  I love making games out of everything.....at the expense of my sanity most times, lol.

 This week we focused on different ways to add and subtract.   I used sandwich bags and cut a piece of paper to fit inside.  Students began by telling the other students at their table how many cubes they put in the bag.  Then they added a few more cubes.  They presented the equation as, "I am starting with 3 cubes. I am adding 2 more cubes.  How many cubes do I have all together."  All of the cubes were hidden behind the paper so the other students couldn't see. The students loved calling on other students to give the answer.

We rotated around the table so all of the students had a turn.

 This student is checking her answer!

 I introduced the kiddies to the Number Line which is always an activity they love.  First I explain what it is and the ways we can use it.  Then I intro the walking number line.  We practice creating addition and subtraction number sentences.

We created addition problems for students to "act-out" on the number line.

Then we created subtraction problems.

Afterwards, when we were having snack, one table started creating addition sentences for each other to solve.  I was cracking up!  As soon as other tables heard, they started doing the same thing. 

I also wanted to share a quick little decorating tip for the holidays. I always try to hang student work or seasonal items from my clips in the ceiling tiles.  It makes the room feel so much bigger!  Well I love to decorate for the holidays but I hate having to rush around the last day before the break to undo everything.  Until.....I came up with this

I hang a piece of silver, glittery tinsel from my clip (in a loop) then hang a candy cane from each loop.  The picture doesn't really show how bright it is in the room with the overhead lighting.  The ceiling sort of sparkles.

Once that last day before break comes, I simply remove the candycanes and hang snowflakes and I'm done.  It takes about 5 minutes total!  YES please!

Hope you found something you can use in your classroom!  Thanks for stopping by!  To get more great tips (and some great freebies I'm working on,) don't forget to "follow" my blog!