I Am Feeling A Bit Dotty Right Now

Warning: Dot markers will give you spots in front of your eyes if you use them as much as I do!

Here is a preview of next week's giveaways!

I have 2 weeks left and about a month's worth of paperwork and clean-up to do so I am feeling a bit crazy right now. I am trying to keep things interesting but this is becoming a challenge. I am up next and will be hosting Chapter #4. Are you ready to party with me? Okay, I sound like a DJ. This is a mat you can use at the beginning of the year with lots of different manipulatives.
1. It comes in 2 pieces so you need to glue it together
2. Can use with teddy bears, linking cubes, number cards to match the dots, etc...
3. I like the idea of use the dots as Debbie suggests so they learn the configuration quickly and will not have to count. (hummmm, some of my little ones will need to anyway !)  Click here to grab this gift! Happy Wednesday!

Tip of the Week: The Dollar Store has bingo markers for yup, one dollar.  Grab some today!

Please leave a comment about how you can use this next year.
Have a great day of teaching....  or relaxing (What is that?)

I Can, You Can, We All Can...

Debbie Diller suggests that you create "I Can" anchor charts in your classroom so students understand your expectations at each station. This is done with your students to provide their 'buy in". What about having students create a bookmark once the chart is made so they can take it with them to the station they are working on. They can write simple buzz words or glue pictures on to help them to remember how to use the station. This could be an authentic writing activiy with your focus on making a list. Students could keep them on a ring like flash cards and review them with their math partner. Math vocabulary could go on the back! 
 Click here if you want this download.

Who Doesn't Like to Talk? I Sure Do!

So my friend Deedee Wills created some guiding questions on her bookmark (rip over to her site if you do not have one) and I want to talk about a question she poses. How do you support math vocabulary in your stations? I created some "math talk" cards which I will offer next week when I host the next chapter. You have to come back and link up with me!
How do we make these cards for our kinderkids?
1. Keep the text simple for our emergent readers
2. Use sight words that you have already introduced.
3. Use math vocabulary that you have practiced many times in large and small groups.
4. Add visuals to the text to support the academic language you are teaching
5. Practice, Practice, Practice
    Debbie talks about the importance of modeling and I would use this strategy when introducing these cards.

    In my room we sit around the carpet in a circle. We each practice the sentence we are focusing on. Keep it simple for our youngest learners and build on their learning by introducing  mathematical vocabulary as you work through the standards. What about creating a math dictionary or anchor charts with math language? Maybe you could scaffold this with appropriate photographs of your students, putting it in context they can relate to or use appropriate graphics. What about a math mini office? Maybe I should create these tools...hummmm. Okay I am finished in 2 weeks and I am creating more stuff...crazy.

Come back and grab these next week. This is just a tease! Now go check out Mrs. Parker and read her excellent thoughts on this chaper. You will not be sorry!

 

Stripping Again

Do you remember how to strip? No silly, I am talking about making these books for your little ones so they have a way to record the patterns they build. I am offering this as a free download in honor of my friend Mrs. Parker who is starting the next chapter of MWSy Debbie Diller. You can have it if you follow me and if you are sweet enough to check out her site. This is cute and easy. If you don't have dot markers they can color the circles in  and that could take major time!   Click here for My Book of Patterns. Remember to stack the pages behind the title page and staple along the side to make one set. Easy-peasy and I have given you a variety of patterns for recording. Now get stripping!

Color My World in Patterns

So I am warming up for next week's Chapter 4 but I have been thinking a lot about differentiation after reading the first few chapters of MWS. Have you? Anyway at the beginning of the year the pattern mat is useful to get the kids started and oriented to the idea of reading left to right. Debbie talks about not providing million of choices and I actually am doing something right. I start with patterning by color and put the stuff
(teddies, cubes, etc. ) into a baggie for each child only using 2 colors. Hey, it leaves very little wiggle room for making a mistake. Now here is the math talk- "My pattern is red,blue,red,blue,red,blue." The student can turn to his partner and ask, "What is your pattern______ (call student by name since they often can't remember and need to practice this). Now here is the differentiation, once you have done this in small groups, some kids can build their pattern right on top of the sticker cards and just do actual matching since they really have no clue. Another student can extend the pattern based on the first half of the card. A more capable child can create the same pattern but with different colors. This can be recorded using dot markers or crayons. Also look at the buttons where a student has to decide what is missing in the middle of the pattern - more demanding huh? I like using the back of sentence strips because it has a line and I just attached the extension with tape so you can fold them in half for the child who is not ready. Woohoo! Now I just need to organize all this in ziplocks and buy some tubs. I need a nap. Too much cognitive work for me!
Now don't forget about our journey together...
Our book study continues so start reading Chapter 3 and check in with Mrs. Parker and link up with her!

          Share your ideas and how you your create your stations. I hope we hear from you.
                                                                      Fran Kramer

Stomp Your Feet On More of My Math Mats

Anyone who teaches kindergarten needs to download this mat. I have teddy bears that come in different sizes and this is the perfect mat for sorting small, medium, and large. This might be the kind of  "math talk" you would want your children to use to build their mathematical language. I love to pull this out after reading various versions of Goldilocks and The 3 Bears.  I have my students sort attribute blocks on a mat of this type too. How can you differentiate this sort?  Have your students graph their sort if they have stronger mathematical understandings. Practice the following  "I have more________ and you have more ________." "I have less_______ and you have less_____."    "I have more____ but you have less____."                         Download this mat right here.



This is a mat every kindergarten teacher needs at the beginning of the year and it can be stored with  attribute blocks for students to use as part of a Math Work Station. Response sheets can be differentiated depending on a students skill level. They can be stored in big ziplocks with the manipulatives. What do you think?   Get this mat here and enjoy this freebie.

Math Mats... not for the front door

Are you linked up? Join the Debbie Diller Book Study Party:

Chapter 2: Organizing and Managing Materials
Considerations for Using Manipulatives:
Debbie offers some great tips for managing math manipulatives.
Go back and read these tips again (page 39).
1.EXPLORATION, EXPLORATION, EXPLORATION !
Every year I feel so much pressure to stay on a pacing chart and address the state standards and I  think to myself, can I skip this step with the kids? I have learned the hard way that the answer is a big -NO.
Our students  have not been to preschool and they need the oportunity to touch manipulatives, play with them, and talk about them with each other. When I don't offer them these opportunities they  find a way to use them inappropriatly (Have you ever seen a unifix gun?) Trust me on this.
So I allow them time to explore but I am clear about my expectations and my partner and I model this over and over again. We even demonstate "math talk" we hope to hear.
2. Limit the amount of manipulatives you give students. Here is a round of applause for Debbie Diller! We should own stock in ziplock baggies because we use them 24/7. We number the buckets in our room and each child is given a baggie with his number on it and limited amounts of the manipulatives we are using. Trust me it is worth the effort to do this! Have you ever had a child drop an entire bucket of small cubes?
3.The next tip she offers is one I have figured out on my own but it is worth pointing out again and again. Give each child their own mat to work on . Oh yeah, this keeps the peace and everyone loves personal space- right? Say amen to that. So after all this intense babble I am offering my blogging BFF's some math mats and if I finish my assessments tomorrow who knows what might show up!!!

Students put their manipuatives (from their baggie) on the mat in a pattern and the star is to remind them where to start reading their pattern. What do you think?  Grab it while it's hot right here! You get two for the price of one.

Here is another mat to use when you want students to sort by color.. What could you use? I bet you can think of a million things. How about buttons, unifix cubes, counters. teddy bears, 1" cubes, etc. As the year progresses you can count how many are in each column or for more able students they could graph these quantities. Hey, this might be differentiation.

Differentiation Rocks!  Try clicking here for this mat

Good night friends.



Easy Peasy Labels for MWS

In kindergarten I would keep lables for my Math Work Stations super simple. Our children need to recognize numbers and the matching quantity. These lables will reinforce that and willscaffold it for the child that has not acquired number recognition yet. I have lots of incoming 4 year olds at the beginning of the year!

Click here to grab a set of labels!
If you are looking for me after school I am following Debbie's suggestion about purging because I need to get down to some serious tossing. The kids are still with me so this is a job for the late afternoon. Can I part with what I don't need? You betcha!  How about you?

Batter Up!

We are trying to reorganize our room and still provide some interesting activities for our little ones. They love baseball and have heard many stories related to this theme. My kids built this tree map as a group and will practice the language of the map in a pocket chart tomorrow.Once they practice "reading" the map I will let them cut and paste the words into their own map and read it to a partner. I created an area in the midddle of the map for them to draw a baseball player in a uniform. I love using 8.5 X14 paper for this map.
Batter Up and it's time to

Our Book Study Begins Today! Woohoo!

Today is the first of many opportunitioes to link up and share your thinking about Debbie Diller's new book entitled Math Work Stations. If you have not read it yet or received your copy in the mail you can still join in the fun and share some of your ideas or thinking. Everyone is invited! We are opening up today with Deedee Wills and you will enjoy some of the important, guided questions she has posed based on Chapters 1 and 2. I think many people struggle with the question of how to differentiate their stations and what this actually looks like in the classroom. One point Debbie seems to really emphasize is the need to have taught the skill and modeled it over time. This is crucial in kindergarten and can not be talked about enough. If you don't spend the time going over your expectations, model the activity (my partner role plays this with me), and show them how to clean it up you will become frustrated. Ithink kindergarten children need an opportuity for Free Exploration at the beginning of the year since many of our kids have never had experiences with these kinds of materials. You can learn so much about their mathematical understandings! What do you think kinder teachers? What is your favorite container for math materials? I need it to hold my recording sheets which I store in large ziplock baggies. Ideas?

Some of my thoughts:
1. Label the tubs with  large numbers and dots.
2. Introduce the tubs slowly over time and model expectations.
3. Demonstate how materials need to be put away- quietly, it's not a toss and throw game!
4. Review tub activity and over time show them other ways to use the materials (need to work on this)
5. Allow students to pick the tub- free choice and work with partner (more accountability)
6. Provide recording sheets to differentiate skills.
My goal is to buy new tubs that all match (woohoo) and reorganize my math during the summer.

Thanks Debbie for encouraging me to stretch my thinking and redo this area of my room. This book has given me the energy to have rich conversations with my team and my teaching partner!

Go read about this at Deedee's site. She has done an excellent job and there might even be a freebie to grab!

I will come back tonight for more but I am off to a curriculum meeting at my district! Thanks Deedee for inviting me to your party!