It's May!

It's a busy weekend with a family party and finishing my two masters' degree classes (by midnight tomorrow?? hopefully?) but I do have a few things to share... 

 

We had a PD day yesterday.  It was a nice little reprieve as we push towards the end of the year.  Don't get me wrong...I love my students and I am loving the fact that most days now we are following routines (mostly), but a day to reflect and connect with coworkers is always nice.  One of the sessions was teacher-led and I loved it.  It was great to hear from teachers in our own district and get a peek into the great ways they are implementing curriculum and organizing their classrooms!

 

We had an exciting math lesson this week...the best sort and count activity ever!  To end our sorting unit, the kids each got a bag of M&M's or Smarties.  We don't use a lot of food for lessons in my classroom, but I figured a little sugar once in a while can't hurt.  :)

 

They emptied their bags, sorted by color, and counted.  They had to look at each other's plates at their tables and talk about which groups had the most and which groups had the least.  Then, they could eat the group with the most first, on down to the group with the least.

 

 

 

 

Smarties sorting was a little hard.  Some students were putting reds and oranges together, but I grabbed an extra bag and modeled the colors they should have on the document camera. 

 

(I just discovered how to connect my IPEVO document camera to the Promethean board, by the way.  It has been sitting there all year, but I finally took the time to figure out how to use it.  Now modeling is SO much easier.  And according to the kids, the best part is looking at my hand move on the screen. :)  I am pretty fortunate to have good technology in my classroom!)   

 

Anyway, you could hear a pin drop as they sorted their candy.  And NO ONE ate their candy before they sorted!!  They even asked several times, "Is it okay to eat them now?"

 

If I had to do this over again, I would have used white paper plates so the kiddos could write the numbers next to each group.  Duh...  I had intended to use white paper for "placemats" but switched to some sturdy leftover birthday plates I had in the closet so the candy wouldn't roll around on the floor.  But kids were having a hard time keeping track of each number as they counted the groups. 

 

 

Now we're moving on to shapes.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm super excited because while researching activities for my annotated bibliography project, I found Mrs. Unger's Unbelievable Elementary Experiences!  Her post on how to use this book to teach shapes sounded fun, so we are going to try this on Friday.  I've placed my Amazon order and the book is on its way!  I'm always looking for ways to integrate reading and math, so this will be a perfect way to extend our 2D shapes week.  (And possibly make a cute hallway display!)