February 18, 2014

Math Facts Fluency

Every year we work on getting our 2nd graders to fluently add and subtract math facts from 1-10. Well, this year I decided that since it was such an important standard for 2nd graders, that it would be incorporated in their homework.

I know that in the past I have sent home flashcards and told my students to study throughout the week and then we would test over their facts on Fridays. But I felt that they just weren't mastering their facts fast enough. I assume that they weren't really practicing their facts. Or maybe they were, but they might've been doing them alone.

So I REVAMPED how I do fluency homework. I decided that I would create a homework sheet for addition facts first and start sending it home for my students to practice being timed NIGHTLY. The parents were to time their child for 1 minute each night (can't argue with 1 minute right!?!?) and write down the number of problems that their child got RIGHT and then initial saying that they attest that THEY timed their child. I thought that if parents were able to actually watch what their child would be doing in my classroom each Friday, they would understand a little more and be able to help their child study if they needed it.

My results from using the timed math facts each night:
My students QUICKLY mastered their addition facts (most of them were getting 18/20 problems in a minute correct by the end of the 1st 9 weeks). It's the middle of our 3rd marking period and most of my students are getting at least 16/20 math facts in a minute ever single week. I also have 5 students who moved on to multiplication (3rd grade standard) after the 2nd 9 weeks. I have never had more than 2 or 3 students working on multiplication even at the END of the school year. I really think that the nightly homework has helped my students TREMENDOUSLY!!!

If you would like to use a copy of my nightly homework, I have created homework sheets for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. You can find them at my Tpt store by clicking the image below. I hope you find success with using the homework like I have!

February 17, 2014

Fractions With Skittles

Today we used skittles to talk about fractions of a set. First the students had to count the skittles to find their WHOLE, then they had to separate the skittles based on their colors. They could then write down the fraction of each color.

They had so much fun making fractions and eating them too!











You can find my "Fractions with Skittles" worksheet at my Tpt store by clicking the image below:


February 13, 2014

Valentine's Day 2014 Parent Gifts

So, tomorrow is Valentine's day and of couse I was "Pinteresting" it up and found some really cute ideas for parent gifts from the kids. Here is what we came up with:

The front of the card we wrote "I love you to Pieces" and tore pieces of paper up into small pieces and pasted them in the heart.




The back was even cuter! The kids wrote Happy Valentine's Day on a speech bubble, I took a picture of them like they were saying it, and then we pasted it onto the back of the card.




The kids had so much fun making a card for their parents.

I even told them that they had to be EXTRA sneaky tonight when they go home, to hide the card, then put it somewhere their parents would see it in the morning when they got up. I can't wait to hear their stories tomorrow morning about how surprised their parents were! haha!

Here are some of the actual pictures with their speech bubbles:





HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

February 6, 2014

Shape Monsters

The last few weeks we have been learning about plane shapes and solid shapes. Yesterday I let the kids create their own shape monsters using my little "Shape Monsters" file that you can find on Teachers Pay Teachers. Click on the image below if you would like to download a copy of your own.



The kids had SO.MUCH.FUN!!! They love it when they can get creative and do whatever they want with their project. I kept getting "Can I make mine a girl?", "Can my monster have more than 2 eyes?", "Can I use 4 different colors?". It was so funny because they are so used to having everything done a specific way. But their little minds went to work and we had some WONDERFUL creations.

After they completed their monsters, they had to fill out the sheet telling how many of each shape they used to create their monster. Then they wrote some really cute stories about their monsters too. It was a great activity for my class.










What a fun day of learning! :)



February 5, 2014

100th Day of School

We had so much fun on the 100th Day of School! We dressed up as old people and of course used the 100th Day of school activity set that I created a few years ago.





It was a great day of celebrating 100 days of learning and fun!

Click the image below to find fun activities to do with your class on the 100th day of school!


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