Many Thanks and Freebies

How can I feel so exhausted by a 2.5 day week?
Maybe it was the...
*2 new students (One yells out questions to me from across the room. Yeah, we don't do that here.)
*headache 3 days running
*psycho parent incident

I REALLY wish I could elaborate on that last one but I will just generally say this woman literally makes things up to be mad at and then verbally accosts me, then the principal, and even the district office. My team member was walking by when this woman started a scene in the hallway and later told me she stayed close by because the woman's hostile attitude made her worried for me. It has now been decided that all communication between this parent and myself must be with the principal present. I am relieved and very thankful that my principal has my back. I SO wish I could tell you some of the details because your jaw would just drop but I'd better err on the cautious side on this one. I have NEVER had a parent complain about me so it still irks me that she is going around saying bad things about me even though I know she is crazy.

Besides my principal, I want to also take a second to say that I am thankful for my fellow bloggers. The ideas and downloads that you share save me valuable time and make for a better experience for my students. For example, this week we made these cute pilgrims from First Grade Wow. Thanks so much, Nancy!

And more than one student wrote that they were thankful for ME! Aw, how sweet. I really needed that today!

We also made pilgrim hats and sequenced We Gather Together... Now Please Get Lost! but I posted about that before so I'll just link back rather than repost.

I am also thankful that I found our missing snake and finally got a new cage! It didn't have a pin so I had to get creative and use a paintbrush. Hopefully those sneaky guys will stay put now and my parent helpers will come back. I am so thankful for my wonderful parent volunteers! I almost never make copies or laminate anymore.

To show my thanks to all of my loyal followers I'd like to share a subtraction game I used this week I called FEAST. Maybe you can use it next week?

We are working on different subtraction strategies and I wanted them to focus on using doubles facts to solve a subtraction question. This aligns with the CCSS 1.OA.6. After we practiced on whiteboards, we took turns sharing our answer using this sentence frame.  For example, to solve 4-2=? they would say, "I know the doubles fact 2+2=4 so 4-2=2."

Then I gave partners a set of 18 cards to cut apart, 2 FEAST boards, and 18 counters.

If the student can answer the question using the double fact sentence frame, they cover a picture with a counter. If they cannot answer it, no picture is covered and the next player takes a turn. You could play this without using the sentence frame or I also included a blank set of cards if you want to change the skill. You can download this FREEBIE by clicking {here.}


Are you one of those bargain shoppers who braves the crowds on Friday? I prefer to shop online in my jammies so I will be offering 20% off in my store to add to the 10 % off already offered by TpT during the upcoming Cyber 2-day SALE. I will be spending the weekend adding items to my already large TpT wishlist in anticipation!!

I hope you all enjoy your family and relax over this break. Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

DIsguises, Snakes & Subtraction {freebie}

"Mrs. Bates, may I speak to you a moment?" my principal formally announced in the staff room the other morning. UT OH!!! What could this be about?

"I was notified that your room was not cleaned last night ........due to a loose snake," she finished with a grin.

Yep, my sneaky snakes got out again last week! One of my non-snake loving parents found Mini-Me when she reached into the back of a drawer. She proclaimed her surprise with a loud shaky exclamation appropriate for firsties' ears, thank goodness.

Striker is much more crafty and only comes out at night. The janitorial crew was so alarmed they left the lights on and hightailed it out of there. That snake is going to get a stern talking to when I find him because some of my parents have stopped volunteering due to their fear of snakes. Doesn't he know his thrill seeking is LESS important than my pilgrim art project getting prepped? And if I have to start vacuuming my own room he is going to lose his hide (that's a fake rock to hide under) for a week!

I read online that you can put painters tape sticky side up along the floor and sometimes the snake will get stuck. I am not sure I am desperate enough to try that. If he is stuck that means it would take some careful work to get him off unhurt and I really can't imagine me rubbing baby oil on a hungry grumpy corn snake.

Needless to say, a new snake cage is on order so this madness can stop.

On to some academics.
This week we worked on Subtraction. I focused on the Common Core Standards for Mathematical Practices and tried for the first time to have the students explain their process in written form.
#1. Students make a solution plan.
#5. Students use tools strategically.

I made this anchor chart to organize our thinking.

We have been practicing using the vocabulary of strategies and tools.

I asked my son Quinn to demonstrate what I call Bump (counting on with fingers.) We used this first with addition 2 + ?=6 and now again as a possible way to solve a missing part question like 6-?=2

The bumping part is key because young children often make the mistake of counting the starting number.  The bumping action gives them something to do as they say the starting number and the fingers up truly are the numbers counted on.

This is the son who broke his elbow. Notice how he has that one at a different angle. Interesting.

Okay, back to my class. Partners were asked to work together to solve Thanksgiving-themed word problems. This format is similar to the PBAs (Performance Based Assessments) my district used to do. Students were asked to:
1. agree on a strategy
2. pick an appropriate tool
3. write and draw about how they solved the problem.

I think this is a great start!  If you'd like a copy of the anchor chart and word problems click {HERE.}

 I'll leave you with some pics of our wonderful turkey disguise projects. I wish I could post them all!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!

Turkey writing. winners and FREEBIES!!

This week we had a student move which doesn't happen too often at a magnet school. We each wrote a goodbye letter to her and I bound them into a book.

Doesn't this picture look just like her?

She even wrote to herself to save her memories

 We read The Great Turkey Race and wrote about where we thought the turkeys ran off to. The kids did a great job and I am starting to feel like I am making progress with them. Wahoo! You can grab the writing paper from Tammy.

Parachuting in space

Disneyland

a dance party!

Mars

Congrats to Kourtney, Pauline, Latoya, Kelly S, and Jessica who won copies of my Thanksgiving Read the Room! I will email them right out. If you didn't win you can grab your copy in my TpT store for only $1.50.

I also need to announce that Renee Saint Laurent won a free Wizard Wall trial pack! Look for an email from me.

This week we will be working on how-to writing.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.1.2 Write informative/explanatory texts in which they name a topic, supply some facts about the topic, and provide some sense of closure

I have been doing How to Cook a Turkey for the last few years and they always crack me up!

A cover if you want to make it into a class book

A flow map writing organizer.

Some students clearly have helped cook this holiday meal and one even told me about taking the gizzard bag out before you start!

Here are some focusing questions that help them...

What might you have to do to the turkey before you start?
Does anything go in the turkey?
Do you put anything on the outside of the turkey?
How long and at what temperature do you cook it?

If your students are better with sentence frames you can use this:

Final draft writing paper. 

 I have put all this together into a FREEBIE for you, just click {HERE}. If you like it give me some love in the form of a rating on TpT, becoming a follower, or a blog comment.

Imagine me virtually wearing this button.  :-)

Thanksgiving Read the Room

Do your students love to Read the Room during word work? Mine go nuts for it! The challenge for me is to find new places to tape the words up!

We are focusing on clusters with s next week and to check that they are actually decoding the words the students will have to write the word on the line next to the matching picture.

 It is in my TpT shop for only $1.50! I am feeling thankful that my conferences are over and we have Monday off (can I get a woot woot? ) so how about instead of giving away 1 new unit like I usually do, I will give away 5! Told you I am feeling good. I will pick the winners tomorrow night so you can use them this week so let your friends know to enter lickety split!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congrats  to Elizabeth Delk who won my Bats Informative Reading and Writing Unit from last week!

I will leave you tonight with this video I saw on Jessica's blog. It was hilarious and SPOT ON! Do you have a few friends like this?

Wizard Wall

I have a cool product to show you today called Wizard Wall. It is special "paper" (it reminds me of the wrapper around a popsicle) that you can use to make your anchor charts but it has some super cool features.

No judging my handwriting! Real time is sometimes not pretty.

1. It is electrostatic so it can go up on any wall without tape, tacks, etc. Not only is this great if you don't have an easel handy but it also makes putting it on a wall for display quick, easy and won't harm your painted walls!

2. You can write on both sides with permanent or dry erase markers!

Here is a video of it in action.


 Visit them on Facebook to learn more or be eligible for giveaways they run.

Want to try a sample pack for yourself? Enter via Rafflecopter below and I will pick one winner on Sunday!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

That's all for tonight my friends. Teaching half days and conferencing the rest has me pooped tonight. My conferences have all gone really well so far. My toughest one will be tomorrow so wish me luck!