Positive Thinking

I spend every minute of every day thinking about things I need to do.  Then, I worry about getting those things done and doing them well.  I suppose I should have a written list of things I need or want to do, but instead, I have a file cabinet full of ideas in my mind and it goes with me everywhere I go.  Sometimes it keeps me up at night.  My husband will wake up and see me Pinning on my phone in the middle of the night and he knows I'm thinking about something.  My mind is always going.

So when the school year started a couple of weeks ago now, I started to worry about the usual school related things.  I needed to make lunches every night again (I hate making lunches), make sure everyone had clean clothes, help get homework completed and returned, write lesson plans.  You get the idea.  Summer was over and it was back to the real world and more things to worry about.

So with that in mind, I am determined to be more positive this school year.  I am determined to be more prepared for my own family and the children I work with each day.  I am determined to be able to confidently say that I did my best to differentiate for my students.  And to do this well, I've been working on files to use in my own classroom and thought I would share them and hopefully help more children and teachers wherever they are.

Numeracy skills are so important for children to have in place in order to successfully go on to understand later math concepts.  And while so many of our students come to First Grade with many Early Numeracy skills in place, there are lots of holes to fill in along the way. 

This simple game, Pumpkin Roll-Add-Write allows children the opportunity to quickly subitize the numbers on the dice, add them and then write the number in the pumpkins along the pumpkin path.  In the process, they're also practicing good number writing skills while thinking about the directionality of those numbers.

Click HERE to preview
The Great Pumpkin File





We've been working on many Numeracy Skills in my classroom and I'm already noticing the need to work on counting up or back from any given number.  I try to work on this through movement around the classroom.  We count by 1's, 2's, 5's or 10's through a variety of movements such as giant steps, baby steps, skiing, sliding from side to side and lots of other movements.  Not all on the same day, but practicing through moving helps and it's fun!  But I wanted to be sure my kiddos got some paper-pencil practice as well.  Here is a fun Halloween themed practice page to use to practice this skill.

Click HERE to see more of
The Great Pumpkin File as well as variations of this page.

We also work on the concept of One More or One Less during Calendar time as well as when we're using number lines.  I would definitely have number lines available for use as a tool for those children who want or need one. Here is another fun pumpkin filled page in the packet that helps to teach these concepts.

Included as well are practice pages for

Greatest to Least as well as Least to Greatest.

 

 

Making combinations of numbers is a huge focus now as well.  We've been using unifix cubes as well as number bonds and ten frames.  Some variations are included to offer flexible practice creating combinations from 5-10.











 

Let's hope my determination sticks and pays off this school year.  Positive Thinking and lots of preparation!  I hope this will help you in your own classroom as well.