I love teaching and learning with young children, this is where I share my ideas.
Welcome to Paula's Primary Classroom! This blog is where I share ideas for teaching and learning with families, friends and other early childhood educators. Please don't use the photos or text of this blog without permission, but please do use any ideas you find useful. Thank you for stopping by!
Yes, it's time for all things pirate, International Talk Like a Pirate Day is September 19th and anyone who doesn't want to join in the fun can walk the plank! So dust off your tricorn hat, slip on an eye patch, and ramp up that fake accent - let's have some fun!
Have you read Pirates Love Underpants? If you haven't, prepare yourself for giggles and silliness - there's not much that's funnier to a group of 5 or 6 year olds than underwear! (This is not an affiliate link, just a helpful suggestion).
After reading the book I love to do underwear math because math should always be fun! We practice counting, sorting, patterns and adding with underpants and even feed underpants to a dinosaur read color words.
Another awesome thing about pirates is their mustaches and beards - pirates are scruffy, just like it says in Tough Boris by Mem Fox! Why not add a little face paint and turn your students into pirates? Don't miss out on the fun, you definitely need a mustache too!
Want lots more ideas about pirates, including some of my favorite books? I've blogged about it here, here, here and here!
If your students are ready to add and subtract within 20, I have a FREE pirate themed activity for you! Students solve addition and subtraction facts, then color by number to reveal this burly fellow!
If you want more pictures like him, and want to differentiate for adding, subtracting, and a mix of both, each within 5, 10 or 20, then you'll love these guys!
I hope you treasure these pirate activities! Just in case you haven't had enough pirate puns yet, click here for more pirate jokes from Fatherly.com!
Getting ready for back to school season can be daunting, so my friends and I are here to help make it easier for one lucky teacher - and it just might be you!
Prize: $100 Teachers Pay
Teachers Gift Card
Giveaway Organized by: Kelly
Malloy (An Apple for the Teacher)
Are you a Teacher Blogger or a
Teachers pay Teachers seller who wants to participate in giveaways like these
to grow your store and social media? Join
our totally awesome group of bloggers!
What would YOU spend it on? It depends on your goals for this year. Last year I noticed that a LOT of students are really struggling with learning their addition and subtraction facts, so I did a little digging and discovered why - and how to solve the problem! Most children I've worked with this year were expected to memorize all their facts, without explicit instruction on strategies for solving them - but not all facts are created equal! We use very different methods to solve:
2 + 6 = ? and 12 - ? = 7
and yet another strategy for 8 + 10 = ?
My solution? A step by step, 19 strategy program with posters, worksheets and even short videos to help you teach the HOW of learning math facts.
If you're wanting to do more graphing with your students and just don't know how you'll make it happen every day or even every week, this is for you!
Of course, sometimes you need a print and go resource so you can just get through ALL THE THINGS. I get it! That's why I just finished putting together these back to school worksheet packets for first grade! Your students will practice and review kindergarten math and literacy skills as they color, write, and cut and paste - and with 4 fun themes you're sure to have some happy kiddos!
No matter how you'd spend the gift card if you win, I wish you the best of luck, and a wonderful school year - AND here's a set of 5 free graphing activities, because EVERYONE deserves to be a winner!
Good news - you don't have to choose! Hundreds of awesome resources are marked just $1 with the #JulyDeals on TeachersPayTeachers July 6th - 8th AND you can enter to win a $100 gift card too!
I'm including all these awesome resources in the dollar deal event:
GIVEAWAY DETAILS:
Prize: $100 Teachers Pay Teachers Gift Card
Giveaway Organized by: Kelly Malloy (An Apple for the Teacher)
Are
you a Teacher Blogger or a Teachers pay Teachers seller who wants to
participate in giveaways like these to grow your store
and social media? Join our totally awesome group of bloggers!
Recently I blogged about some of the unusual ways I like to use my 100s chart and 100s pocket chart, this week I have a few more ideas to share - thanks for joining me!
Before we talk 100s charts, let's talk about a $100 prize!
GIVEAWAY DETAILS:
Prize: $100 Teachers Pay Teachers Gift Card
Giveaway Organized by: Kelly Malloy (An Apple for the Teacher)
Rules: Use the Rafflecopter to enter. The giveaway ends 6/13/23 and is open worldwide.
Are
you a Teacher Blogger or a Teachers pay Teachers seller who wants to
participate in giveaways like these to grow your store
and social media? Join our totally awesome group of bloggers!
These spring pictures are easy to create using addition and subtraction within 100 (mostly with regrouping, but there are a few problems without regrouping so you can differentiate and include students who aren't ready for that step yet). Simply print the problems on colored paper - each page is labeled with the color - trim, and have students complete the problems! See how we've completed the problems, then turned the paper over to put the answers on the back?
When we put the completed cards into the hundreds pocket chart we create a picture:
Hundreds charts don't have to be made of paper - it's easy to assign digital 100s chars that students can complete on a device from anywhere! Absent students can complete their work digitally, and if the copier is broken, you still have your math practice ready to go. There's no need to grade either - a picture appears to let students know they got it right. Win-win-win!
This is my new favorite! I've recently started making my hundreds pocket charts with different skills, then bundling them together. Why? Because of the amazing flexibility for differentiation!
For example: I'm tutoring siblings, one entering kindergarten, the other entering 2nd grade. Mr. K is pretty good at reading 2 digit numbers, but needs a little more practice. Ms. 2nd grade has numbers down, but struggles a little with numbers in base 10. By pulling out the light blue cards for him, and the dark blue and white cards for her, they were able to work together to create this whale picture.
Another of my students is fairly good with base 10 blocks, but really needs to practice addition and subtraction with regrouping. I knew she'd enjoy making this pocket chart, but 100 addition and subtraction problems would be too many for her - so I pulled the green cards from the addition and subtraction set, and the blue cards from the NBT set, and she practiced both skills just the right amount.
Think about how often you need to differentiate math skills for your students, or to review a skill with a child. Now it's easy for everyone to get individualized skills practice while working together with their peers of all abilities!
Get your whole class working together to create a BIG picture, like these awesome murals!
This America the Beautiful mural is made of 30 hundreds charts - and each one is differentiated 3 ways, so you can take a group of students and have them work together at their own levels to create amber waves of grain and purple mountain majesty - from sea to shining sea! (Don't have 30 students? I bet you have some fast workers who will be thrilled to do more than one!).
Let's also remember to Bee Kind to each other - this mural is made of just 12 hundreds charts, and includes matching kindness notes to make a lovely back to school / end of year / Valentines Day / Random Acts of Kindness Day bulletin board. Just like the America the Beautiful mural, it comes with 3 levels of differentiation. Do you have more than 12 students? Make more than one mural and spread that kindness around!
Okay, I'm kind of cheating here. You already know that hundreds charts can be used with a lot of different themes. Why not combine them with social studies or science themes to increase the time students spend thinking about state symbols, animals of the Chinese Zodiac, or what different kinds of bears look like?
Hundreds charts are so versatile, and so much fun. Is it any wonder I love them so much? I hope you found new ways to use them as you read today!
