It's Simply Elementary

Organize · Simplify · Teach

Five for Friday – aw crap it’s Saturday again! – FREEBIE ALERT!!

By

Hey hey, friends of mine! 🙂 My body is stilllll working on adjusting to the back to school, teacher-style exhaustion that is August and September, sooooo I’m bringing you my favorites from the week on Saturday again instead of Friday.  OOPS! 🙂 They’re still my favorites, and I’m glad to bring them to you in this week’s Five for Friday – – – on Saturday – – – my favorite link up ANY day of the week with Doodle Bugs Teaching !!
Soooo this week I’m finishing up my blog post for my 2000 TPT follower giveaway!! Be on the look out this week for a giveaway from my most favorite teacher friends who have inspired me so many times to the moon and back!! CHECK OUT THIS LINE UP!! . . . 

You are NOT going to want to miss it!! <3

Soooo I kind of made up a math game yesterday! My kiddos were having trouble with 2 things: identifying the digit in the ones {YIKES} . . . {#LOTSOFROOMTOGROW}. . . annnd, therefore, they were having trouble with even and odd numbers, too.  
So, yesterday, after an even and odd lesson, I decided our exit ticket of sorts would be to do a human sort of even or odd numbers. . . . but on the spot, {honest to Pete, my best ideas come at me mid lesson and I sprint to my to do list to write them down} I came up with Even and Odd Ball!!
Here’s how we play . . .
1. Each kiddo gets a sticky note.
2. Each kiddo writes down their own 2 or 3 digit number (we weren’t ready for 4 digits)
3. Each kiddo underlines the number in the ones place to help them identify whether their number is even or odd!
4.  Place an EVEN poster on one side of the room and an ODD poster on the opposite side of the room.
5. Students crumple their sticky note into a BALL!
6. Students make a circle around the room with their Even or Odd Ball.
7. Teacher gives a 3, 2, 1, GO count for students to throw their Even or Odd Ball into the center of the classroom. 
8. Each student finds a ball and SORTS their “ball” to the Even or Odd side of the room!
9. REPEAT! Have students crumple the ball that they found and sorted, head back to the circle, and toss their Even and Odd Ball back into the center of the classroom so play and practice can continue!
HOW EASY IS THAT!! It was JUST the practice they needed!!
Annnnd guess what – since I created it on the spot, we were recording our lists on white boards, but I created a recording sheet for the students to sort their finds as they play, too…. click below to snag yours for FREE!!!
{fonts by Kimbery Geswein!!}

 I’d love to hear what you think!

Changing gears a bit . . . this past Saturday, I got to spend the day with my family in Happy Valley to cheer on my Penn State Nittany Lions . . .mom even got me a new Alex and Ani to fancy up the tailgate attire! 🙂 

There’s not much I love more than Penn State football,  I’m a bit intense about it . . . much like I’m intense about most things I love . . . hence, my motto and original Alex and Ani bracelet…
I’m not crazy, I’m just a Scorpio 🙂
Here’s my beautiful mom and me in the sunshine cheering on our Nittany Lions <3
Penn State forever <3

We alsoooo got our sentence building on this week! We practiced sorting complete and incomplete sentences using my ELA workout pack!
 What I liked about our sort was that it wasn’t just a “find the words with capital letters and punctuation – that’s the complete sentence!” activity for my kids.  The complete sentences need to have the punctuation and capitalization added, too, making them think a bit harder.  WIN!!   
As a group, we added our capitalization and punctuation ORALLY using our WHOLE BRAIN TEACHING strategies that I LOVEEEEE using in our classroom!
We then added our complete sentences to our response sheets that are part of my ELA Workout pack that you can read alllll about HERE or check out in my TPT store {here} or by clicking below! 
You have to read an AWESOME post {here} by my sweet friend Miss DeCarbo to see and hear all about how we use our whole brains and our whole body to capitalize and punctuate our sentences before we write them!

Annnnd, lastly, my kid quotes are BACK!! This week was leveling week, and I had a sub on Wednesday to do DRAs for my 2nd grade readers.  One of the parts of the DRA collects data about what the kiddos know about different types of books and how they choose a just right book for them…. allow me to share the kid quote of the year so far. . . . 

I love my job. 🙂 I hope you all have an awesome weekend!! Thanks for stopping by! 

Comments

  2. 2

    Jessica Spriggs says

    I love the odd and even idea, I'm thinking I may try it with recognizing the hundreds, tens, and ones spots. They could write a 3 digit number and underline one of them, then the others students have to identify which number is underlined…the hundreds, tens, or ones. Also, I love the whole brain strategies and really want to incorporate them into my room. I agree about the sentences, I like when they all have capitals and punctuation or none of them. Very cute bracelet!

  3. 3

    Molly Stahl says

    I feel like I have been teaching even/odd numbers for 10 days now and some STILL need more practice. I will definitely be using your idea next week as a quick refresher/review–thanks : ) Do you live in PA? I am about 45 minutes from PSU. I am going to check out your Back to School ELA activities right now!

    Home

  6. 6

    Schroeder Shenanigans in 2nd says

    We were desperate for the practice, too!! . . .I lived in PA for all of my life until I got married 3 years ago and moved to Ohio.. . . .we lived in Altoona which was about 30 minutes south of State College! Where do you live?!

  9. 9

    Creativity to the Core says

    Cute idea with the even and odd ball game! It's almost like the activity I've played before in professional development for finding partners in a group – write your name, crumble, throw, pick up a random ball, find the person with that name. Love the idea of using it in math! Also, that video on Christina's blog is ah-dorable! I love Mrs. Shipley! 🙂

    Meredith
    Creativity to the Core