Counting Back from 20- a fun idea for independent practice

Good morning! Is anyone struggling with students who can't count back? I am very excited to share this silly tool I thought up that will help your kiddos practice their counting backward sequence, INDEPENDENTLY. One little cutie was so excited- she wanted to show all of her friends and the fire started there. Here is how it went.
The lead teacher in first grade showed me her subtraction timed tests and boy oh boy- some kids have no idea what subtraction is all about. Their answers were nonsense. So, I set to work on that handful of kiddos by gathering pre-assessment data- can they count back from 20?

Addition and Subtraction in First Grade

While working with this adorable first grader, she bounced off and gathered up a couple of pencils and a pair of scissors. Just another off-task little kiddo, I thought...until I realized what she was doing. She put both of her hands down with her stuff in between. She was trying to represent the number 13 but didn't have enough fingers so grabbed some objects to help. How brilliant! How many kids have I worked with that say they can't do the problem if the numbers are too large? My other thought is, since these kiddos have moved on to numbers past being able to represent on their fingers, it is nearing time for a counting on strategy. Grab my counting on practice pages here>> http://bit.ly/1PjQOD1
Already into subtraction? Counting back pages here>>http://bit.ly/1P7JWqw
Have a great day!

The Enrichment Project Continues

I started off my year with a goal. It was to spend 5 minutes a day with a student needing enrichment. I wasn't sure what I was going to do or who with so I created a short geometry challenge, copied off 10 copies, and went around the building giving out just a few in each hall. Then I waited.

Before the day's end, three were returned to me with big eyes and lots of questions. "What's this for? Did everyone get one? Why did you give me this?" I let the students know I thought they might find it fun and left it at that.

Finding Time for Assessing, Grading or for those Unteachable Days Before Break

Read to hear about the Chase for 100! Let me start from the beginning...

December was a fun month! I believe the kids stopped paying attention right around the 1st of the month. I began to worry. With so much time ahead to be in school, how was I going to keep the days productive?
I gave the first week or so my best effort at engaging the students, yet Santa Claus still lurked behind every white board, anchor chart, and math tub. Double digit addition with regrouping simply wasn't going to cut it any longer.

Hard at work

So, I worked hard all weekend to create a game of sorts and review all of the math standards I had taught up until that point. I called it The Chase for 100. In this game, students completed independent review pages and earned base 10 cubes from the bank. They were paid exclusively in cubes and had to regroup their ones for tens and finally regroup their tens for a hundred flat. Once they earned 100 their name went on the board under the WINNER heading. The students were EXCITED!

I held a brief meeting with my 5 most advanced students. They were my 'bankers' and were to check pages and pay out according to what each page was worth (as stated on each page). The excitement rose even further! Kids in charge? You might think that there would be a few unhappy campers but the class was totally fine with that and they wanted so badly to begin. But not without a few ground rules.

I laid down an "ask three, then ask me" rule where if a student didn't remember how to do something (such as even/odd, make an array...) they were to ask three other students before coming to me. That worked beautifully and only one student asked me for help the entire time.

Work time was quiet, kids were like little machines furiously earning more and more- making trades of 1s for 10s,

Use base 10 blocks, or pennies, dimes and dollars!

and when the recess monitors showed up at our door, the kids asked if they HAD TO go to recess!!
We ended up doing this for three days leading up to our Christmas break and each night I went home and made more and more review pages. The kids were eating them up (not literally)! I could not have been happier, my team teacher could not have been happier but most importantly, the kids could not have been happier!
If you want to pick up a set (34 pages in all) of these 2nd grade CCSS review pages and give yourself time to assess, conference, plan, record grades...grab them here>   http://bit.ly/1OYI7HP
I hope your kiddos enjoy them as much as mine did!