Name the Fish FREEBIE

We got a class pet this week!  I decided to get the kids a fish because they don't carry diseases, there are no allergies, and they are easy to take care of.  I think it is important for kids to have a classroom pet.  It is also very educational.  For example, we got the fish today and already did 2 math lessons with him! We did a tally chart and a bar graph to pick out his name!  You can download the freebie HERE at my TPT store.


Meet Skittles!

 Tally Chart

 Bar Graph

Addition Facts Packet

It is very important for students to learn their math facts.  I want my students to have their math facts memorized by 3rd grade so that they are not counting each addition problem on their fingers.  So, I made an Addition Fact Packet to help with this.  It includes and introductory page for each math fact, 5 (front and back) practice pages, fact assessments after each fact, review assessments starting with 40 problems and increasing to 100 problems, and flash cards.  The repetition really does help the kids learn their facts.  I also like to play Beat the Teacher with my kids when they are doing the practice pages.  I will give them between 1 1/2 minutes - 2 minutes depending on how long we have been practicing the fact.  They try and beat me on my time.  Sometimes I will even give them a head start.  They LOVE doing this.  I always do side A in class and send side B home for homework.  Below are some pictures of the practice pages.  If you are interested in having a copy you can get it HERE at my TPT store.  I also have a Subtraction Fact Packet you can get HERE.

Introductory Practice page

 Practice Pages

 Review Assessments

 Fact Cards.  I like to color code mine by facts.

"I Can" Statements

Over the summer, I decided to retype all of the I Can statements and turn them in to cute monkey graphics.  I have a bulletin board that I change out daily.  I also have the I Can statements on poster that are kept up year round (Just in case I forget to change them and someone pops in ;) ), and I have the numbers only printed out and posted by each subject.  You could do this beside your daily agenda if you have one.  I also made one with cute kid graphics.  If you want to check them out you can get the monkey statements HERE and the kid statements HERE.

Daily I Can statement board.

Core Standard Numbers placed by each subject for the day.

 I Can posters displayed all year.

Example of one of the kid graphic posters. Sorry the picture isn't the best.  I took a pic of it off my computer.  I don't have the hard copy with me.

Christmas Symmetry

I found this cute and fun symmetry activity in a mailbox magazine.  All you do is pick out 4 different Christmas shapes.  I chose a snowman, tree, snowflake, and gingerbread man.  I used our die cuts and cut them out on white paper.  I talked to the students about how both sides have to be the exact same.  Then I handed out the shapes and had the students fold them in half.  Then I had them trace over the fold with a black crayon.  They glued the shapes on construction paper that they divided into 4 equal pieces.  Then they decorated their shapes.

They had a lot of fun with this activity.  They also loved that it was Christmas themed.  They felt like they were doing more of a craft than a math lesson.  This is one I will do each year!

Pumpkin Art

We made these before Open House this year.  The kids did a really good job with them and followed directions really well.  They were a quick, easy, and fun art for them.  This is also a great activity to teach symmetry. 

Materials:  Black paper, orange paper, glue stick, scissors, and a pencil.

Step 1:  Cute the orange paper in half.  Give each student 1 piece of black paper and a 1/2 piece of orange paper.

Step 2:  Draw half of a pumpkin on the orange paper.

Step 3:  Cut out the pumpkin.

Step 4:  Glue the outline of the pumpkin onto the black paper.

Step 5:  Glue the pumpkin half on the black paper.  Be sure to match it up with the orange outline.

Step 6:  Glue the mouth, eye, and other half of the nose on to the black side.

Fact Families

I am not a huge fan of our new math series.  My students are having such a hard time understanding it.  So, I am supplementing A LOT!  I created a math lesson to help them better understand fact families.   I associated the numbers with people and talked to them about how your family stays the same.  This really helped the students get the concept.  It is actually the first math lesson this year that every student in the classroom understood completely!!  If you would like a copy of the packet, you can get it HERE.  In the packet, there are a few pages to help introduce the lesson, flash cards, worksheets, and a file folder game.  I also made the file folder game a separate file just in case you need the reinforcement or just need a few more centers for your classroom.  You can get it HERE.

Fraction Animals

I gave each student a piece of paper with 6 circles on it.  We reviewed fractions, divided the circles up, and labeled each piece.  After they finished labeling the pieces, they cut out the pieces and arranged them to look like animals.

 A Mouse

  An Elephant

 A squirrel

 A Pig

 Dog

 cat

 A duck playing on the playground.

Little Baker's Cafe

The students played restaurant to review adding money.  I gave each student a menu and a "waiter/waitress pad".   They took turns being the waiter or waitress and asking what each person wanted for a drink, appetizer, entree, and dessert.  After they were done getting the orders, they switched within their group.  After everyone in their group had their chance to take the orders, they added up how much each person spent on drinks, then they added entrees, and then finally they added the desserts and appetizers together.  Once they had 3 final totals, they added those three amounts together to get a final total.  They really enjoyed being able to do something fun and out of the ordinary for math.  I actually had quite a few want to keep their menus to play at home and some of my girls took them outside to play restaurant at recess! :) You can purchase this activity at TeachersPayTeachers.

Candy Math

Any activity that you do with food is going to keep the kids' interest.  This is an activity that you can use with either Skittles or M&Ms.  I use this activity at the end of the year as a review.  You can use it as a math center, time filler, and review.  This activity reviews estimating (estimating the number of skittles or m&ms), adding, subtracting, sorting (by color), and graphing (by 2 and pictograph).  The activities are the same for Skittles and for M&Ms.  It just depends on which one you have on hand or buy.  I have  included a color version and a black and white version.

You can purchase this activity at my TeachersPayTeachers site.

Estimating with Candy

It is the end of the year, and my students are really starting to slow down on their AR.  AR (Accelerated Reader) is a reading program. Students read a book and take a comprehension test over the book. I set an individual goal for the month and for the 9-weeks.  Since the end of the year is approaching, the students don't get as much time to complete their goals.  Our students are not allowed to check out books from the library after the 2nd week of May.  So, they really have to step up in order to reach their goal.  I needed to give my students some sort of motivation to reach their goal.  I  bought a glass jar and filled it with yummy jelly beans.  Every time they take and pass an AR test, they get to guess how many jelly beans are in the jar.  At the end of the month, I will give the student that had the closest guess the jar of jelly beans to keep.  I did this previously with M&Ms, and it really seemed to help motivate.  I figured I would try it again with jelly beans since Easter is right around the corner.  You can purchase the forms I created at my TeachersPayTeachers site.

Sweet Success

Our school has standard based report cards for 2nd grade.  With one of the standards, students need to be able to spell number words 1-100.  I needed some sort of motivation for my students.  So, I put each child's name on an ice-cream cone.  I also had an ice-cream scoop to represent each math number word test.  Every time the students passed a test, they got to put the scoop on top of their cone.  That way everyone could see their progress.  It made some work harder than usual because they looked at it as a race to the top!