Duct Tape Number Line

I am linking up to Tara's Monday Made It!

I am a HUGE proponent of using manipulatives and hands-on activities to teach math (and other subjects) in ALL grade levels! Just because students are older does not mean that abstract thinking and understanding is automatic. Sometimes, they just need to put their hands on it in order to fully grasp it.

So today, I made a duct tape number line!

The number line is about 6 feet long. I wanted it big enough for a small group of students to all use at once. During math stations, students will choose the cards out of a baggie one at a time and then place them on a number line. To assist in the ordering process, students have access to base-ten blocks to model the numbers.

Like it? Make your own duct tape number line and use the number cards from this freebie:

Enjoy!!

Monday Made It: Pointers 2.0

I made some pointers for my classroom back in 2012. And again in 2013. Then the school year ended in 2014. And the school janitors threw ALL of my pointers away. All of them!!! :O

SO I had to make more...

I probably didn't need that many...... ;)

I did make some for a few friends and also some to give away at a workshop I was teaching. That should explain at LEAST half of them. :)

A fun-filled evening with 2 of my awesome teacher friends!

And this is my new favorite pointer, of course. :) :) :)

Some other cuties.

 

The mini pointers came out ADORABLE.

We used washi tape and duct tape to wrap the sticks and then hot glued the wooden pieces to the sticks.

My husband brought home like 40 of these heavy duty cardboard tubes from work--perfect for pointer storage!

We wrapped the tubes in fun duct tape.

My favorite set!

Here's to hoping these pointers survive the school year! ;)

Never a Dull Moment.

Who has time to have a dull moment in first grade (or even just a moment)??! Seriously, today was PACKED with activities (like any other day)! I didn't get everything in pictures but I did capture math (imagine that). Check out what we did in math!

First up, we did a little part-part-whole practice by playing my Part-Part-Whole Roll game using animal plates!! You can check it out here!

Then we gathered our shoes for an introductory graphing activity using my DIY graphing mat.

We discussed many ways we could sort our shoes into two groups--tennis shoes and sandals, by height, by color. After listening to many suggestions, we decided to sort shoelaces and no shoelaces! Let the sorting commence:

We discussed our data during and after sorting. We had just finished a unit on comparing numbers up to 30 so they were ready to analyze! After talking in partners and as a whole, we were ready to write comparative sentences about our data. Read what they came up with! (I wrote down exactly what they said.)

After all of the graphing fun, we wrapped up math with a fun and stickery ten-frame activity. The kids were randomly assigned a number from 1-10 and given a ten-frame. They used stickers to make the number in the ten-frame. I then took each child's picture with their ten-frame--I have a few little projects to use the pictures for. I will share more about those later! They did have a blast raiding my sticker collection!

Hope you had a fantastic Friday!! :) Thanks for stopping by!

Monday Made It!

So I have had this sudden burst of craftiness and have been making all sorts of things!! You may have already seen this post about my READ sign and crate seat covers. Well, I made a few more things after that! I can't even show you all of them right now because there are so many projects!!

Saturday, I put my birthday bouquet together just by using krazy straws and birthday stickers. Easy peasy.

I also made a first day of school sign.

I am making another one for the 100th day and another for the last day (at some point). I LOVE it so much! I mod podged scrapbook paper to the wooden F and used washi tape to hide the seams. I then stapled it (heavy duty stapler) to a 12 x 12 canvas (with glitter paper glued to it). I applied my favorite sticker letters to the glitter, which was not easy but they are still there!

I also finished making fun, matching labels for my classroom!

I have a few more projects to share but those will have to wait until later on this week because this is my last week of summer!!! Time to get in gear and start working on curriculum!!! :O

READ.

Summer is so so close to being over!! My mind is now realizing this because it has been RACING and making me do all sorts of stuff! And since I have so much to do, my mind has also been focused on fun things that are not so important, like decorating my classroom more and more and MORE! I'm sure you can relate. :P

Today, I went to Michaels to pick up some fabric to recover my crate seats (which, by the way, helped me learn that Michaels DOESN'T sell fabric). While I was there, I RANDOMLY had an idea to make a READ sign for my library. I picked out all of the materials and started on it a few hours ago. But I will get to that in a minute.

First, my crate seats!!

LOVE my new fabric that did NOT come from Michaels (not bitter at all). Hope you saw my Instagram video about them! :)

Next up, my sweet little 3-year-old and I made some canvas paintings for her playroom (she actually did the painting!):

This was a fun, easy project that only involved a canvas, acrylic paint, and letter stickers!

Finally, here is the random READ sign I made for my classroom instead of working on curriculum!:

Just used 12 x 12 canvas, Mod Podge, paintbrushes, ribbon, and scrapbook paper. I cut the paper into 3 x 3 squares...

...and Mod Podged it to the canvas. I then added ribbon to cover lines by stapling it to the back and Mod Podging it to the canvas.

Made some letters on my trusty, one and only came-with-it cartridge on my Cricut, and Mod Podged them to the canvas.

Ta-da!!! I love how it turned out and can't wait to put it up!!

Hope you enjoyed my projects!! Have a terrific Thursday!! :)

Monday Made It: Subitizing

Yay! It's time for......

This week, I made dot plates for subitizing:

I know you may be thinking, "Well, duh, easy enough to make and no explanation needed." Well, that is true, BUT I made a little presentation on the plates that I hope you watch and enjoy! :) And, please ignore my 1:30 a.m. voice............ :)

There you have it!! And this is not just a Kinder or 1st grade thing--it's never a bad thing to work on strengthening number sense! Go make some dot plates!! To help you out a little, I am including a page of suggested dot arrangements. Click the pic below to download your freebie!

And that all leads me to Made It #2:

I just finished up this pack this morning and I am VERY excited to use it in my classroom! Here are some sample pages:

And a fun little craftivity!!

You can check out this pack in either store:

Happy Monday!! :)

Monday Made It!

I haven't participated in Monday Made It in a looooooong time, so I am excited to link up today!

Remember these little cuties??

Well, I have been buying those little wooden, pre-painted shapes like crazy and finally decided to take the time to assemble some new pointers. If you notice in the photos above, my current pointers all have colored sticks. While I like the colored sticks, the dye tends to bleed a little in moist, little child hands (and kid hands ALWAYS seem to be moist!!). Well, I decided to use my friend Mod Podge and some scrapbook paper to give them a different look!!

That's right--I Mod Podged scrapbook paper onto the dowel sticks! It was a little tricky at first, but I ended up being able to crank out 14 of them last night! It took 3 episodes of Snapped to get them all finished.

DIY Pointers

Materials:

• a surface able to get a little messy
• dowel rods (any size)
• scrapbook paper
• X-Acto knife (or sharp scissors)
• Mod Podge
• hot glue gun
• fun wooden shapes of your choice

Procedure:

1. Pick your paper. I recommend trimming one end of the paper so that it is slightly shorter than the rod so you are to wrap the stick a little easier (you can see how much I trimmed on the right side; and, don't worry, that part will not be seen.) Use a paintbrush to apply Mod Podge to the top of the paper. Lay the dowel rod on top of the Mod Podge on the paper, leaving a little edge exposed. 

2. Grab the edge that was exposed and press it onto the dowel rod. Roll/tuck it just like a burrito over all of the Mod Podge you painted on.

Be sure to apply enough pressure to get rid of air bubbles and tuck tightly!

3. Use an X-Acto knife (or scissor blade) to trim the excess paper. Trim slightly below the bottom of the stick.

4. Apply a little more Mod Podge to the flap and finish wrapping the stick.

Press it down!!

5. Apply Mod Podge to the paper to seal it.

6. Let it dry for 10-15 minutes.

7. Time to glue! Apply hot glue to the back of your chosen wooden shape.

8. Apply pressure to the stick for about 30 seconds. 

VOILA!!!! 

Here is the part of the stick I did not cover with paper. Leaving it exposed made wrapping SO much easier!

 Made some big ones for the number line at the top of the wall in my classroom.

This is to show you how ginormous these are!

I. LOVE. THEM. EVEN. MORE. I cannot wait to add these to my pointer collection!!

Cheap trash can + fun stickers equals.......

...pointer storage!!!

LOVE IT!! And it was so easy to make! :) Stickers from Hobby Lobby and trash can from Walmart.

The third and final project for me was this fun little tray!

The tray will hold various supplies for small groups and will sit on the small group table. I bought the tray from the party section at Hobby Lobby.

 Procedure:
1. Pick your favorite papers.

2. Cut the papers to fit the inside of the tray.

3. Apply Mod Podge to the tray where you will place the first paper.

4. Stick the paper on and press it down. 

5. Do the same for the rest of the papers. 

6. Apply a top coat of Mod Podge. Beware of air bubbles!

VOILA!!

This tray will house these fun pails and will be kept one of my small group tables.

Thanks for stopping by!! :)