Spring has FINALLY sprung!

Hello Again!

Living in Wisconsin we are used to cold winters and winter storms, but what we are not used to are 20 degree below normal days all of March and April.  Well FINALLY, after indoor recess twice the first week of spring and two winter storm warnings the temp hit the high 60's yesterday!  It was much needed for all of us and now I can finally put away all the winter coats :)!!

I am linking up again with Doodle Bugs Teaching to recap my week at school.

1.  Weather in Wisconsin.....  What a difference a week makes!   These pictures say it all : )

34 degrees with 10-20 mph winds.  Brrrrrrr

67 degrees just one week later.  Lovely!!

2.  We have been so busy these last two weeks planting grass and alfalfa seeds.  We have been working hard writing our group research papers on parts of a plant.  I am working on proofreading each section so look for My Plant Unit to be posted very soon on my Teachers pay Teachers store .

Coming soon to my TpT store.  Like me on My Facebook Page to be notified when this product is posted!

Download your FREE copy of the plant observation journal included in my Plant Unit. 



3.  After the award ceremony for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching Award was snowed out in March, it was rescheduled for last Wednesday.  I was not feeling the best that day, but it was a very nice presentation and lunch.  We do not have any idea when the winner will be announced so the waiting continues!  In case you are not familiar with the award process:  Another elementary teacher(5th grade) and myself are finalists for the PAEMST.  This award is the highest award presented to teachers in mathematics.  I was nominated last school year and after going through the lengthy application process, I got a call last summer notifying me that I was one of two state finalists.  One of us will be named the national winner for the state of Wisconsin hopefully by the end of May or beginning of June.  Winner will receive a trip to Washington DC for an award ceremony and also wins $10,000.  Keep your fingers crossed! 

Posing for a picture with Assistant State Superintendent Shelia Briggs

4.   Goals for this summer.  I made a list of things I would like to do this summer.  With three young children with me at home this summer I hope I meet my goals, but we will see.  My main goal is to put together all my math intervention activities I have created this past school year into one document.  When I create these type of intervention activities I make sure that the concepts are in the form of games or other engaging activities that are fun to do.  Many times all you will need are just number tiles and 6 sided dice.  Very little prep to the them most out of your students will very little time to prepare. 

My second main goal is to become more tech savy.  Everything I have learned about blogging, photoshop elements, and creating products are simply from teaching myself one method that, I would be willing to bet, is not the most efficient way.

My third goal is to make sure I finish and post all my unfinished products for TpT.  I do not even want to admit how many products I have started and just need to make pretty before posting!


5.  Here are the variety of products that I am currently finishing up to post into my store. 

I broke down the kindergarten mathematics standards into to I can statements that help both the teacher and the student understand each component of the Common Core State Standards.  I broke down each standards into the I can standards and also copies of each I can statement with examples.  Get your Free Sample here.  Again, like my Facebook Page to get updates on all my products!

Here is my first grade breakdown of the standards.  I am just fine tuning this product before posting in on Teachers pay Teachers store.

This packet is just addition right now, but I may add subtraction practice as well since I am such a strong believer in teaching addition and subtraction together. 

I am debating on making this product larger to meet the needs of more teachers.  I currently only have this product aligned to the Reading Literature standards for the Common Core State Standards, but I may extend it to Informational Text also. 
 

Well that is all for this week.  Look for updates on my facebook page as well as this blog for future freebies!

Tina Parker



Intervention/Enrichment Block

Hello!  I am joining the very talented Jodi Southard from Fun In First to link up to " Be A Fly on My Wall" linky party.  I am so very excited since the topic of this linky is INTERVENTION BLOCK!! 

Our district has implemented a new 30 minute "Target Time" intervention/enrichment block each day this school year and I have been loving the concept and looking for ideas for our grade level (first) to really fine tune the assesment and progress monitoring aspect. 

We went into the school year planning on starting the first round of target time to last 6 weeks and to keep the focus on reading.  We used our grade level DRA2 reading assessment scores to first group our kids and then looked at individual student needs based on our beginning of the school year assessments.  Our first groupings included letter ID, letter sound(2), short vowel (2 groups), and a fluency group.  Since first grade has the greatest need we have the 3 general education first grade teachers, a special education teacher, literacy coach, and title one teachers leading each group.  We also had three educational aides assisting the groups with higher need.  After all year we finally are trying a math round of target time and I have the "bubble" students.  These students are the students that were flagged in 3 or more areas of AIMS web.  My group is working on number ID up to 100 and to 120, structuring of number (dot patterns to 10), skip counting forward and backwards to 120, number after, number before, and other number sense activities that will build on needed mathematical concepts. 

We are just finishing up our second week and here are my lesson plans and activities I have conducted/created up through this week:  Target Time Math Intervention Lesson Plans  Feek free to download these lesson plans and use the activites!

I have the same structure every day and have 4 total adults in the classroom everyday. We start with a warm-up to practice structuring of number, the main activity, an extra activity for those who need it, and then an area for the adult to note observations of student learning. 

Here are some activities that have had my students 100% engaged for the entire activity.  I am also want quality lessons that will be meaningful and not take hours and hours of prep time to create.  These activities are easy and simple to prep, but more importantly then students are learning!!!

This activity only requires number tiles 0-100.  Students choose a number from the bag and sort the number either greater than 50 or less than 50.  When they are finished they will read through the numbers to once of the teachers.  The objective of this lesson is number identification to 100 and quanity discrimination. 

This activity also has a blank tens frame and cubes for those students who need that visual.  Students will roll a 6-sided die, fill that number of cubes in the tens frame, write that number in the first box, and then count the number of empty boxes to find the number that makes ten.  The objective of this lesson is number patterns to ten.

This activity only requires the number tiles as well.  Students choose a number tile, write the number, and then write the number that comes after that number. 

Number before is a glaring missing concept with students in my group.  I am working on counting by ones both forward and backwards each day and they are finally getting it!!  This activity is similar to the number after only this time they write the number before the number on the tile. 

  I just created a new facebook page and since I am new to the Facebook world (NO LIE!!) this page is a work in progress.  Please visit my facebook page Following First Grade With Mrs. Parker and become one of my first followers! 

Thanks!

Tina Parker

Fraction Action and FREEBIES!!

Sorry I have been absent for the past few weeks.  Report cards, math data collection, and a whole lot of distractions at home and school have kept me away. 

I FINALLY remembered to take some pictures of my math lessons the last few math days!  We started our unit on Fractions and I have been having a blast teaching the concepts.   Our curriculum does an okay job teaching the concepts, but I found some really great extension lessons to help my students understand fractions to one half and one fourth.

 When introducing fractions to my students I ALWAYS introduce one half as one part of two.  I write the one, say, "part of" as I draw the line, and then write two.  I always represent one half as many ways as I can think of so they do not get stuck thinking that one half can only be represented with a square.  I also want my students to understand further by explaining and showing them that the top number is the number of colored parts and the number on the bottom is the number of colored + not colored parts.  You will be amazed at how everything just clicks once they understand this simple explanation!

We are using Math Trailblazers are our universal math curriculum and in this activity students cut out four shapes, folded them to create a line of symmetry, and colored one of the equal parts.  Once the were finished they glued their shapes on a piece of butcher paper.  I emphasized that to them that the shapes did not always need to be places flat side down.  My shape is the blue triangle in the upper left corner and when I asked them if this is one half (point down) some replied, NO.  This told me I need to address properties of shapes once again ( flips, slides, and rotations).

Once we talked about equal parts students went back to cut out the same shapes only this time they made their shapes showing unequal parts not halves.  I challenged them to try to make unequal parts that they think no one else will make.  They had a blast with this activity.

The next day we repeated the activity only talking about one part of four, or one fourth.  At this point of the lesson I only referred to the fractions as one equal part of four.  Once again I really want them to understand the meaning of a fraction instead of just memorizing the name of the fraction names.

This first FREEBIE extension lesson I found by Chrissy Beltran Here.  I just bought mini m&ms and gave everyone a plastic spoonful.  They all got about 25 candies and a small snack as a reward for finishing.  I bought minis because on of my students has diabetes and the smaller candy portion helps regulate her blood sugar better.

Students sort their m&ms into like colors, tally, and total their colors.  On the back of this page they will write the fractional part of each color m&m and the total number of candies.

I also created my own Fraction Action FREEBIE that you can use with m & m candies Here
I created this activity as another interactive way for students to learn more about fractions in an engaging way.  I have them sorting, writing the parts, writing the fraction, illustrating the fractions, drawing the fractional parts, and writing the fraction.  Use this one page at a time or all together in a packet.

This next extension lesson is simple, but I like it because students struggle drawing equal parts themselves.  This activity was created by Paula Prince Here.  I was shocked at how well my students did on this activity. 

This is another great activity by The Teacher Wife Here.  Students will cut out the fraction pieces and then glue them under the correct fraction.  At this point of the unit I could start introducing the names of the fractions because I feel they understand the meaning of fractional parts.  Again, I thought they my students did so well!  We were on day 4 of fractions when I gave them this activity.

Finally I just have to share my latest obsession.  I have the program Photoshop Elements 11 and did not know just how useful it can be for a Teachers pay Teachers seller.  I learned how create background designs and since I am new at this part of TpT I am posting my favorite background design to see how you all like it.  This TP Design link Here.  I only downloaded three different colors and I have all primary colored backgrounds with the rainbow dots, but I wanted to see what kind of feedback I will get before posting more.  My latest learning is how to create borders.  I am very particular with my backgrounds and will post them as soon as I get at least 10 I like created. 

Have you seen the Apple app iFont Maker?  IT IS WONDERFUL!!   You can create fonts in your own handwriting and then download them on your computer and then to your products!  I have quite a few and will again post them once I get 10 that I like well enough to use in my own products!  Here is the thumbnail I created to use once I get this going:

Well that is all for this posting!  Have a great week!


Tina Parker

Five Random Things 5 for Friday and Two FREEBIES!

Hello Everyone!

I am starting with a couple FREEBIEs.  I have been working on so many different packets that I have not been able to post anything on my TpT store.

The first FREEBIE is a sample of my /ee and /ea/ vowel pattern packet.  I love to focus my instruction and I have not seen many resources out there that only focus on specific vowel patterns. 

The second FREEBIE is a 2D and 3D Shape Match Game.  I have not had time to pretty it up to sell yet, but it is a fun way to reinforce the geometry common core standard 1.G.1.

I am once again linking up with Kacey over at Doodlebugs Teaching for the five for Friday link up for 5 random things that happened to me this last week.




1.  TGI Spring Break!  Yes it is finally here.  I absolutely LOVE the kids in my classroom this year and I mean LOVE each and every one of them. but I really did need a week off to try to get my energy back!  These last two weeks have been absolutely exhausting and emotionally tolling.......

2.  Target Time- At my school we have a 30 minute daily block of time for intervention/enrichment set to group all the students in each grade level so they get instruction at their level.  All year we have been reading focused and finally this next round of target time will be 100% math focused!  I am so excited!  We have 3 teachers teaching the average/high students skip counting/patterns, problem solving, and math facts on a two week rotation and then I have more of the "bubble" kids that are just below grade level and need that extra boost.  Math is my passion, but I love teaching guided reading and seeing the growth students make in a year to focus on teaching math. 

3.  Report Cards were due in last Sunday.  My students are performing very well and have come such a long way!  My own daughter brought home her first grade report card as well.  What does she need to work more on?  MATH!!  Her addition and subtraction facts are not the most efficient, but I could have told you that since she will not do any math activities I create!!  Talk about frustrating!!!!  I may have told her that her teacher wrote on her report card that she needs to start doing the weekly math homework I make my students do.... awful, I know :).

4.  The first and second day of spring = INDOOR RECESS!!!!  I could not believe it myself, but it was -10 degrees the last two days with the wind chill.  Will winter ever go away??  We have gotten 66" of snow here in my part of Wisconsin and I am dreading what it will look like when all this snow melts.

5.  Friday rant-  I have had a rough couple of weeks at school and I have wondered more about what is going on with our students now days?  Are we pushing too many academics minutes on our first graders?  I see all these wonderful blogs of other teachers and all these fun activities they can do in their classroom, but in my district we are limited due to the schedule that is set for us and the required instructional minutes.  I have been reflecting on things this last week and have tried to incorporate more culturally relevant activities in my day.  Every one of my "high need" students now have breaks in their day if they are meeting their goal.  These last couple days of those breaks have made such a difference on them that it made me wonder about the other students.  I bet they would like and need breaks too.  I just need to find the right movements or breaks since my students do not handle transitions quickly despite practice time after practice time : ).


That is all!

Tina Parker 

Find Out a Little About Mrs. Parker

Hello!

I am linking up with Latoya Reed of Flying into First Grade and sharing three things about myself related to my initials.

My name is Tina A. Parker (TAP)

T is for Time and how I never EVER seem to have enough of it.  I get up at 6:00am and try to get to school by 6:30 or 6:45.  Before school I either have a meeting ( I am also a math coach AND a full time teacher) for leadership or one of the coaching meetings (literacy, math, or PBIS).  This school year is more hectic with running around and "putting out fires" than normal so my lunches are either reteaching expectations with students or lunch duty twice a week.  The time formally called "prep" time is now PLC or collaboration time so prep now must be done before or after school.  After school I need to run and pick up my own children once I get out of school about 4:30 at two different daycares.  I race home to make dinner because I may have to coach swimming, take the crew to swimming practice or girl scouts, and even attend the ocasional after school meeting.  My husband works odd hours and coaches hockey so many times I am solo on parenting duties on our 3 children ages 7, 3, and 21 months.  Once I get the kids fed, baths, homework, reading the younger 2 book after book ( I can't say NO :)), and finally all of them to bed it is 9:00 or 9:30.  From there I have to choose if I clean the house that will be ripped apart again in 5 minutes flat or work on my To Do list for creating products for my students.  Finally I try to get in bed by 11pm.......



A is for Award.  I am anxiously awaiting (Since last July) to find out if I am the national recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science out of the state of Wisconsin.  I am one of two teachers from Wisconsin up for the mathematics award.  I am invited to attend an award ceremony in Madison, WI April 24 to be honored as a state finalist.  I am not one to like all the attention on myself, but I am definitely making an exception for this chapter in my life.  Even though it is a great honor to be one of the two state finalists anything short of winning in my mind will be failure (see letter P below).


P is for Perfectionist.  I admit it!  I am a perfectionist tried and true!  I set unbelievable expectations for myself and will not settle for less.  This perfectionist trait has led me to many sleepless nights, thinking/believing I can do it all.  I would like to admit that I have been working on my endless work hours relating to my teaching job, but I do like the gratification I get from the products I make and use in my classroom :).  I am sure all of you can relate- ADMIT IT!!


Have a wonderful rest of the week!

Tina

TGIF! Seriously!

Hello and Happy Friday!

Here is my Five (maybe not so) random events that have happened this past week:

Five for Friday Linky from Kacey over at Doodle Bugs


1.  The staff at my school is absolutely wonderful.  I am up for the PAEMST (Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching Mathematics and Science) national award for 2013 (mathematics portion).  Since I am one of two state finalists for the state of Wisconsin some members of the school staff arranged a day for the whole school to honor me!  I am a very humble person by nature and a bunch of extra attention is not my cup of tea, but to see all the students so excited for me, especially my former students, made this one of my most memorable teaching moments! 

 

 

2.  The next step for the Presidential Award was to have a ceremony in Madison, WI this past Tuesday, BUT Mother Nature had other ideas.  Since I would have to travel 3 hours in a winter storm with warnings to stay off the road, the ceremony is now postponed until April 24.  Even at that time I will STILL not know if I won the national award.  I will find out some time in May (Winner gets a trip to Washington DC to meet the president and take a White House tour along with $10,000). 

 

 

3.  SNOW DAY Tuesday!!  We now need to make up two days of school.  As of today we will need to go until June 12! At this weather rate we will be celebrating the 4th of July for the first time during the normal 180 school year :).  I spent the whole day with my three kids (1 very helpful 7 year old girly girl, a high maintenance "mama's boy" 3 year old hating every minute of potty training, and a sassy, VERY opinionated 21month old princess) and trying to catch up on my TpT products not quite finished.

 

 

4.  4:00am- The time my littlest one has decided to get up since Tuesday night screaming from ear pain.  This is her second ear infection since getting tubes and her adenoids out in December.  A bought of pneumonia in January was yet another sickness this child has had to go through.  Actually I am posting this for my sympathy.  In bed late and up at 4:00 am all week.........

 

 

5.  What an end to the week!  I could tell there was either another storm in the mix or a full moon because the storm always blows through my classroom first!  I can't even begin to tell you everything I did to put out "fires" all day.  I am just plain exhausted!  I absolutely love my class this year, but boy do they have energy! 

 

 

 

 

How does everyone manage their time?  I can't believe how I can survive on such little sleep.  My husband is gone very often so the kid duty is on my shoulders.  I feel like I not only struggle getting caught up, but the time I used to have in years past to create products and activities for my students is now replaced with greater curricular demands. 

 

 

 

What math curriculum do you use?  Do you have one?  Is anyone using EnVisonMath (Common Core Aligned) math program from Pearson?  Our district is in the middle of a core program review and this is one of the programs that presented this last week.  It looked wonderful during the presentation, but I am wondering if it seems a little too paper pencil for first graders and is there enough "meat" for the full 60 minutes? 

 

 

 

Thank you and have a WONDERFUL weekend!

 

 

 

Tina Parker

Another Snow Day!

I am home again today due to the winter storm that arrived over night.  Even though we have a day off of school I always view these snow days as a chance to get caught up on my blog writing, cleaning up my classroom, and trying to get as many TpT products finished.  I have about 20 products started, but then have to put them off until I create enough materials to finish each product.

I posted two new products a few days ago.  The first product I finished up is a Long Vowel packet focusing on CVCe vowel patterns.  I have found a lot of wonderful long vowel resources, but not many that kept the focus only on CVCe vowel pattern rather than all vowel patterns. 



 

Check out this product out at my store HERE

 

 

The next product I posted is a teen number packet that focuses on understand teen numbers.  Too many  students struggle remembering the names of the teen numbers so I created these activities that will help students recognize numbers by the quantity of number rather than memorization of a name. 

 

 



Check it out at my store HERE

 

 My current project is creating math task cards to cover all of the first grade math common core state standards.  I have the Operations and Algebraic Thinking and Number and Base Ten tasks finished.  I have at least one task for each standard with the majority of the standards having more than one task.  I created these with the end of the year goal in mind, but also created some tasks so you can write in the numbers that will help you progress monitor your students during the whole school year.   Included will be a task booklet for your students to keep track of their work.  I am planning on having this product posted by March 10th in my  MY STORE.   Eventually I hope to also create task cards for both kindergarten and second grade also.

 

 



I have recently joined the facebook world for the very first time.  Although I am still learning all the ropes I cannot believe how addicting it can be!  I now follow all my favorite blogs on facebook and find so many free resources!  My current favorite is a page by Charity Preston called The Organized Classroom Blog.  She only believes in posting free resources and there are plenty!

 

As for my freebies for the week:

 

 I am choosing a product by Susan Moran  This is the addition game I am having my students complete for my weekly math homework.  Students add three dice and then explain to their parents their strategies for solving the problem using mental math. 

 

My second freebie is a telling time activity I created to help my students practice telling time to the hour.  Telling Time to the Hour

 

Well off to shovel another 4 inches of snow that already has covered the other  inches of snow shoveled earlier today!

 

Have a great rest of the week!

 

Tina Parker