Mini-mathematicians, parent conferences, and the in between

Can I please just start by saying one thing?

I SURVIVED PARENT CONFERENCE WEEK!!!

Ok, but really, I think I should get a t-shirt or something to commemorate my first ever parent conference week. It was truly a blur and I was passed out by 8:30 every night (this is crazy early for me), but I am amazed by the level of support I see from the parents of my scholars. Doing 22 parent conferences in one week (one less that my total number of scholars due to a mom having a baby) was not an easy feat for me, but I was able to get activities together targeted for each of my scholars. The Florida Center for Reading Research was a HUGE help in this! Here is where I got a bunch of the reading (mainly comprehension) activities that I sent home with parents: K-1 Activities.

In the midst of parent conference craziness, I got an unexpected highlight to my week. One of my scholars who is new to our school tested at a level aa (Fountas and Pinnell – F&P) earlier this year. For those of you who don’t use F&P, a level aa is considered to be a “non-reader.” Well… drumroll please… after lots of work with our intervention specialist and myself, he just passed the level D test with 99% accuracy!!!

So I’ve actually been on top of my game lately and have snagged some pics of activities we have been doing in class. Check them out in my Five for Friday section below 🙂

1. We have been working on addition and subtraction for the past couple of weeks. I have been focusing on teaching lots of strategies so that my scholars can pick one that works best for them. Right before we were going to work on doubles in specific, I ran across this awesome template for a doubles rap/iPod! The kids LOVED learning the doubles rap and making the iPods. I added on to the idea and folded a piece of paper in half to make the iPod a pocket. Then, the kids made flash cards for doubles facts up to 20 to keep in their iPods and practice at home. We have been having contests in class to see who can remember all of the doubles facts! You can get a copy of the template by heading over to the FirstGradeFresh TPT store!

2. We have also been working on different sentence types (statement, question, and exclamation). We did a week of nothing but Mo Willems and searched through the books to find examples of the

sentence type of the day. Then, the kids got to pick their favorite sentence each day to put on a sentence types foldable. To end the week, they got to make their own pigeon and pick a sentence type to use for the dialogue bubble. I’m pretty sure my teammate created the template for the pigeons on the fly so I don’t have an uploaded version of the template. If you recognize the dialogue bubbles, let me know so I can give credit to whoever made them!

3. Even though I have been working at getting better at planning for guided reading, I will admit that one morning this week I was in a crunch to find a writing center prompt. I ran across a fun prompt on TPT for “If I had $100…”. I did NOT expect some of the writing my kids drafted on such a last minute center idea. If you’d like a copy of this awesome and simple writing prompt, check it out HERE.

4. Due to the success of my first DonorsChoose project, I went ahead and created another one! This one was only active for 2 days before being fully funded. Kia Motors has been doing a 1/2 match for projects and with their generosity, we will soon have our own classroom iPad! The kids are SO excited to use our new learning tool!

5. It’s been a while since we decorated for Fall/Halloween at the house, but I haven’t had a chance to upload the pics to the blog! So…. here you go! I just get so excited about this time of year and everything it brings with it… the fair, cool weather, sweaters, and PUMPKINS!

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