Updated Math Work Station Freebie

Happy New Year!  It's been ages!  I've been a terrible blogger lately.  Not writing, not checking in, nothing. I apologize for being so absent.  I'm hoping the new year will bring in a wave of creative energy, something that's been lacking lately.

I wanted to share a freebie that's been updated at the request of a follower.  

I previously shared a math work station that was "How Many to 5?".  It's been updated to include the materials for a "How Many to 10?" work station.  Everything is in English and Spanish, of course!

Follow the link below to find the freebie in my TpT store:

Before moving up to 5th grade I also used this fun freebie with my 1st and 2nd graders.  My teammate had found and lost track of a freebie that was about "fishing for 10".  So I made a quick version of my own to share.  

Students will need cards from 1-10.  We used cards from a regular deck and counted the Ace as 1.  Students divide up the cards, my students had 5 cards each, and try to make 10.  The rainbow is just a cheat sheet for them to decide which cards they should ask for.  For example, if they have a 2 they can follow the rainbow and see they should ask for an 8.  

Each pair of cards that make 10 are set out.  If a student has a 10, they set it out by itself since there is no 0 card.

If their partner doesn't have the card they go fish.  It was pretty basic, but this helped my students with the concept of making 10.

We kept it simple.  Sometimes the game lasted forever, and other times it ended as soon as it started.  Click the rainbow for the freebie in Google Drive.

That's all for now!   Pin It

Monday Made It #2 - Silhouette and Debbie Diller in one post!

I’ve officially demolished a Silhouette cutting mat in my first attempts at using it.  But, that is irrelevant because I have made my first Silhouette project.  It’s not particularly awe-inspiring, but it’s a start.


I use numbers to keep track of my students and last year I wrote the numbers on sticks – and just kept them in a container.  Very blah, and uninspired.  What would always happen was, I would misplace sticks that I had chosen because I had nowhere specific for the sticks that had been used…I would also walk around with the holder and misplace that…but I hope all that can be solved.


I’ve created these bright fancy number sticks and holders.  Now every stick has a home, called on or not!  Bonus: everything is bright, so hopefully I can’t misplace anything even if I set the tins in a random place.
Why am I glad I used my Silhouette? I DIDN’T HAVE TO CUT ANYTHING!  I printed the circles on colored regular paper, NOT cardstock.  Sent them through the laminator. Then the Silhouette cut them out.  I didn’t have to cut a single circle! 


Hopefully I’ll do something much more fun for next week!  Accepting all Silhouette tips and ideas!  BTW the Tazo Tea Tins are incredibly difficult to recycle!  It was a real chore taking off the labels…even using the goo be gone stuff!


Next, I made these math work station mats.  During summer school I’ve noticed how the kids just love to roll the die as far as possible, and spread the counters all around them, and…well you know how it is.  Even after modeling and explaining, I still catch the odd flying die in the corner of my eye. 


Debbie Diller did think of something for this and on page 40 of her book explains the mats.  I bought the shelf-liner from the Dollar Tree.  Duct tape I made two trips – 40% off at Hobby Lobby and Michaels.  So pretty cheap!

So there you have it!  My latest creations.
 
To join the linky fun and see what other teachers are creating head over to Tara's blog by clicking below:

I won’t be posting again until I finish my back to school packets.  So be on the look out for those.  They’ll be perfect for dual language, bilingual classrooms and regular education teachers looking for some new read alouds and activities.


Happy Monday!
Mrs. Castro Pin It

Math Work Station Freebie

FIRST, don’t forget to enter for your chance to win in my HUGE giveaway (think Vistaprint, and prizes from your favorite bloggers!).  Click the image below to go to that post.

Today was my first time implementing a Debbie Diller Math Work Station in the classroom.  And…it was GREAT!  The kids loved it, they were engaged and using “math talk”, which makes me a happy teacher.  Summer school is nice because I’m actually teaching the same thing 3 times each morning.  Our kiddos are rotating between myself and the other two teachers, which means I’m going to get a lot of practice implementing these work stations.


Today we kept it simple. I’m working with incoming first and incoming second.  I’m used to second graders, so the incoming first graders are a semi-unknown quantity…but I’m learning.


I created a Number Sense Work Station based off of Chapter 4 of Debbie Diller’s book.  This was called, “How Many to 5?”.  It’s pretty simple and fun!

Students work in partners and they need (I kept it all in a bin):

• a die
• 15 counters
• 3 five-frames
• 2 markers
• Graph

Goal: complete individual frame, and wild frame before partner.  The wild frame is the one in the middle of the 2 individual frames, and any student can “win” that one. 


Students sit facing each other.  Place the three 5-frames in between them.  Set out I-can task card and Math Talk sheets.  Roll dice to see who goes first.


Student rolls the die, places number of counters on five-frame.  IF student rolls a 6, can’t do anything.  After turn, says, “I have____.  I need ____ to get to 5.” 


Students can only put the counters on the frame if they roll a number that fits on the frame.  For example if the student has 3 counters on the frame, and rolls a 3,4,5,6 then he cannot place any counters on the frame and essentially loses his turn until he rolls a 1 or 2. 


After the student completes his own frame he can begin working on the wild frame.  BUT, it doesn’t matter who places the most counters on the wild frame.  The student who places the final fifth counter on the frame “wins” that frame.


Once students have filled the wild frame they extend the activity from number sense to data by graphing the results.  They write the first letter of their first name under their column and graph how many frames they filled - NOT how many squares.


Then start over. 


We loved it!  Tomorrow, I think we’ll be ready for “How Many to 10?”, and might try to do a place value station too - we’ll see.


I've made a freebie so you can try this station in your classroom too!  It’s in English and Spanish and includes all the printables.  If you use it let me know what you think, I’m hoping to create a bunch more math work station in English and Spanish, and feedback is so appreciated!  Click the image below to download from my TpT store.

Don't forget to enter my giveaway!  Also here are some other giveaways you should check out!


Sandra at Sweet Times in First is having a great math giveaway - perfect for this post.  Click her button below to go to it:

Donna at Math Coach's Corner is also having a great giveaway - for a TpT gift card and some more math products from her store...and they'r amazing!  She's the queen of work stations!  Click the image below to head over:

And, that's it!
Cheers!
Mrs. Castro Pin It

Debbie Diller Chapter 2…Unpacking my classroom and a New Design!

First, I briefly want to mention Chapter 2 of Debbie Diller’s Math Work Stations – it’s quite straight-forward.
Chapter 2 of Debbie Diller has all sorts of good tips on how to organize your math manipulatives. You should read this chapter! If you’re naturally organized this chapter will be very gratifying. For example, while reading this chapter I felt like my husband was breathing down my neck – every word she said was his mantra…”A place for everything, and everything in its place”. (sigh)
Are you naturally organized?  If you are I envy you!  Long-term organization is elusive to me as a rainbow colored unicorn.  I try, I strive, I wish really hard, but I can’t seem to achieve organization.  The problem is, that I’ve moved classrooms.  My general inability to be organized transfers into my ability to pack, unpack and stay emotionally stable while involved in these activities. I’m useless. I’m frustrated! I’m whinning constantly! I resent the wealth of resources I have! I cry while driving to work! You get the picture… 
Debbie Diller says when organizing, “sometimes we’re tempted to start putting things way in another part of the room, and we get distracted” – YEP, that’s me!
Take a look at what I’m dealing with – truly the pictures don’t do it justice! I wish I knew how to take a 360° picture so you can see the chaos I’ve created in my efforts to organize!

 In the midst of unpacking it made sense to also organize my classsroom library.  So I have about 75 piles of books to sort through in addition to the general organization issues.  So this next week I’ll be busy getting ready, because…would you believe my room needs to be ready by July 9th?!  That’s when summer school starts.  Wish me luck. 

Math Corner – cool idea!

BUT REALLY, there are some good things in Chapter 2 of Debbie Diller.  What I really want to try next year is the math corner.  The math corner is “a place to store manipulatives and graphic organizers used to teach math concepts, rather than keeping them in a closet where they are out of sight…students may use a material from the math corner…”  So basically the math corner is an area in the classroom that is separate from the work stations where students can access manipulatives, organizers, math literature and such to help them during independent work.  I like this idea, because it places the control in the students’ hands.  They can choose when to use the materials and what materials will help them.  
Now I need to decide where to put said math corner…do you have a math corner?  How did you set it up/keep it organized/etc.?
Now for something totally unrelated – I’m redesigning my blog!  I want something more fun.  So take a look at what I’ve done so far…let me know what you think – too bright?  too much? 

I will try not to let unpacking and organizing my classroom prevent me from blogging and being productive in general.  So many blogs are sharing so many cool ideas and I want to be one of them…
Cheers!
Mrs. Castro Pin It

Debbie Diller Math Work Stations Chapter 1

I believe I’ve taken more naps in the past week and a half than I have in over 20 years!  I’ve never been much of a “napper”, even as a kid…but I can’t keep my eyes open lately.  BUT, this is my week of professional development and I’ve semi-emerged from my hibernation state.


I’ve finally begun reading the book I bought ages ago.  I forgot to mention when I went to the Debbie Diller conference that she signed my book…so exciting!  Check it out!  It’s like I’ve been in contact with genius! 

After going to see Debbie Diller I knew I wanted to implement her vision in my classroom, but I’ve been resisting reading professional books lately.  Now that I’ve napped a week of summer away I believe it’s time to get busy!


Here are the key points and ideas I’m pulling away from chapter 1:


*W.S. are not meant to replace a math program or curriculum – just support and extend it.


*Partners - Something D.D. really emphasized at our conference and then seen here is: W.S. are meant for groups of 2 – a.k.a. partners.  NOT groups.  Why? Increased engagement, less interpersonal requirements, easier to work as a partner then a member of a group.


*What is the teacher doing? Leading a small group, or observing students and taking anecdotal notes.  W.S. are not implemented in order for the teacher to lead small groups, that is not their purpose.  D.D. was very emphatic on this point at the conference.  Groups are important, but so is observing students in action.


*Math talk – I like that D.D. makes such a point of explicitly teaching students math vocabulary and then expecting them to use the language at the work stations.  I’m looking forward to reading more about this!


*Differentiation – D.D. briefly discusses this in this introductory chapter.  It is clear that with some planning, the W.S. are a great means for differentiating math instruction.  In a bin there may be different materials to meet the different needs of different groups, or there may be extension activities for students who can work more quickly…


*Controlled Choice – D.D. talks about allowing “just a few choices of materials or activities within a work station.”


**I am anxious to read more about D.D. work stations.  I think the idea sounds great.  I’m also anxious about the amount of time and planning that go into setting up meaningful work stations that offer the amount of differentiation and choice necessary to make them an effective use of our math time.** 

Did you use math work stations this year? Any tips you would like to share?

Tomorrow and Friday I’ll be at a Linda Hoyt conference.  I’m quite excited! 


Last week I went to an iPad training day.  It has led to my latest obsession - the Sock Puppets app. You talk/tell a story with different settings/sock puppets, and then your voice is magically changed to sound ridiculous. The mister and I cannot get enough of our sock puppet stories! Maybe I’ll share one sometime…

Cheers,
Mrs. Castro Pin It

Summer Bucket List Linky

I’m finally getting my act together and joining this linky party! You can see more bucket lists or join the linky party here at A Cupcake for the Teacher

Professional Bucket List:
1.  Organize my classroom in a super meaningful/purposeful way!  Inspirations on my Pinterest board click here!


2.  Make this amazing organizational masterpiece as seen all over Pinterest.  This particular version is from Molly at Lessons with Laughter



3.  Sort through materials and pitch whatever is no longer relevant/useful/deemed unworthy.


4.  Set up a math workstations area for my classroom…I have to paint a bookshelf that is covered in cobwebs in my parents’ basement to hold this amazing amount of learning funness!  


5.  Read Debbie Diller’s Math Workstations from cover to cover! 



6.  PLAN!!!! Next year I’m switching from bilingual 2nd grade to bilingual 1/2.  I need to meet with my teammate and plan!!!!


7.  Finish creating my Splat unit.

8.  Continue to create bilingual materials for freebies and for sale…I’ve been slacking!


Personal Bucket List:


1.  Finish the Couch to 5K running program.  I’m on week 5 now, and the runs are getting longer and I tend to psych myself out during the run – “this is boring”, “nobody will know if I stop now”, “who says running is good for you?!”, “why did I decide to do this, it’s lame”…and more.  I use an app for my android phone to keep track of my progress, there are apps for iPhones too!

2.  Participate in the Lozilu 5K Women’s Mud Run!!!!  To keep myself motivated I’m signing up for this event later this summer.  I’ll have had 2 weeks of being able to run a 5K at this point, so I think I should be up for it.  Granted everyone I know thinks I’ll get hurt considering I’m super accident prone…they’re probably going to take bets, but I will not let their negativity bring me down!  Have you done a mud run?  Looks super fun!




3.  READ!  Any recommendations?



4.  Celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary by doing something different.  With my husband studying and working it’s hard for us to get away, but I need to think of something because holy moly – 5 years!!!


That’s it for now!  I hope that this helps me stay accountable.  I am good at making lists, not always good at checking things off them, or even remembering where I placed the list to begin with!  This should help!
Cheers!
Mrs. Castro Pin It

Whirlwind of a week = long post!

This week sped by, but somehow in slow motion.  Does that make sense?  You know, it was fast but slow…


One of the exciting things about this week was the Debbie Diller conference I was able to attend with some colleagues on math work stations.  I haven’t wrapped my head around the whole presentation completely yet, but I’ll be sharing some of what she said, and what my teammate and I are imagining for our classrooms. 


Debbie Diller was very pleasant, I actually met her on my way in to the conference.  I was speed walking towards the building and a lady was walking close by…she let me know I wasn’t late, and not to worry because she was the speaker and they couldn’t start without her. (Later she even signed my book! – would have taken a picture, but of course I left the book at school!)


I did feel bad for D.D. because the conference was mismarketed.  The title said something about Math Work Stations and Common Core…so about half of us went wanting info on the work stations and the other half wanted more about the common core.  D.D. was unaware of the marketing and was planning on addressing the work stations, NOT the common core.


I guess the first day was not successful because so many people were expecting her to address the C.C.  So, we went on the second day the conference was offered, and poor D.D. had been up nearly the whole night reworking her presentation to include Common Core…trying to make everyone happy. 


Needless to say you can’t make everyone happy.  I would have liked much more on the work stations and didn’t really want to hear about the common core.  Someone sitting next to me – a math coach, already knows all there is to know about math workstations but wanted to know more about linking them to the common core…see where this is going…


I learned a lot at the conference, I feel bad for D.D., because she was put in a terrible position.  I think someone might lose their marketing job…and I think the conference probably could have been better if it hadn’t been mishandled. 
I will share more about what I learned later, when I have a chance to look over my notes and my book…


I also wanted to share some of what we’ve been doing with money, but I realized I have been terrible about taking pictures this week.  So I only have pictures of one of our activities, but links to the others…


Here is what we’ve been doing after our whole group lessons:
For my students who didn’t know the coins and/or coin values we started with this activity from Keen on Kindergarten:
Other students started with the race to a dime/quarter/dollar games, from First Grade a la Carte:

Then my students moved on up to a game that uses coins, tallies and coordinate pairs…AMAZING!  I found it at mathwire – a great site for math activities, lots thematic for the season/holiday.

The original game has numbers on the vertical axis and letters on the horizontal axis…I didn’t have any dice with letters, so I just put post-its over the letters and drew the dots for the dot dice (very technical language here!), before making copies.


Each student needs a half sheet to record what they are able to get off the grid.  The pair of students needs a set of dice, and coins (3 of each coin), and the grid itself.  It’s easy and the students LOVE this game!  In the end they add up their coins to see who won.


That’s about it for now…off to get my super squeaky brakes worked on, my car is truly humiliating to drive right now. Then I’m off to the gym to start my second week of Couch 2 5k (C25K)…have you seen this app?  It’s amazing!  It helps you start running after being a couch potato – I LOVE IT!  Before I would always struggle deciding how much to run, and go to hard and then hate it, or get bored, but with this app, it’s all planned out and gradual…you should use it if you’re thinking about starting to run…


Happy Saturday,
Mrs. Castro Pin It

Professional Development – I’m one lucky teacher!

Have you read Debbie Diller’s Math Work Stations?  I bought it back in the fall thinking I would be able to sit down and somehow magically absorb its contents and implement its ideas without any need for outside expertise.

I was wrong!  Almost as soon as I started I became overwhelmed – I LOVE the idea of doing guided math.  But I can’t wrap my head around all of it…and I’m not good at implementing something until I have a very good understanding of what its about…


But next week there is a Debbie Diller conference that I get to attend!  I know you are all very jealous of me right now!  And I don’t want to brag, but I am lucky to be a bilingual teacher in my district.  We do have to deal with teaching in 2 languages (which is mostly great), but we get so much professional development! 
I get to go with my “new” teammate from next year too!  We need all the help we can get when it comes to developing classroom routines and instructional practices that inherently meet kids at their level – bilingual 1/2 next year!!!


So a couple of questions.  Have you read this book?  What do you think?  Have you had any successes implementing its structures into your classroom?  Any advice?  Things to be on the look out for?  Questions I should make sure to ask next week? 


I’ll be sure to share what I learn next week with you all.  I’m sure this summer I’ll be creating math stations like a loca!


There was a linky book study over the summer and you can find the first one here:


http://www.mrswillskindergarten.com/2011/06/math-work-stations-blog-party-chapter-1.html

• I’m going to check this out before next week!

Ok, that’s it for exciting news for the day.  Except for a quick reminder to sign up for my giveaway – you’ll win an amazing read aloud The Three Little Tamales and a ton of activities to go with it!  Click the link below to go directly to that post and sign up.

Cheers,
Mrs. Castro


P.S. - I just found out I get to go to another conference over the summer by Linda Hoyt - so lucky, I know!  AND, I have been tagged by a couple of bloggers and will answer their questions soon! Pin It