Building Mathematical Comprehension - Freebie!

Chapter 2 Recognizing and Understanding mathematical Vocabulary

 I'm late but I have a freebie for you guys! This book has got to be one of the best school related books that I have read so far. Laney Sammons lays it all out for you when she talks about the ways we should integrate vocabulary into our lessons. One point that she made was that as teachers we always want to start out with vocabulary when we're unwrapping a unit to our kids. Instead of starting with the vocabulary we should focus on the timing of the vocabulary. Basically don't unwrap it until you've covered it! For example if I were to introduce place value to my kids I wouldn't start spilling out all the vocabulary words associated with place value. Instead I would teach and when the vocabulary word comes up that's when I would focus on it with my students. This way your students have some experience to pull from to help them understand the vocabulary even better.

 She also talks about using graphic organizers such as the frayer model so that students can describe, explain and provide examples and non examples of the vocabulary in their own words. She provides tons of examples of student work, games and questions stems that can assist you with your vocabulary instruction. After reading this chapter I have a better understanding of how much time a student needs to work with vocabulary in order to retain it. It's not enough for the teacher to just verbally say or write the word and definition down on the board. Sammons suggest students write it, say it, use it at home, and see it on content boards in order for them to truly understand it.

 After reading this chapter I looked at my TEKS for the first unit next year and pulled out the important vocabulary terms and created this mini unit on place value. I will use this unit after my students have worked with these terms to help reinforce the meaning of the words. You can grab your copy here!

I also created these place value question stem cards that I plan to hang on my content board with the vocabulary words used in my mini unit.

My mini unit can be found in my TPT store.  If you download please follow me on TPT or become a follower of my blog.  I'm making my larger unit of vocabulary activities for all TEKS so be on the lookout!

June Currently

Hi all,
I hope everyone that's on vacation is enjoying it and those of us who are close are hanging in there.  I only have 2 days of school left and I will be FREE!!!!!!  PTL  Anyway I'm linking up with Farley to bring you my June currently.

My daughter is so excited about splash day tomorrow that she couldn't stop talking about it in the car home today.  If you know 4 year olds then you know that was a lot of talking!

I'm loving the fact that I will be done with school in 2 days!  Yea!!!!  We have our science final in the morning and then it's memory book time followed by reading outside and ice cream in a bag!  

In the summer I usually take some kind of course at the local Michaels or Hobby Lobby to learn how to make things.  In the past I've taken classes on how to make bows, headbands, and decorating cakes.  This year I would really like to learn how to sew.  Especially since I keep seeing tons of pins on how to make your own curtains and pillows for your home.  

Wanting:  I am really wanting all this EOY paperwork to magically disappear.  That has to be the worst part of it all.  

Needing:  I been on a dress craze for a couple of weeks now and it seems that the more dresses I buy the more matching shoes I need to go with them.  I guess this summer I'll just have to go shopping for shoes :) don't tell the mister!

My 3 vacay essentials would have to be my phone, an adult beverage preferably one that is icy and fruity and some good music.  

Sonya

Summer Bucket List

Sonya here with my Summer Bucket List!  I'm so excited about my summer break I can't stand it!  I'm not sure if I ever mentioned it but my husband is currently deployed right now and I will have to entertain both kids by my lonesome this summer :( So this summer is strictly dedicated to kids with a little DIY rolled in.

1.  I plan to take my kids to visit these babies here at Sea World!  My daughter has no idea so I can't wait to surprise her in 2 weeks!

2.  I know you guys have probably seen this pin on pinterest from ReMarkablehome.net .  I follow her blog and she has some great ideas for summer reading and some awesome recipes.  Any who I plan to follow this schedule with the kids. 

Our first Make Something Monday Project will be this hopscotch paver game I pined a while back from momscraftyspace.com.  My daughter loves the colors and it will be a great addition to our backyard.  

3.  I've been pinning tons of DIY projects for the house and have been waiting for that final bell of school to get started.  The first project that I want to tackle is this tile mirror I found on http://www.diyncrafts.com. 

4. Finally when all of the field trips and diy projects are done I plan on tackling these babies for my 40+ kids next year.

  I will be teaching 2nd grade Dual Language with my partner in crime Mrs. Ganillo next year.  She will focus on Science,SS and Reading and I will teach Math, Writing and Reading. So I have to get my interactive math journals in order for my students to have for the first week of school.

9 days left !!!!!!!!!

Spark Student Motivation

I'm linking up with Head Over heals for teaching to show how I am sparking up my students motivation these last couple of day of school.  First let me say that if it weren't for this baby here I don't know what I 

 would do with my little ones because they were bouncing off the walls once we entered May. Then I created this magical chain of incentives for great behavior and voila!  Behavior issues fixed because they don't want to miss out on the surprise inside the link.  If your interested in this chain or making them into balloons to pop you can grab my Countdown to Summer Behavior Incentive Pack which is located on my TPT store.

Sonya

It's Done! My Interactive Math Journal Is Done!

Hi guys I'm so excited to say that I finally finished my journal!  I had tons of you guys send me personal emails about making my journal ideas into a unit and so I did.  If your interested in how I create my math journals head on over to my TPT store and grab a copy.  Here's a preview.

Sonya

Tornadoes, capacity, and 16 days left of school!!!

Let me start this post by stating that we've been taking cover in the closet for the past 30 minutes due to tornadoes in our area that won't seem to die down. It's crazy how scary things occur when the hubs is out of town!  I will say that my daughter who is 4 handled it like a champ once she had her unicorn pillow pet with her.  I did have a moment while the sirens were going off and the wind was howling where I thought about how prepared I am in class during drills but how frantic I was at home.  I will definitely be working on having a plan in place next time.

Anyway today we were continuing our study of capacity by identifying appropriate tools to measure the capacity of certain objects.  I had different capacity stations set up for students to identify whether or not a certain tool was appropriate to measure the capacity of a selected object.  My students got to use rice to measure the capacity of the objects.  They were really excited when they came in and saw all of the stations.

 Here they are using a baby food jar to measure the capacity of the cylinder.  Notice the other two tools in blue, after they tested each tool they had to decide as a group which tool was the best tool to test the capacity and explain why in their math journals.

After we cleaned up all of the rice we learned about the Gallon Man and students had the opportunity to create one with a buddy.

After a long day with my 2nd graders they were pleased and excited to see that they earned a treat for their behavior.  So the quietest student had the honor of removing the 17th  chain off our countdown links revealing that we will have a popsicle day tomorrow!  Which is ok with me since it's FIELD DAY!!!!  

The warning has been lifted so off I go!  

16 days and counting!!!!

Sonya

Hi guys! Sonya here and I'm linking up with

with my May Currently!  

make sure you guys head on over and link up to join the fun!

All of the kids are asleep and I have music videos playing in the living room while I'm typing and dancing away.

Loving Zumba , Zumba, Zumba!  I can't rave enough about this but I was one of those that would never go in just because I could just imagine how crazy I looked to everybody.  As a teacher you know you have to find something that allows you to unplug yourself for a while especially in the last months of the school year. I can't tell you how relaxing it is just to get on the dance floor and get loose.  LOVE ME ZUMBA!

Seriously if you follow me on pinterest you will see that I have tons of DIY projects I want to attempt this summer.  My plan is to try and do some kind of project every week.  

The wanting part of my currently is geared towards my husband.  I am so into gadgets it's unreal and I've just found the Nike ID bracelet and have to have it!  This baby tracks your activity, heart rate, calories etc. and gives you a screen shot of your day every time you hook it to your computer.  

I so need some  running shoes.  (neon) please

Summer to do list consist of a vacation with family anywhere just away from here.  DIYing so plenty of trips to Hobby Lobby and flee markets.  Getting fit so far I've lost around 12 pounds and would like to go back to school in the fall around 30 pounds lighter. MOTIVATION!!! Of course some ME TIME!!!

I guess that's enough babbling for tonight if your on INSTAGRAM you can follow me at mysecondgradejournal