Beaded Number Rods


Yesterday, I went to the dollar store and spent $2 on a pack of beads and some stems.  (I'm giving away my age, but we used to call these pipe cleaners when I was in school. This set is shorter than the ones I remember from long ago.) 

This morning, I had time to just play with these. Here are some of the ideas I came up with:
                 


Simply creating number sticks was fun.  What a great way for kids to learn to compare numbers. After building a staircase with number rods, I'd also have them build a staircase with unifix and talk about how the two sets are similar. 



Once kids have had time to explore the materials, it's time to add in symbols.  I made this set of number toppers and taped them onto the beaded rods.   

I'm thinking of having kids sequence these. They would also work well for a number of games.  Here are some that came to my mind right away:

1) Remove the beads.  Have kids put the beads back onto the number rods. (When you want the beads to stay on easily, just fold the bottom of the stem over.) 

2) Partners work together to put the number rods in order.  One partner closes his/her eyes while the other removes a number rod.  The partner has to see how quickly he/she can figure out which rod is missing. (A slight variation - Instead of taking a rod away, the first child switches the order of two rods. The second child has to quickly put them back in order.)

3) Take one rod at a time. Flip it, so there is just a blank white card as the child sees the back of the number topper. He/she says, as quickly as possible, how many beads are on the rod. Flip the card back over for a self-checking activity. 

I love any material that helps kids really visualize and understand addition and subtraction.  So - I got out some flashcards and started playing with these beaded number rods.  



For addition, I answered the problem mentally and then took the number stick that matched my answer.  I really liked "proving it" using the number stick - and I'm thinking kids will too. 


These worked really well for subtraction.  I just took the stick showing the total and subtracted by sliding the beads down the rod.  I found this quick, easy and visually appealing.

I find that many kids really struggle with the concept of numbers in the teens.  So - I started playing with these to see how they'd work with numbers through 20. 



First, I just added another stem and created rods for numbers in the teens.  It didn't seem like that would help kids visual these numbers.  



Then, I tried folding between the group of ten and the additional ones.  I started to feel like this would be a way kids could visual numbers in the teens.




Just for fun, I made some larger toppers.  This struck me as a visual that would really help kids understand numbers in the teens! 

Some ideas for working with these would be:

1) Have kids sequence numbers 10 - 19. 
2) Teach kids to verbalize, "I see 18.  18 is one ten and eight more ones. 


Rekenreks are all the rage!  I messed around a bit with making a rekenrek that kids could build for themselves.  Here's what I came up with:
Just attaching two number rods to q-tips was a quick and simple way to create a rekenrek.  I really like that the beads stay in place when I pick them up. (With many of the commercial rekenreks, the beads slide as soon as the rekenrek is tilted.) The q-tips worked well because the stems did not easily slide over the ends and they are something I usually have on hand. But, I didn't really like the look. So, I went digging through my kids' old toys. 


I found a bin of building toys - and there were plenty of stems that gave these a nice sturdy feel. 

If you'd like to print out the number toppers I used, you can download them by clicking here



The flashcards pictured here are available at my Teachers pay Teachers shop.  Click here for addition cards and here for subtraction cards. 

It's been fun playing with beads and stems today. I hope that someone else will find some inspiration in these ideas. If so, I'd love to hear about it!

Thanks for stopping by,  :) Anne



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Adding a little "extra magic" to Christmas read alouds


What an exciting time of year!  One of my favorite parts about the season is sharing favorite holiday books with kids.  

Here's a simple idea that makes it even more fun . . . 



Collect your favorite holiday books and wrap them up.  I like to use recycled wrapping paper or place them in reusable gift bags. 

When it's time for a read aloud, let a child pick a "present" to open.

To add a little more fun, have the books magically appear and act surprised when you and the kids find them.  

If I especially want to read a certain book, I will have it "appear" on the easel - fully wrapped and ready to open and read. 

I hope your kids enjoy this simple idea if you decide to give it a try.  Happy Holidays!

:) Anne

#ResourcesThatGive
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Comparing Numbers in Kindergarten


Thanks for stopping by!  I'd like to welcome my very first guest blogger, Susan, from Teaching Doodles.

Marhaba ~ Welcome from the United Arab Emirates!  I’m Susan from Teaching Doodles.

I am super excited to share with you an interactive math activity I used recently with my kindergarten students.  Although we do not use the Common Core over here, this activity still connects to Counting and Cardinality for kindergarten – comparing numbers K.CC.C.6.  I found this idea on Pinterest and modified it for a whole class lesson.  See the original pin here.
Provide each of your kiddos with a sorting mat.  The ones we used were simply  a 3 x 2 table.  Feel free to use a larger or smaller table based on your class needs.   You can see a sample of the mats we used in  the pictures below.  
Next, each student gets 8 counters (4 of one color and 4 of another).  We used 4 blue and 4 yellow but use whatever color you like.  I put the same number and color of counters into a small drawstring bag.
If you're lucky enough to have an interactive whiteboard, create the same table on your board.  
Now we’re ready to play!
1.Draw a counter from the bag.  Students place the same color on their mat.
2.Draw another counter.  Students will place on their mat.  Repeat drawing counters until the mat is full.
3. Students rearrange their counters so one color is on top and one is on the bottom.  (I found this difficult for my class  to do.  The second time we sorted the colors as we played).
4. Hold a class discussion to find out greater than, less than, and equal to by counting or matching the counters.  

I hope your class enjoys this quick and easy activity!  
Stop by my blog, Teaching Doodles,  and let me know if you try it.   
I'd love to hear your feedback!

                                         



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Parent Letters ~ Using You Tube Videos to Help Kids Learn Fry Words


This year, our school has adopted the Fry Words.  Parent conferences start this week, and I have been brainstorming tips to share with parents as they support their child's learning at home. 

I considered sending flashcards and games with my students, but that would be A LOT of flashcards. I have a hard time keeping track of them all, so I figured parents might also struggle to keep the sets organized.   

I recently found a few simple videos of the Fry Words on YouTube, and decided to send a letter pointing parents to these videos and sharing a couple simple ways to use them to support their child's learning. 

I'll be interested to see how this works for families.  If you'd like to take a look at these letters, you can download them by clicking on the pictures below.  The first parent letter focuses on helping kids learn the 1st 100 Fry Words. 


The second parent letter is very similar, but focuses on helping students learn Fry Words 1 - 300. 


If you decide to download these and take a look, I'd appreciate any thoughts/suggestions you have regarding them. 

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look!

:) Anne Gardner (NBCT, Literacy)

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Fry Word Lists


This year, our school is systematically working with the Fry Words. We decided to break the words into lists of 25 words each and number the lists sequentially. This gave us 40 lists of 25 words each. They are presented 100 words per page.

I just finished typing these up and thought other teachers might find them handy too. So - here they are. You can download these free lists clicking here.   This file is also available for free at my Teachers pay Teachers shop.  

 

As many of you know, the Fry words are ranked according to how often they appear in print. The words are not necessarily more difficult as the lists progress. 

According to Fry's research, completed in 1996:
  • The first 25 words make up about 1/3 of all items published.
  • The first 100 words make up about 1/2 of all the words found in publications.
  • The first 300 words make up about 2/3 of all written materials.

I hope you find these lists useful and that your year is off to a super start!

:) Anne Gardner (NBCT, Literacy)
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Review 3D Shapes and Give Kids a Quick Brain Break ~ All in Less than Two Minutes


Hi,  Thanks for stopping by!  I wanted to share my favorite way to review 3D shapes and also give kids a quick brain break ~ all in less than 2 minutes. 

This video features images of dancing people created from 3D blocks. Kids absolutely love to watch and chorally whisper the name of each shape as it appears while the people are being composed. Click here or on the picture to start the video.



For a quick brain break, they can then mimic the calming dance movements of their favorite character for about 30 seconds. 

Finally, the blocks are sorted by shape.  We quickly point at each set and name the shape once again.  So simple ~ and relaxing.  I love that combination!  



Hope your kids enjoy this.   :) Anne

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Should we be teaching fact families with 8 facts?



Hi,  Did you ever have an idea you just had to throw out there and see what people think? 

I have been noticing that it is really hard for kids to complete equations such as: 

8 = 12 - ___.

To complete these equations, they really have to understand the equal sign. 

Then, I got to thinking ~ what do we usually teach them regarding fact families and/or related facts? 
Four basic facts, such as:

2 + 3 = 5
3 + 2 = 5
5 - 3 = 2
5 - 2 + 3

Is it time to introduce a new fact family? A family with 8 facts? Here's what I'm thinking: 



I'm thinking of creating a series of activities based on this idea and thought I'd ask what you think of it first.

I know I'd have to build in lots of support to get kids started. If you have a moment, I'd really love to hear your thoughts . . . . 

Many thanks for stopping by!  :) Anne Gardner 
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Building and Reading Simple Sentences


Even while kids are still working on letter identification, I love to get them involved in building and reading simple sentences.  

I start with a simple alphabet book or emergent text. Alphabet books from Lakeshore are pictured. If I didn't have books with the sentence structure I'm looking for, I'd create an anchor chart and work from there. 

I prepare by putting the magnetic letters kids will need to form a sentence in a little cup.  For alphabet-based sentences, I add an item that starts with the letter. Each child gets a sentence strip to build on. They shake the cup and use the book (or anchor chart) as a resource to build the sentence.


As kids work, we talk about leaving spaces between words and about a sentence being a group of words that makes sense together. We also pay attention to the period at the end of the sentence.  


I find that I can work with 3 or 4 kids at a time, so this is a great activity for guided reading groups or intervention groups. 

After each child has built and read his/her sentence, we put the letters back in the cups together.  I give directions such as: "Pick up the letter H. Put it in your cup. Find the word is. Hold the word is in your hand. Spell is with me. Pick up the word for. Let's spell for together. . . . "

Once everything is back in the cup, kids pass the cup to the person beside them and they each spill and build again. It's fun to see how much quicker they get as the lesson goes on!

I've also created a set of sight word sentences for very early readers. Ever see a child read a full page when he/she only knows 1 word? Check out this sight word sentence page for the word I. 
Because of the high level of picture support, kids can successfully read this page when they know the word I. (We provide support as needed to help them use initial sounds to check their reading on the other words.)  

This series builds just one word at a time. Here's the order of the first few words: I, like, my, see, can, the, go. Within the first seven lessons using this program, kids are proudly reading the sheet pictured below. 
After reading these sheets at school, kids bring them home to share with their families. Repeated reading is very important at this stage, so I have a child color one star in each time he/she reads the sheet. When all the stars are filled in, they bring it back to show me. (We celebrate and they earn a tiny treat.)

If you'd like to take a closer look at these sheets, you can download the samples shown above by clicking here. 

If you decide you'd like to use these with your students, you can get the set at my Teachers pay Teachers Shop. 

Thanks so much for stopping by and taking a look!

:) Anne Gardner (NBCT, Literacy)


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Group Decision Making


Group decision making ~ it can be so tough!

From little decisions like where the family is going for dinner to significant policy decisions in our schools, it can be a grueling process.

Today, I want to share my all-time favorite tool for group decision making.



First, the group has to define the options. Once that's done, it's simple. The options are written down. Each group member gets a set number of chips (or any small object).

Each group member "weighs in" on the decision by placing chips on their choice of option(s). The beauty of this is, no group member has to choose a single option. Going out to eat, I may be torn between going for Italian or Mexican food. I could put an equal number of chips on both choices.

Once all group members have placed their chips, the chips are added up and the choice most often becomes clear.

I like it so much better than a simple vote - and sometimes trying to reach a consensus just doesn't work.

This can work for groups of students ~ they can "weigh in" to decide what book to read next in a literature circle or what treat to have for a class celebration.

It works beautifully with families, and I think it is also a great option for groups such as policy boards.

Do you have twists on decision making that work for you? If so, I'd love to hear about them!

Thanks for stopping by!    :) Anne
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