Splat the Cat Fun and a little November Composing and Decomposing

Hello Everyone!
PHEW! We made it through a very busy week! We have been studying objects in the night sky this week (among MANY other things!!!) and after reading a couple of Splat the Cat books, especially Good Night, Sleep Tight, we decided to make a sweet treat inspired by that cute kitty!! This idea is an embellishment on the Black Cat Oreos on the Party Pinchers site.  Thank you for the fun idea Party Pinchers!!! 
They turned out so cute! And they look like Splat!!

We celebrated our annual literature appreciation day with Starlight Reading (also went along with our study of night time sky!) and dressing as Splat!!! 

LOOOOOOOOVE This Team!!!
We are always up for fun!!

We are now gearing up for a big study on composing and decomposing numbers in math. It being November, I decided to create a little unit with a Thanksgiving feel. Here are some quick pics.

The unit contains 29 pages of whole group learning opportunities and math tub practice opportunities. 

If you are interested, you can get the unit here. Simply CLICK!!

Now, off to enjoy this beautiful day!!!  Have a wonderful weekend and thanks for stopping by to take a peek at what we've been up to!! Questions? Comments? Concerns? Don't hesitate to let me know!! This blog and I are still a work in progress!! Stay tuned!!

Joyfully!!

Nancy

Math Smart Hearts!

Hello Everyone!
We have had some great math learning fun already this week!  We are focusing on addition and subtraction to 20. In honor of Valentine's Day coming up, we created a huge Smart Heart to use during a mini lesson on how facts can be related and how to show the many ways to compose and decompose 20.  We took a long rope and strung 20 little heart shaped "slinkies" (Dollar Tree) on it.  We set the rope down in a heart shape and then took turns moving the hearts from one side to the other and showing a number sentence each time. It was a good hands on visual mini lesson! Then the kids got to make their own Smart Heart using fuzzy sticks and beads.  They loved recording their own number sentences and sharing with friends!  The math talk I heard between friends was clear, precise and complete.  Great job, kiddos!! Here are a few pics!

Personal sized Smart Hearts!!

Math talk!

We heart our Smart Hearts!!!

For a printable of the directions and a couple of recording sheets, click HERE!!!

Okee Dokee!  Gotta Run!! Got to get ready for the sweetest day!!

Have a great rest of the week! Thanks for stopping by!

Joyfully!

Nancy

Composing and Decomposing Numbers and Pumpkins!! :)

Hello Everyone!
It finally feels like Fall here!! Yippee! I do love some good fall related activities in the classroom!  Today in math we worked on different ways to compose 10. Of course we started off on another life size board.  This time a stretched out 10 frame. 10 is a “friendly” number.  While introducing different strategies for addition and subtraction, growing  number sense to use  friendly  10  and understanding the relationship numbers  have to 10 will benefit our littles in many ways. We used giant candy corn to show different ways to fill the spaces to 10.  
The kids could easily see the relationships each side of the equation shows as we make 10. 

For your own printables for making 10, click HERE!

I also wanted to show you that we are composing and decomposing pumpkins in the classroom as well!  After our pumpkin investigations last week, we saved some of the pieces that were cut, and put them in a jar.  We are watching it decompose!! We also are trying to compose (grow) some pumpkin plants.  We cut the tops off some mini pumpkins and filled the cavity with potting soil, leaving all the seeds and pulp inside.  We can't wait to watch what happens!!

A good book to enjoy as you make observations is Pumpkin Jack By Will Russell.

 Stay tuned for more fall fun!!
Thanks for stopping by for a peek!  
Joyfully!
Nancy

It's snowing! Oh, wait! It's just math!

Hello Everyone!
A super quick post tonight!  I have got to finish my book club book!  I'm running out of time!  
Today we continued work on composing and decomposing numbers up to 120. Our math mini lesson was to brainstormed some interesting patterns we were seeing in some of our addition and subtraction work from earlier this week. We then, chose our favorite patterns and created some sparkly snowflakes to show them off.  Take a peek!  

almost a winter wonderland :)

 Here's a quick snowflake pattern if you want it! :) click here!

Ok!! Off to read, read, read!!!
Have a great night!!
Joyfully!
Nancy

TerrificTruffula Tufts

Hello Everyone!
Thanks for taking a peek!  We have been having so much fun using the themes of "The Lorax" as springboards for other cutrricular areas.  In math we have been working on composing and decomposing addition facts.  We have been working on the strategy of making groups of 10 to help solve those additon problems.  Using a 10 frame is a way to show kids how to compose and decompose using 10's.  The frams also show kids different ways to solve the same problem. To make the concept clear and multisensory, I decided to find some "Truffula Tree Tufts" to use as manipulatives. Alas! Hobby Lobby had some large bags of bright colored pom poms in all different sizes. They so reminded me of Truffula Tufts and the kids couldn't wait to get their hands on them!!  We practiced using the tufts to show how to decompose (or move) enough of the tufts from one of the addends to help the other addend make 10.  We were then able to compose a new related addition fact.  10 + anything is easier to add!! The kids really got it!!

We finally had the time to make our little Text Connection books I talked about last week.  We, of course, had to use the story "The Lorax." The kids cut out their own hearts in specific colors, and wrote their connection ideas on each color, Yellow= Text to Self, Green= Text to Text,  and Blue= Text to World.  The kids had some great connections. The pics didn't turn out very clear (I so need a new camera) but I hope you can get the point of their connections!

"It reminds me of a book called Grizwald. He had to move because were cutting down the trees."



"I am a Daisy, and it reminds me of the Lorax."



  A final fun craft connection we did to go along with "The Lorax" was of course to make Truffula Trees!  I needed an inexpensive craft connection that the kids could easily make. I decided to have the kids make some tissue paper tufts with striped pipe cleaner trunks.  We took 4 sheets of brightly colored tissue paper (about 8x12) layered evenely.  We then fan folded starting from the short side. We trimmed the ends either round or diagonal, and twisted the pipe cleaner around the center. Now the fun part!  Gently pulling the layers apart!!  This so reminded me of creating hundreds of flowers for parade floats way back in high school!! :)  The kids had a blast making these and wanted to make a whole Truffula Forest!!!

A Truffula Tree Forest!

Thank you, Dr. Seuss, for your inspiration!!
We've had a fantastic week!
Hope your week was just as inspirational!!
Joyfully!
Nancy