Halloween SALE!

Graphics by Fancy Dog Studio. Fonts by Hello Literacy and Miss Tiina Fonts.

First Grade Schoolhouse is joining Jennie at JD Rockin' Readers and TpT friends for a Halloween Sale!

Everything in my store is 20% off today. Click on the picture to see what's on sale.

Have a Happy Halloween!

Common Core Standards for Math in First Grade

We will implement the first grade Common Core Standards for Math beginning next school year. This year is a transition year. Our district is providing us with training to help make the changes.

A few ideas and points from our last training:

The Teaching Channel site has videos on lesson ideas and teaching practices. Many of the videos include lessons using the Common Core Standards for Math. The videos can be viewed for free.

Counting, building numbers, problem solving, and number work will be areas of focus this year for my class.  A resource for number work is:

Number Talks by Sherry Parrish

Some of the topics included in the book are using real life contexts, using models and tools to anchor student strategies, and number talks specific to first grade.

One of the tools that we discussed in our training and is discussed in the book are rekenreks.

Rekenreks have two rows of beads. Each row has 10 beads. The 10 beads are made up of two different colors {5 of one color and 5 of the other color}. They can be used for counting, adding, subtracting, making different number combinations to 20 and more. The Math Learning Center has information on using rekenreks as visual models. 

We saw some samples of rekenreks made by teachers. The backing was made of heavy cardboard or mat board. Two different colored beads were strung on a heavy beading elastic. The elastic went through holes in the board and were secured with tape on the back. You can find directions for making rekenreks at K5 Math Teaching Resources.

The students in my room will have lots of experiences with problem solving. Sometimes I use student names in the problems. It makes it more personal and the students enjoy working out problems about their classmates.

Other times I connect the problems to seasonal topics. I created a packet of first grade story problems that could be used throughout the fall season. Math addition story problems for FALL, HALLOWEEN, and THANKSGIVING are included. The story problems contain different problem types and a range of numbers for each problem. Click on the picture to preview FALL MATH Addition Story Problems. 

Graphics by Miss Tiina, Hello Fonts, Print Candee

I would love to hear about some of your first grade Common Core Standards math tips and ideas.

October Book of the Month Blog Hop

I am joining the October Book of the Month Blog Hop hosted by Tammy at 123 Teach With Me. Teachers are sharing books that they read to the class during October that have an October theme.

I chose a Halloween book that I always look forward to reading to the class. It's titled, Mouse's First Halloween. The author is Lauren Thompson.

It's one of my favorite Halloween read alouds, because on a spooky night . . .

Mouse keeps hearing noises and seeing things that make him say, "Eeek!" The students in the class love to PREDICT what they might be. A partial large picture is included on each page. Each is revealed on the following page. So, it's a wonderful book for making PREDICTIONS.

The text has rhyme and pattern. Each thing that the mouse encounters is not so scary. The children chant the part, "Not so scary after all."

It has repetition. Each of the things or animals that the mouse encounters makes a sound that is repeated three times. It's fun to have the students think of movements to go along with the sounds. The question, "What could it be?" is repeated before turning each page. They love to chant this part, too.

It's also great for talking about descriptive language. Each thing or animal that the mouse sees is named with one adjective that describes it. It lends itself to a discussion and writing lesson on using descriptive words.  

Large and colorful illustrations fill each page. 

So much can be done with this book. It definitely is one of those books that can be read aloud multiple times.

I created some printables to go with the book.

Graphics by KPM Doodles, Fancy Dog Studio, Scrappin Doodles. Fonts by Hello Literacy and dafont.com.

Click on the picture for the FREE download.

Lauren Thompson has created a series of Mouse's First books. 

Mouse's First Fall is another great book to read this time of the year.

Join the BLOG HOP to share more October read alouds.