Math Practice Through Calendar Math and Number of the Day

“Repetition is the mother of learning, 

the father of action, 

which makes it the architect of accomplishment.”    

 Zig Ziglar

I think all teachers understand and appreciate the thinking behind this quote. 

Repetitious practice certainly can be key to developing skill in academic areas. 

The problem is often that the pace in which we instruct is too fast and furious. 

It is often time to move onto new learning when we know quite well that our students need more time to practice the skills they are currently working on.

This is why I always look for ways to sneak in more practice. 

When it comes to math skills, one way I fit in constant review of prior learning is through our Calendar Time and Number of the Day. 

I created sheets to fill in to review skills like place value, odd/even numbers, counting forwards, backwards, number lines, etc. 

These sheets slide easily into dry erase page protectors.  This allows us to write our answers on each sheet and then erase and use again. 

We pick a random number of the day.  I have numbers cut and place them into a number can.  My "Calendar Helper" pulls out two or three numbers to make a two or three digit "Number of the Day". 

The students work through identifying the word form, expanded, picture form of that number. 

We draw pictures of the base ten blocks and even work through a problem using a part/part/whole box. 

We count forwards, backwards, identify ten more and less. 

We even round the number using a number line. 

I change out the number cards seasonally to keep it fun. 

How cute are these snowman numbers?

I have added this Calendar Set to my Teacher Pay Teacher Store. 

You can click the link below to check it out. 

Calendar Math: Number of the Day Routine Sheets and Materials

First Week of School: Independent Reading and How to Pick a Book

Isn't there so much to cover during those first weeks of school!
It can be hard to know what to include and what can wait.
If I was to prioritize, I would say lessons that help familiarize students with literacy routines and expectations would rank in my top ten.
I have been a long time follower of Gail Boushey and Joan Moser, aka: "The Sisters".
Every year I rely on their wisdom in setting up my literacy block.
Their book, The Daily 5 has guided me in this area and I use many of the lessons they outline for that first week of school.

Buy the Book: The Daily 5

There's no arguing the point that the more time spent on real, actual reading, the more reading progress and growth a student will make.  Of course, I want my students to grow in their ability to read,  but just as importantly, I want them to grow in their LOVE of reading!   I know I can get my kids hooked on books IF I help train them on picking ones that fit their interest and reading ability.  Struggling through a book that is too hard or yawning through a book that does not interest them will just cause my students to see reading as a chore.
 I want my students to view reading as something  they "get to do" not "have to do".

Because of this, I will spend some time on lessons that are intentionally focused on helping students pick the right book for them: the Good Fit Book.

In the book, The Daily 5, Boushey and Moser explain the acronym they use: I PICK and how student can use this as a guide to picking the books that are just right for them.





 The Sisters suggest the idea of introducing picking books through the analogy of picking shoes.
They go into detail on how they work through this anchor lesson.

Here's how the lesson goes.
You bring in a collection of different kinds of shoes.
  They suggest: snow boots, tennis shoes, party shoes, hiking boots, etc.




Take out the shoes one at a time and show them to students.
Talk about the purpose in wearing each one.

You might take out a slipper and show it to students.
Discuss how this shoe is perfect to slip on if you are walking around in your home in the evening.
It fits that purpose.



You could go on to explain how you would NOT wear the slipper to PE class at school.
Choosing to wear a tennis shoe would be a better fit.



Continue taking out shoes and discussing the purpose of each.

From there you could go into how the picking of shoes is a lot like picking a book to read.

For example:
If you want to learn more about space and the planet Jupiter, you would not pick a book like this:



You would be better off picking a book like this:



This is a great time to take a look at different kinds of books:

Comic Books:



How to Books:



Discuss the purpose of reading these different kinds of books.

Then it's time to introduce the letter "I" for Interest.
Back to the shoes:

Pull out a shoe such as a golf shoe.



Discuss how you may never want to pick this shoe to wear because you don't like playing golf.
It doesn't interest you.

Now it's time to relate this to picking books.
I like showing students books that I like to read and those that would not interest me.

I might show them this book and talk to them about how I would not pick it because the topic of motorcycles doesn't interest me.



But I may want to read this one because I am interested in antiques.



I don't think we can overemphasize the idea that students should pick books that interest them.
Once a student finds a book that they can't get enough of, we've got them hooked.
They will begin reading volumes and with each turn of the page, become a better reader.

For the last two steps of picking a book, we again take out a selection of shoes.
This time, we pick out books that are not the right size.
Maybe they are too big or too small.
We won't pick these shoes to wear because they are just not comfortable.

Now we relate that to the idea that we would not want to pick a book that is too hard or easy either.
Reading a book that fits right feels right.
Here is a good time to model reading the first page of certain books and play the part of a student who is figuring out if they can read the words and if they can understand what those words mean.

I found a children's book that can serve as a great springboard into this lesson.



Buy the Book: Which Shoes Would You Choose?

In this book, the character is choosing shoes for different activities.





I've included the link to a set of bookmarks to give your students after a lesson on picking books.
Students can carry their bookmark to your class library before choosing their independent reading books.  It can serve as a reminder as to what they should consider when making book choices.



Head over to my TPT to download this free resource:

I PICK Good Fit Books

I'd love for you to consider following my blog and store!
I will be posting other resources and thoughts as we go through the year.

Please let me know what lessons you cover that first week of school.
I'd love to hear.
Comment below or email: youngdor8@gmail.com

First Week of School: A New Back to School Book and Freebie

I have a bit of a book haul for you today.  

I went to the public library at just the right time. 

The librarian was putting out some brand new books in the children's section. 

I grabbed this stack to check out. 

I am always on the look out for new books to share with my kids.

I think I may have found some great fresh reads to use for the beginning of the school year.

One of my favorite back to school books has always been Chrysanthemum.

It is a great one to use as a springboard to talking and learning the names of all of our new friends. 

In this book, Chrysanthemum dislikes her name until her teacher convinces her it is beautiful. 

I shared a free math follow up to this story on my TPT store. 

You can access it here: 

Chrysanthemum Math Freebie

During my trip to the library, I came across another book based on a child's name that I may want to use in place of Chrysanthemum.

It is called, Alma and How She Got Her Name by Juana Martinez-Neal.

In this book, Alma also dislikes her name. Her full name is 33 letters long and "it never fits"!

  She complains to her father and he goes on to explain where each part of her name came from. 

After learning more about her name she changes her mind and begins to love and appreciate it. 

Another character who has a problem with her name but through events in the story, changes her feelings. 

I switched up the math follow up to go along with this book. 

You can click the link below to grab this free file: 

Alma: Math Follow Up

Students write the letters of their name in the ten frame boxes.  Then they record the number and try to represent that number in as many ways possible. 

Students may start with simple addition or subtraction equations, but challenge them to add other representations such as money, clock time, drawings, even tally marks. 

This activity ends up being a quick informal assessment of a student's math understandings. 

Do you want to add this book to your library?

Head here to grab a copy:

Alma and How She Got Her Name

Do you have books that you love to share with your students during those first weeks of school?
Would love to hear!

Please comment or email at youngdor8@gmail.com.

Creating a Learning Log

My jack russell is feeling it and so am I....the dog days of summer!
You know those hot, steamy days when your energy is zapped and all you want to do is lay by the pool sipping something cold, dozing off or doing some mindless (noneducational) reading.
The joy of it all!!

Typically I would just now be settling into this glorious routine.
BUT, the truth is,  I have been out of school since Memorial Day.
And I will be reporting back for duty on August 1 this year.
Yes, my days of rest and relaxation will soon come to an end.
YIKES!

Needless to say, part of my mind is beginning to switch over to school mode.
Walking into Target and Walmart does not help as I see
big boxes of school supplies are getting unloaded and shelved.



So this scene got me thinking about what journals, notebooks or folders I want my kids using this year.
I know from experience that keeping my kids organized is key to a successful year.
I may change it up some, but what I know I will continue with is how I've been recording our social studies and science learning.
 My students are using what I call the "Learning Log".

At the beginning of the year, I print out labels for students' journals.
Here are the ones that I am using this year.



You can grab these labels from Amazon:

Avery Labels

They use one of their marble composition books as a learning log.

It contains all our social studies and science learning in one book.
Each unit begins with a tabbed divider that students glue in.
They glue it so that the tab peeks out just a bit.

In my county, we alternate social studies and then science learning.
So this works great for us.
One section is science and the next social studies.
I loved how it all was in one notebook.

After the tab, the students glue down "fill in the blank" pages to record that we have learned about the topic.   We do this together so that I can monitor and guide, making sure that everyone is getting the correct information down.  This will then serve as one of their main study tools before a test.




By the end of the year, their journal was just about completely full.
I love that their whole year's worth of learning was available for them to take home.



On some pages, students glued down envelopes that housed vocabulary cards.
Most pages were what we called, "slice and stick" pages.
Students cut the pages into two parts and glued them down and then we filled them out.
Super simple so that most of our time was spent doing hands on investigations or researching for information.



If students were successful in completing a unit, they would get a brag tag.



You can read more about how I use these brag tags here:

Brag Tags

Let me know if you would like the editable divider pages or Learning Log labels.
I'd be glad to share them with you!

I've since added the Learning Log labels and editable dividers to my TPT store.
You can click here to download your free copy:


Learning Log

What kind of journals and logs do you use to organize student work?
Would love to hear!
Comment below
 or
email: youngdor8@gmail.com