I mentioned that my first workday was Friday, and that I made some changes in my classroom. I am excited to get some good pictures for you this week! I've also been spending lots of time on Pinterest, going through old pins and finding some new ideas. Math was one of the things I looked into quite a bit. I knew that I wanted a better structure for math stations, and I also wanted to incorporate math journals in a new way. My students really struggled with word problems last year, and since Common Core demands that 1st graders know how to solve several different types of word problems, I knew we'd better practice much more this coming year. I found an old post from the blog Living, Laughing, and Loving that gave me a great idea. She bought these adorable composition books and had them cut in half.
This saves money for the teacher and also provides just enough space for the students to solve problems. Giving a 6 year old an entire page to solve 1 problem is a dangerous idea. It is very difficult, even for the student, to find the answer on the page when they get finished. So, assuming I'd never find the same composition books, I ventured out to find any kind of math-themed notebook at a decent price. I headed straight for the school section but to my dismay I only found colored composition books. I settled for a shade of grey. But just then, from a different aisle, I heard the sweet voice of my husband calling, "Are these the ones you were talking about?!" He had actually found the exact ones from that 2012 blog posting. AND for only 50 cents! Can't beat that deal!
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I am so excited to get these cut and put these bad boys to good use! I plan on printing math word problems on address labels to slap onto each page. We will do a warm-up problem at the beginning of math each day (or as often as possible). This should really help improve the students' understanding of solving a variety of story problems. I can't wait to show you some of the other ideas I've come up with!
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