Double Duty: Compound Words

Do you work with compound words with your students?

Is it sometimes difficult to keep coming up with new words?

How would you like a comprehensive alphabetical list of compound words to help make your job easier?

Well, I spent hours surfing the net seeing if anyone else has lists, working from theirs, adding 100’s of my own words, checking dictionaries, and in its second update, have come up with 2,678 words for you to choose from.

Can I hear a woo hoo?

I’ve also added a definition anchor chart, and a “We’ve spied these words!” poster.  Add some paper underneath and have your students write compound words that they hear others say, come across during their assignments, or reading etc.

There’s also a “Compound word of the day” poster and a cover and insert page for students to make their own Compound Word Booklet.

Display a new compound word each day as you count up to 100 Day.

What a fun way to increase your students’ vocabularies and add something different to your 100 Day counting activities!

Click on the link to view/download the new 2,678 Compound Word List Stuff

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“The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery.” –Yan Doren

Taking Delight With Dominoes!

To review the concept of subtraction, read any story that starts out with 10 of something and takes 1 away until there are none left. My favorite is 10 Little Dinosaursby Pattie L. Schnetzler. You can click on my Dinosaur YouTube video to hear me read the story.

Another is Ten Sly Piranhas by William Wise.

Have students show you 10 fingers and call them 10 dinosaurs, piranhas or whatever is the key character in the story and then have them “disappear” as you read.

You can view an excellent musical rendition of the piranha book on YouTube Click on the link to check it out.

Bingo songs are also a great way to show subtraction.  I have made up quite a few.

My Y5’s really enjoyed singing these songs.  They not only helped them “see” subtraction in action, as the letter cards were removed, but it helped build their vocabularies and learn how to spell as well.

Click on the link for the Bingo Song packet.

Give students 10 manipulatives and have them practice taking away a specific number and writing the number sentences and solutions on a sheet of scratch paper.

If you watched my video above, and wondered about the puppets, I produce 10 miniature dinosaur finger puppets in a magic trick, so that my students can manipulate them for a few minutes to see "subtraction in action."

So where do the dominoes come in?

They are just another fun way to help students understand fact families in a hands-on way.

Spill out several sets of dominoes on the floor. Call out a sum and have students look at the dominoes and tell you which ones have that many spots.

Using their mini-dry erase boards that they made out of a glossy sheet of ink jet paper that were mentioned in the previous articles, encourage children to write the addition equation suggested by the domino.

For example, the  domino on the right, could have 4 + 5 = 9 as an equation.

For another activity, choose two dominoes with the same number of total spots, and then display them with one crossed over the other so that both parts of the upper domino but only one part of the bottom domino is visible.

Tell your students that both dominoes have the same number of spots. Can they guess how many spots are covered on the bottom domino?

When a correct response is given, display the domino and ask how they figured out their answer.

Do the example 2 or 3 more times, making sure everyone understands the concept.  Make sure you choose an empty-sided domino, so you can explain what happens when zero is added or subtracted.

Have students choose a partner and take turns being the teacher, so they can focus on the relationship of subtraction to addition.

Tell them to also sort the set of double 6 dominoes by the sums that the dominoes represent.

Set the timer for 5-10 minutes, then call the children together.  Show them how to write the 2 addition and 2 subtraction sentences, which a non-double domino represent, and then call on a student to choose a domino, and write their 4 sentences on their mini board.

The domino on the left, would represent the following addition and subtraction sentences:

5 + 2 = 7

2+ 5 = 7

7- 5 = 2

7 - 2 = 5

Repeat the exercise 1 or 2 more times, to make sure your students understand it and then have them either work independently choosing dominoes and writing equations on their recording sheet, or working with the same or a different partner.

If you are doing my Student Space Travel Learning Log, reward everyone with an alien or spaceship sticker for this activity.

I've included templates for a set of paper dice like the ones featured in this article. 

There's a small set for students and a larger set for teachers to use as flashcards + medium and jumbo blank templates.

I try to include several standards while I'm teaching math, so I've also included 2 templates called "Ready-Set-Sequence!"  You can review ordinal numbers at the same time you're going over fact families with your students and nail 2 birds with 1 stone!

I've also included domino fact family skill sheets for all of the fact families 5-10, an anchor chart, 2 posters, a happy gram + a certificate of praise.  I think you and yours will really enjoy the hands-on fun of this packet.

Click on the link to view/download the Domino Fact Family Fun Packet.

What Else Can You Do With Dominoes?

Would you believe that the picture of Abraham Lincoln (above right), was figured out mathematically, so that the artist could put it together with dominoes?

If you click on it and enlarge it, you will see the dominoes! I think this is absolutely awesome.

The artist is kind enough to share the “how to” so you can do it with your students, by only using 12 sets of dominoes. 

I get mine at The Dollar Store.  You can check out his other cool artwork and get the pattern by clicking on the link.

He has pictures of Martin Luther King and the Statue of Liberty as well.

One of the interesting things that I do for 100 Day, is stack a snake-like line of 100 dominoes, so that my students can watch them fall.

I knew they would think that was pretty cool, so one of the 100 day books I read is 100 Days of Cool by Stuart J. Murphy, who suggests putting dominoes together that have 100 dots.

Follow up the story or your 100 domino falling activity by watching these very short, YouTube videos.

To see what 60,000 dominoes look like falling click on the above link.  They took days to set up and only 12 seconds to fall!

The really cool Nintendo domino video that follows will also impress your students! After putting together my mere 100-domino snake and freaking each time I shook a little, I can’t imagine putting something of this scale together!

Once your students have enjoyed making fact families with dominoes they might be hooked and want to play more games.

The best site I’ve found for a huge variety of domino games, is at the Domino Plaza.  They’re a “must see” and have been around since 1995!

I hope you and your students are delighted with dominoes and how they add to the fun of learning and practicing  fact families!

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"The important thing in not to stop questioning." -Albert Einstein

It’s time to Blast Off With Me and Learn a Fact Family

Since the Fact Family Schoolhouses were such a huge hit, I wanted to dream up some more things that would get students excited to WANT to learn and practice their fact families.

Let’s face it, things can get pretty tedious when you’re a kid, and teachers only have so much time to think outside the box.

That’s my forte’ and I had an absolute blast designing a Space Travel Fact Family Learning Log!

I really think this idea will get your students “hooked” and they’ll actually be asking to work on their math facts, because they’ll want to collect the “stickers”!  Collecting something is quite addicting to a child.  That’s why it’s such a hot market in the toy world.

Stickers are an easy and fun way to motivate them and build their self-esteem at the same time; besides, playing the games and doing the activities are also entertaining!

I’m not sure why a small scrap of paper is such a big deal to a little kid, but I’m all over it, because of its success as a motivational and incentive teaching tool.

I’ve designed several types for students to choose from; you print them off and they cut and glue them to their booklets, or you can use my clipart designs and drag them into a label and truly make them “sticky”.

The more opportunities you can think of to immerse kids in fact families, the easier it is for them to remember them, ‘til the light bulb finally comes on. 

“Practice makes perfect!” really rings true, when it comes to fact families, however, this can get rather boring.

“Worksheets” can quickly become “skill-drill and kill” sheets and is precisely why I don’t call tabletop lessons “worksheets”, but “skill sheets”.

Who wants to do work?  For example: Which statement gets you rarin’ to go? “Please do the worksheet on your desk.” Or…“Today we’re having fun practicing a skill by playing a game.” See what I mean?

Here’s How To Make A Learning Log:

Run off my masters.  Students will be taking a journey “…on a planetary path, learning fact family math.” 

Each time they learn a fact family, they get a planet sticker. Once they’ve learned ALL of the fact families in the galaxy, they receive the bonus Earth sticker for the “mission” accomplished” achievement.

They choose a rocket, name, cut and glue it to their booklet and are able to earn rocket stickers for a variety of in-class fact family work.

They also choose an alien friend, name, cut and glue them to that learning log page and are able to earn alien and spaceship stickers for still more fact family activities.

There’s also a page for miscellaneous reward and award stickers.  Here I suggest having a daily or weekly sticker posted, which keeps students motivated and gets them excited to work on some aspect of fact families, because they will want to earn that featured sticker

Finally, the last page is a congratulations page, where they have accomplished their math missions and their learning log is now complete!

I’ve included a fact family rocket spinner game, rocket booklet, traceable fact family number and equation cards, recording sheets, and other fun-filled fact family stuff for your students to do, to make collecting stickers and learning along their journey, most pleasurable.

Click on the link to view/download the Rocket Fact Family Packet   I hope you and your space travelers enjoy this packet as much as I did creating it!

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"Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one." -Malcolm Forbes

It's A Wonderful Day In The Fact Family Neighborhood!

So what's the big deal about fact families?

Once a student knows the relationships of the fact family members, it's easy for them to see what number is missing at a quick glance.

Solving addition and subtraction problems is then much easier and starts to become automatic.

Fact family houses are a great way to teach visual learners about the relationships among the three numbers in that family.

Knowing fact families, especially those, which create number sentences that add up to 10, are a key part of math.

Making fact family houses and putting them in a neighborhood can help students learn the "tens facts" by heart. I thought it would be fun for students to create a neighborhood of schoolhouses!

Here's How: To create a neighborhood, run off the schoolhouses on 10 different colors of construction paper.  I like to teach a rainbow pattern later on in the year, so now is a great time to start with those 1^st six bright colors.

Next, have students fill in the rest of the Tens Facts, one in each house, to create the entire neighborhood. Once the neighborhood is finished, children use a square of Scotch tape to hinge them together.

Run off the covers for each fact family on white copy paper.  Students cut those out, solve the problems and then glue them to the back of the first house in the fact family.

When they are completed, students will have a variety of different colored fact family house booklets that they can stand up and make into neighborhoods of schoolhouses.

Another thing you can do with this packet that will help reinforce fact families, is to show students how to write the families using a T bar.

I tell children that they are becoming T-eriffic at making fact families so they get to make T-Bars.

Students simply trace the T in red and write the missing number on the other side of the bar. This number when added to the other will make the number on top of the T bar. You can turn this sheet into a “mad-minute” and time students.

The Fact Family Spinner Game is also another way to get the facts reinforced. Children spin the spinner, whatever number they land on, they find that number tile and place it in the top attic window of their schoolhouse.

They decide what other numbers they are going to choose to make a fact family for that number and fill in the remaining tiles and then X-off that fact family on their recording sheet.

The first student, who completes all of the fact families, wins the game. Click on the link to view/download Fact Family Schoolhouse packet

Finally, the last way I review fact families with students is with mini-dry erase boards that I make out of glossy ink jet paper.

You can buy an entire box of paper at Sam’s Club, Costco or any of the office supply stores for around $10, with anywhere from 100-200 sheets.

Cut strips the length of the paper a tad shy of 4 inches wide.  Buy a box of long colored envelopes. Seal the envelopes and snip off the ends so that they are 4 inches long.

When you write on the glossy side of the paper with a dry erase marker it easily wipes off just as if you were using a dry erase board!  I bought a pack of white washcloths and cut them into small squares.

Because these are so inexpensive to make, you could make them for your students every year, so they could keep them. Have them store them in their desk, cubby, or folder for easy access.  Use them for math, name writing, letters, shape identification etc.

If you like to have home-school connections for your students, a great way to practice their math facts is by logging them into Xtra Math.

It’s a free online program, run by a non-profit organization, that is dedicated to math achievement for all.

This is less than 10 minutes a day of math that your students can work on at home to increase their recognition of math facts. The program is free, simple and includes progress reports. I found it while surfing the net. It’s recommended by Edmodo, and worth checking out to see if it fits your needs.

I hope these ideas have added to your math bag of tricks, to help make teaching in your neighborhood, a bit more wonderful!

“Too often we give children answers to remember, rather than problems to solve.” –Roger Lewin

Time Flies When You're Having A Good Time!

What Time Is It? Is a fun way to review time to the hour.

Make copies of the analog and digital clock mat.

Glue them to construction paper and laminate.

Students can either draw hands on the analog clock, or you can poke a hole in the center dot with a protractor, insert a brass brad and wrap a large and small paperclip around it, to use as hands so that students can manipulate the time.

I snipped off the extra loop of the large paperclip, so that it wasn’t so long.

You can buy dry erase markers with little sponges on the end so that students can erase their answers, or simply cut up washcloths into little squares.

Make copies of the spinner, cut out the circles, glue them to a square of construction paper, laminate, poke a hole in the center and attach a brad and paperclip.

Students spin the spinner.  I purposely used a spinner to look like a clock so that they would get used to looking at the analog dial.  Whatever number they are closest to, is the time that they will fill in on their recording sheet and work with on their clock mat. For example, their spinner lands on 3.

Students will manipulate the paperclips to show 3:00 on the analog clock on the mat, write 3:00 on the digital clock on the mat and write the word three before O’clock on the line, tracing O’clock to complete the laminated mat.

They will then record that information on their mini clock-recording sheet.

The student who completes all of the times on that sheet first, is the winner of the game.

I’ve made certificates for the winners of “Beat the clock” as well as certificates for those who participated.

You can also use the laminated clock mats to individually or whole group assess your students’ ability to tell time.

I’ve included a certificate of praise when they have accomplished that standard.

Click on the link to view/download the What Time Is It? Packet

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Do you have a telling time tip you could share with us?  I'd enjoy hearing from you. diane@teachwithme.com or post a comment here! Thanks in advance for your time.

"While we are busy trying to teach our chldren all about life, our children are easily teaching us what life is all about." -Unknown

Let's Keep Things Rolling! More Math Games With A Dice Theme

I made Dice Game Stuff to go with the addition, subtraction, greater & less than dice games featured in the last 2 articles.

Click on the link to view/download the packet.

Whenever I taught a concept to my Y5’s I liked to stick with a theme.

It kept things simple, organized and less complicated for them.

I also had everything I needed handy and things just seem to flow from one transition into the next.

I could also overlap the various subjects too.

Here are some things you can do with these items:

The Make your own dice is a nice home-school connection where students can practice their cutting skills, something for a sub folder, or that extra activity students can do when they’ve finished everything else.

Run it off on cardstock. Give students a jingle bell to glue inside for added fun.

The large red dice make perfect flashcards when young students are learning to identify groups with a number.

Print them off, laminate, cut them out and keep them with your calendar or story time “stuff”.

You can also punch a hole in one corner and put them on a split ring.

Run off the smaller copies for students to make a split ring flipbook as well.  You flash your large number and they flip through their little ones to see who can find it the fastest.

Run off the Smaller Red-Dot Dice, laminate and cut out and make Memory Match Concentration games. Students can match them dice to dice or dice to number.

Laminate the number and symbol cards as well.  These too, can be used as Memory Match games or have students make equations with them.

Students can roll real dice, make an equation with the laminated paper dice, and then write down the equation on a sheet of scratch paper.

Set the timer to ring after 5 minutes.  Students can play individually or with a partner.

The person with the most equations completed when the timer rings, is the winner.

The traceable number flashcards offer a nice way to review skip counting by 2’s, 3’s and 5’s.

I’m always looking for easy and interesting ways to plug that concept in, for a quick review my kiddo’s would think was fun, so they’d want to continue practicing.

I made covers for the traceable flashcards so they can be turned into Itty Bitty booklets.

Run off extra sets on different colors to make Memory Match Concentration games.  You can also play I Have; Who Has? with them as well.

I hope you enjoy getting things rolling with your little ones and they have fun with these activities.

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Thanks for visiting!

"Life is a great big canvas and you should throw all the paint you can on it."  -Danny Kaye

Is it greater than, less than, or equal to? Whatever it is, it's in the bag!

Yesterday I posted the fun addition and subtraction dice games.

While I was making those example Baggies, I thought how perfect this idea would be for the greater than, less than concept, as the Baggies are clear, and when flipped over would reveal the opposite symbol!

All I had to do was include a small square that said = on it, for students to cover the < > signs, when they rolled doubles, and I was in business!

Students can either work independently or choose a partner and play against them, seeing who can solve the most equations before the timer rings.

Here’s how to play the game:

Children roll 2 dice and find that equation on their paper.

They rewrite it, and then show it in their manipulative Baggie, flipping the bag to whatever side they need to show greater than or less than, or covering the symbol with an equals sign if they roll doubles.

If they roll the same 2 dice that they already have an equation for, they lose their turn.

Baggie Manipulatives:

Put 10 buttons, or whatever manipulatives you have, in large Ziploc Baggies.   Draw a greater than sign in the middle. Trace a black line above and below it.

Give it a few seconds to dry and then flip it over and retrace to make the less than symbol. Using index cards or old file folders, cut squares and label them with equal signs. Tuck one in each baggie.  I’ve also made greater than and less than label templates if you want to stick those on the top of your Baggies to help your students associate the words with the symbols.

Simply put a 30-on-a-page Avery label sheet into your printer and print.  Students move the manipulatives to the right and left to show the equation they rolled.  For example: 5 < 6,   3 = 3,  4 > 1

Click on the link to view/download Greater Than Less Than Dice Game

My Baggie idea was inspired by Mrs. T’s addition Baggies on her First Grade Blog. Click on the link to see how this creative teacher uses her Baggies.

If you like this greater than less than game, you will also enjoy Alligobbler.  It's a quick and easy "craftivity" where you make an aligator out of a long envelope.

His toothy grin is the symbol. Students have fun "feeding" him numbers.

Click on the link to view/download Alligobbler.

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Do you have a greater than  /  less than concept that helps your students understand things?  I'd enjoy hearing from you. diane@teachwithme.com You can also post a comment here as well.

Do drop in tomorrow for another teaching tip, until then, remember:

"Students don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care!"

Proud Pupil Peacock Progress Pals

Now there's a tongue twister to rival Peter Piper!

These adorable birds are a wonderful way to build a student’s self-esteem, show progress and let others know what students are learning in your class.

They are easy and simple to implement and can last the entire year, making a nice keepsake of all that a child has accomplished in preschool Y5’s, kindergarten etc.

At the beginning of the year, you can keep the peacocks in a student file folder or their portfolio.

As students learn new report card standards and pass assessments, earning feathers, the peacocks acquire lots of plumage.

Design a makeshift bulletin board in the hallway to display your students’ progress for the rest of the year and watch their self-confidence grow as they get to “strut their stuff!”

Your caption can include that concept:” _______________’s students are strutting their stuff.  (S)he is so proud of their accomplishments”! Or “Look what ___________________’s students have accomplished this year! We’re proud peacock pupils who have earned the right to strut our stuff!”

Here’s how to make a Proud Peacock Progress Pal:

Run off the templates on brightly colored construction paper.

You can have students cut out feathers as they complete an assessment, or have them pre-cut by a room helper. To expedite things I have them pre-cut as well as the circles.

Students could also color these in, but I like the extra pizzazz the construction paper makes.

Students cut out their peacock and write their name on the tummy.

If you want to add some 3D pizzazz, students can add wiggle eyes, 4 rhinestones at the top of the bird’s head, a 3D beak and yellow construction paper feet.

When a student passes an assessment, the child adds feathering detail with a complimentary colored marker and the teacher writes down what report card standard they have mastered.

Feathers should be glued to the backs of the birds in an alternate ABAB pattern. The next row should be another set of 2 different colors.

Click on the link to view/download Proud Peacock Progress Pal

I hope you and yours enjoy showing off some appropriate pride this year, as they learn how to spread their wings and fly.

Do you have any tips of how you build your students’ self-esteem or show what they are accomplishing in your class?

I’d enjoy hearing from you. diane@teachwithme.com You could also post a comment here. If we all add something to each other’s bag of tricks think of how much lighter the load.

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"Children learn more from what you are than what you teach." -W.E.B. DuBois

Lights! Camera! Action!

If you want to grab a child’s attention make them the star.

There’s no better way to get kids learning than to immerse them in the activity.

Want them to be interested in shapes? Have them lie on the floor and make the shape and take a picture of it.

They will love looking at the posters featuring themselves.

Take it a step farther and put the photographs in this easy reader.

Use it as a read aloud, or make copies for each child to trace and write.

When everyone is done with their booklet, read as a whole group to practice concepts of print.

They’ll enjoy taking it home to reinforce the lessons with their families and continue to share this wonderful keepsake as they review and learn the various shapes.

Since different schools have also added additional shapes, I’ve also included those. (octagon, pentagon, hexagon & polygon) Simply add the pages you need.

Here’s how to take the photographs:

You’ll need plenty of room so move your desks/tables.

If you can get an adult helper that expedites things. They can pose the children while you take the shots.

The children in my sample pictures are posed facedown, so I could share this on the Internet.

By all means have your sweethearts smiling sunny side up, so everyone can see how adorable they look.

Lightly draw your shape on the carpet with chalk. Choose students to lie on the lines. Blot up the chalk with a damp sponge.

Draw the next shape and choose different children.

I stood on a ladder from the janitor’s closet, to take my pictures from an “aerial” view. You might not have to get that high.

You’ll need 6 children for the rectangle. The circle’s a bit tricky.  Have student’s hang onto each other’s feet so they stay rounded.

Your little ones really have a lot of fun with this activity and can’t wait for their turn, so if you have more kids than shapes, make sure you do some repeats so everyone gets a turn to be a star.

I’ve also used kid’s bodies for the following: numbers, and made a number book, hands on a large white clock to show times to the hour and half hour and then glued the photographs in a booklet called time.

Finally, I’ve also posed them to look like the number 100 for 100 Day.

I hope you enjoy making your body books! I know your kiddo’s will ask to read them over and over as the light bulbs go on and things take shape in their minds.

Click on the link to view/download Shaping Children Up! Class Shape Booklet

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Thanks for visiting! I hope you can drop in tomorrow for another teaching tip.