How We Count Money

I struggled with this last year but this year this seems to be a great method and it's working for my kids so I thought I would share.  I'm sure many of you out there do this.  Counting money and time are 2 of the things in Math that make me groan out loud literally!  The kids are so excited about it though so that makes it bearable :)

 

I give the kids some coins to look at.  I tell them that we are going to give them a new hairdo.  The kids look at me like I'm slightly crazy but I tell them that this will help them count their money.  I tell them for every 5 cents in a coin we are going to give that coin a hair on top of its head.  We then go through and count how many hairs each coin has.  Quarter-5 Dime-2 and a Nickel-5.  A Penny does not get any hairs because it doesn't have 5 cents in it.  So the coins should look like the image below

 

 

 

Then all the kids have to do is count the hairs (by 5s) and they should come up with the correct amount.  Of course I have my kids that can actually count the coins and come up with the correct answer I still make them do this I just think it helps them check their answers.  For those who do that hehe!

 

 

We are tackling time this week and I think I am going to have them make paper plate clocks.  I found a new one on pinterest that I want to try with them.  Hopefully I can get them outside and do one with sidewalk chalk or something fun like that :)

Money Freebie

I created this money freebie for my kiddos click here to get it. How do you teach coin value and counting money? I will post this weekend how I do :)

I have also linked up with TBA for Freebie Friday!





Happy Friday!

Happy Owlloween

I normally take pictures of things that I come up with but this just hit me so suddenly I didn't have time to make it myself.

My scanner didn't work very well so you will have to finish some lines on some of the parts.  I wanted to make it to Manic Monday so I was in a bit of a hurry!


My classroom theme is done in owls so I thought I would make some ghost owls for my classroom.  I know it is weird but I thought it might help bring some halloween to my room.  I'm doing the body in white, eyes yellow, and beak and feet orange.  I hope you enjoy my weirdness :)

You can grab your freebie here

Missing in Action

So it's been awhile since I have blogged.  I think I just got burnt out and let down somewhat.  I don't want to go into details but lets just say I lost my faith in some people out there who I thought a lot of. 

I have officially survived my first six weeks in a new school and I've lived back at home with my parents for a few months now as well.  I'm still adjusting to everything and for some reason at the beginning of the year I always forget that they are still basically first graders.  I've been back for a few visits to my old school and I won't be going back again.  It broke my heart to talk to some of my kids and I can't go back so I can't look back anymore. 

Some nice things about being halfway back in civilization is I can now enjoy what I have missed out on for 2 years!  A SONIC DRINK.  You never realize how much you miss things until they are gone so cherish the opportunity to have one of those drinks.  Some afternoons they are the glue that holds me together. 

I've made quite a few things in my classroom but I don't think I will bore you with that right now.  I went to a workshop this summer.  I was introduced to books that help kids with grammar at this workshop.  I was introduced to the book What dogs do and What Dogs do Too?

My books is a combined edition of the two and has a Boston Terrier on the cover (go figure!)

This book is one word action verbs followed by a picture of the dog.  So I then got the brilliant idea to make my own video of basically the same thing only involving my students.  Clip Art Came from KPM Doodles, The Pond, The 3am Teacher and Dream Like Magic.  I also published it into a photo book from shutterfly.  The kids are so excited about it being an actual video more so than the video.  They told me they did all the work and I didn't really do anything HA!

I had never used Microsoft Movie Maker and let me tell you it is so easy!  It is like using power point!  I can do these fairly quick and hopefully I can do some more in the future!  So check out our video What Ms. Harris's class does.

 

I hope everyone is enjoying their school year and hopefully beginning to find their groove :)