Friday, April 4, 2014

Five for Friday

I feel like the closer we get to the end of the school year, the more and more tired I am getting as each day progresses. Haha. Whats wrong with me??? Thank goodness Spring Break is coming in a week!

Now, off to Five for Friday...


We started a new unit in Math this week....TIME! I'm actually sort of excited to teach this to the kiddos. Had to do some review of first grade stuff first...




The students have been working really hard these last two weeks writing their own version of the Cinderella story. A more in-depth post about this will be coming soon. 




A production artist from the SF Opera came to visit our school to talk about set and prop design. She helped the kids brainstorm ideas for the set of our mini-opera. 



On her next visit after Spring Break we are going to be making the set! The kids are most definitely excited.


We had a field trip today to the UC Berkeley Botanical Gardens. It started off with some light rain, so the Gardens was kind enough to give everyone a poncho. The kids were broken into smaller groups and then off on the docent-led tour they went! 










The kids got to see carnivorous plants, try some cacao beans and milk chocolate, and taste agave syrup! They all had a blast. :)


The field trip was only half a day (we got back at lunch). We had learned about telling time to five minutes the day before. It only made sense to just do a fun activity that reinforces a concept taught after a field trip rather than a brand new lesson. Thank goodness for TpT because I found the PERFECT freebie to use as the fun activity!




The clocks were very easy to make. The product also comes with worksheets to go along with the clock. Perfect scaffolding! The kids really enjoyed this activity. I told them to take the clocks home to keep practicing at home. 

Warning: Mini-Rant
I haven't been in the teaching field for very long so aren't too familiar with the old math standards...but is anyone else finding some holes in the Common Core Math Standards? Don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with the standards as a whole. I'm just finding the non-algebraic standards to be missing some sort of continuity across grade levels. For example...time is only a standard in first and second grade. In first, you learn about hour and half hour. In second, you are supposed to learn to tell time to the nearest five minute. In third grade, the time standard is gone. So...when are the kids supposed to learn to read a clock to the minute???? Maybe this is just a California Common Core thing? I have no idea. Anyone else seeing this too? (I also see this same issue with money. We only teach the kids up to one dollar? What about the dollar coin, five dollar bill, and twenty dollar bill??)
End Mini-Rant

EDIT:
So I don't know if it was just me or something, but I searched online for the Common Core standards (I have been using my phone app all this time), and time to the nearest minute has suddenly appeared in the third grade standard! I'm sure it didn't suddenly appear of course, but I swear it wasn't on my phone app when I checked. My colleague swears the same thing since we were both talking about this and looking at the standards only like a week or two ago. So interesting...

Well, that's the end of this entry! Time to go eat dinner! :D

6 comments:

  1. I see those same inconsistencies with Common Core. We have always taught money in first until we went with CC. Now, no money, but in 2nd, there's so much to learn about it with no foundation. I teach it anyway at the end of the year, but it's just crazy. Wow, sorry about my own rant! haha. Hope the week passes quickly and you have a great spring break! :)

    Kelly
    First Grade Fairytales

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    1. Hi Kelly,

      Yea! I taught first grade the last two years and when I heard that money was no longer a standard I wasn't sure what to think about that, especially now that I know second grade is it when it comes to learning about money. I feel like we need to have some progression throughout the grade levels.

      Ok, I'm done now. :)

      Thanks for the wishes! :)

      Pam

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  2. I can't wait to hear more about your Cinderella stories! The students must love writing those!

    Sara :)
    The Colorful Apple

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    1. The kids are really enjoying writing their stories, especially since we will be gathering them as a collection and publishing it into a hardcover book! More about it on my Cinderella post. :)

      Pam

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  3. I'm just finishing up a Cinderella Around the World unit, it's one of my favorites of the year. I agree with you on the time issue. I teach first and I teach to the 5 minute, so hopefully going in to second they will be prepared to go the minute. Is it assumed that once they learn to the 5 they can tell time to the minute?

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    Replies
    1. Interesting. Are you required to teach to the 5 minute or is that a personal choice? And it also turns out, after visiting the third grade math standards again, that to the nearest minute is on there. Although, I have asked my third grade colleagues and they all said that they don't spend much time on time (ha) in math. So...yea...

      Pam

      Delete