Monday News & Place Value Marshmallow Activity {first grade}

{Scroll Down!  Printables posted below!}

Happy Monday, sweet friends!  It's been a *dang* good day, and I'm certainly glad that Monday is out of the way.  I'm mildly tuning into The Bachelor while I type tonight.  {Sidenote: Does Brad get Botox?  I'm not judging, he just looks a little...hmmm...tight-ish in the face??  Also, Chantelle just said "orifices."  Shoooo, buddy.} 

Anyway, thank you so much for your sweet comments about the new blog!  I'm working with my amazing blog designer on the finishing touches and it should be up and running soon.  But, until then, those of you who are here to read about un-teaching related topics will just have to persevere. 

So, this weekend.  I'm failing miserably at NOT working on the weekend.  Of course, I'm spending every Sunday naptime up at school, despite my accountability partners (mom and Dr. B) calling to tell me I need to be at home.  I can't help it.  As I'm sure many of you can relate, sometimes teaching is so much more of a hobby for me than a chore.  I get a lot out of organizing, planning, and creating.

Speaking of organizing.  I bought a bunch of paper trays at Goodwill on Friday night and couldn't wait to attack my filing cabinet, which was ridiculously overloaded with stuff.  And I came to one conclusion: I am a Paper Hoarder. Hi, I'm Abby and there's nothing that does it for me like a fresh stack of colored paper. Except maybe a new package of Flair pens...  Apparently, I have enough pink and purple construction paper to last for many Valentines Days to come.  And then some. 

All while I was doing this, Becks was running around terrorizing playing with all the goodies in my room.  My kiddos kept coming up to me this morning asking why they found an odd item in their desk or out of place.  The culprit?  This lollipop eatin' chickadee.  He was in to everything.  I'm still scraping play-doh particles off his shoe soles. 

A couple of quick teaching ideas...

In an effort to send off the snow with a bang, we completed our gobzillionth snow activity last week, and I announced to my class that I would not be discussing snow anymore during the remainder of their first grade year.  SO. OVER. IT.  {And, of course, we're supposed to get iced tomorrow.  Lovely.}

How precious is this sign?!  I had a few students volunteer to make it so pokey fingers wouldn't be tempted to touch our VERY touchable creations!  I love that it says "are" instead of "our."  Only in first grade :)

We made super fluff snowmen with a combination of shaving cream and white Elmer's glue. If you're looking to make them, I have no scientific method for mixing the two, but err on the side of more shaving cream for a fluffier mix. No one likes a runny snowman.

Sorry for the pic overload, but I just LOVE how cute they turned out!  A VERY tactile activity, too!

Today, I taught an introductory lesson to place value, and it went surprisingly well!  I found this idea online somewhere, and then adapted it for my classroom, plus created a printable for my students to use with it.  First they assembled place value holders with marshmallows and toothpicks.  I made a little hundreds, tens, and ones mat for them to sit their marshmallows on.  Then, I called out 1-, 2-, and 3-digit numbers for them to create using o-shaped cereal on the toothpicks.  Afterwards, they used the worksheet to recreate the marshmallow activity and write the numbers they were making.  {This is a good lesson to do before introducing cubes, longs, and flats.}  I hope the pictures below help you make more sense of this activity.

 

And, if you want a free download of the corresponding recording sheet and sorting mat, click HERE. Let me know if you have any questions :) 

Have a super Tuesday, y'all!!!