Students Struggling to Learn the Numbers 1-5

Math? What? Do
I have to learn the numbers? 3, 1, 0, I don’t know which of those is one!

The Foundations of Mathematics

Recognizing numbers, understanding that each number represents a quantity, and knowing that the value of numbers can change depending on the operation being used, are the foundations of Mathematics. Our kids need to learn the numbers. 

PreKinder and Kindergarten teachers will have kids, that as the school year goes on, are still not catching on to the numbers. They need to recognize the symbol that is used for a number. Some kids will call every number you show them a “1”. 

Teaching Math to Young Learners

As the years have gone by teaching math to these young learners, I have found that these kids need to be constantly exposed to the numbers in a variety of ways. Even as the math curriculum moves on to the next skill, the kids still need to be working on number skills. We always need to circle back to what has already been taught in math.

Creating a Number-Rich Classroom

Make your classroom a number-rich place. As the day goes on you can point to the clock and say to your students, "it is 8:00, time to start the day." Have them look at the clock and point out what numbers the clock hands are on. The small hour hand is on the 10, "Where do we go at 10:00 on Tuesdays?" Ask questions like, "How many desks are in this row? Let's count. Write a 5 on your desk/ whiteboards." I am passing out pencils, help me count the pencils as I pass them out. Write the number on your tables." There are so many ways you can make their day a number-rich day!

A Teaching Resource That Could Help

I put together a math packet just focusing on the first 5 numbers. It can certainly be used with your students at the beginning of the year. But, you can pull this resource out for the kids who after the first quarter are still struggling with those basic numbers. 1-5 Math provides several different activities on number recognition and number sense. This is an expansive packet that exposes them to different types of activities that are hands-on by counting, matching, coloring, cutting, and gluing. The activities also get more challenging as they go through each activity. It includes a reference card for the students and brag tags.

Take a look.

1 – 5 Math Activities

Different representations
 of the numbers.

Number Order
Puzzle

Number and
word-formation

And Much More

I know you put much time and thought into your students and classroom. The pandemic has added even more challenges to your day. Please know that I appreciate what you do!

Debbie - Froggy About Teaching on Amped Up Learning

Froggy About Teaching Resources on Teachers Pay Teachers

                                                

The History Behind Presidents Day

 PRESIDENTS DAY  

Presidents Day became a U.S. holiday in 1870. Originally, it was set on George Washington's birthday which is February 22nd. This day was created to honor the first United States president.

In 1885, it became a federal holiday. This is when the holiday became known as Presidents Day. It became a day to celebrate two significant presidents and to recognize their achievements. 

The day was reset to the third Monday of February. Now, it's used to recognize all presidents. Most states celebrate George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. The current date falls between Washington's and Lincoln's birthdays.

On this federal holiday, the federal government offices are closed and federal workers get the day off.

What does all of this have to do with teaching? Our students need to be taught about the presidents and our U.S. history. I did some research to find some online resources that can be used in the classroom. There are lots of YouTube videos, but, they seem to focus on how the holiday came to be instead of talking about the history of presidents. This one actually gives some Fun Facts About Presidents. The History website has some great information on Presidents' Day. Ducksters has biographies on both George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Teach on!

I wanted to tell you about my most recent resource. I made this one with 2nd and 3rd graders in mind.

Product Highlight

  Valentine Sight Word Find is a Valentine-themed way to review sight words using Google Slides. 

Your students will fill in several missing sight words in a paragraph on each frame. Fry's 1-34 sight words are used in this activity. As they correctly complete each frame, a mystery picture is slowly revealed until they get to the complete picture in the last frame.

Catch me on Facebook! I've started a Facebook page. I hope it goes well. 

I also hope that the school year is going well for you. Teach on!

Debbie - Froggy About Teaching

#presidentsday #historypresidentsday #ushistory

Terrific Teaching Resources

Let me introduce you to a wonderful group of teachers that sell their teaching resources on Teachers Pay Teachers. I wouldn't be blogging about them if I didn't believe they have amazing resources. I have previously interviewed some of them here on my blog, but I will be doing that again throughout this year so that you can become familiar with what these teachers have to offer.  You can find our resources discounted at 25% during this Teachers Pay Teachers sale on Tuesday-Wednesday. 

*We will also be lowering the regular price on some of our resources so that you get them at a greater discount. We will be adding a hashtag in front of the product name.

You can also get on Instagram and search #terrificteachingresources to see some of our products.

Here are the TPT links to each of our stores.

Lessons in a Bubble

Emily LaFontaine-Will Teach for Chocolate

Passport to Teaching

First Grade Magic

Homeschool Holiday

Jooya Teaching Resources

Froggy About Teaching Resources

I want to be a support for educators and share some of my teaching experience and wisdom. This is my way of doing this.

Be safe and healthy!

Debbie - Froggy About Teaching

 

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Martin Luther King, Jr Day is January 18. This year, it is especially important to take into consideration how we approach this day with our students. There has been so much trauma and stress due to the pandemic. Most recently, the invasion of the U.S. capitol and the violence that occurred gives us reason to pause and think. The division between the political parties seems to have caused so much discord across the country.

Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote several essays. One of the essays he wrote was the SIX PRINCIPALS OF NONVIOLENCE.

1.    Nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people.

2.   Nonviolence seeks to win friendship and understanding.

3.   Nonviolence seeks to defeat injustice, not people.

4.   Nonviolence holds that suffering can educate and transform.

5.   Nonviolence chooses love instead of hate.

6.   Nonviolence believes that the universe is on the side of justice.

There are many activities that can be done to show our students that no matter how we look, skin color, height, hair color, etc; what makes us all the same, is that we are human beings. But to have our students look at and reflect on the Six Principals of Nonviolence takes it a step further.

Focusing on the Six Principals can help students learn about pacifism and the philosophy of nonviolent resistance. The younger kids could work together to identify words associated with nonviolence and choose several words and pictures to design a collage or jigsaw puzzle. The older students can discuss what inclusion, diversity, and equity are like. Then they could write about their ideal world that is inclusive, diverse, and equal.

I have a couple of teacher friends that sell their teaching resources on Amped Up Learning, they have some Martin Luther King, Jr activities.

Karen with Resources and Courses has MLK Puzzle Pair Pack. Beth with Beth Hammett has The Life of MartinLuther King Comic Coloring Book. Enrica with Matemaths has Adding and Subtracting Fractions Pixel Art Activity Martin Luther King.

I have recently posted some new products as well. Fry’s 200 Sight Words Packet is a complete set with a student notebook, flashcards, Sentence Fill-In, board games and brag tags. Winter Onset and Rime has K-1 students identifying the onset of picture words. It has been created as both Boom Cards and Google Slides. I also created the Winter Short Write Freebie as a sample of Winter Short Writes.

Wishing you much inner strength as you return for the next semester of school.

Froggy About Teaching

 

DIA DE LOS MUERTOS - LATINO HERITAGE

 

Is Voting A Civic Duty?

 We are getting so close to the Presidential Elections. It is the main topic wherever you go. Our students are hearing about this in the news, from family members, and advertisements. Do they understand what voting is or why it's important that we participate in the voting process? I am including this link that will take you to a PDF with the Voting History Timeline. Please help yourself to it.

I'm having a 15% sale in my Froggy About Teaching TPT store from October 24-27. I would love for you to go check out the resources. If there is ever a resource you would for me to make, please let me know froggyteaching2@att.net.

Hispanic Heritage Month 3

 

I was really blessed to be able to spend meaningful time with grandma. My sister Mary and I would spend time in the summer at my grandparent's house. After lunch, Grandma Tomasa would make "cafe a la olla" and we would sit at her feet. This was a magical time when she told her childhood stories.

There are so many culturally significant storybooks that you can read to or provide as reading material for your students. I am going to share some with you and I'll provide the link to those books on Amazon.

Carlos and the Squash Plant - I love this book! I used it every year in the Fall with my students. This story takes place in the mountains of Northern New Mexico. It is written by Jan Romero Stevens and is written in English and Spanish. There is a recipe at the end of the story that my students and I would cook up and eat!

Too Many Tamales - This is another book we would study in my classroom as it got closer to Christmas, the traditional time for making tamales. It is also a delightful story written in English and Spanish by Gary Soto and Ed Martinez.

Tortillitas Para Mama - This is another one of my favorite books! It is full of culturally traditional nursery rhymes. It is also bilingual.

Turning Pages - a Bibliography written by Sonia Sotomayor. What a great role model to read about!

Waiting for the Biblioburro by Monica Brown, a wonderful story about how the children in the village got their books delivered by a special creature. It is also bilingual.

We all have our own stories to share about our own culture. What a wonderful way to connect with your students.

Wishing you all good things!

Froggy About Teaching

Hispanic Heritage Month 2

When I was younger, I can recall my parents having great respect for President Johnson. In writing this blog post, I did some research and I believe I might have discovered why my parents like him so much. This blog post gives a little bit of the history of how Hispanic Heritage became a bill and then a law as a week-long celebration. Then 20 years later a Representative presented another bill and then it became a law for a month-long celebration. My friends read on ...

We influence one another in so many unknown ways. My hope is to give you some insight to our Hispanic students.

Debbie - Froggy About Teaching

Hispanic Heritage Month

 Many of us have students that are or at some point were ESL students. Even if they never receive this label, many students have a different language in their home from the one at school. I will be sharing several phases on the subject of Hispanic Heritage Month. Here is the first one.

This is a tough subject for many of us and there is more than one side to this. Hopefully, what I share with you will give you more insights regarding our ELL students.

Debbie - Froggy About Teaching

Win a TPT Gift Card and Free Teaching Resource

FROGGY ABOUT TEACHING

I know I am notifying you at the last minute, but life happens unexpectedly and you need to deal with it. Anyway, I have some good news. TPT is having a one day sale and I get to give away a $10 TPT gift card. I am going to do a drawing of one of my products and this gift card, but, I going to ask you to do some things for me. 

1. Go to my store and find a resource you would be interested in winning.
2. Post a comment with the link of the resource.
3. Follow my blog.

I will select a winner tomorrow, September 14 at 10:00 pm CST. I am looking forward to seeing your comments!

Debbie Mendoza - Froggy About Teaching

Let's stay connected:

Froggy About Teaching Pinterest Boards

 

Survey, Prizes and Sales!

 TeacherSorce, Homeschool Holiday, and I, Froggy About Teaching are asking for your help. We are wanting to know what resources you are wanting and needing. We have created a survey that will only take you 2 minutes to fill out. If you fill it out and give us your email, we will show our appreciation with Amped Up Learning gift cards, Amazon gift cards, and a resource from our stores. Teachers, we need your guidance!

This Survey ends 8-8-20 when we will be drawing names for prizes.

AS you can see from the above pin Amped Up Learning is also having a site-wide sale. All items in my store are 25% off. It starts this Friday, September 4, and goes through Monday, September 7.

What I usually do when I know a sale is coming up I load up my cart with products. I wait until the sales begin and then I go and make my purchases! Go to my store and see if there is anything you could use. I hope you find something!

Debbie - Froggy About Teaching

Classroom Decor

 When I pause and reflect on setting up my classroom at the beginning of the year, I realize I have done it many times over the years. I like to have a theme for the year and then set up my bulletin boards according to that theme. Your centers, supply containers, subject boards all need to have that theme as well. It's too much work to create all of that yourself and it gets super expensive purchasing a new set every year. 

Well, I am going to brag on some of our Amped Up Learning Teacher Contributors who have created sets of classroom decor. The designs are creative and they have done the organizing for you. Take a look!

 Play to Grow with Jan Huebner has All Year Calendar Set And Learning Center. She provides them in 3 colors red, yellow, and blue. Plus she has them in black and white just in case you want to print them on colored card stock!

Melanie Miller with A-Z Infinity has created signs for your centers, Center Signs. The signs are in 2 font styles and they are editable!

Cortney Gaynes with TeacherSorce has created Camouflage Collection: Full Bundle.

It comes in 3 camo colors army green, hot pink, or gray. This calendar set is editable!

I created this bulletin board as a classroom project where students can make their own snow figure or a Winter emoji of themselves that can be added. I also wanted a place to display my students' work so it includes subject signs, Winter Wonderland Village: Bulletin Board/Door Decor. 

Come visit our teacher stores on Amped Up Learning!

FROGGY ABOUT TEACHING

Students Returning to School

 

Students Returning to School
The most important thing to do is to communicate with parents and get their support. Parents need to let you know if their kids are not feeling well. You also need their backup with students following through with safe practices.

I have created a PandemicReturn to School Letter that you can get for free.

There is a great Bill Nye YouTube video that you can share with your parents and students that explains the urgency for wearing masks.

First 2 Weeks at School

We usually get the first week of school to go over school routines and expectations. But this year you are also needing students to embrace the “New Norm”, such as social distancing, hand washing and sanitizing, etc. Give them opportunities to take mask breaks. Create an area around them with dividers so they can work mask free. 

Routines and Procedures

Be very clear with instructions on routines and procedures. Create trails students can follow so they don’t come close to each other, one-way streets. Students can learn polite gestures such as pausing when they see a person coming nearby.

I have created, Covid-19 Return to School PowerPoint that shows practices for staying safe. You can go at your pace or use it as a slide show. You or your students can narrate the slide show. There are also questions for discussion at the end of the PP.

To reinforce and remind students of the things they need to be doing at school to stay safe, use these posters, Covid-19 Return to School Posters.

I have combined these 2 products at a discounted price and added a bonus file with the video version of the PowerPoint, Covid Bundle.

Compliment and thank both the parents and the students for being safe! Ask students why they are doing these things. “For me to stay safe. For you to stay safe!”

The three teaching resources that I have referred to will be discounted for the next 3 days, Mondy-Wednesday, August 24, 25, 26. Use the code, RTS20 and you will get it at 20% off. If you get the Bundle, it is already at a reduced price, plus the discount.

You are so much in my thoughts! I wish you many joys and blessings as you begin this 2020-2021 school year.

Froggy About Teaching