Spider Math

I just love themed math ideas! So for the past few weeks we have been practicing counting. We have been working with dice and counting the dots. So when it was close to Halloween we added spiders to it! The 1st player rolls the die and counts the dots. Then they pick out that many spiders. Then the second player does the same, and so on. After all the spiders are gone the students count to see who has the most. I got the spiders at Wal-Mart...I think it was a package of 100 for $2.00!
Here are some pictures:

I also love these trays! They came with our math curriculum! They help everything stay in one place!

We also added recording our numbers. After they counted out the spiders the students recorded it on a piece of paper. They could make a mark, draw a circle, whatever was easy for them. It was just another way to show how many they spiders they had. Sometimes the numbers matched and sometimes they didn't. So that was a great discussion starter.

Word Clouds

Have you ever heard of a word cloud? Have you ever made one? I just learned about these awesome little gadgets this summer! You just type in the words and press go! Then you can changed the shape, font, and colors to match whatever it is that you are making your word cloud about. Today we tried out our first one. We did a word cloud about Halloween words. Here it is:

You can't really tell but it is in the shape of a witch's hat! I can't wait to do another one!!
The websites to make these are www.tagxedo.com or www.wordle.net/

They are so much fun! I am thinking about making one with sight words to play the flyswatter game with!!

I LOVE THE DOLLAR STORE!!!

I just love going to the dollar store! You think that you could get out cheap....not when I go!! You think oh well these are all only a buck...I can get at least 3! Well that adds up...but here are some things that I have found!


Target Dollar Spot:

What can you do with these? Here is what my students did....

You can make cool patterns!!! I also had students that sorted them...but they cleaned it up before I could snap a picture!

What do you like to buy at the dollar store or Target dollar spot??

Wowzer!!!

Well I know I have only been teaching for a few years...but I have never had such a difficult start! It is getting use to a whole new way of doing things! That means lots of learning and long nights for me at school! These kids are so different from what I am use to that it has been a learning experience! One that I think I am finally getting! So hopefully I will be better about posting and sharing my ideas!!