One of my goals for this school year is to focus on math more.  I always feel like I do a much better job with reading and language arts, so I spent a lot of time this summer researching math ideas.  One thing I read about is Daily Data.  Have you ever heard of it?  Basically, your students will answer a question and collect data as a whole group on Monday (a class graph, Venn diagram, tally table, etc.)  This data stays the same and is displayed all week.  Students will use the data to complete the other parts of Daily Data throughout the week.  On Tuesdays, students will represent the data in a different way.  For example, if you used a bar graph on Monday, they may show the same data as a tally table.  On Wednesdays, students will analyze and write about their data  I am starting with one observation and one inference at the beginning of the year.  On Thursdays, students will write a number story, word problem or number sentence about the data.  And on Fridays, students will represent the data in a different way from Tuesday.  It only takes about 10-15 minutes a day and students will gain valuable skills in data collection and analysis.  I have developed a packet that corresponds with the Daily Data model, called August & September:  Daily Data Companion.

In this packet I have included:

*a full page question poster

*cards for use with Monday's data collection (on chart paper or in a pocket chart)

*a variety of graphic organizers for collecting data
(some are full page and some have 2 to a page, depending on the amount of info)

*and 2 written response sheets for each question.

As a back to school gift for you I have uploaded all of the pages you see here as a FREE sample.  Please click here to download the document.  I would love for you to try it out with your kids and let me know what you think.  Happy teaching!

Jeannie

Reading Rainbow 2.0 for the iPad

Hi, everybody. Hope you are all having a great start to your school year. If you haven't started back yet, I envy you. :-) We started back August 1-way too early, in my opinion. But nobody asked me, so... Anyway, I haven't been on here much lately because, as we all know, the beginning of the school year is just so hectic. But I found something I just had to share with you. If you are a fan of the Reading Rainbow series hosted by LeVar Burton (and, really, who isn't?), you have to check out Reading Rainbow 2.0 (not the official title, but I read it in an article and it sounded cute.) I found a Yahoo article about LeVar and I checked it out. You can check it out here. In the article, LeVar talks about how he has been working behind the scenes for the last 3 years to get a new version of Reading Rainbow started, but with a more technological aspect for today's kids. In June he launched Reading Rainbow the iPad app, where children can read/listen to books with animations, videos, and games. LeVar also hosts the "field trip” videos that are such a familiar staple of the Reading Rainbow series. With the iPad app the kids are in control and can select their own books from a collection of 150. I had to check it out, and I am so excited! Here are the pros of the app: Highly entertaining, brightly colored, easy to use and there are a good variety of books for children to choose from. But there are some cons, as well. While the app is free, children can only download 1 free book. After that it costs $9.99 a month, recurring. But they also have an introductory offer of $29.99 per 6 months, recurring. My daughter is in 2nd grade, so I'm not sure how much she would use this app, but it would be a wonderful app for use in my 1st grade classroom. Unfortunately, I do not have a school iPad, but there is always extra technology money so I may have to try and get a couple for my kiddos. Just wanted to let you all know about it in case it is something you would be interested in. Check it out and let me know what you think. Also, do you have an iPad you use in your classroom? How do you use it? What apps do you have for use with your kids? (I have to get all this info in case I get lucky and get one.) 

 Happy teaching! 

Jeannie

Here's a picture of LeVar, in case you haven't seen him in a while.  He has not aged at all!

BIG TpT Back to School Sale!

On August 12 and August 13, many of the FABULOUS shops on Teachers Pay Teachers (TpT) will be on sale *PLUS* you will receive an EXTRA 10% off when you use code BTS12. AND, all products in my store will be offered for an extra 20% off! What a deal, huh?!

To visit my store, click here.

If you would like to see a list of stores having a sale, click here.