It has been a busy, busy week at Owen Co. Primary School. We give a practice test which gives lots of pertinent information as to how students will score on “the big test” at the end of the year as well as it being the week before spring break. It was difficult getting my lessons in, in order to stay on schedule with finishing my video.
I started from scratch with sorting and examining pennies and nickels. We did crayon rubbings of each side of the coin. This activity was a big hit with the kids! After deciding they could really identify these coins we moved on to counting pennies. One day I had index cards with values between 1 and 8 cents written on them. They would take turns drawing cards and counting out the correct number of pennies. As they successfully completed pennies we continued the activity with nickels. The students are making great progress and really understanding the value of pennies and nickels. Trading in pennies for nickels still seems to be difficult. They still like to have more coins (5 pennies) that to have 1 nickel.
I also have a problem of the day and as students enter they room we quickly solve this problem as a group. Quickly is the word since I only have a brief time with these groups daily. I still have a ton of activities I can do working with money. I am a little stressed about finishing this unit and getting the video done by the deadline but I seem to work well under pressure.
It has been a great Easter starting the day with church activities and lunch with family. I am working on this as we are driving to Blowing Rock, NC to visit my husband’s family. I think most of you have already had spring break so you know how it feels to have a much needed break. I plan on shopping, relaxing and eating a lot of good food. Then it is back to work for 8 more weeks after I get back. Have a great week!
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I totally hear you with the timing issue- it always seems like at this time of year time speeds up and there is not enough time in the day- I hope you get it all done- it is OK if you have to modify. I do love what you did with the rubbings of the coins- what a great way to get the multi-sensory in there. I also like the problem of the day- I do something similar with my college students- I always have an open ended question that they respond to with a post-it note as soon as they come in to focus them. Good luck with the rest of the week- nice to have a spring break to look forward to.
ReplyDeleteI love the money rub activity. It's a great, quick way for the students to look and get the details of each coin. I would have never thought of that! It sounds like you've had a great start and you're running into the same place I am. The week after Spring Break and getting back into the swing of thing. We can do it!!!
ReplyDeleteDon't stress yourself out with every activity you have planned. Remember to edit your activities to meet the needs of the students. If it doesn't work or isn't needed, then try the next one. I hope you had a great Spring Break. It's hard to believe that school will be over soon.
Rubbings are great activities to teach students the importance of details of specific things. You know I went to a conference 2 years ago and they had this really cool microscope that students can look at various items (ie. coins, rocks, ants etc...) and the items could be projected on to an ActivBoard, it was really awesome. If only the money was there for each school to have this type of technology.
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