Hour of Code

This week was dedicated to computer science. December 8 to the 12, millions of students experienced the Hour of Code! This is an amazing program that teaches the kids, as young as kindergarten, how to code.

I spent an entire Saturday learning how to teach my students to code. It was an awesome training! You teach coding not only with computers but with activities in the classroom as well. There are kinesthetic activities to teach code!

Am amazing statistic is only 15% of all computer programmers are women or African Americans. One of the focuses of this week was to show these two groups that coding is for everyone and it can be done by everyone!

My kids loved it. They could not get enough of it. On Monday, we talked about binary code. I explained that each letter has a code (pattern) that is read by the computer. I showed them all of the binary codes for the letters of the alphabet.  They found their first initial and made the code using black and yellow beads. We then put their beads on a black pipe cleaner and voila, they went home with a binary code bracelet! They loved it!

They spent time all week coding. I set up a class on code.org and they all had a login card. They all started on playlab. As they finished each puzzle, it became harder and harder. They did not give up. They persevered through the tough puzzles and they loved it. There were no tears or yelling I can't do this!

My kids completed playlab! They went onto Flap Codes and created their own floppy bird games and had their neighbors try to play their games! Some even completed Flap Codes and have begun The Hour of Code! They love tjis because it is Angry Birds! They have to get their birds to the pig!

My kids are first graders! They are 6 years old and they persevered through the difficult puzzles and laughed and chatted with each other throughout. What I loved was there were some kids who are reserved but they jumped right up to help a classmate with a puzzle they were having difficulty with!

The hour of code was truly one of the best experiences for my students!!!!!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year Chat!

Can I just start by saying, I absolutely love this time of year! I love the cookies, the lights, the decorations, spending time with family and the different traditions we have and make each year! I am linking up with Abby of The Inspired Apple for her Christmas Chat Linky!

Here is what I have to share with you all!!!

There are so many awesome conversations taking place on the blogs of other awesome educators! Click on the button below to visit their blogs and see their conversations!

Just a thought to leave you with! You know you have done this at some point!

Elves and Olaf

My kids and I came back from our break in such great moods! They dressed up as rocking elves abd got pictures taken! I must say they are adorable!

In Math, we made a wicked cute hallway display!  They made their heads and a thought cloud with their favorite math tool! Then I made a giant bed and put the heads on it with their thought clouds. The sign states Mrs. Price's kids are nestled all snug in their bed, while visions of Math tools danced in their heads!

This year instead of doing the elf, my class has an Olaf! They absolutely love him. He has brought them special snowflake pencils to make their handwriting snowy good. He also brought them book marks for their favorite books!
I have created and posted my unit on teachers pay teachers if you are interested. It is called Where is Olaf and it is in my store, Mrs prices kindergators.

Here are some photos so far! I will add more as the weeks go by!

December Currently

Oh my, I just realized that it has been forever since I last blogged!!! Well, it is the first of the month and we all know what that means!!!!!! Yep, I am linking up with Oh'Boy 4th Grade for the December Currently!

Here is my Currently:

Listening: I am currently listening to Christmas Music (Snoopy and the Red Baron) as I finish up and post my Where is Olaf unit!!

Loving: Oh, I am loving that it is Holiday Time! I love everything about this time of year! The music, food, traditions and the overall spreading of Good Cheer!!

Thinking: I have a lot to do tomorrow to introduce Olaf to our class! I am doing Olaf instead of Elf on the Shelf with my kids.

Wanting: A stress free week at school and I know that is not going to happen but one can hope!

Needing: To go to sleep so I am chipper and happy when I do the Olaf introduction and scavenger hunt! It is getting later but I keep thinking of things to add to my to do list!

Giving: My goal and hope is to give my kids a wonderful unforgettable Holiday experience at school!

Well there it is my December Currently! Click on the icon below to go read the Currentlys of other awesome educators!!!

Dover Air Force Base: An Amazing Field Trip

On November 12, we took a field trip to Dover Air Force Base! Can I just say this trip was amazing! the kids loved it! The parents loved it! I loved it!

Upon arrival, we went out to see the many planes that are on display. These were huge! There was a plane called the Nightingale. This plane flew the injured soldiers back from war and on the top half of the plane was an operating room in case they needed surgery on the way back.

There was a C5. this plane was HUGE!!!! It can hold 32 pallets but the amazing fact was how many ping
pong balls it could hold! Can you guess how many?......... Wait for it................... ok here is the amount!  25,844,746!!!!  Now that is a lot of ping pong balls!!!

We saw so many different planes and got to go in some of them! We got to sit in the cockpit of one of the planes!

Here are some of the planes we saw and a picture of one of my kids in the cockpit!

We also got to see a plane land on the runway!

Here are a few pictures:

This was awesome!!!

Then we went into the museum and saw some more planes! The kids got to listen to some recordings of pilots talking about when they flew the planes.

There was a small plane for them to sit in and get their picture taken. Here is one of my girls in the plane:

Overall it was an amazing day! Fun was had by all! Here is our group photo!!!!

If you ever get a chance to come to Delaware, I strongly recommend going to the Air Force base and visit their museum. The experience will be one to remember!!!!!

Sit Spots and Math: An interactive experience

Can I just begin by saying, I absolutely love my sitspots!! When I first heard about these, I was excited to have spots on the rug that were not pieces of tape! But then I began to think, how else can I use these in my classroom. After much thought I contacted Joyce from SitSpots and shared with her my ideas! She loved them and I soon began making interactive math activities using  SitSpots!

So my math rug began to take shape. First I made my ten frames and number sentence shell. I used 3/4" black strips to make the ten frames and I am using yellow and black circles for the dots. My kids roll a die and they put the correct number of circles in the ten frames then they complete the number sentence shell.

This was a big hit, so I thought what else can I make? Number Bonds!!! My kids love these. I used yellow circles for the sum and white circles for the addends. I used 3/4" strips for the lines. I wrote the numbers on the circles using a Sharpie paint pen.

The next math activity I made was tally marks. I cut the 3/4" strip into 2 feet pieces. I cut out 50 of them. The kids rolled a double die and represented the number using tally marks. They loved this!

I then made a rekenrek. We have been using these during our number talks. They loved this. I used 2 inch strips for the sides and the two bars. I then used 10 red ovals and 10 white ovals for the beads. The kids rolled the die and represented that number by moving the beads from right to left on the rekenrek. This was a big hit!

The last thing I made was a number line. I used the 3/4" strip and cut it 12 feet long. I then used red and blue circles for the numbers. The even numbers were written on the blue circles and the odd numbers were written on the red circles. I wrote the numbers using a black Sharpie paint pen. The kids rolled a double die and marked the outside number with a white sit spots strip and then marked the inside number with a white sit spots strip. They then counted the jumps in between. Some wrote number sentences using the first quantity and adding the number of jumps. We also used the number line to talk about odd and even numbers!

So this is my interactive math floor using Sit Spots! These are an awesome product that can be used for more then just marking where your kids sit! My class absolutely loves our math floor and it has certainly added fun to our math centers as well as more tools for reinforcing the skills they need!

November Currently

I am linking up with Farley of Oh' Boy 4th Grade for the November Currently Linky!
I absolutely love this monthly linky! Reading the linkies of the other teachers is so interesting. We see what we have in common and learn new things!

Here is my November Currently!

Listening: I am listening to the Patriots' Broncos game while working on my computer!

Loving: I am loving that the Patriots are beating the Broncos! I love my Tom Brady!!!

Thinking: I need to write my class newsletter but would rather watch the game!

Wanting: The Patriots to score a few more touchdowns because the Broncos make me nervous!

Needing: I am in desperate need of some new winter clothes! I have not bought myself new winter clothes in about 3 years! I need to be somewhat in style! LOL!

Reading: Gone Girl and I love it! I would not go see the movie because I am reading the book and did not want the ending ruined for me! I will have to get it on On Demand when it comes out!

So click on the picture below to go see what some other awesome educators are currently doing!

Sunday Circular Linky

I am linking up with the awesome Nicole of All Things Apple for her Sunday Savings Circular Linky Party!
Here is my Sunday Circular!

This week I am giving anyone who buys a product in my store from today until wednesday a free product. Then my store will be on sale for 20% off from Wed until Friday!

Please click on the picture below to see the deals of some other awesome educators!

"Staching through Movember!"

Hello, everyone! It is November 1 and it is Movember!

What is Movember?

Movember is the month when men grow mustaches as a way to inform the community about Men's health and the importance it is to get regular check ups. It is very easy in today's society to become wrapped up in ourselves and skip the check ups- especially if you are a man. But they must keep in mind that it is very important for their health to always schedule and keep your regular check ups!

This is the month when men grow mustaches to raise awareness, conversations and funds for testicular and prostate cancer as well as men's mental health issues!

Men grow staches in support of this awesome event!

Conversations about men’s health have lead to Awareness 

and understanding of the health risks men face

So my "Mo-sistas" and I (they call the men who grow the mustaches "Mo-Bros") have donned our mustaches for Movember!

to Shave the date of November 1st and join us in supporting Movember!

So click on the stache below to help support this awesome cause!

Some other supporters that I know are my daughter and our Guinea Pig, Molly! They donned staches in support as well!

The products I used to show my support of this awesome cause are from Creative Teaching Press!

What better products can they have then the mustache collection and it goes along with this cause!

As usual, CTP has joined me and some other bloggers in our support of Movember! Please show your support as well!

Do you love the mustache collection? You are in luck. Creative Teaching Press has given me this opportunity to give one lucky reader the chance to win this collection!

So I mustache you to spread the word about this awesome cause and to enter the giveaway through the rafflecopter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway