What Worked Well Wednesday Is All About Rekenreks & Common Core Math!

Rekenreks Big and Small:

Since I retired last summer, I decided to write about something that worked in my classroom last October. I made this giant classroom Rekenrek and my students made their own seasonal ones.
Rekenreks are so cool. Students can instantly recognize any number of beads from 1-10 because they have five red and five white beads so they quickly learn that all of the red beads plus one white equals six.
Scroll down to see how to make your own classroom Rekenreks...

Using our big classroom Rekenrek along with our small seasonal Rekenreks.

I just love Rekenreks.  I learned about them just over two years ago and I have included them in my presentations at conferences for about that long.  They just make math real and the small ones are perfect for Number Talks.

My students LOVED using their Rekenreks with ten frame cards, numeral cards, and number word cards. They just looked at the card and showed the same value on the Rekenrek. This worked great with partners.

Rekenreks Big:

Here is my giant classroom size Rekenrek: (and that's Seba, the cat.)

I think my cat was subitizing.  :o)

(Scroll down to see how to make one for your classroom for under $10.)

Rekenreks Small:

I liked making seasonal Rekenreks with my TK class. Last fall, we made pumpkin Rekenreks with only one row of ten beads; five red and five white.  

Fun Foam pumpkins, pipe cleaners, 5 red pony beads & 5 white pony beads.
I drew 2 tiny dots where the pipe cleaners should pierce the Fun Foam.

We made our first Rekenreks with only one bar of ten beads.
Later, we will add a second bar for the numbers 11-20.

Getting to make their own Rekenrek was FUN and they took better care of them because they made them.
They wrote their name on the back with a felt tip marker.

We added an additional row of ten beads when we made our winter Rekenreks.

So, What Is A Rekenrek?

It's a number rack that was designed by Adrien Treffers, a mathematics curriculum researcher at the Freudenthal Institute in Holland.  By building each row of your Rekenrek with five white beads and five red beads, students can instantly subitize (or instantly recognize the value) the number of beads you slide from the right side to the left side.  

Once students realize that there are five red beads and five white beads, it's easy to quickly slide any number of beads from the right side to the left side without counting.  

They use the 5 red beads as an anchor and they can quickly find six by sliding one white bead, along with the red ones, over to the left side.  It's just as easy to locate the 2nd white bead to slide with the red beads to show seven.

You can download, for FREE, a great booklet filled with ideas for using Rekenreks from the Math Learning Center web site.  CLICK HERE for the direct link.

You should also check out the Math Learning Center's web site by CLICKING HERE.

They have tons of ideas under the <resources> tab.

How To Make A Classroom Rekenrek:

It cost me about $9 for everything and it takes about 30 minutes to make one; 15 minutes if you have help.  

Step 1:  Buy materials

2 pool noodles (The 99 Cent Store still has these.  They are up at the very front of the store.)

2 10-foot lengths of 1/2" PVC pipe  (You need just over 13 feet to make the one above.)

2 elbow joints (for 1/2" pipe)

4 T joints (for 1/2" pipe)

4 end caps (for 1/2" pipe)

A can of solvent (like Goof Off) to remove the lettering on the pipes

Paper towels for removing the lettering

My receipt from Lowe's 

You will also need a bread knife for cutting the pool noodles and a PVC pipe cutter or saw.

Step 2:  Cut the PVC

You will need 2 pieces for the sides that are 36", 2 pieces for the bars that are 30", and 2 pieces for the feet that are 20".  Cut the 20" pieces in half to 10" each.  Cut the 36" piece into 2 pieces:  1 should be 26" and the other should be 10".

My husband cut the PVC while I cut the pool noodles.
By working together, we were able to complete this project in half the time, just 15 minutes.

Step 3:  Cut the pool noodles

Mark the pool noodles to measure 1 1/4" pieces.  You will need 5 of one color and 5 of the other color.  

Using a serrated bread knife, try to make straight cuts.  You can trim them down with scissors if needed.

A serrated bread knife works best for cutting pool noodles.
Use the extra noodles to share with a colleague or check out Pinterest for all the
amazing things you can do with pool noodles in the classroom.

Step 4:  Assemble your Rekenrek

Slide the pool noodles onto the bars and attach the sides and bars to the joints.

You can add glue to the inside of the joints to make it more durable. 

One elbow joint and one T joint.

From left to right: Elbow joint, 10" of PVC, T-joint, 26" of PVC, T-joint, 10" of PVC, cap.
The next part will be the other 10" piece of PVC for the 2nd half of the stand and a cap.

The feet.  Each side is 10 inches.

One complete side.
The top half is 10" tall.  The bottom is 26" tall.

You can see the writing on the pipes.  Next step is to remove that.

Step 5:  Clean the pipes

Clean the writing off with a solvent like Goof Off.  Spray it on a paper towel (outside) and rub it on the lettering until it is all gone.  Rinse the solvent off of the pipes before bringing it to school.

That's all there is to it !!!

And there's an app for that:

Click the image to view the app.
Perfect for iPads or iPad minis.  Also works on iPods and iPhones.

CLICK HERE FOR THE APP.

  Or you can buy them here:

Click the image to see the product's site.

Looking for more FALL MATH ideas?

Check out the bloggers who link up below:

An InLinkz Link-up

What Worked Well Wednesday - Kindergarten Spelling Program

Hi everyone! 

 It's Cori from Mrs. B's Beehive, for our weekly What Worked Well Wednesday post!  Today I wanted to share with you the resources I use for my spelling program!

When I first started teaching, I created a spelling program based on sight words.  As the years went by, I began to feel that a program based on sight words was only encouraging memorization.  I felt like that strategy wasn't getting to the core of what a spelling program should be, which in my opinion was to apply the phonics and language skills that they had learned in my language arts program to spell unknown words.

I searched around TPT for a product that might meet my needs, and came across this one from Khrys Bosland:

My school does not use Reading Street, but the set-up and the structure of the spelling lists were perfect, and I believe that this is a resource that could be used in any classroom, regardless of what basal program you use.

The product comes with spelling lists for each week.  I don't begin my lists until week 7 of the school year, when the students are just starting to get some letter sound knowledge, and we've already established homework packet routines.

The program starts out with 4 words, and by the end of the year, it increases to 10.  Many of the words used for the spelling lists are common CVC, CCVC, and CVCe words.  I take this opportunity to also review word families.  I use Marsha Maguire's word family posters to display words that we have already went over in our spelling program.  At the end of each week, we add the words that we worked on to our word family wall.

During the week, the students have a practice sheet, where they can choose different ways to practice writing their spelling words.  This sheet is turned in at the end of the week.  If  you would like a free copy of this spelling word practice sheet to use, just click on the image below!

On Friday we take our spelling tests.  We are just starting for this year, so some students are easily writing all the words, some students are just getting the beginning sounds, and some students are writing jibberish : ) The joys of teaching kindergarten, and all the different levels that our students enter into our class with! : )

After setting up my spelling program like this, I noticed a HUGE jump in my students reading scores at the end of the year!  I had all but two students at first grade reading level and many above that at the end of the year.  Every year, my class is comprised of 100% ELL's, some know more English than others.  Their capacity to learn not only how to speak a new language, but to read and write in it as well never ceases to amaze me.  The two that were below, came in with zero English at the beginning of the year, and even though they did not get to first grade level, they made ENORMOUS strides in their reading and writing.  I credit the increase in my students' reading scores to this new spelling program, that encompasses so much of the phonics and word family skills they need to be successful, and utilizes very little class time to reinforce these skills!

I hope this spelling information can be of use to you!  Please link up below with the Kinder Tribe to share what worked well for you in your classrooms!!

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What Worked Well Wednesday - Fine Motor

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

This is Kelly from My Fabulous Class.

I am so excited to be hosting another addition of What Worked Well Wednesday.

I get so excited when I hear teachers talk about what is developmentally appropriate in Kindergarten. So many fabulous teachers are talking about how they are bringing play back into the classroom. They are focusing on hands on activities and saying bye-bye to worksheets.

 I LOVE IT!!!

I know this is scary for some of you. 

I know some of you feel there is NO TIME for fun in Kindergarten! 

Common Core is intense. No Doubt.It can get stressful to balance an intense curriculum with play. This year, I tried to think about both of those when I created my fine motor centers. I think we can all agree that developing fine motor skills is a crucial piece of Kindergarten.

I made these dot letter cards to be used in a variety of ways. My students love using tweezers to place buttons on pom-poms on the dot cards. Another fun idea is to roll small play-dough balls and place them on the circles. I was surprised at how many kids could not do this seemingly simple skill. There is also a black and white version that is PERFECT for bingo dabbers. What kid doesn't love bingo dabbers? I love that they have beginning sound pictures on there. You may not be directly teaching the beginning sounds but they will start to make the association. When you ask them for a word that starts with d, they will hopefully day dog. You can find these HERE.

We all know the importance of number recognition and subitizing. These FREE number cards were a HIT! Again, we played with buttons, pom-poms, and play-dough. You can these HERE.

Clip-cards are another great fine motor activity. It may seem easy, but it takes some skill to squeeze and place. Teacher Tip- Don't buy them at the Dollar Store. They break much easier. They are only $1.50 at Wal-Mart and last longer. You can get these adorable Number Clip Cards FREE HERE. Be sure to let Kamp Kindergarten know how much you love them. The Beginning Sound cards come from my Beginning Sounds Mega Pack.

I LOVE these FREE Play-dough shape cards. Oh, my. I'm not sure what is trickier for Kinders- rolling balls or rolling snakes. Many kids are able to identify their shapes, so for an added challenge, I have them count the corners and write the number in the middle with a dry erase marker. You can get these FREE HERE  from Life Over C's. 

This little muffin tin is by far the class FAVORITE. Seriously. They ALL want it. I first saw the on Little Minds at Work. Yes, I know I could have made it, but I LOVE the little muffins. You can switch out the little circles to work on different skills. It has been a lot of fun to watch kids try to scoop up letters with the purple scooper. I added in the tweezers for a student who just couldn't scoop it. You get this on Amazon or, if you have enough points, snag it from Scholastic.

Looking for more ideas for What Worked Well for other teachers? Check out the websites below.

Do you want to share an idea that worked well for you? Link up below. Please only link up to your blog. Thanks!

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What Worked Well Wednesday -

Hi Friends! 

Hope you all are having a great week! This week's What Worked Well Wednesday is coming to you from Kirstin at Hip Hooray in K. 

Since I have only had my kiddos for about week, we have been working hard at setting routines and classroom expectations. I absolutely LOVE this time of year, although crazy, it grounds you.

Yes, they will walk in a line someday and they will be reading someday, but today amidst the shouting, sleepy afternoon eyes, questions, and chaos they are just little ones. We expect so much of them, but they have only been on this earth for 5 years - isn't that crazy to think about?!

I try to remind myself if it is a little like herding cats for the first month, that's ok as long as I am setting up routines and procedures that help my little ones eventually be successful in our classroom and school. Here's a taste of some of my classroom routines and procedures that work for us!

I can be a Kindergarten star

The second day of kindergarten, we talk about what we learned the first day. How we walked in the hallway, how we raise our hands etc.  It's a great time to see who is recalling routines and who likes to participate in group conversations.  I create a anchor chart that is mainly pictures with five components that I want us to practice:

-Safe hands & feet
-Mouth, nice speaking words
-Bubbles, in our mouth and around us when we sit on the carpet
-Listening ears & thinking brain, we turn our ear volume up and are always good listeners
-Happy heart, we make good choices that make us and our friends happy

I leave this up as part of our focus wall for the morning for the first month of school. Not only am I helping our kiddos create routines but also introduce them to using anchor charts.

Bubbles & Breathing

Many of you probably use "bubbles" when you need your kiddos to be quite.  As in, "Alright everyone, catch a bubble in your mouth!" And your kiddos hold their imaginary bubble in their mouth in the hallway, while you are giving directions, etc.

I like to add in an important breathing component as well. When we are practicing catching our bubbles, we take three long breaths before we hold our bubble.  This is how I start training my kiddos to use their breath to calm down. Later in the year we will use breath much like in yoga to calm and recollect. When we practice letting our bubble go, we will use different techniques such as blowing the air though our nose, or out a straw, or even blowing our bubble as far away as we can! This doubles as a brain break! And its FUN!

Show Me Don't Shout It

I probably say this 23974978 times a day. We teach the kiddos to give us hand signals for everything. If the kids agree or want to say yes in a group setting, we nod or give a thumbs up. If we have to go to the bathroom, we pull on our ear. When my little friends shout out I always just remind them, "Let's say it not shout it!" And they immediately do so -well most of them :o). Teaching your kiddos that you can validate them easier when they show you helps manage the classroom as well as helps you get to more kids at once. When I ask for a hand signal and get one, I always give a responding signal back.

Take Home Tool Book

Part of our classroom routines include teaching my little ones to be responsible and intrinsically motivated learners.  We use our Take Home Tool Book as part of these procedures.  Students have a take home folder that is filled with resources they can use for their homework & extra practice, iPad passwords, and information for parent helpers.

Remind

So this is more for the parents, but our teamwork helps get the kiddos into a routine faster. Remind is a text messaging app. You send a message out to your whole class or just a group of parents and they can answer back without you sharing your phone number. Don't worry, you can also chose for parents not to text you back ;o)

This is key for us though. I will text things like, "Please remember to review the lunch choices with your student so they know what to order when they get to school!" So I am sending the reminders to the parents, but asking them to give some responsibility over to their child as well. You could also text Johnny, Jordan, and Jaime's parents specifically to remind them that field trip forms are due tomorrow. It's seriously great.

For the last week, those are the procedures that have worked well in our classroom. What are some procedures that you can't live without at the beginning of the year?

What Worked Well Wednesday - Meet the Teacher!

Hey y'all!! Emily here, from Carnes' Corner.  I know MANY people are just now preparing for the beginning of the school year, but today is already day 9 for me!  This school year has truly gotten off to a great start, and I am excited to share some Meet the Teacher tips that I feel really helped get the year started on the right foot!

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Meet the Teacher is such an excited time for me, but it's also super stressful!  All those parents in my room at the same time? They all want to talk to me? How do I get all of that info to them at the same time?  What about those kiddos who are running around playing in my classroom?  Here's what I found works really well to accommodate all of those parents, but still make the day (or night) all about the kiddos:

*Use a scavenger hunt
This way, parents and students are kept busy, get a feel for the classroom, and there's a bit of structure. :)  (I even set it on a small desk right outside the door, so that they had something to do immediately and wouldn't have to awkwardly stand and wait for me if I'm busy talking).

{I made a quick scavenger hunt which sent them to the supplies sorting station, to the classroom bathroom, to find the book bag hooks, to the calendar, the library, to find their seat for paperwork, and finally to me!}

*Put them to work!
Most families were urged to bring supplies during Meet the Teacher, so I set up a sorting station and put the parents to work!

*Have an info packet for parents to take home
This way, you can have them read through the packet FIRST, before bombarding you with questions!

*Give cheesy presents!
I gave the students "Ready Confetti" and the parents got some popcorn!

{Ready Confetti}

{I can't remember where I got the popcorn tags...ahhh!}

(I know it's the beginning of the year, but a tidbit to help you for NEXT year...save all of your Meet the Teacher templates, and edit them/make your copies at the end of this year.  That way, you already have those copies made and won't need to fight people for the copy machine at the beginning of the year next year!)

What do you do to make Meet the Teacher flow smoothly?? Have you started school already? What activities have you done that you and the kiddos LOVE?!  Link up below, and let me know!

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Please be a friendly blogger and go "meet" at least two new bloggers who've linked up.  This is such a great way for us to get to know each other and encourage each other!