A Resource for Discussing September 11th With Kids

I think the need to address historic tragedy and atrocity are some of the most difficult moments we face in our classrooms. Tomorrow will include some of those moments for me. I'm speaking, of course, of the September 11th attacks on our country. As a primary grade teacher, I also battle with whether to address such a difficult topic at all. My students are so young. Do I really want to be the one who exposes them to the absolute worst that human beings are capable of?

Sadly, that choice is often taken out of my hands. Either it's brought up by our administration on our news broadcast (that's what happened in my school this morning) or the students themselves bring it up.  So how do I handle the inevitable student questions and concerns in a sensitive, yet honest way?

Last year, I decided to address a serious topic as I do so many things, through my poetry. I wrote this poem based on my own view of the events of that horrible day. I was a first grade teacher at the time. It was an ordinary morning. My students and I were hard at work when an announcement came over the intercom warning teachers not to turn on the television. We were cautioned to continue our day as normal until we received further directions. I was totally confused. I remember thinking, "Why would I need to turn on my TV? What's going on?" It wasn't until I took the kids to specials about a half hour later that I found out what had happened. While my kids were safely out of the room, I watched in horror as the first tower fell. The events of that day will haunt me and most Americans forever. So how could I share that information with students in a way that doesn't give them nightmares?

In my poem, I tried to strike a balance between the horrific events and the hopeful aftermath. I love the quote from Fred Rogers.

"When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” To this day, especially in times of “disaster,” I remember my mother’s words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers – so many caring people in this world."

I wanted to include a little bit of that help and caring that we saw after 9/11 in my poem. When I share it with my students, that's the section I keep coming back to. 

I would not share this poem with students younger than second grade. I really feel we need to protect our students' innocence about the world as long as we can. However, by second or third grade, students are exposed to the news, social media, and adult topics with more frequency. So I feel it is more appropriate by that time.

When my students and I read this poem, we talk about its meaning. I try to stay pretty matter of fact, but I encourage the students to share their own feelings about the poem. I reassure them that they are safe at school and that our country is a lot safer than it was then. I do not spend a lot of time on the topic and I refuse to dwell on the more sensational or gruesome details, but I do let the students discuss it.  Unlike my other poems, this one is not revisited throughout the week. We read it once or twice, discuss it, and then put it into our poetry binders.

If you would like a copy of the poem poster above, you can get it here. The poem itself is also available as part of my Patriotic Poems and Activities for Primary Grades. 

I would love to know how you address difficult topics in your classroom. Please share any resources or strategies in the comments below.

Thanks for letting me share,

Math Tip Monday: Ideas for Teaching Number Sense

Happy Monday!  K's Classroom Kreations and I are happy to welcome you to our Math Tip Monday. This month we are focusing on Ideas for Teaching Number Sense. I'm excited to share with you some ways I use number lines to help students to understand numbers. Some of the games I play came from our Math series, Investigations, but I've been using similar number line activities for years.

Start With, Get To...

I use number lines in a lot of different ways. The most basic being a visual aid to counting. But as a second grade teacher, I don't want my students to only know how to count from 1 to whatever.  I want them to be able to count on and to count back starting from any number.  One way we do this is to play the Start with, Get to Game. When we play this game, I use two clothespins, one of which I've marked with green tape and the other I've marked with red tape.  I also have a number line that I keep on my board with magnetic tape. I have a student draw a number from a basket. That number is our "start with" number and we mark it with the green clothespin.  Another student draws a number from the basket and that's our "get to" number. It's marked with the red clothespin.  We then determine whether we are counting forwards or backwards.  A third student uses my pointer as the whole class counts starting with green and ending with red.  The students always enjoy the game and it's a quick and easy way to get kids comfortable with counting on and counting back.

Since it's still early in the school year, I don't have a picture of this activity yet, but here's a representation. In this illustration, we would count from 5 to 16. I usually play 1 to 3 rounds of this game as a math warm-up.

Guess My Number on the Number Line

My students are already loving this game. It's another great warm-up activity. The first time we play, I am the leader of the game.  I secretly choose a number (for example, 11) and tell the students that the number I'm thinking of is between 1 and 20.  I have a nice laminated number line, so we use an expo marker to mark those numbers. I then start taking guesses. If a student guesses 5, I tell the student that was a great guess, but my number is greater than 5. The guesser then would come up to erase the arrow pointing to 1 and draw an arrow pointing to 5. Then I ask another student to guess. They guess 10.  Again, I tell the students that it was a great number, but my number is greater than 10. So that student comes up, erases the arrow pointing to 5 and draws an arrow pointing to 10. I point out to students that "Now we know the number is between 10 and 20.  The next guess is 18. I tell the student it is less than 18.  He/she moves the arrow from the 20 to the 18. And so on.  Finally, a student guesses 11. That student then excitedly becomes the leader. To keep the game honest, I always have the leader secretly write down their number on a post-it before we start.  Here are some pictures from some of our rounds after students learned the game.

What's really cool about this game is that we are learning number sense and math vocabulary - greater than, less than, and in between - while at the same time, students are learning to be math leaders and feel successful. I usually play about 3 rounds of this, keeping track of who won the last round so they can be the leader the next time we play. Of course as the year goes on, we use different parts of the number line - for example, "My number is in between 55 and 80."

Hopping on the Number Line

Floor number lines are great for this activity because the kids are moving and engaged. I've also used a small frog figure to hop on the whiteboard. When I taught first grade, we would use the floor number line to hop forward to review counting, again starting from and getting to different numbers. Students would stand by the start number and then hop forward counting 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10... We would also hop backward (I had to stand close to help students who had difficulty with balance as they hopped backward. LOL).  It's also a fun way to practice skip counting by 2s or 5s (10s are a little too far apart).  

Now that I'm in second grade, I also use this strategy to help students with the counting on or counting back strategies when adding or subtracting. The number line provides a great visual and students understand that they count the hops and then see what number they "land" on.  

You can make a floor number line pretty easily. Use adding machine tape, pieces of construction paper taped together, or a line of tape on the floor with laminated numbers taped next to it. Another option is to move outside. Draw a number line on pavement using sidewalk chalk. Whatever works for you.

The Empty Number Line

The empty number line has been a revelation for me. I'll talk more about that in a future post that deals with addition and subtraction.  For number sense, it's a great tool for thinking about skip counting, which builds the foundation for mentally adding and subtracting larger numbers, in addition to building understanding of number patterns. You don't need an actual number line or any other resource to use it. Just draw a line - no numbers - on the board.

Then write the starting number under it.

Whatever pattern you're practicing, you then would write the next number. I usually have the kids tell me what to write or do it themselves. Draw an arrow to show the hop.

Continue the pattern, showing the hop to each successive number.

You can use the empty number line to practice skip counting from any number using any number pattern: 3,6,9,12,15... or 25,35,45,55,65... or 100, 200,300,400... It's a tool you can use to learn/practice any number pattern. This is also building the mental math skills our students need in order to be efficient mathematicians. Once the kids know how this works, they are easily able to use this strategy on their own, to show their work, to solve problems in their math journals, and to demonstrate their thinking.

Rounding on an Empty Number Line

This is not actually part of the second grade curriculum in my state, but I wanted to mention it. Students become much better at understanding the concept of rounding when you use a number line to model and practice it. No tips or tricks to memorize, just which number is it closest to. I'm going to refer you to an expert for information on this one. Math Coach's Corner has an excellent post on Rounding on an Open Number Line. (By the way, an Open Number Line is the same thing as an Empty Number Line.) If this is part of your curriculum, I encourage you to check it out. 

So that's it. I use the number line in multiple ways throughout the year. My students know that it is a tool mathematicians use often to solve problems or to show their thinking.  I hope you will be able to use some of these ideas in your own classroom. Do you have any other ideas for using a number line? Please share them in the comments below. 

Thanks for checking out our Math Tip Monday Blog Hop.  I hope you'll visit some of the other blogs below to gather some more great ideas for teaching number sense.

Next time, we will be sharing ideas for teaching basic addition and subtraction.

I hope you have a great week!

An InLinkz Link-up

Five for Friday - A Day Late

So the last two and a half weeks have definitely kicked my butt!  I finally got my classroom moved - except for a filing cabinet and a few boxes that I'll be going in to unpack tomorrow.  My colleagues and I survived the first week of school in spite of broken air conditioners and new administrative mandates. And I'm loving my new class of second graders. I've missed posting to the blog for the last couple of weeks, so here's a bit of what's been going on.  Thanks always to Doodle Bugs Teaching for hosting!

My classroom!

I love the way my reading center turned out. It's already become the workspace of choice for many of my students!

I worked hard to make it look welcoming for my kiddos. I was disappointed that I wasn't completely finished before Open House, or even for the first day of school. However, after 19 years of this, I know the most important thing is not how your classroom looks or how much you got done, but how you make those children and their families feel when they first meet you. Any new teachers out there, don't worry about perfection. Your room will always be a work in progress!

Speaking of Open House, one of my families surprised me with a gift - a basket full of teacher goodies.  How nice is that?! What a great way to start the year!

My Reading Center bench!  I've been eying these with envy on Pinterest for over a year. I finally made my own.

I started with a piece of shelving. I bought 2-inch foam from JoAnn's Fabrics and glued it to the shelf.

I also got the fabric from JoAnn's. I laid it over the top of the foam and then turned the whole thing over.

I hot-glued the fabric around the shelf. The hardest part was pulling it tight enough so it wasn't wrinkly.

It wasn't perfect, but it worked!

I zip-tied the crates together to secure everything 

It fit perfectly under the window in my reading corner.

I think it came out well. My kids are already enjoying it.

Lakeshore is a very dangerous place for me. I went there for three things: nametags for my desks, wooden people shapes for my helper chart, and cardboard people shapes for my class promise display.  An hour later, I walked out about $80 poorer. #teacherproblems
Never fails.

I got some great stuff!

We got our class promise written this week. I wrote about how I work with my class to create it in a previous post. You can read more about it here. I think it turned out very well. It always surprises me (in a very good way) how thoughtful the students are when we do this. They have very clearly defined ideas about what's right and what's wrong. They may not always make good behavior choices, but in their hearts, they want to.

Each class I teach gives me hope for the future. :)

So that's it for now. Stay tuned this next week for Math Tip Monday. On the first Monday of each month, K's Classroom Kreations and I host a Blog Hop filled with great ideas for teaching math. Next up: Number Sense. If you're a blogger and you'd like to join our hop, let me know!

Until then,

Five for Friday - Goodbye, Summer!

Summer is definitely over.  This week has been about having one last summer adventure and then getting as much done as I can before I officially start the first workday on Monday. Here's my Five for Friday for this week.  Thanks, as always, to Doodle Bugs Teaching for hosting.

On Saturday, I took a road trip down to Charleston, SC to meet up with some fellow Teacher-Bloggers. We had a wonderful lunch at Leaf Restaurant. We spent some time getting to know one another and the similarities/differences between our school districts. Just so you know, teaching is a tough gig no matter where you work. But we all do it because we love it.

After the meetup, I had a wonderful (but very hot) time, walking around Charleston. It's such a beautiful place. I loved walking through Battery Park, where I happened upon a wedding photography shoot, and along the waterfront, where I had a brief and pleasant conversation with a local fisherman. Here are a few pictures. Wasn't it a beautiful day?

Recent events felt a little more personal as I came across this sign. My heart goes out to the city and to the family and friends of the victims of the Charleston shooting.

I worked a bit on my newest project. This summer, I've been writing a lot of poems. While I'm planning a larger product that will take me quite a bit more time to finish, I decided to group the math-related poems together in one smaller product.  I hope to have this one finished and in my store by this weekend. I'll offer it at a discounted price for the first 48 hours, so keep a watch on my Facebook page. Here's a sneak peak at the cover.

While I was moving my classroom this week, I ran across a center activity that my first grade students used to love. I may pull it out for some of my struggling second graders this year.  I can't claim credit for the idea, but I did type up the directions. I glued the directions and the work mat onto a file folder and then laminated it. Then, I set it in a center with magnetic letters and vis-a-vis markers. Since my kids all had their own sight word baggies, it was naturally differentiated. Easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy! This is one of those ideas that I got from another teacher who got it from someone else who also got it from someone else, so I have no idea who deserves the credit. I just thought I'd pass it along. I don't have my original file, but I've duplicated it here if you'd like a copy.

So this is why my post is subtitled, "Goodbye, Summer!"  I've spent two and a half days at school this week trying to get all of my stuff moved to a new classroom. And I've got a lot of stuff!  In 18 years, you collect a few things - mostly books. And no, I don't want to purge some of it. I might need all of it. Really!

It's been a little difficult to move because the teacher who is moving out of my new room can't move yet. The portable classroom she is moving into just got cleared this afternoon. So I've had to pile most of my stuff in the middle of my new room. Here's a few pictures I took over the course of the week.

This is what my old classroom looked like when I started.

Here's what my new classroom looked like when I left today.

I'm exhausted all over again looking at the pictures.  Maybe next week, I'll be able to share some pictures of my finished classroom. Hopefully, I'll get it ready in time for Open House on Thursday. I'll let you know.

Oh, I haven't forgotten the post on Anchor Charts that I promised you last week. It's coming soon! In the meantime, you may want to check out my Pinterest board. I've pinned lots of great anchor charts there.

Until next time,