It's been HOW long since I've blogged?!

Wow, I am WAY embarrassed by how much time has passed since my last post. :( Please forgive me, blogger friends! It is truly amazing how easy it can be to get caught up in life and all that it entails. I honestly thought that I was going to log in and see a post from last week. BOY, OH BOY how time does fly! But enough of that... We have been having tons of fun in First Grade. Besides the fact that this past Monday (February 23rd) was the FIRST MONDAY WE'VE BEEN IN SCHOOL SINCE JANUARY 12TH (WHAT?!!?!?!?!?!??!!??). Sadly enough, though... we are bundled up waiting on another winter storm, promising to drop 3-6 inches on us before morning. It sure will be interesting to see if we lose another Monday!! Regardless of all that, we have been plugging along and working our patooties off!!  At the beginning of the month, we began our subtraction unit. These kiddos are flying through it! They surprise me every single day. The kiddos worked on subtracting 0 and 1. They picked it up so, so quickly! Our unit is supposed to continue through March, but little friends are absolutely excelling. We played some review games to fill up some time and found it near impossible to stump them!  Check out what they've been up to in the photos below!

I absolutely love reviewing on our desks! The kiddos are always so surprised when I tell them they'll get to write on the desks! There are so many things that I like about doing this....

1) Easy set-up

2) Easy clean-up

3) Minimal materials

4) Each kiddos gets their own defined space

So, so easy!

Basically, I put a problem (or problems) on the board and set the timer. Students work through the problem. Sometimes I require they use a particular strategy, sometimes I let them do whatever they are the most comfortable with.

Next, I call kiddos up to explain their methods.

Clean-up is super duper easy. We usually end with a bit of competition. I'll give students a series of problems and collect markers from students who miss the mark until we have our winner.

I know that it sounds like the same kids will win every time, BUT... each leveled group has a color name. I assign each color group a different set of problems based on their ability. I aim to have a winner from each group. It works out really well and over time, every single student wins!