I Teach 1st {Day 4}

I seems as if day 4 just kind of disappeared as it took me a while to write about it!  After leaving Vegas, we headed on a little vacation to the CA coast visiting Ventura and Santa Barbara.  My highlight was a gluten free bakery in Santa Barbara as I found out about 3 months ago that I have a wheat allergy that was causing all kinds of digestive issues.  We also visited Palm Springs and a quick day trip to the Grand Canyon before flying home from Vegas.  It was a whirlwind, but many happy memories were made.  Back to day 4...

I attended Jack Hartmann's session first thing that morning. I had the opportunity to attend his keynote 4 years ago, and this did not disappoint either.  It was fun to see teachers up and dancing/moving at 7:45am!  Two new songs I learned were "Connect with a Friend & Freeze" and "Pow Wow". I think my kiddos would love both of these.  I have the "connect" song on a CD I already own, so we will definitely be checking that out when I head back to school.  It reminded me how much fun my kiddos can have with his songs while still practicing some important skills.  I was reminded of lessons in sequencing such was with the Silly Rock Star Song or The Silly Pirate Song. I know that my kiddos would love to practice sequencing using these!

Silly Rockstar Song

I also attended a session with Shannon Samulski.  I had never been to one of her sessions, but they came highly recommended from other presenters, so I wanted to make sure I checked out at least one.  The session I attended was about connecting literature and math.  I loved her idea of a "math salad bar".  This way of organizing math manipulatives and materials was meant to give students the opportunity to choose their own manipulatives and tools to complete math work.

She spent a lot of time talking about performance tasks and how math isn't just about answering a simple question.  Many of these ideas were similar to what I heard Eliza Thomas talk about earlier in the week, but more resources and ideas were presented.  One site was Georgia's Math site.  Not only are there lesson ideas, but there are plans and assessments as well.  Using the free resources section of her website will give you many more ideas as well!

The rekenrek made from skinny dowel rods, popsicle sticks (fat ones) and beads used to count the coins Alexander lost throughout her reading the book Alexander, Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday.

I hope you've picked up some ideas along the way and learn something new from my 4 days in Vegas at I Teach 1st.  It was a wonderful week of learning and chatting with other teachers, and I was so blessed to be able to attend with 2 teacher friends.  I would not hesitate to attend again!

Photo booth at the blogger meet up.  Holly and Rachel attended I Teach 2nd.