Baseball Place Value

While at the Texas Ranger's game the other night, I came up with a baseball themed game to review comparing larger numbers: Baseball Place Value. To play the game, divide your class into two teams. One team will be the guests and the other will be the home team. A player from each team will draw a number card and each will build their specific number with the bats (tens) and baseballs (ones). The player with the largest number will move their player to the first base. The player with the least number will pick up a strike card. Play continues to the next players on the team. Once a team gets their player around all the bases, they mark their score on the scoreboard with tally marks. When one team receives three strikes during an inning, that inning is over and all players start back at homeplate. The team with the most runs at the end of the ninth inning wins! After modeling a few times, students should be able to play this game in small groups during math centers. To download the game, visit my Teachers Pay Teachers Store.

Texas Rangers Visit!!!

The students and staff at Moseley welcomed very speical guests to the school on Tuesday! Tom Grieve and Michael Kirkman from Texas Rangers, along with Captain, came to speak to the students. The kids were so excited. Thanks to the Texas Rangers for making time to remind the students of hte importance of school and for allowing time for the students to ask them questions.

Phonics Focus: Sports Pennants

Last week we were studying various sounds including /sl/, /sp/, and /st/. We also were having "college week" in our district. So, the students created sports pennants to help them remember the sound for /sp/.

Comparing and Contrasting Stories

Last week our weekly theme was sports. As a part of our lessons, we read Maria Joins the Team and Carlos Joins the Team from Reading A-Z. The main purpose of the lesson was to have the students retell the story and answer multiple choice questions about the text in order to teach them the strategy of "looking back" and to assess their comprehension. The reason I chose these books is because they are the same story but with slight changes. After reading the first story, the students retold the story to friends and then answered questions about the text. Then we read the second story. As we read, the students began to have that "light bulb" moment when they make connections or notice something unique. They quickly realized the stories were the same. To help them express their thoughts, we created a class Double Bubble Map to compare and contrast the stories. Fellow teachers, Reading A-Z has many different leveled readers that can be used for this purpose.