Have you heard about the latest We Give Books cause? This fall, join the Bug Squad to raise awareness for the importance of early childhood literacy while having fun and helping to break a world record!

Inspired by Ladybug Girl and the Bug Squad, the 2012 Jumpstart’s Read for the Record book written by David Soman and Jacky Davis, We Give Books has created their own Bug Squad to give us new ways to read, give, and share reading this fall! Jumpstart’s Read for the Record is a single day of awareness on October 4, when we’ll set a new world record for the most people reading the same book on the same day. There are tons of Bug Squad resources to help your kids get excited about reading and to help you plan your own record-setting celebration.

We Give Books is a fantastic resource for parents, teachers, and anyone who loves to read children’s books. They have a free online library of over 150 outstanding children’s books available at www.wegivebooks.org, including some of our favorites, like the Llama Llama and Skippyjon Jones books, and DK science books. The best part is, your reading will directly impact the great work of non-profit organizations around the world!

So, head over to www.wegivebooks.org to Join the Bug Squad and find out more about this wonderful initiative, and start reading and giving!

We have been focusing on read alouds and how important they are in developing Reading Comprehension Strategies but we have some great books in our library to help enrich your math concepts as well. Adding a story to your math lessons can really engage the students and give concrete examples of using math in daily life. A story can help reinforce a concept you are trying to teach or introduce a new strategy. Here are a few examples of how you can integrate literature into your math lessons before, during or after you have taught the concept.

Kid-friendly, real-life situations put math into action. By showing how we use math every day, teachers finally have an answer to the question, “But when will I ever use this?”

A few posts ago I talked about Number Sense and shared a few ideas on how to reinforce this skill with your students. As I have been visiting classrooms lately I have been excited to see many of you using the Number Of The Day activity. Understanding exactly what a number is and how to compose and decompose that number is a foundational skill. If we can teach our kindergarteners and first graders that a number is so much more than just a digit we make the job of computation in the upper grades more meaningful. It is great to see these young mathematicians complete their number of the day by demonstrating expanded notation, place value, tally marks, arrays, even and odd, 10 more, 10 less,…..etc.  Our fantastic Intervention team has even introduced Number of the Day to their students.

Here is an example from Mrs. Hutchinson’s 3rd grade classroom.

These students even have to figure out elapsed time! You can create your own or check out Pinterest or just google Number of the Day. Mrs. Hutchinson has seen good progress and increased confidence with this simple daily activity.

Another example of this activity comes from Mrs. Chidester’s 4th grade classroom. She uses a large dry erase poster so that she can change tasks as her students progress and learn new concepts. 

Mrs. Chidester challenges her students with decimals! Her students record their work in their math journals.

The great thing about this activity is that you pick the number and then allow the class time to use THEIR own strategies to complete the task! A great warm-up to lead into math or fluency practice!

A BIG THANKS to these teachers for sharing!

If you have a great Number Sense activity let us know about it. We love to share!