learning zone

I absolutely LOVE teaching numbers!! There are so many fun things to do with numbers and I love how there are such a variety of ways to show numbers. That is exactly what I like to focus on during the first few months of school. I have been asked a lot about how I teach numbers and what my week looks like. I hope this post will give you an idea of what my week looks like and also a lot of new ideas! Each week of school I have a focus number. I start at the number 1 and go all the way to the number 10. That is 10 weeks of number focus! I am sure you are thinking, what do you do for 10 weeks of numbers?!?! I promise there is soooo much you can do while keeping students engaged and excited the entire time! What I love about having a number focus each week of school is how much my students really master identifying numbers, counting, writing numbers, identifying number words, making groups, drawing, showing numbers in ten frames, on number lines, tallies, and so much more! I have also noti...

During this first month of school, I have focused A LOT on the alphabet. There is just so much to know, so many fun things to do, and so much reward for students when they really get a good understanding of the letters. Some of my favorite moments during the school year happen during letter work!  There are so many times that I wish I had a camera to capture my students reactions to their success of identifying letters and the letter sounds. Seeing that light bulb go off is the best! Before you know it, students are taking that knowledge of identifying letters/sounds and applying that into reading small words! Now when that light bulb goes off it makes my heart smile so big!!  There are just so many confidence building and proud moments when it comes to learning the alphabet. I have a lot of different activities and resources that I like to use to help teach the alphabet in my classroom and I wanted to share them with you! I have already shared with you my NO PREP...