Happy Holidays!!!

Box Cars & One Eyed Jacks Math

To say that we had fun this past Wednesday would be an understatement.  We were once again visited by the dynamic duo of John & Jane Felling who shared with us a variety of activities and games to reinforce and teach math skills.  From decks of cards, dominos, dice, to IKEA meter sticks they kept our brains working, our faces smiling, and our hearts happy with all the fun we can now take back to our students.  And...they already aligned all of their games and activities to the Common Core for us!!!!  The day flew by. Thank you to all who joined us and THANKS to John & Jane for traveling to see us!

Check out their website www.boxcarsandoneeyedjacks.com to get copies of handouts, resources, and VIDEOS of many of the activities!!!

Jane demonstrating several simple and effective activities  for elementary students. 

South Wilmington teachers having fun with dominos.

School Psychologist Laura deep in thought (and armed with caffeine).

One of my favorite suggestions of the night. Using fun foam for a placemat for dominoes  dice and other manipulatives.  Reduces the noise level in the room AND can be made for specific concepts.  

White Oak teachers showing us how to play Salute!

Two of the most competitive GCSEC teachers, demonstrating "Care, Share, and Play Fair" 

Domino math fact fun!

 Gardner teachers working fast and thinking hard! 

Nettle Creek & Minooka teachers discussing greater sums and place  value.

ICS Teachers working on math facts!

Place value and so much more with a deck of cards...but we may have to work on classroom management...right Samantha?

Quick thinking dice work!

John showing how to use an IKEA meter stick as a number line!

Clockominoes in a Starburst graph.

You know you've been to a fun workshop with there is manipulative and chocolate carnage at your table!

Fun Website

What Should I Read Next? is a cute website that allows the user to type in the title of a favorite book, and the site will generate a list of more books that you might enjoy!

 I typed in a book I'm currently reading and enjoying Matched by Ally Condie.

  And the site generated a list of 50 other books I might enjoy (none of which were the next two in this series of books).

Try it out and see what it suggests for your Winter Holiday reading!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

May you all have a fun, family filled Thanksgiving!!!

Watch tons of football!!

Plan your Black Friday strategy!!

Put up your Holiday decorations!!

RELAX and ENJOY!

GAME NIGHT FUN!

This past Tuesday, Jean Ann hosted our first of three Game Nights! The hour and a half long session featured multiple games, how to play them, modify them to work for different ages and abilities, AND some down right competitive FUN!!! Here are a few of our favorites from Tuesday night!

WORD ON THE STREET

On each turn, one team flips over a category card. Team members frantically brainstorm words that fit the category while the opposition tries to side-track them. The team must agree on a  word and pull each letter of that word one lane closer to their side of the street, all before the time runs out. Word on the Street will have you in the fast lane to fun.

This game is one of my personal favorites.  It's our go-to game when we go into classrooms.  It's easy to adapt to any ability level, and can be modified to use for review games. If you have not seen/played this game...well I'd say talk to us and we'll bring it out for you to play, BUT just go BUY it. Well worth the $$ (and it may or may not have been recently seen on sale at Target!) 

ROLLING IN THE MONEY

A friendly baker helps you roll in some dough. This game reinforces coin identification and values, addition up to $1, subtraction from $1, place value and even beginning decimal concepts. Shake the coin-value dice to get closest to $1 without going over. It is great for kinesthetic learners. It includes 5 coin dice, a plastic baker shaker cup (the kiddos LOVE this), a score pad, and an activity guide.

CHOCOLATE FIX

Players examine all the clues on the clue cards before making a move. Once they discover where to put a chocolate piece, they combine this knowledge with the clues to learn more information.  Some clues give exact or possible locations, while others just give the token color or shape. Players confidence builds as you narrow down the possibilities to fill each candy assortment. Challenges range from beginner to expert.  I may or may not sit at home playing this for hours. Part sudoku part logic problem this game rules!

WORD SNAG

Players turn over a category card then roll the letter dice. Everyone tries to match the letters with something related to the category. If you're looking for "vehicles" take the "T" and yell out "truck", then keep on looking for more. The first player to get 20 points wins.

This is a game that's been recently rediscovered by Jean Ann.  You can easily create your own category cards for unit reviews!

SPELL IT!

Roll the five alphabet dice, and use at least 3 of the 5 letters to make a word related to the given theme. Be the first to call out and spell your word, and you win a chip1 This is a fun, fast-paced game!

I don't like this game as much as Jean Ann. This has nothing to do with the fact that I'm a terrible speller and haven't won a game yet, nothing at all.  

TANTRIX

This brain teaser is a color matching puzzle. Arrange the tiles so that all the colored lines match where the tiles touch each other. For each puzzle challenge, select one color and create a closed loop. Begin the easy puzzle by using the first four tiles, increase the level of difficulty by adding the fifth tile, then sixth tile etc.

I LOVE THIS GAME. It's an easy game for students to play quietly at their desk or with groups at a table - or even to keep in your purse for quiet play at restaurants, doctor's offices, etc. 

SPOT IT!

Put your visual perception skills to the test with Spot It, a fun, fast-paced, and simple card game that everyone aged 7 years and up can enjoy. In a group of two to eight players, you'll draw cards and match symbols, like light bulbs, snowmen, or puppies, but with one catch--only one matching symbol exists between any two cards. The first person to spot the matching symbol and call it out wins.

There are four different variations of play to the game and multiple variations of the game, sports, on the road, Junior, and ABC's. This was the #1 Game at Camp Math this summer!!!!

WORD WAVE

Surf the Word Wave to come out on top. Grab the letters as they cascade in waves and create the most words before all the tiles run out. Use quick hands and even quicker thinking to spell as many words as possible. 

I may or may not have just shown this game to one of our wonderful GCSEC coordinators, Michelle Laird...and she may or may not have just won...by a lot...but by using some questionable four letter words. 

You can find links to all these games on our Pinterest board GAMES! GAMES!! GAMES!!! Be sure to also check out Target, Walmart, Amazon, & Ebay for cheaper prices!

Our next Game Night is February 6th at 4:00 (we know that's early for some, don't worry if you have to arrive a little late) RSVP to Stephanie by February 4th!!!!

Since today is election day....

Static Stick Decal Contest!

Have you ever walked past a classroom and the teacher has these cute reading decals sticking on their window?

Thanks to Ms. Messina, I do everyday! They are given to all attendees the of the Illinois Reading Conference held in March every year. Now, I know I'm biased (being an IRC board member) but this conference is FANTASTIC!!!! Three fun reading filled days of conference for the same cost of most one day workshops!

Every year, the Illinois Council for Affective Reading Education (ICARE) and the Illinois Reading Council (IRC) hold a contest for the static sticker.  Fourth through sixth graders from the state of Illinois are invited to participate, and create a sticker encouraging students to read. The winner and their family are invited to the IRC Conference Author Luncheon, receive an autographed book by a well-known children's author and 30 static stick decals for their classmates.  I've personally seen past winners chatting through their lunch with Patricia Polacco, Jan Brett, and receive quite an education from Gary Paulsen.

Then throughout the year other great submissions to the contest are used as cover art for the IRC Journal!!!  

So Take a minute and let your students' creativity fly!!!!!

True Story...

Do you KENKEN?

Anyone who has ever met Jean Ann or me, know that we love games. We think that teaching or reinforcing a skill or concept with a game or activity is far more effective that a worksheet or other "traditional" method.  Add to that the fact that with most games or activities also bring up great social skill teaching moments and we as educators can't loose. Not all games and activities have to be loud, done in groups, or take a lot of prep time from the teacher.  KENKEN is one of those awesome, quiet, easy to implement activities.  

Remember when sudoku was all the rage? We were all on board making copies for our students to try in class, even buying the sudoku rubics cube?  Sudoku is a great logic activity.  But, that's it. Some find it fun and entertaining, but I personally want more.  This is where KENKEN is magic! It takes the same concept of sudoku: if you had a 6x6 grid you would need to fill every row and column with the numbers 1 - 6 with no one number repeating itself in a row or column. Then, it adds the twist.  Within marked sections of boxes there will be a number with an opperation symbol. All the numbers placed within this section must equal the number using the opperation given.  Cool huh?

Here are the official rules:

Fill the grid with digits so as not to repeat a digit in any row or column, and so the digets within each heavily outlined box or boxes (called a cage) will produce the target number shown in that cage by using the operation (addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division) shown by the symbol after the numeral.

For single box cages, simply enter the number that is shown in the corner. 

So, for example, the notation 6+ means that the numerals in the cage should add up to 6, and the notation 48X means that by multiplying the numbers in the cage you will get 48. A 4x4 grid will use the digits 1-4. A 5x5 grid will use 1/5. A 6x6 grid will use the 1-6, and so on.


So for example, here we have a three by three grid.

So we know we are using numbers 1-3 in all the rows and columns. If we look at the first section in the upper left corner, I need two numbers that when added together equal 5 (2 & 3). Looking below that I see a 2 in a single section so I know that has to be a 2. So the first row would be 3, 2, 1 and the start of the second row would be a 2.  The final solution would look like this. 

We still have the logic of sudoku, but now with a basic math fact reinforcement.

The grids will get larger and the operations more involved. 

                            

How do you get KENKEN? Luckily there is a website that will send you a bunch of problems and solutions each week....FOR FREE!!!!!!

http://www.kenken.com/misc/classroom

All you have to do is sign up!

Box Cars and One-Eyed Jacks Literacy!

Our Fearless Presenter Carrie Brockway!

We had a great time this Wednesday learning new tips, tricks, and fun games to help reinforce literacy skills in our classrooms! Under the watchful eye of our fabulous presenter, Carrie, teachers from across the county and beyond enjoyed the fun filled afternoon or evening!    

Manipulative Madness!!!

For teaching spelling and other language skills, Box Cars and One-Eyed Jacks offers word cards, literacy dice, sticky letter tiles and other hands-on tools specially made for language arts activities

Sticky letter tiles....so much fun!

Sticky letter tiles stack on each other and stick to white boards, refrigerators and much more.  FUN FUN FUN!!!

So many games were learned, and discussions had by all about how to utilize and adapt them in our classes.   

Once again, sibling rivalry appeared...who one this round? Hannah? Erin?

  

Some activities required more concentration than others. 

But without a doubt FUN was had by all!!! 

But I must say...we have some of the MOST competitive teachers attending!