Total of 10, Tens Go Fish

This past week we have been playing a math game that focuses on finding combinations of ten. All you need is a deck of cards. You will need to take out the face cards or you can treat the face cards like a wild card. With a partner pass out 7 cards each. Each player will look at the cards in their hand. They will look for two cards that add up to ten. For example: 5+5, 7+3, etc. They will set these cards aside. Next they will continue to play the game just like Go Fish. Each player asks the other if they have a number that would help them make a combination of 10. If the other player does not have that card, the person asking would take one from the left over deck of cards. Continue to play until all cards are gone. If one person runs out of cards, they will draw 7 more from the deck.

If your child can not hold the cards in their hand, another variation would be for you to place 5 rows of 4 cards facing up on the ground. Have your child look at the cards to make combinations of ten. They can use multiple cards to make the combination. As the child takes cards from the rows, replace them with new cards from the deck.

Repeated Reading Builds Fluency!

By the end of the year, we expect first-grade students to be able to independently read aloud from Level I books using intonation, pauses and emphasis that signal the structure of a sentence and the meaning of a text. They should use the cues of punctuation -- including commas, periods, question marks and quotation marks to guide them in getting meaning and fluently reading aloud. Repeated Reading has been shown to improve students' reading fluency and general reading. Recording students while they read aloud is a great strategy to use. As they listen to themselves they can hear when their reading does not sound fluent and along with teacher guidance they can begin to make corrections to improve fluency.

Using your own recording device at home, record your child reading their Book in a Bag. Your child should listen to their recording. Discuss strengths and areas that need improvement. Then, have them read their book again as you record. Have your child listen to the second recording and discuss their areas of improvement. Repeated Reading is sure to make a positive impact :)

Listen to Amanda read Ribbon Rescue. Notice the changes she makes from the first time she reads the story.