Starting Math Journals

Where did the weekend go? We packed as many fun things into the weekend as we could, so I shouldn't be surprised that it went by so fast. 

 Football game on Friday night 
soccer pictures/game on Saturday morning 
boys day for my son and husband at the U of M game 
girls day at the nail salon (plus shopping and ice cream) with my daughter 
church 
Sunday School 
and football practice today 
Overscheduled? Yes!   Fun? Yes!    Tired? Yep.    Worth it? Absolutely! 

 My students worked in their math journals for the first time on Friday. One of the first things I do in 1st grade is make a few anchor charts called "All About the Number...". We made a few of those over the past 2 weeks. You can find several different versions floating around on Pinterest. Before we start working in our math journals, I want my students to know that there are lots of different ways to represent each number. I wasn't allowed to draw pictures, use tally marks, explain my thinking in words or make the number on a 5 frame when I was in elementary school. The nuns wouldn't let me.  Anyway.......... here is one of the anchor charts we made about the number 5.

On Friday, I asked the students to choose a number between 2 and 5. Each student made their own "All About the Number" page on the first page of their math journal. Here is a sample of one of the pages. I encouraged each student to represent their number in a variety of ways, so we could practice sharing our mathematical thinking.

a picture of our math journals

For the rest of the year, we will use math journal prompts 2 - 3 times each week. I use 3 different sets of math journal prompts. I have a fall math journal prompt set, a winter math journal prompt set and a spring math journal prompt set. You can read more about them in an old post here.  All 3 sets are available in my Tpt store and my Teachers Notebook shop. Now, that I've introduced math journals, my students are ready to use 2 prompts from my fall set this week.

Better finish preparing myself for the 5 a.m. weekday wake up.  Have a great week!