Time and money tend to be the two toughest first grade concepts to teach. And just when your kiddos can tell time to the hour and half hour, you throw in elapsed time! 

 Luckily we focus on elapsed time in hour increments, so it is not quite as complicated as those of you that teach it in half hour or smaller increments...God speed to you folks!

When I teach elapsed time, we go over many methods to solve the problems. I like to share and model different methods, but I also like to have my students share their own ideas for solving problems. I like to give them a problem and ask them to solve it and share their own thinking. Oftentimes they can share a way that may work for other students in the class too! Some of our most used strategies are: 

1. Counting on and counting back: Since we already have a solid handle on this from solving addition and subtraction facts, my students can start at 1:00, and then count on 2 more hours until they reach 3:00. (I have taught my students to use their fist for this. For example, they would hold up their closed fist and say "1:00," and then put up one finger saying "2:00," and another finger saying "3:00.")
2. Using the clock like a number line: The number line is also another tool they know how to use, so I show them how they can use the clock like a number line. Placing their finger at the starting hour, and they hop two more hours to find the end time. This can also be done when you start at the half hour mark, you just have to remind them that the hour hand is in between the two numbers of the clock when making their hops.
3. Manipulating the clock: For some of my kiddos, they actually need our friendly Judy clock to help them find the time. If they use my larger teacher clock, they move the minute hand around two times to see where the hour hand ends up. Some also do fine with the smaller student clocks and move the hour hand two spots.

Once we understood elapsed time, I wanted them to practice elapsed time to the hour and half hour in their interactive notebooks. So, I created a few pages for them to employ the strategies on their own. They did a great job thinking it through and I even heard the word "fun" going around the room!

After I saw my students had a solid understanding of elapsed time with the problems created by me, I wanted to take their learning and problem solving to the next level and have them create their own elapsed time scenario. They came up with the starting time and the activity, and then had to find the end time for their activity.

We are also a 1:1 iPad mini classroom, so as they were doing this, they each had their personal Judy clock and took pictures of the start and end times. They also took a picture of their activity. From there, they put their pictures into a PicCollage, uploaded it to SeeSaw, and added audio, explaining the whole process in the app. Once this was in SeeSaw and I approved it, and their clip could be seen by their parents, classmates, and myself! How awesome is this video?! This could also be done in a classroom with a few iPads. You could have your students complete the scenario sheet, and then do their photos and recording when they are at the iPad center that week, or whenever you have them visit the iPads.

I used the elapsed time sheet for my students to map out their thoughts for their scenario before taking their pictures. (One thing that I have learned is that first graders benefit from having their thoughts down on paper first!) If you don't have iPads, this is still a fantastic activity for students to practice elapsed time.

You can find the interactive notebook pages and elapsed time scenario sheet FREEBIES here!
If you are looking for more time activities, you can also this fun Time Turtle Craftivity. 

Check out my classroom projects! Use code LIFTOFF to match donations.
http://www.donorschoose.org/Becky.Wimmer

Hi everyone! I'm excited to be a part of the Kunin Group Felt Project Blog Party! I recently received a large box of awesome felt and other goodies from the very creative Laura Kelly, and immediately began thinking about what I could make for my math centers. When it comes to math facts, my students do well with doubles facts, but sometimes forget that they can relate them to the doubles + 1 facts. So I made some doubles ladybugs to help my students practice the relationship between doubles and doubles + 1 addition fats. 

I thought I'd share with you the steps I took to make the ladybugs! The felt I used was 9" x 12" Craft Cuts Kunin Eco-fi Classicfelt™. You could also use cut by the yard Kunin Eco-fiPlus™ Premiumfelt.

*Disclosure: Some of these products were samples provided to me to try. Opinions and the choice to use  are 100% my own! This post contains product links.*

After researching the easiest and most time saving methods for cutting felt, these were the steps I followed. I first drew the ladybugs patterns onto paper, and then placed them underneath freezer paper, tracing them onto the freezer paper. You can find the patterns for the ladybug here!

From there, I ironed the patterns onto the felt (shiny side touching the felt). This made it much easier to cut out the pieces, and I didn't have to fool around with trying to draw on the felt. The best part about this was that the freezer paper peeled right off, and I could iron it on to another piece to make more ladybugs!

Once I had the main ladybug pieces cut out, I spent some time after school one day with our school's well loved Ellison Prestige Pro Die Cut Machine. I used our number die cuts, and while it didn't always fully cut through the felt for the whole number (due to the well loved condition), I only needed to go back and do a few snips to remove the numbers from the felt. I also used the "lowercase i" die cut to get the dot from the i for the ladybug dots! Such a time saver!

After cutting out a plus and equal sign, I also made a felt board with a piece of cardboard from the backing of a pack of paper. I used spray adhesive to glue the white felt onto the board. Then, my center was complete!

Materials Needed for the Doubles Ladybug Center

1. Have all felt pieces ready for students: ladybug body, wings, white dots for eyes and +1, black dots to go with the number sentence, numbers, plus and equal sign, and felt board. 
2. Print out the "Doubles and Doubles + 1" recording sheet (Click here to get the sheet!)
3, Have one or two dice in the center, depending on the range of facts you want to be practiced.

How to Play (Can be individual or partner play)

1. Have students place the ladybug body, wings, and eyes onto the board.
2. Students roll the die or dice. The number they roll is the number they show in doubles facts. Ex.
rolling a 3 would become 3+3. If they roll two dice, students add the numbers on the dice together
to find the number they double.
3. After rolling, students place that number of black dots on each ladybug wing. They also complete the number sentence with felt numbers, and record it on the recording sheet. Students may count the dots on the ladybug to help them complete the number sentence.
4. Students then add a white dot to one of the wings and change one addend in the number sentence, and then solve for the new addend. Record the doubles + 1 number sentence.
5. Clear numbers and dots from board, roll the die/dice again and complete the same steps.

You can now find an expanded color line of Kunin Eco-fi Classicfelt™; Eco-fiPlus™ Premiumfelt and ShaggiChic  non-wovens fabrics in cut by the yard at your local Walmart. Please inquire as to what is available in your area. 

You also have a chance of winning the Ellison All Star Die Cut Machine and Kunin Felt Craft Stash by participating in the rafflecopter! This is such an amazing prize! Can you imagine how much time the die cut machine would save you?!

Be sure to check out all of the other amazing #classroomswithfelt pojects from some of my blogging friends! These posts have inspired me to get my craft on!