Daily Fix-It & Math Problem Solving

I seriously lack in the area of daily fix its.  I think they are really hard for kinders at the beginning of the year…and they are BORING.   I like to start doing them at this time of the year when the kiddos have a good grasp of sentence structure, and are pretty great little readers .

I came up with this version of daily fix it:

Right now, the children are doing this for morning work while we wait for the other kids (half of my class!) to come from breakfast.  It works out well because there is plenty of time for the children to work on detailed drawings.  When the children work through the fix-its, I have them first try to read the sentence.  Then they circle any errors that they find.  I usually tell them the number of errors.  They then re-write the sentence in their neatest handwriting and add their corresponding illustration.  There is also always a mixed-up sight word as well, so they get practice noticing that and referring to the word wall if they need to. So, we get some editing and handwriting practice in.  The last step is to have a friend check it.  I love this part – the children are harder on each other than I am, and they are so receptive to their peers’ criticism!

The second new thing we have been working on (well, it’s not really new, but this format is) is our daily problem solving book.  In the past, we have done this in our math journals, and I have had to prepare labels or cut out strips.  We would have the messiness of glue and goo…argh..frustrated me to no end.  So, I created the March Problem Solving Book! 

We use this as both a literacy and math activity by circling or highlight words/sounds we know, underlining important information and so on.  It takes us about 15 minutes to get through it.  The children LOVE it, and I LOVE the learning they are getting from it.  They are becoming great little problem solvers!