Headfirst First Grade Math Curriculum Unit 1

These are highlights from Unit 1! It is designed to be used during the first quarter of first grade.

This is the teacher binder. On the left are keys for the worksheets. On the right is a lesson plan page.

I have a teacher binder file that has detailed instructions on how to put together this binder. It has the lesson plans with photos and teaching tips as well as the keys to the worksheets so you can see

at a glance what you are teaching. 

a calendar for practicing counting, number patterns to extend and much more! I have the pages in page protectors, and as my team and I plan, I write with dry erase markers the dates we will use things and any notes. 

Here are some worksheet examples:

Number Lines:

Number Bonds using an abacus:

Linking Number Bonds to Number Sentences:

Understanding that the equal sign can be on either

side of the number sentence:

Understanding the pattern that comes from adding one more:

At the end of the unit, I have included practice of

mixed number bonds and linking them to missing addends:

Mystery pictures of each number 5-10:

This is an example of one of the story problem prompts.

Students can glue the strip with the problem in their notebook or the pages can be printed for them to write on. This can be projected so kids can follow the teacher model.

These are activities included for small groups or centers. 

Part Part Whole Mat:

Dry erase mat to use with two marker colors:

Linking dominoes to sums:

Using two colors to show the ways to make a number:

These are crafts for each number bond:

It is the 9th week of school, and we are nearing the end of this unit. I have taught this unit from the first day of school and other than tweaking some things, it has be GREAT! The kids are understanding number lines, ten frames, and number bonds, addition, and subtraction to 10 more deeply than other years when I have used other curricula. The students have been excited about math and engaged daily in hands-on and paper and pencil activities, both of which I feel are crucial to deeply understanding math concepts. I am looking forward to finishing Unit 1

and continuing on to Unit 2! 

Headfirst First Grade Math Curriculum is ALMOST done!

I DID IT! I created a math curriculum! It started out as just a double-digit unit and has exploded into 4 HUGE units that cover addition and subtraction for all of first grade. I am sooooo proud of it. I am in the final stages, just have to print some things and get them in the binders. It is going to change our math lives this year in first grade. I'm hoping to make a little cash from TPT too. I have had some other first grade teachers that I met online edit for me, one person per unit. I have gotten several compliments including: 

    This was A LOT of work, and it looks AMAZING! 

    Classroom number line looks awesome!

    I really enjoyed that you put when the unit is intended for (beginning of 
    first grade) along with what students should already know in order to
    start the unit.

    I LOVED that you also included how you run your Math block, that will
    be extremely helpful for new teachers. 

    It’s helpful that you have included all the mats so the purchaser can
    print them, I know some classrooms do not have any of the work mats
    (10 frames, part, part, whole). 

    I think it’s great! 

    I love how you made the worksheets in chronicle order how we would
    teach, modeling-guided practice-independent practice. 

    I absolutely love how on the worksheet you have the largest number
    circled, I know my students always forget to start at the biggest number
    so that will be a good reinforcement. 

    Students will benefit from the worksheets (number bonds to make
    5,6, etc) that are very similar.

    It seriously all looks amazing!!!

    Be expecting me to purchase the other ones ! 

    Thank you for letting me review the first one, I really appreciate 
    it! It will definitely get put to good use!!

I must say my head has swelled a little! I can't wait to see how it is received on TPT! 

Click HERE to download the Sampler FREEBIE!

Should I create a math curriculum?

This is my third year teaching first grade in my school. Every year I have had hopes that this would be the year that we would find our perfect combination of math lessons, worksheets, and materials, and every year I'm disappointed. I have finally created a scope and sequence at least. I am hoping that my team will be willing to look at the year as a whole and see if we are.happy with how it is and can commit to it for future years. This year we have planned about a month at a time until January came and now we're down to planning week by week and it's making me crazy! We have to get through the same standards each year so why do we have to constantly switch it up?! We now have 4 math curricula that we pull from and it is a literal mess! I don't mind supplementing but we need a base to start with. So my dilemma. Do I just bite the bullet and spend my summer developing a curriculum? Could I convince them to use it? Would I be able to make any money from it?

Morning Meeting Binder

When I was teaching preschool, I learned about Kim Adsit and Shari Sloane's Student Calendar Notebook. I thought it was such a great way to get students more involved in the morning meeting. I couldn't use it in preschool, but was excited to get started once I was in 1st grade. Now you might remember that my 1st year in first grade was a little rough to start out. I got transferred from preschool to first grade on the first day of our 3-day teacher institute after which school started. So 3 days to get a 1st grade classroom ready did not include student calendar notebooks! A few months in, I decided to try it. I have been in love ever since!

The first year I did use some of Kim and Shari's ideas. However, they are all made in landscape which wasn't working with my binders on my kiddos' laps on the carpet. So I remade the binder pages. Since then I added Wild About Teaching's Numbers Galore Pages, monthly poetry, and this year morning work.

The first two years I used the binders, they were just used at the carpet. But this year I decided to add morning work to the back. So right away when the kids come into the classroom, they get their binders out and start working. This year I added some of Reagan Tunstall's Rise and Shine Binder.

The kids feel very proud to have their own binder to use. It was a pretty big investment and some are not treating them as well as I would like but it is what it is. I wanted to use them so I have to deal with the pitfalls.

I have a binder too that I fill out as the kids do to model.

Here are what each page looks like.
Cover:

Calendar: I don't usually fill in the numbers but I did on August. I fill in the 1st on each month so the kids get off to a good start on where to write the numbers. This page is on cardstock so it will last all month.

On the back of the calendar page: We make a tally mark and fill in a fingernail for each day of the month.

Weather: This page has one month on one side and the next month on the other side. It is also on cardstock.

I made up some number patterns. The helper picks a number pattern and tells me the missing numbers. I change these throughout the year to go with what we are working on in math. This page is on cardstock.

On the back are clocks. The helper sets the judy clock to a time on the hour and the students copy it into their binder page. I have a big one I write on to model.

We count the days of school and fill in the numbers on a 100s chart. At first they trace them and eventually write them themselves. 101+ is on the back.

Next are the Numbers Galore pages. We do the page that shows how many days of school we've had. Mine is in a page protector but their pages are just paper. Days 1-20, we just do the Numbers Galore page. Day 21 and after, I put DOL (It is really called Daily Language Review) on the back.

After this are poetry pages for the month. I wrote another post on my poetry. We do some echo reading and practice and eventually they read them aloud to the class.

Finally in the back of the binder is morning work. I have a morning work packet that I bought and use as well as practicing spelling words and sentences.


I do feel overwhelmed at the beginning of each month when I have to change the calendar and weather pages, add and remove number/DOL pages, poetry, and morning work. It is worth it to see the kids' reactions when they open up to find new pages. I did make the copies for the calendar, weather, number/DOL, and poetry in advance. So I just have to copy the morning work at the beginning of the month. I binder clipped the pages together thinking that the kids could change out the pages themselves, but it is just too hard for them and they end up making a mess with the pages which takes me longer to clean up than just doing it myself in the first place does. 

Sub Binder - How to plan for an Emergency Sub in first grade

I'm sure many people have a sub binder. It is not a new concept. There are many to purchase on TPT. I subbed for a while and it can be really hard, especially in the younger grades because the kids aren't very forgiving when things aren't done the way they are used to. I decided that the best way to keep things normal for them was to make a very descriptive daily schedule complete with pictures. I have gotten many compliments and kudos from subs.

Here's what it looks like:

In the front I also have a class list, a photo sheet of the students, emergency procedures, and special instructions for students like allergies or health concerns.

School Family Jobs - Student Helpers

In the past, I have had a job for each child in my class. They kept the job for the week. This year I decided to try having one helper each day who does all the jobs. WHY DID I NOT DO THIS BEFORE? It has made my life so much easier. The child really feels special when it is his or her turn. I don't have to remember who has each job. I get out of doing a lot of "grunt work"! And the kids love doing all these menial tasks! Here is a list of what the helper does in the morning (instead of morning work) and then what the helper does during morning meeting.

Other things that I have the helper do: pass out papers, take things to the office for copies, run errands like go to the copy machine or take something to another teacher, lead the line, pass out the snack napkins, turn on/off the lights, stuff mailboxes with graded papers. Since each student has a number, I just go in number order to decide who is the next helper.