Back to School: Using Seasonal Sticky Notes in the Classroom!

Fern Smith's Classroom Ideas Using Seasonal Sticky Notes in the Classroom for a Working Number Line.

Creating a Daily Classroom Number Line

One of my favorite things to do, is a Morning Meeting at my classroom calendar. Many skills can be tucked into a quick ten minutes in the morning. Seasonal sticky notes are a terrific way to keep track of the number of days we've been at school.
Even with the upper elementary grades I loved doing this because as the year rolls on, they have a visual number line, in groups of ten, to help as an anchor chart for multiplication, division, even some intermediate level students still need support with basic addition and subtraction facts....

Directions and Materials:

* 20 - 21 different seasonal sticky note pads, you will need 10 of each type. Ellison die cuts will also work well.

* Pre-cut a strip of ribbon, cash register tape, construction paper, etc. to the length of TEN seasonal sticky notes. About four feet for the store bought sticky notes.
* Place on an empty area next to your calendar. It will grow and fill the space as school progresses.

* Each day write the number for that school day and place on the ribbon. This is also a great job for the class helper. It is always very hot in Florida when we go back in August, so I use some summer themes and then progress to the cute back to school stuff for September, fall for October, etc.

* As each day unfolds you will have created in groups of ten, a working number line for your classroom.