Week Four Reflections

20 days… I still can’t believe it’s already September. 

Highlights of this last week!

1. My students started a Silent Reading Book Club this week.  I learned last week that they hadn't read Island of the Blue Dolphins (regular 4th grade class novel) due to distance learning, so I highly encouraged them to check out a copy from our school library. They are SO excited to read it. The deal with the book club is that when they are done, we will watch the movie.  About half my class chose to check it out, and now I’m hearing (and seeing) them react to the big moments in those first chapters. 

2. Since it's been 3 weeks, we started our week having a class chat about what we've noticed that we are doing well as a class, and what goals we want to work on.  I wrote it on the board.  I used to do this weekly, and I guess it's another thing that I forgot over the last year of craziness.  

3.  We started researching our Native American Tribes.  Groups are learning about common consistencies between tribes in certain regions, so we are working on learning specifics about how the Native Americans before the European Settlers arrived lived - diet, location, shelter, tools, jobs, etc.  I like to use this project by Teaching in Room 6. 

As for tri-fold boards - every year we clean out the Dollar Tree.  It's a great price when you are buying 8 per class (32 total).

4.  We changed desks on Tuesday, the last day of the month.  It's a tradition in my classroom.  Every last day of the month we are switching seats, unless it's the weekend and then it's always the Friday before.  In the past the kids would just take out their items and move everything to the new seat, but this year with everything going on, they had to haul their entire desk across the room. It just took longer.  :)  To make it easy, I have a powerpoint template on my computer that I always print. This year it's 8 groups of 4... we are a little squishy, but we're making it work. I just make 1 table of 2x2, and then copy and paste it over and over.  Tables in a ppt. make it easy to type the names in.

5.  Speaking of the end of the month... I really LOVE my calendar this year.  Every Back to School I always buy one of these desk calendars for our information wall. So far this year, everyday I ask the kids for one highlight.  What is something they want to remember?  Then I write it on the calendar.  Usually it's a satisfying rip and toss at the end of the month, but this year I'm going to hold onto them for the end of the year so we can see all our memories. 

6. First day of the new month also meant that we were changing out our class jobs. I have my job chart on the side of my file cabinet. On the base of the laminated numbers I have velcro holding it on. It’s really easy to attach. I use this product.

*Paper Checkers - they are filling up our class mailboxes with practice papers. I personally take care of graded work.

*Teacher Assistants- they are helping me pass out papers and materials in class to get it to all the groups quickly.

*Book Helpers- they are keeping our classroom library organized.

*Lunch- they are in charge of bringing the basket in and out every day. 

*Future leaders- they are in charge of randomness- writing team points on the boards, choosing the class game, etc.

*Errand runners- they are my go to kids when something or someone needs to go some where.

*Kindness Club- they are the ones I’m sending to read kindness books to younger grades, and they are writing encouragement notes to the kids in class.

*Room Monitors- they are my extra set of hands and eyes, reminding kids about cleaning up their areas.

Everyone always has a job, because it’s our classroom and belongs to all of us.

7. We had a Math Fact Snowball Fight this week.  Yep, it's really easy, and the kids LOVE it.  One piece of copy paper each, then they write a math fact on the paper. They write their name, and on my "Toss!" they toss it into the air. The papers fall, and the kids grab one from the ground. They open it up, solve the math fact, write their initials, and then make a new math fact.  They don't toss until it's time.  It goes super fast. We continue on until the paper is full or falling apart.  I've learned we really need to practice our math facts. 

8. I had to print out sight word lists. Yep. 5th grade. Some kids are starting with the basics. I still use my sight word lists from when I taught 2nd grade, lists go to 5th grade as well... but it's mainly for my beginning readers. I’ve been doing book talks every day during independent workshop, so now I’m also pulling my special friends to do sight word practice at the same time. I can't wait to see growth.  :) 

9. We had our first taste of Rainbow Editing this week as well. I love Rainbow Editing.  I've been doing this for years, and it really works! 

Red - capitals

Orange - punctuation

Yellow - indents

Green - topic sentence and/or key words

Blue - details or reasons

Purple - spelling to check

Every paragraph should be a rainbow... and if it's not, then add to it!

10. We had Spirit Week this week! It was fun. :) PJ Day, Sports Day, Monochrome Day, Tourist Day, and Extreme School Spirit. Having a staff meeting in PJs is always welcome.  Ha!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend! I'm so thankful for the extra day.  :) 

(Disclaimer - these are things that I have found that works for my classroom.  Not sponsored in any way, I just like to share.)

Week Two Reflections

I had high hopes for blogging this week. But that didn't happen.  Life happened. Here's a recap of my week.

Monday:

We started homework this week, and even though the kids had to write it down in their agendas, I did post a picture on Class Dojo so parents could keep an eye out as well.  The last time these kids had homework was 18 months ago in third grade... they need some help with being responsible.  

I also taped up my computer cart with electrical tape so students could easily find their specific classroom laptop.  Tape went on the bottom groove where the computer slides in and also around the charging cord, I numbered it with sharpie. We also wrote our specific computer number in our agendas so they could "prove" it to others.  It's not sticking as great as I thought it would, but it's doing the job so I won't have to redo.  

Tuesday:

I'm back to using TEAMs again. I had added channels for a Class Chat, Helpful Websites, and Homework Help channels last week... but then added more...

*Workshop Activities has images of papers that I used to copy. Last year really proved the kids don't need their own copy to tackle it, so I just uploaded for the week, and will take it down on Monday and upload the new information.  I added their Math Spiral and list of spelling words for easy access.  

 *Absent Kids... I already have my first kid at home due to a cold... but since it's the same symptoms as something else, well I realized I needed a way for the kids trapped at home for weeks to keep up with in class students.  Or at least have access.  Every day that someone is absent I will now snap pictures of the math workbook and upload on a post in that specific channel. I let parents know they can look there. 

We started Workshop today! The kids had to do part of their math spiral, part of their Your Turn (Reading) workbook, and 1 spelling option per day Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  Then on Friday we went over it all and they graded their own papers.  When they were busy working individually or with partners, I was calling kids over for Book Talks and Conferences.

These are the workshop resources I use:

Math Spiral

Spelling Options

Your Turn reading workbook is part of the Wonders curriculum.

Wednesday:

I moved the furniture around again during prep. So that picture above isn't exactly what it looks like anymore, but I forgot to take a new picture.  My brain is tired... Tried to make the outside edges a little more fluid since there are SO. MANY. KIDS. The big table on the right edge is now next to the paper towel holder, the back white bench is now where that table used to be... it opens the room so much better. The desks also got moved a bit.  I wanted to give kids a little more breathing room, so there is a small gap between table groups.  It's enough for the 4 kids by the gap to put their backpacks, or me to walk through. Feeling squished is not a pleasant feeling, and then being stuck inside due to air quality was feeling slightly claustrophobic.

Thursday:

Mrs. Granger (from Frindle) stopped by.  We were wrapping up our novel, and she tends to arrive right when the kids happen to need to do some dictionary drills aka the Dictionary Scavenger Hunt... Ha! I love how EVERY year there are kids that do not realize that it's me.  Throw a skirt over my capris, wear a cardigan, a gray wig, different glasses, carry around my college dictionary, and have an accent, and some are completely fooled.  Then I start preaching about the importance of the dictionary and my distaste for the word "Frindle" and it's a hoot.  

Friday:

We started Friday Fluency today. Something we learned last year with distance learning is that MANY of the kids did NOT practice reading aloud while at home.  So it'll be a weekly practice until our words per minute improve. I time them for a minute, they read aloud to themselves, hands over their ears they are able to hear only themselves speak, and then I yell "TIME" when done.  They circle the word that they got to in their workbook, then we do it again, the goal to pass by their first word.  I'm not worried about numbers at this point, I just want them to have that feeling of accomplishment.

I also found some Keto ice cream that really hit the spot now that I have to watch carbs and sugar... It was a NEED for chocolate ice cream kind of night.  It's been a doozy of a week. Here's hoping it doesn't affect my blood sugar that bad... I found it at the grocery store, and it was tasty.  

Hope you had a great week!

Math Review - Shout Out

Backtracking a bit today... Wanted to share a few math review activities that my kids enjoyed as we were reviewing full class.  Now in a normal year we do a lot of playing with task cards and Jenga year round, and then they create their Math Board games for the major end of school review... but this year it was just hard... for a lot of reasons... I was searching for that classroom magic. I started searching through my purchases on TPT and found these math mysteries.  I had picked them up last year before the world shut down...  

These Math Mysteries by Mrs. J's Resource Creations definitely helped and are awesome! For a couple of weeks we did them together on our full distance days (Wednesdays). I would take screenshots of the pages to drag into our TEAM meeting conversations. The kids click on the images and it went larger so the kids could see, and then we would work together to find the codes. I tried doing them in breakout groups so the kids could work in small groups, like I would have had them do in the classroom.  But they needed the accountability that came with whole group.  We did them together.  The kids were so engaged. 

So a little different than what was expected. 

We did the Case of the Bee Bandits. It reviewed a little of everything which was perfect for one more review of those tricky units.  The kids used copy paper to solve the problems, and we had full class teamwork to figure out the bad guys. Major detective skills!

We also did Case of the Puzzled Pirate. Another winner! It reviewed Place Value.  Next year I think I'm going to add this to my Pirate Day.

I picked up some other Math Mysteries so I’m ready for next year. She has a lot to choose from.  I focused on the areas that I know kids usually have a hard time with, a little extra review is never wasted. I now have her Case of the Disappearing Donuts (Decimals) and the Case of the Divided Dragons (Division). 

What other awesome resources do you use to review at the end of the year?

Hope this helps! 

Jenga to Review Math

In a normal year I use Jenga blocks to review for tests all year long. I have 8 sets of blocks, enough for each group to have one as we review. 

It’s a pretty basic set up. I print off task cards, or some activity. The kids work independently to solve the problem, then have a discussion about their answers. 

Did they get the same answer? Then they discuss the different strategies they used. 

Did they get different answers? Then they work together to figure out where the error was and discuss strategies. 

By their discussions they are showing their understanding.

After they have a discussion they all take a turn to play a block in Jenga. 

Then they move onto the next problem. 

Solve

Discuss

Learn

Play 

It’s the same kind of thing with a lot of games. 

With distance learning the kids have missed out on that kind of fun, so now that kids are back in the classroom I figured that we could do the same kind of thing in breakout sessions. We tackled this today for our math review and tomorrow we will do it again with the other set of kids.... a different review with the other half of the blocks.  I split each set of blocks so that the stacks were shorter and stacking didn't take as long.

The kids in the classroom are once again the leaders. They have the jenga sets. I stuck the problems in their team channel. The teammates at home cheer on their in class group member, but they also have to help solve the problems.  

I wanted to make sure that only one in class kid is in a group, so I hand picked groups and started the meetings myself, instead of the random assortment we usually do. Each group has one person from group A, one from B, and one from our DL kids. Thankfully my class is split pretty equally.

Hope you had a great day! 

Smarter than a 5th Grader - Math Review

For a while when my own boys were younger we would watch the Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader show as a family. We like those kinds of knowledge shows. Then when I moved to 5th grade, it was a perfect fit to review everything for math. I even found the actual board game in a thrift store and was able to grab the logo to give some official decoration to my classroom. Sometimes that’s all it takes to make it feel magical. Grabbing a logo from a Google search, and projecting it on the white board, and the kids feel extra excitement. 

In a normal year the kids work in teams to create the project. It’s a whole thing, they have to brainstorm a game board - using large poster board. The game boards, game pieces, and corresponding question cards/answer key then are displayed during Open House. Kids quiz their parents, they drag their friends in to play their games, it’s a big deal. They love it!! 

This year I still want kids to have that experience, but I’m giving them the option to go digital, or keep it as a hard copy. All independent. Either way, I get to see their finished product. Of course I want to see their game board, but I’m really looking at their questions and answer key. :)

Here’s how they start. Before any game board is created they have to create questions in specific categories. (Just like the real game show.) Since it’s all math related, they have to come up with 5 problems in each category. 

#1-5 Place Value

#6-10 Order of Operations

#11-15 Multiplication

#16-20 Division

#21-25 Decimals

#26-30 Fractions

#31-35 Graphing

#36-40 Volume

Now they are welcome to use their math book as inspiration, but we always have the deal that they have to come up with their own problems. Word problems being at least 1 of the questions in each category since they are tricky. Usually I give them 40 index cards, and they label the cards with the specific question number and category. This year I’m thinking of just having them stick it all in a PowerPoint.

But what good are questions if they don’t have an answer key for our guests to check their answers? So an answer key must be tucked into a file folder near the board game when the games are played. The file folder also helps to contain all the little pieces once everything is complete.

So creating 40 questions, creating an answer key (and checking their answers to make sure they are correct), and then finally the teams can work together to make a game board. 

I give them a lot of choices. They can do something like Chutes and Ladders, they can do something like Monopoly, they can create something totally new. They need game pieces, they can borrow dice, a sand timer, play money, or even a bell, etc. It’s a way to have fun and review. They must test out the game to make sure it makes sense. They must have directions clearly on the game. 

When everyone is done, we then move into the playing phase. One member of the team stays at their game to explain the rules, while the other members switch around to play the other games. We play the games the following weeks until the last week of school. 

This year, the kids will be creating their games over the 2 weeks before the state math test. They have to turn the different parts in for their daily math independent work. We will also be doing more review in those final few days together, but this game is the bulk of their review.  

Hope this helps,

Cleaning Out My Pantry - A Math Activity

I love teaching volume.  It can be so much fun.  

One way is by cleaning out my pantry and recycle bin at home.  All those empty boxes, or almost empty boxes, I pull out and then tape shut.  I bring them to school and we play grocery store.

Because kids are still kids, and they like to play make believe.  

Some years I make a Supermarket and the kids pick and choose boxes from our "store" to figure out volume.  I leave out rulers and they have to measure the height, width, and depth.  Then they make a chart with the different measurements and we go over it later in the week.

This year I still cleaned out my pantry, but instead we did it full class.  

I brought it in one of my insulated totes and asked them what they were hungry for.  We took turns in class vs. at home, choosing items... They are always amazed that my family is just like theirs - we shop bulk food at Costco, my boys like Cheez its too, we all drool over the brownies box...  Anyhow, this year I measured with the ruler, rounding to the closest inch, and they did their part with figuring out volume.  

In a normal year we have gone a little further with the review and measured to turn into decimals and fractions, but there isn't time this year.  We've already done that in our regular lessons though.

Then I switched the online group to reviewing via task cards that I had uploaded to our TEAM, while the kids in the classroom created rectangular prisms using linking cubes from their desk pouches.  My in class were using their 16 cubes to create the many different ways to rearrange the cubes... then as they finished they took turns coming close to the webcam to show it off for the kids at home.  The kids at home were told the dimensions and solved the volume for the kids in class.  It totally worked and I had this moment that it was all going to be okay.  

That was Monday, and then on Tuesday my new group of in class kids used their linking cubes to come up with composite figures.  Same kind of thing, I worked with online doing review task cards while in class were building, and then in class was ready to share. 

Tuesday I pulled out the same pantry boxes again, and held up two of them to have the kids find the composite volume.  It clicked for some of my kids.  

I think this all might just work...  at least that's my hope.  

Hope you had a great day!

Let's Talk about Games

I've always loved using task cards in my classroom - I jumped on that bandwagon years ago.  I use them for intervention, for review, for centers, for Scoot, etc.  Something that I've added to that list the last couple of years is using them in conjunction with interactive kid games.  That's a way to bump up engagement.

It's also only a special treat.  I only do this for review times, not for the everyday math lessons (we have other games/activities for those).  I want kids to have a foundation before they are having to multi-task.  Sometimes I'll add one of these games into a center rotation, but that's pretty unlikely as I won't be able to monitor as much when I'm working with my own group.  The focus has to stay on the math skills, the games are just the fun vehicle.   

Kerplunk

 So here's the breakdown of what I've tried:

Kerplunk - I have one giant game.  It's actually a pain to set up, but the kids love it.  I got it on major sale after Christmas one year.  It also takes a long time to reset the game, so when it's up I try to use it for many different things. 

I have used it for Classroom Management (Head Over Heels for Teaching idea) - where a hard working kid gets to pull a stick.  When the balls fall the entire class gets a reward.  

***With TASK CARDS all these games pretty much have the same routine:

1.  The player or team chooses a task card and EVERYONE solves it.  

2. The player checks their answers against every other player's answers, and they see if they match.  If they do, they notice the different ways they have solved the problem (what different strategies did they use) - using a number talk format.  

3. If they don't have matching answers, then they still have a conversation and teach each other how they did the problem, usually errors are figured out as to why it was the wrong answer (error analysis). 

4. At the very end, they can check their answer on the answer key, then the player gets a chance to play their turn (even if they got the math problem incorrect).  

Connect 4

The last couple of years I have only had one game of Connect 4.  It's on my list to get a couple more sets since the kids love it so much.  It's also good for rainy day games, since it's a quick reset.  They play similar to above - but are working in teams to choose the math problem and to place their game pieces.  Since it's a faster paced game, I have each member of the team get their own piece (so 2 pieces are played at a time).  Everyone still solves the problem, everyone still takes part in the discussion.

Basket Case

 Basket Case - My grade level has a couple sets of these in the workroom.  It's so much fun and the kids have a blast.  It's a quick set up, but there is definitely more skill involved with that pesky hand-eye coordination. Lots of laughs with this game.  Same idea as to how to play using task cards.  They all solve the problem, they all have those conversations, then the person who has it on their head is the one tossing the ball into the air and trying to catch it.

Jenga

Jenga - I actually have 8 sets of these in the classroom.  You probably do not need one for each group of 4, but they have come in handy over the years.  Sometimes we have an entire room of Jenga going at a time.  It does take a little bit of time to reset, little sand timers help with having the kids reset quickly.  If you are doing these on desks, I've found it's faster to use a small tray under the game so that kids build on that.  It seems to help when the blocks fall so they aren't falling all over the place.  

*Not pictured but other fun games:

-Battleship when learning coordinate graphs.

-Dominoes (not played traditional way) - the kids add a piece vertically to a growing trail, and then at the end the players knock the pieces to let it fall.  

-Board Games (Chutes and Ladders, Checkers, Candyland, etc)

Same idea with all of these - kids play a round after they've done the work.  

I hope this helps someone.  Try to add a game next year, your kids would love it!

The Great Cookie Election

I decided to keep the politics out of my classroom during the election, but I still wanted to show the process of the electoral college though, so I hosted the Great Cookie Election on Election day.  It was super simple, and I definitely want to remember this for the future.  

First up - I picked up two kinds of cookies from the store: 

Then I wrote out all 50 states on little slips of paper, and put them all on the back table in my classroom.  Each child chose a state they would represent and chose that ballot.  With the remaining ballots, I asked for volunteers and they were quickly picked up.  The students tasted both cookies and had to come to a decision for what cookie should win the vote.  

The kids wrote their choice on their ballot and turned them into the basket.  It was a secret ballot.  

I wanted the kids to understand how each state had a certain amount of points, we had a quick discussion about population (keeping it very simple), and I posted a google image map of the states and EC votes on my projector.  Then the kids got out their whiteboards or a piece of binder paper to do some math.  The goal was 270 points to win.  I also kept track on the board.  

I would reach into the basket, choose a state, the kids would consult the map and find the corresponding point value, and then I would tell them which cookie got the point.  They would add, and every so often I would ask for an update on my board.  Chips Ahoy won by a slight margin.  I really think the kids were able to then understand the election.  

March 14th is Pi Day! Time to Celebrate Math!

Happy Pi Day!  I like to celebrate math every year on this day.  :)  

Here are some fun math activities we have done recently.  I linked up some old blog posts since I had already written about how I set these up in my classroom.  

Zoo Maps to review Area and Perimeter

Math Triangle Flowers

Task Cards: Scoot, Small Group, Intervention, etc.

Math Board Games

March 14th ONLY my Math Products are on sale.  Been eyeing something?  I have task cards for basically everything that you might teach!  

Have a wonderful day!  

Snowman Fraction Art {Adding Fractions}

We've been working on adding fractions this past week, and since I need to make fractions fun or else I was going to scream, we used our circle fraction manipulatives to make quick little snowman pictures.  

Some kids' pictures were simple, while others were more advanced (and then we introduced adding unlike fractions).  All in all, it took 15 - 20 minutes of our day but they were able to have some fun with fractions.    

Hope this helps!  

Fraction Fun

We have had so much fun with fractions!  Wanted to share the link with you in case you need some more fraction activities to add to your arsenal.  

Center 1: Fraction Cookies

5 real life cookie ingredient lists are included for students to use as the basis of modifying recipe amounts. There is sure to be a favorite type of cookie between peanut butter, sugar, chocolate chip, snickerdoodle, and oatmeal raisin. Each type of cookie includes a recipe card, student answer sheet with 3 ways to modify the fractions, and an answer sheet. I used this by dividing students into 5 teams (one per cookie) and their team was responsible for completing all 3 versions of their recipe card. We rotated through to all 5 throughout the week.

Center 2: Equivalent Fraction Task Cards

20 equivalent fractions cards are included using multiple choice answers. A student answer sheet and answer key are also provided. I used this in my classroom for students to play a scoot game and roam the classroom answering cards to review.  

Center 3: Match it up Mixing Bowls 

There are 32 labeled bowls for students to match up with equivalent fractions. I used this in my classroom by giving each of my 32 students a fraction bowl and they had to find the other 3 people (4 people total) that had equivalent fractions to theirs. When one round was completed, I collected the bowls, mixed them up, and passed them out again for students to find different partners. These were then put in a center for students to match all 32 bowls with the correct groups. 

It's all about making fractions relevant to my students.  Mission accomplished!  

I'm sure you've heard, but there's a TPT site sale going on!  Awesome sauce!  Remember to use the code to get those extra discounts.  :) 

Hope you have a wonderful day!