Organization: Task Cards and Other Game Pieces

Happy Friday! Is anyone else nearing the end of their school year? We only have 1 week left!

Today, I wanted to share with you a couple of organizational supplies that I tried out this year and am loving!

First up, I use task cards a lot...I mean all the time! In fact, I printed out a ton of task cards for test prep this year. And as luck would have it, the laminator decided this was a good time to take a vacation. So here I sat with a stack of task cards printed on card stock with no place to go. I remembered seeing a pin from Minds in Bloom about using photo albums to store cards. On a mission to find the cheapest photo albums, I found myself at a local dollar store. I picked up all the clear plastic photo albums they had. They were only $1! I took out the front cover and then loaded them with task cards. Perfect solution for my lamination dilemna!

I had the kids working in pairs so they shared a photo album with one another. It worked perfectly. No more missing task cards, no more crumpled or bent task cards! And the kids thought it was fun! Go figure!

Task cards shown are from Teaching with a Mountain View and Rachel Lynette.


On a trip to Office Depot that same weekend I came across these plastic envelopes (again just $1!). I immediately grabbed them and knew they were perfect for my Spoons games. These are also perfect for any game or center activity that requires small pieces. No more plastic bags for me!

I would love to hear how you organize task cards or other pesky game pieces.


Jennifer

Thinking about INBs...What's First?

After my last post about Interactive Notebooks for All, I fielded a lot of questions like, "Where do I begin?" My friends, I am so excited that you are joining me on the journey of continual Interactive Learning in your classroom!

The first step for anything for me is the planning stage. I must take my time and think how I want things to layout cohesively to make them make sense. 

So, I have a FREEBIE for you! I just loaded my Interactive Notebook Planning Sheets for you to use in your planning! They go from page 1-199 and offer you room to plan your concepts and I even had enough room to add in the standard as I am planning some for a special project right now.

And if you are looking for a FREE checklist to go with the Common Core State Standards, MissMathDork has some awesome ones out (you can barely see her logo in my picture up above). You can grab the K-2, 3-5 and/or the 6-8 for FREE from her Teachers Pay Teachers store as well!

So, who's with me on the Interactive Notebook Journey for 2013-2014?

Mathematically Yours,

Jennifer Smith-Sloane

aka 4mulaFun

@4mulaFun

4mulaFun on Facebook

4mulaFun on Pinterest

Happy Square Day's Eve!

Happy Square Day's Eve, Readers!


At my school, along with Math in Focus, we use Every Day Counts (or "Calendar Math," as we commonly refer to it).  The beauty of this system is its daily repetition.  However kids, like all people, learn things better if they are emotionally involved.  So in looking over the math Common Core frameworks for fourth grade, I started thinking about where I could fit in square numbers.


I always feel like square numbers is one of those things that is easy to forget.  And what a waste that they get it wrong on their End of the Year tests or MCAS test, because it's not actually that difficult!  They just need a quick reminder every so often, and they'd all be capable of getting it right.


This year I realized how easily square numbers could fit into the Every Day Counts portion of our day.  It would work especially well during a month when we work on area and perimeter every day.  So one day, after we looked at our improper fraction with a numerator of 9, the perimeter of a random figure we had drawn with 9 square centimeters, the geometric figures in our pattern, and the next entry in our running cash total, I wished my fourth graders a "Happy Square Day." 


"What's Square Day?"  They asked.


"What's Square Day?  It's the happiest day of the month!  You don't get brightly wrapped square presents, or eat square shaped cake or sing, Happy Square Day to You, but it's still the BEST holiday."


"Why?"  They asked excitedly.


"Because it happens FIVE times every month!"

(...)

Hey, some of them saw the humor.  The ones that didn't, well, their curiosity stayed piqued as I started to demonstrate how to create square numbers with one, then two, then three, and finally 4 small squares, the latter which formed a larger square.  "We had a Square Day on the 4th.  It's a 2 by 2 square."  I continued around the first square with 5, then 6, 7, 8 and finally nine small squares that formed a square.  "And today is also Square Day!  3 long by 3 wide is 9.  A perfect square."


"So it's basically a doubles fact" my smart little former third graders recalled.


"That's right.  But here's why we call it a SQUARE number.  You CAN'T turn 5 blocks into a square.  You CAN'T turn 10 boxes into a square.  But you can with 9, and you can with 16, and you can with other Square Numbers, nice and even and neat.  That's why I love Square Day!


After giving them time to draw their own squares with a partner, I challenged them; "So when is the next "Square Day's Eve this month?"


Instead of drawing the squares on an anchor chart, I drew it on the white board so I could erase one square from each corner. 


"When is the day after Square Day, also known as 'Extra Boxing Day' in England?"  We added a box to each corner. 


Once we explored squares (as well as what it looks like right before and right after a perfect square is drawn) I challenged them to redraw their previous figures for the month.  I asked them to create figures that were as compact as they could.  That is, I wanted figures that are as close to squares as possible.  Although sometimes it's great to draw creative, zany shapes to find the perimeter, interesting patterns emerge when the figures are more compact.


As a result, the kids started to see patterns in their work.  They were noticing that the figure that is one off from a perfect square has the SAME perimeter as a square!  "It's like that one square is just inside out; it goes in at the corner instead of out to fill the corner."  They also noticed that the perimeter never went down as we progressed.  Previously there was no rhyme or reason to how area and perimeter were connected, because many kids were drawing skinny rectangles instead of allowing for irregular figures in between squares.  Now they actually had some data to analyze and draw conclusions from. 


And so, in my class we celebrate Square Day, and they know that on the day before Square Day their weirdo teacher is going to be giddy with anticipation.


How do you keep square numbers fresh for students?

My Teachers Pay Teachers Store
Shut the Door and Teach (This week:  My $12 Classroom Makeover)

Race to 100! {Teaching Crisis Averted}

I can't change a flat tire or drive a stick shift. I can't cook without googling every verb in the recipe. Side note - WHY are there so many ways to prepare food that start with b?! Bake, broil, baste, boil, beat, braise, brown....it's a good thing my fiancé is an awesome cook, otherwise we'd be on the Ramen noodle diet.

HOWEVER...over time, I have developed a very specific set of skills that all teachers share. I can silence a noisy room in 472 different ways. I can elicit a confession with a simultaneous head-tilt and eyebrow raise. And, perhaps most importantly, I can pull off a pretty awesome Plan B at a moment's notice. Teachers are the ultimate masters of the alternate plan.

We had our math MCAS this week. I've got to hand it to my little friends - they worked their little tails off! I figured after two grueling days of testing, they deserved a game day in math. I decided to do different stations around the room with playing card math games. Easy-peasy.

I had to call a parent during my prep period, but I just needed to leave myself a minute at the end to grab my bin full of playing cards and game directions. I popped the top off my playing card bin and - GASP!!!! No playing cards. I wish *I* could have seen my face - I probably looked like I was auditioning for the role of Kevin McCallister in Home Alone.

I needed a game - and fast. With 5 minutes left of my prep, I didn't have time to make anything or run off copies. Top Chef style, I grabbed the best ingredients I could find - hundreds charts, dice, and ones blocks - and another game was born.

RACE TO 100!

Materials Needed:

Hundreds charts

Dice

Ones blocks or any other player pieces

2 or more players

Object:

To be the first player to reach 100

Math Skills Reinforced:

Multiplication facts 0-9

2-digit by 1-digit multiplication

It was a fun way to work on our multiplication and a big hit with my third graders. Another teacher crisis averted. 

On another note, I've added a new "Freebies for Fans" tab on my Facebook page! "Like" me there to download fun freebies, like these bright chevron numbers!

If you want to check out my math resources, click here to visit the math section of my TpT store!

Happy Teaching!

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Teach Your Students and Parents the Value of Summer Reading with a Freebie!!

Hello Friends!

      If you are anything like me you are at that point in the school year where you are counting down the days to freedom!  I have 20 more post-it notes to peel away before my days of basking in the sun begin.
      When I reflect back on all the learning I have shared with my students this year it really is incredible!  They have all made such great gains in all subjects, but especially in reading.  I cringe at the thought of my fifth graders never picking up a book all summer.  I know some students will voluntarily read all day long, while others would rather eat fried worms!
      It is scary to think that much of the progress that has been made over the course of 9 months could be lost by fall if students never touch a book all summer.  In order to prevent that from happening, I decided to create a free resource for my students and parents. 

      There are four steps I plan on taking to ensure students discover the value in reading each day this summer and that they actually set time aside to read!

Step One: Get Students to Understand the Power of Reading

I plan to talk with students about how much their lives can be impacted by spending just 20 minutes a day reading.  We'll also compare possible conclusions if they read 20 minutes a day and if they read 1 minute or less a day by analyzing the following chart.

Step Two: Get Students to Sign a Reading Agreement

Once students see the value in reading, I will ask them to sign the reading agreement.  I plan to make a copy of their agreement they make to themselves.  They will take their own copy home to keep in a special place.  This way, they can have a daily reminder over the summer of the commitment they made to themselves.  Their parents can also use the agreement as a reminder and a way to hold their child accountable.

 

Step Three: Distribute Summer Reading Logs

      The summer reading logs have space for a week's worth of reading.  I plan to make enough copies for each student to last the entire summer.  I am also going to talk with the sixth grade teachers at my school.  I would LOVE for my students' future teachers to come by for a quick visit.  I hope that they will talk with my students about how excited they are to be getting the reading logs from students in the fall.  Maybe they could come up with some sort of incentive if students return completed summer reading logs the first day of school!?  I would love to see the type of reading my new students enjoyed over the summer.  What a great way to get to know the new class and see what types of topics they enjoy!

 

Step Four: Get the Parents Involved!

      Involving parents in encouraging students to read daily over the summer is so powerful!  They are the ones that will be taking over for me when I am no longer with my students each day.  I wanted to find a way to express the value of reading to parents so I created a parent letter.  It is my hope that all parents will realize how beneficial just 20 minutes of reading can be for their child!

 

To download this free resource and use it with your students just click on the image below.  Together we can make an even bigger difference in our students' future.  Let's encourage some summer reading!!!

 

I wish you all a great end to your school year...no matter how many days you may have left!

 

Jen

 

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Fun 4 All Linky Party! May 10, 2013

Happy Saturday My Dear Friends!

We here at All Things Upper Elementary are very pleased to bring you another linky party! In this great Fun 4 All Linky, you can link up to 3 items paid items. Thanks for stopping by and remember to take a little click trip to those fellow teacher-authors who have linked up as well.

Have a fantastic Saturday and stop by often!

TenMarks

With the end of the school year in sight for many teachers, the days seem to lend themselves to meetings, grading those final exams and essays, and meeting with students and parents to evaluate progress. The days can seem to go on forever. However, this week I can honestly say I learned some valuable information while attending those meetings.

I have been sitting in promotion/retention meetings all week. For each student we have met on, there have been strategies, helpful tips, and the information about summer school shared. In several of our meetings, my colleague and math wiz shared a program with our group. The program is called TenMarks. Until these meetings, I had never even heard of the program, maybe because I do not teach math, but nonetheless, she felt the program would offer needed assistance to many of our struggling math students.

As soon as I left the meeting, I went straight for the computer. I had to see what this program was all about and how it could help students. To my surprise, the initial website offered wonderful information. Many times this is not the case, but this company knows how to market. Because of this new information I stumbled upon, I wanted to share it with all of you. (I am not a sales person for the company or any related entity to it. I learned about it, and I felt it was information many math teachers would love to have.)

Upon further browsing, I found links to the state standards, content covered for grades 1-10, differentiation, and remediation. If I was a math teacher, I probably would have been turning cartwheels down the hallway! It had so many ideas and resources to reinforce what the teachers were teaching in the classrooms. It is aligned to the SBAC and PARRC; their are example questions that familiarize students with these assessments. There are short video clips that explain content. The instruction is data-driven and individualized.

By the time our meetings rolled around today, our instructional coordinator had informational materials to hand to the parents about this program. A school system can purchase it, or individuals can pay a fee to use the program. It is a fantastic tool for students to use over the summer to continue to practice those concepts and be ready for the next grade's standards. It is also a wonderful resource, whether a student is struggling or not, to use throughout the summer break to keep their minds working and retaining the learned information.

If you teach math or if you are a parent of a child in grades 1-10, I would highly suggest checking into TenMarks.

I hope everyone has a great rest of the week!