Ramblings of a fifth and sixth grade teacher....

iPads!!!!

2013-05-08T12:15:00.005-07:00

Can anyone recommend apps to purchase or free that you use in your classroom?I am soooooo excited that today I got to set up our new iPads for the school!!! Our principal ordered us 18 iPad minis, Otterboxes, and a locking cart. I already downloaded a bunch of math and science free apps today. We will be getting Itunes cards to buy apps with soon.

Happy Teacher's Appreciation Week!!! FREEBIE!!! 3 Minute Math!!!

2013-05-06T10:48:00.002-07:00

This is one of my absolute favorite bellringers! It has been avaliable for download in my TpT store for $1.99, but this week it's yours FREE!!! I appreciate each of my wonderful readers and love reading comments!! I hope each of you have a fabulous summer break when it rolls around. I am at 13 days and counting...

3 Minute Math-My TpT store

Gimme a Break!!!!

2013-04-23T08:53:00.004-07:00

Yes we are nearing the ~~dreaded~~ state tests...
Countdown til test-16 days!

I'm trying not to burn out the kids, but still get test prep in daily. They need a break since they have worked so hard this year. :) Today we played Jeopardy with my sixth graders. I had an old template that I downloaded several years ago that has test prep on it. I can't remember where I got it...but in searching the web for it, I came upon this site Math-Play and found excellent Jeopardy games already made for different topics.

Sunshine and Circles

2013-04-18T11:59:00.003-07:00

Today it was beautiful weather and ~~I oops!~~ my 6th graders needed some sunshine. I found my Hula hoop type circles and we went outside to measure the diameter and circumference of each. I made a boys group and a girls group. I didn't give them any instructions except they needed a person to record the information, a hula hoop, two tape measures, and the answers to the circumference, diameter, radius, and area of the circle.
After that, the girls made a human circle, as did the fellas. They measured the human circles and found the area, circumference, diameter, and radius of their friend's circles.They had a great time!
I handed out playing cards and let them put themselves in order from least to greatest. Anything to give me the kids a break.

This was an educational, but much needed break from test prep!! They have been working sooooo hard!!

Girls measuring the radius of the hoop.

I didn't tell the kids how to find the circumference. My girls group used the formula and figured it out. The boys acutally measured as they rolled the hoop until it made a complete circle. Pretty interesting they did different things, but got the same answer!

The kids got to play a quick game when they finished their assignment!

Area, Perimeter, and 3D shapes:"Get on the Floor" & "Fold it up"

2013-04-15T10:05:00.001-07:00

"Get on the floor!!!"

Students measured to find the area and perimeter of the figures I taped on the floor in the hall by my room. My co-teacher did this activity and her kids seemed to "get it" and by the way, your janitors won't be upset with you!! :) Painter's tape is great because it doesn't leave a sticky mess!

Find the area and perimeter of the shapes

Find the area and perimeter of this shape and compare it to figure C

Find the area and perimeter of the figure


One of my precious students working hard!

"Fold it Up!"

Students had to have a refresher lesson on 3D shapes. I did a quick review with the nets. Then the students were able to tell me how many faces, edges, and vertices there were in each shape.

Avoid Test Prep Burn-out and Cover Objectives???

2013-03-20T12:18:00.002-07:00

TEST TIME IS ON THE WAY...

Our district just completed our Mock MCT2 Test. I took my data that we got in pretty, nice graphs and found my classroom weaknesses and individual students weaknesses.For my classroom weaknesses, I am addressing them whole-group reteaching. For individual weaknesses, I thought these would best addressed in small centers:
Center 1: Game Time!! Our school math tutor played these file folder games with two or three students at a time. They picked out which game they wanted to play and the winner got to dig in the treasure chest!
Center 2: Number Sense and Vocabulary- This was the center I guided. The students first had number races. I would time them and see how many expressions they can make in the allotted time. Ex. I gave them the number 48...they can make the number any way they choose and list as many as possible. 48: 1x 48, 2 x 24, 47 + 1, forty-eight, 20+28, 96/2, etc. This helps with number sense in general and also helps with algebraic expressions. After about 3 races (2 min. each), I gave them a copy of a Frayer Model. They wrote the word, gave a definition, picture, example, and non-example.
Center 3: Test your Knowledge!Students play their own version of a game show by quizzing their group on test prep questions. Winner gets a prize!!

Center 4: Computer Group- Students went to interactive game type websites to practice math skills. I already had these bookmarked on my computer and ready to go. Some sites include: Sheppard Software, Math Playground, Kids Math Games Online, etc.

I also plan on working on another year of Show What You Know very soon! So...Keep posted!!!!

Happy Blog Birthday to ME!!! Freebie!!!

2013-03-08T05:16:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday!!!

photo credit

I can't believe it's been a year since I started my blog! I have enjoyed connecting with teachers all over the world. I actually started blogging as a sort of visual scrapbook for myself of different lesson plans and ideas I've found or used. I never dreamed that a year later I would have had over 42,000 "hits" on my page and 49 followers! I hope you have enjoyed some of the activities I have blogged. I continue to learn by visiting other teachers blogs.

To thank you for staying on this teaching journey, I would like to offer something from my TPT store for FREE! The first 3 comments will get one of my resources from my store. Anything you see that you would like to have, comment below with the name of the resource and your email address and I will send it to you! I do have one favor though... Tell me which of my blog posts you liked the most and how it went if you incorporated it into your class. :)

Click here to visit my TPT store

Have a blessed and wonderful weekend!!

It's Spring Break for me!!!!

YIPPEE!!!

photo credit

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

2013-03-02T09:39:00.001-08:00

Happy Birthday to Dr. Seuss! Here's a collection of my favorite quotes. Hope all my fellow teachers have a wonderful, restful weekend. Just remember, Spring Break is around the corner!!! :)

What's your favorite Dr. Seuss quote and/or book?

Happy President's Day!! Coordinate Grid Activity

2013-02-15T05:43:00.002-08:00

I found a coordinate mystery picture of President George Washington and President Abraham Lincoln on Super Teacher Worksheets. The students plotted the points, connected the points, and colored them. I found famous quotes and put them on our bulletin board.

How big is your Valentine???

2013-02-14T09:44:00.000-08:00

Thank you to Clutter-Free Classroom blog for this cute idea on Perimeter and Area using homemade Valentine's Day cards. I cut different sized construction paper and folded them to make the cards for the students to measure and decorate. They each had to measure two Valentine's cards (one in cm and the other in inches) and find the area and perimeter of their card then decorate them.

Valentine's Day Mean, Median, Mode, and Range Candy Activity

2013-02-13T14:34:00.003-08:00

Thank you Laura Candler for your Valentine Hearts Data Analysis I found on Teachers Pay Teachers! It's FREE, teachers!!!! I spend $3 on boxes of conversation hearts for my 5th grade today. $3 WELL worth it!!! I covered so many objectives in this lesson...measurement (weight), mean, median, mode, range, addition, subtraction, charts, graphing, etc. Here's what I did:

Gave the students their Conversation Heart MMMR sheet I made for them to collect data on.
Gave them Laura Candler's Valentine Heart Data Analysis sheet (link above).
My fabulous math tutor took 4 students at at time in a group to predict and weigh their box in grams.
Students recorded individual data and class data for each color candy.
Students found MMMR for individual data and class data.
Made a chart using data and going to construct a bar graph of each color tomorrow.

Round and Round and Round We Go...Where We Stop...Sir Cumference & Circumference!!!

2013-02-12T08:55:00.000-08:00

I am working on circumference this week with my 6th graders. I found a few ideas from Hodges Herald and Runde's Room. Thank you guys! You have fabulous ideas!!
I always read children's literature when I can incorporate it. I have all the Sir Cumference series (link to Amazon). I urge you to get them if you teach middle grade math. The kids LOVE them!!

Day 1:

o Read “Sir Cumference and the First Round Table” to the class aloud.

o Students take Accelerated Reader Quiz on the book.

o Give out Word Wheels (I made these) and let students look up definitions, write formula, write letter used in the formula, work ex. problems with the teacher, then let students fill in the rest independently.

o Work several examples of finding the circumference of a circle on the board; students help

o Measure the diameter and radius of the round table in my room solve for circumference.

Day 2:

o Let students write the definitions for diameter, radius, and circumference on a flattened coffee filter and glue to their math journals.

o Review formulas and how to find circumference, diameter, and radius with students.

o Listen to the Circumference Rap from www.flocabulary.com

o Let students measure the variety of round objects in my box (lids, coasters, etc.) using c, d, & r; use fortune tellers to practice finding the circumference with a partner.

o Use geotools to draw different sized circles on construction paper or scrapbook paper and find the circumference of each. These will be used to make my Geome-Tree next week.

Sir Cumference Fortune Tellers to practice finding the circumference of a circle.

One of the students' math journal

Circumference Math Journal with coffee filter

Teachers Pay Teachers Store

2013-02-08T06:57:00.001-08:00

If you haven't checked out my Teachers Pay Teachers store, go take a visit! I have several freebies that you might be able to use in your class. Many of them can be edited also!

My Teachers Pay Teachers Store

Some of my top selling products are:

3 Minute Math

Egypt

5th Grade I Can Statements

Fish, Amphibians, Reptiles, Birds, and Mammals

The Great Depression

World War II

Popular Freebies:

Fractions and Candy

More Fractions and Candy-Smarties Lesson

Weekly Weather Graph

Coordinates are a BLAST!!!

2013-02-07T08:02:00.001-08:00

My students made a Robot from Super Teacher Worksheets on the coordinate plane, colored it, and cut it out. This activity required the students to be able to plot the ordered pairs in each of the four quadrants.

Whooo Loves Math???

2013-02-06T06:34:00.004-08:00

My students are working on the coordinate plane in 5th grade this week. I created a fun door for them to put their coordinate plane owls on. I found the mystery graph picture on Super Teacher Worksheets Owl Graph.


Sideways pic :/ Sorry!

More pics to come of the robots, President Washington, and President Lincoln the students are working on this week!!

Carpet Coordinate Plane

2013-02-05T08:56:00.002-08:00

I made a coordinate plane grid on my carpet in my classroom last week. The students are studying ordered pairs, coordinate planes, transformations, and dilations. We did several student involved activities from walking out the ordered pair to constructing a rectangle ABCD and A'B'C'D' with the students to show translating with polygons. They had so much fun!

Rectangle ABCD took it's place on the Coordinate Plane

Rectangle A'B'C'D' joined Rectangle ABCD

Kicking off a New Year and Reflecting on 2012!

2013-01-09T12:00:00.002-08:00

Whether or not we are ready for the new year, it arrived anyway. I try not to make resolutions for the new year because they are usually short lived... for me anyway. I did make a few promises to myself though. I promised to get/and stay more organized, throw away or give away things I don't need, run more 5Ks than I did last year, complete a half marathon, continue eating more healthy and model that for my family, continue blogging in my teaching journey, be a better person, and walk closer to God this year.

I challenged my students to make resolutions or promises to themselves to have good study habits and get organized.

Firsts for me in 2012- I...
*Started a blog and now have 40 followers and over 29,000 page views-this amazes me! I hope you have found a few useful ideas on here to help in your classroom.
*Ran my first 5K- actually did 2 5K's that I walked and 4 5K's that I ran. Also got my 7 year old involved and he loves running with me now.
*Received Teacher of the Year at my school
*Taught an Accelerated Math workshop for another school in our district
*lost 30 lbs and feel so much better. I am smaller than I was when I graduated high school.

Do you make resolutions? If so, do you see them through?
What exciting happened to you in 2012?
Let me know!

Prayers for Sandy Hook Elementary

2012-12-17T09:11:00.000-08:00

As a teacher and mother of a 7 year old, I am still trying to process the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary Friday, December 14, 2012. I wondered how I was going to talk to my students about it today. How am I going to talk to my 7 year old about it?
As I read my devotion this morning, it made me realize that I find myself asking Why God? a lot more than I should... Who am I to question Him anyway?

Joyce Meyer: Promises for Your Everyday Life - a Daily Devotional

Why We Ask 'Why?'

Do you ever find yourself in a tragic situation and asked God, 'Why? Why is this happening to me?'

For one moment, let's imagine that God actually answered that question. Would His explanation change anything? The effects of the tragedy would still be with you, and the pain would be just as severe as it was before. What would you have learned?

When we ask God that question, I think the real questions we're asking are: 'God, do You love me? Will You take care of me in my sorrow and pain? You won't leave me alone, will You?' Is it possible that, because we're afraid God doesn't truly care about us, we ask for explanations?

Instead, we must learn to say: 'Lord, I believe. I don't understand, and I'll probably never grasp all the reasons bad things happen, but I know for certain that You love me and are with me, always.'

I believe it often takes more faith to go through something victoriously than to be delivered from it. Put your faith in God and you'll come out stronger on the other side.

Prayer Starter: God, I believe in You, even when circumstances try to fill my mind with doubt. Help me to remember Your love for me and to put my faith in You, no matter what happens.

Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” Mark 9:24 NIV

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Matthew 19:14

Please take a minute and pray for the families to find peace and healing through God's love.

12-12-12

2012-12-12T08:32:00.000-08:00

Ok so I found the cutest 12-12-12 activity yesterday to do with my 6th graders involving the 12 Days of Christmas. For the life of me, I can't remember which site I found it on. I am pretty sure it was a blog that I follow...so if you know, please post a comment so I can give proper credit. On to the show...

12-12-12

The Cost Of The 12 Days Of Christmas

Materials needed: pencil, paper,and a computer
website: PNC Christmas Price Index

The students take a virtual trip around the world collecting prices of each item in the 12 Days of Christmas song. Some prices have increased since last year, so they must figure the percent of increase and add it to the original price. Also they have to multiply by how many items they have. The cost of each golden ring is multiplied by 5.

This is great for decimal/percent conversion, multiplying decimals, adding decimals, and several other objectives.

The students colored the corresponding picture for which day of Christmas I assigned them.
They also found the total cost of Christmas.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas...

2012-12-11T11:34:00.001-08:00

My hall decorations for Christmas.

The students made a factor Christmas tree this week while reviewing for 9 weeks test. They all had different numbers on the star and they had to prime factor the number and use exponential form on the trunk. They had so much fun decorating once they factored their trees.

Pre-Thanksgiving Math and Culture Lesson: Making Fry Bread!!!

2012-11-27T07:32:00.000-08:00

I never heard of Fry Bread until I came to work with the Choctaws. I didn't know what I had been missing out on!! My assistant created a lesson on how to make fry bread and incorporated using the Choctaw language for the ingredients. I threw in a little math having some of the students help me measure how many of their milk cartons would fill up the gallon pitcher. They estimated because several didn't know their facts...Some were WAY off! I hope they will remember now that there are 16 cups in a gallon.

Fry bread is enjoyed several different ways. My favorite is an Indian Taco or the dessert fry bread topped with powdered sugar and grape jelly! YUMMY!!!

God's Beauty

2012-11-26T10:02:00.004-08:00

You know it's going to be a good day when you step out of your car in the school parking lot and see a full rainbow!

Just had to share. Hope you have a wonderful day!!! :)

Master Classroom in Math Facts with Renaissance Learning

2012-11-26T08:55:00.002-08:00

Congrats to my 5th and 6th grade classes for achieving Model and Master class in Math Facts with Renaissance Learning! Grades 2nd-6th at our school have reached Model status making SPES a Model School. As a matter of fact...while I'm bragging...We are the only certified school in the state of Mississippi! :) WooHoo!!! Way to go kids!!!

Wall Ball with Vocabulary Review

2012-11-07T12:07:00.002-08:00

I'm going to try to use more down time in useful review. I found a way to use vocabulary in a fun way! Using a soft ball the students toss the ball at the Math Word Wall and whatever the closest word is the student tells me the definition, draws an example, or communicates in some way to me that they understand what the word means. I am adapting this from one of the consultants that visits my school in math. She never had any down time in her classroom. Even having the groups to line up by answering a math problem. For example: "If you are in the group that is 24/12, you can line up, the next group that can line up is the number that is not prime or composite..."

Fractions & a Sugar Rush!!!!

2012-11-01T11:29:00.003-07:00

You're a Lifesaver!! (TPT freebie)

Like the kids haven't had enough candy...I did an activity today using Lifesavers and Smarties. Basically the same lesson just a little different. Both focused on fractions. (equivalence, comparing, adding, simplifying, etc.)

Smarties Fractions Lesson