Runde's Room

Five For Friday - Test Prep and Angry Birds

2013-05-17T18:49:00.001-04:00

You know what I love even better than Friday? Friday before a long weekend ... ahhhhhhhhh ... much needed!!! It's been a long week ... but a fun week ... so I guess all is good. Looking forward to some quality time with the family this weekend (and hoping for some sun).

Friday also means it's time for Five for Friday - I LOVE this linky - I seriously look forward to it all week, planning what pics I'm going to include. Make sure you check out some of the other Five for Friday posts at Doodlebugs Teaching.

Grade 6 testing is just 7 days away for us, so we've been doing a lot of test prep in the classroom. Earlier this week we did a 4-corner sticky note activity. After students had completed a practice activity, I gave each student a different coloured sticky note (5 different colours in total) and asked them to write down their answer to a particular question. They then had to find their group members (students with matching coloured sticky notes) and place their sticky notes in the 4 corners of the paper they had. After reading through and discussing all the answers, they then had to collaborate and combine their answers to make the best possible answer. I LOVED this ... and I'm going to try it out in math next week.

The next day we started to make our test prep bookmarks. We took the answering the question strategies we've been studying and applying in math, and wrote them on these bookmarks. We are going to do the same thing with our language strategies early next week, and then we'll glue the two together to make a two-sided bookmark.

Today we used our CAFE/CRAFT board to break down our answers in language. My favourite part of the CRAFT board this year has been "R" - Response to Text. We've used this board all year as we built our own set of success criteria for reading responses. The strategies were introduced early in the year, but we've referred to the board all year long. (These will also become our reading strategies for the language part of the book mark). I colour-coded each of the strategies, and then students had to hunt and indicate where they had checked / fixed / added them in their answers (using the correct colour to match the strategy). Such a great visual for them!

Part of the reason why we had so much fun at school this week was our Angry Bird project. We integrated our math and science units for this project, and we had a BLAST! You can read all about it (and grab the link for the angry bird solids) in my blog post HERE.

Lastly, the construction at my school is at full steam (if full steam means REALLY LOUD!) ;) We're amalgamating with another school next year, and gaining three new classrooms - two of which have to be built (the amalgamation means much bigger class sizes. The students are LOVING checking out the construction every day ... and I have to admit, the adults think it's pretty exciting, too. :)

So, there's my week in review. Hope you had a fabulous week!!!

Jen

Angry Birds = Happy Students

2013-05-16T20:02:00.000-04:00

We just finished up our Angry Birds project - integrating math and science. I know I've shared a pic or two already, but I just have to show you how they turned out!

I have a few students who are completely obsessed with angry birds this year, so when I remembered I had pinned nets for angry bird solids a while back, I knew it was time to pull them out. Our math unit was 3D shapes, so we were looking at nets, constructing solids, and measuring volume and surface area. Perfect. Our science unit was structures and forces acting on structures. Even more perfect. So, we got creative and combined the two. (***Note - I don't have a unit for this, or even sheets to share, as the angry bird brand is very protected by trademark laws, or copyright laws, or something like that. I am going to post pics of everything we did, and if it sounds like fun, feel free to borrow these ideas for your classroom).

We first made our 3D shapes from the Angry Bird nets. You can download your own copies HERE. When students were finished constructing their solids, they had to find the volume and surface area of 4 different sized solids (since most of the solids are cubes, this step wasn't too difficult for them. To up the difficulty a bit, I required my grade 6 students to find the surface area of the yellow bird - a tetrahedron).

Once we were done with the math, we decorated our shoe boxes to give our birds a home. (Also made it much easier to store all their materials, and stacked nicely in the corner of the classroom to contain the clutter. They then had to start on their structures. We had watched a few videos about types of structures, and read a few articles, and then they got started. I gave each student 30 popsicle sticks, 7 straws, 3 arms lengths of masking tape, a piece of paper, and 10 paper clips. Structures had to be 30 cm tall, have a 10 x 10 cm platform on the top, and be able to withstand the forces of gravity, hurricane winds, and a ground-shaking earthquake. They took about 2 science periods to complete their structures.

By today we had finished everything, and this afternoon we tested our structures out. First we measured the height and the size of the platform.

Then we turned the fan on high to simulate those hurricane winds.

Then we tested the effects of gravity by placing 50g weights on top of the structures.

Last, we shook for boxes for 10 seconds to see if they could take the ground shaking earthquake. When we were finished, students had a reflection sheet to answer, and the final projects were marked with a checklist rubric.

Such a fun summative project! And angry birds definitely equalled happy students in my classroom. I took a picture of each of the kids with their projects, and sent the pics home with the parents. I'll leave you with a few pics of the finished projects.

Happy Thursday!!!

Hey Diddle Diddle Mean, Mode, and Median

2013-05-14T21:50:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I shared a little nursery rhyme about mean, mode, and median on my facebook page. I took this one to my class immediately, and it was a hit. I love using mnemonic devices to help us remember different concepts in class, and this one was a perfect fit!

I whipped up a little practice sheet to go along with the rhyme, and thought I'd share it with you all here. Just click HERE or on the pic below to download your own copy (there is a coloured and black and white version for you).

Enjoy!!!

Math Journal Sundays - Comparing Perimeter and Area

2013-05-12T15:49:00.003-04:00

I'm going back a few weeks ago here, but I have a few perimeter and area ideas to share with you.

This first is a three-part math lesson we did for comparing perimeter and area. We used a problem from the University of Waterloo's Problem of the Week - they have a great site full of problems that are perfect for three-part lessons. You can subscribe to the site and get a new problem emailed to you each week, or you can browse through their collection and pick one that's perfect for your lessons. Check it out HERE. For this problem, students had to determine all possible dimensions for a 100 square meter area, and then decide which ones were the most sensible for a farm area. We discussed our learning goal - comparing area and perimeter, and determining dimensions with a given area, and then students worked in pairs to find their answers. For the sharing at the end, we did a gallery walk. I have this fantastic space outside my classroom with long rows of desks that is absolutely perfect for a gallery walk. We displayed all of our work out there. Each student was given 2 sticky notes (they could have more if they wanted) and they were to write a question or comment on the sticky note and place it on a paper. I really like the thinking that goes on to these sticky notes - they really need to analyze the problem and solution to do this activity.

Following our gallery walk, we reassembled in the classroom to complete our Summary of Learning - a great reflection activity. Students complete the three-part lesson with an independent task (very similar to the first problem) that they hand in for assessment.

I also have a Interactive Math Journal entry to share for area and perimeter. This one compares the area and perimeter of rectangles (squares) and triangles. We did a great hands-on activity before we completed the journal entry which really helped them master the concept. I forgot to take pictures this time, but I did a similar activity last year, which you can read about HERE.

For this journal entry, we constructed a square and found the area and perimeter of the square (written on the inside). We then folded it in half (they already knew this would halve the area) and found the area and perimeter of the triangle (which led them to the big idea that the area is half of the square, but the perimeter is not as the diagonal is a longer dimension).

For the proof I asked them to draw a different rectangle and triangle and solve for the area and perimeter of each. For the reflection, I asked them to solve the problem in a different way (this is one of the reflection questions from my Math Reflection Fans).

That's it for today ... right now I'm enjoying a few quiet moments ... hubby took the girls to visit his mom for Mother's Day ... so I'm getting off the computer to enjoy the last of the quiet. ;) Happy Sunday and Happy Mother's Day!

Five For Friday

2013-05-10T19:43:00.000-04:00

Ahhhh Friday ... I LOVE you, Friday! Was it just me, or was this week incredibly long? I have a feeling they're all going to be like that until the end of the year.

Join me as I link up with Doodlebugs Teaching for this week's Five for Friday ...

I have some exciting news to start with. I finally started a facebook page this week - YAY! It's been a long time coming, and I wasn't sure I'd have the time to keep one up, but I'm loving it so far. I'd LOVE for you to join me there. Click on the "like button" below and come on over and see my page.

Even though it's not so the weather isn't so spring-like today (or this weekend, for that matter), my spring flowers keep blooming. These hyacinths smell absolutely delicious! So pretty, too!

We're working with 3D shapes right now in math. I have a few kids in my class this year who are obsessed with Angry Birds, so I thought it was the perfect time to combine the two. We cut out the nets for these shapes (see link HERE). I had them trace the nets onto construction paper, then cut them out and assemble them. (If by some miracle, you are unlimited with your number of colour photocopies, you could skip the step where you trace them out on construction paper). We've been assembling our 3D solids this week, and next week we will begin to solve the volume and surface area of the shapes. I'm also going to integrate it with our structures unit in science, and have them build a weight-bearing structure to use with their angry birds. Can't wait - I'll keep you posted on the progress of our project.

We've been working with The Secret Knowledge of Grown-Ups in language class this week (these books are so FUN!). We've read both books and used our Monitoring Comprehension Reading Strategy Poster during our read alouds. We're also writing our own individual copies of grown-up rules. The kids are having a lot of fun with this project - we're going to publish our stories into a real book when we're done. I can't wait to share our progress with you. We've just finished our rough drafts as of today.

Last, but certainly not least, we made these adorable cards for Mother's Day today. I found the idea on Pinterest, and tracked down a template for the card HERE. We had to add a little glitter to our cards (because everything is better with glitter), and we added a little poem to the bottom. They turned out so nice - the students are so excited to share them with their mothers. ♥

Happy Friday!!! And a very Happy Mother's Day weekend to all you mothers and grandmothers out there.

Happy Teacher Appreciation Day!

2013-05-07T09:08:00.002-04:00

I hope you are all having a wonderful week! You DESERVE it!

It's the big Teacher Appreciation Sale at TPT today and tomorrow. ALL my products are on sale for 20% off, and you can receive an additional 10% off by using the code, TAD13 at the checkout. Did you know you can see a seller's newest products by clicking on the "Most Recent" tab at each seller's store. You can see my newest products by clicking HERE.

While you're browsing, don't forget to check out the items offered in our Teacher Appreciation Gift Bag. Click HERE (or scroll down to my previous post) to get the links to these fabulous products. It's our way of saying THANK-YOU for everything you do!

Last, but not least, I am SO EXCITED to announce I FINALLY have a facebook page!!! I hadn't made one previously because I was afraid I wouldn't have time to keep it up ... but I found myself with a [rare] few free hours on Sunday (soccer practices were cancelled this weekend), so guess what I did with that free time? Click HERE or on the pic below to see my page. I'd LOVE for you to join me on this journey!

Happy Tuesday! And Happy Teacher Appreciation Week! How is your school community celebrating YOU this week??

You ARE Appreciated!

2013-05-05T07:00:00.000-04:00

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week! And just so you know, I'm totally adopting this week for us Canadians, too.

Has anyone told you today how absolutely amazing you are? As a colleague, a blogger, a pinterest stalker, and a mom of three young ones in school, I am constantly inspired and awed by all you do. The hours of preparation, endless marking, coaching, mentoring, encouraging, engaging, teaching, helping, listening, sharing, soothing, and loving of children is evident ... every.single.day.

I'm combining efforts with some of the best upper elementary bloggers and educators out there to show you a little appreciation. We've packed a little goodie bag full of appreciation just for you as our little way of thanking you for everything you do. These items from our TPT stores will be FREE all day Tuesday, May 7th - Wednesday, May 8th. Just visit our stores on one of those days to download your gift from us. TPT is holding a site-wide teacher appreciation sale on those two days, as well. All our items at our stores will be on sale for 20% off, and you can get an addiditional 10% off at the checkout by using the code TAD13. How's that for a little appreciation??

Do you want a peek inside our Teacher Appreciation Gift Bag?

Rachel (a.k.a. The Queen of Task Cards), from Minds in Bloom, has offered her Vocabulary Task Cards. My class LOVES using Rachel's task cards, and these ones are perfect for our spelling/vocabulary program. This resource contains 35 different task cards that can be used with any word list. I can use 4 - 5 in a center activity during our word work with our spelling list, and switch them out every week to keep the learning fresh and fun. Rachel's TPT Store is full of task cards and resources that are common core aligned and perfect for language and math centers, or test prep.

Ashleigh, from Ashleigh's Education Journey, is giving away her fabulous Simplifying the Scientific Method resource. And I mean FABULOUS. She has included informative (and super cute) posters, as well as graphic organizers, assessments, and lesson ideas to take your students through the whole scientific process. This is the perfect science unit to start your year and get your students hooked on science. It would also be the perfect booklet to complete right before a school science fair. When you visit Ashleigh's TPT Store, you will see that it is full of engaging lessons and units that balance rigour with fun (seriously, what more could you ask for?)

If you're a faithful follower of mine, you already know how much I love Stephanie from Teaching in Room 6. Stephanie is sharing her Time for Math: Math Clock Creativity. This activity is perfect for differentiated teaching and learning, as each student has the opportunity to showcase what they know. It makes a great diagnostic activity to find the starting point of what your students already know, or great summative activity to measure what they learned. What's more, it makes a wonderful bulletin board display! Stephanie's TPT Store is full of resources and activities that keep your students practicing the skills they need to master in a way that can be displayed and celebrated!

Laura is the creator of Laura Candler's Teaching Resources, and is the first blogger I ever followed. I thought I died and went to heaven the day I discovered her File Cabinet full of resources. Laura is giving away her Sentence Go Round resource that was the perfect fit for my students this week, as we were reviewing how to make more interesting and complex sentences. All of Laura's resources contain clear teacher directions and all the materials you and your students will need for the lesson. She is also the author of a few of my favourite books on my teacher bookshelf: Graphic Organizers for Reading, and Power Reading Workshop. Check out Laura's TPT Store for these and many other invaluable resources for your classroom.

Lastly, I'm giving away my End of the Year Drama Circle. This activity is great for collaborative learning and listening skills, and makes the perfect after-testing or end of the year activity.

Don't forget to come back on Tuesday or Wednesday to download all these goodies, and remember - all of our products will be on sale during the Teacher Appreciation Sale as our little way of saying thank-you!

Five For Friday

2013-05-03T17:33:00.001-04:00

Oh my goodness - what a week! SO HAPPY it's Friday. Wasn't sure I was actually going to make it for awhile. ;) But I did ... and it's all good ... so I'm linking up to Doodlebugs for another fabulous Five for Friday.

Well, the spring flowers keep on blooming. We had BEAUTIFUL weather this week - I *want* to say we skipped right by spring and went from winter to summer ... but I WON'T say it, because I don't want to jinx it. I love the buttery colour of these crocus flowers growing in one of my front flower garders.

We had our book fair this week at school. How I wish we didn't sell all the little toys at the book fair because they drive me crazy in class. Seriously, I teach grade five and six students - why are they still playing with toys??? And then, I came across these little cuties ... and I couldn't resist. Yes, even the teacher can be a big kid and bring home a few "toys" to play with her kids. ;)

Did a little more shopping, too. When I was at Michael's shopping for some birthday presents, I fell in love with these baskets. Or maybe I fell in love with the 40% off sticker. Whatever it was, I think these will look fabulous on top of my bookshelves at school - and since I'm running out of room on the shelves (thank-you, book fair), they will soon be stacked full of reading treasures.

I added a new resource to my TPT store this week. I've had a few requests to make a nonfiction set for my reading comprehension posters, so I did. These posters are similar in appearance to the fiction posters, but the questions are specifically geared to nonfiction (text structures, text features, vocabulary, main idea, etc.)

Lastly, I had the nicest surprise waiting at my door when I got home today. I am constantly reminded by how much I LOVE the blogging community I'm lucky to be a part of ... and I have some of the sweetest friends in the world - even if I haven't ever met them in person. My sweet, sweet friend, Kim, sent me these delicious little goodies today - how did she know they'd arrive on a Friday just when the family needed a little pick-me-up. THANK-YOU so much, Kim. We ♥ you!

Happy Friday!!!

May Currently

2013-05-01T23:33:00.002-04:00

YAY for MAY!!! That means summer is coming ... right??? I'm looking for some confirmation here ... 'cause it certainly doesn't feel like it yet.

I'm linking up to Oh Boy in 4th Grade for another Currently post! This will be short and sweet tonight because I.AM.EXHAUSTED. This has been the longest week EVER!

Okay - listening to hockey ... sigh ... seriously - it's a game played on ICE. Why is it still on in May??? (And yes, I know that writing this for everyone to see makes me a bad Canadian). ;)

Loving that I get my Sunday mornings back ... at least for a few weeks. My daughter's soccer practices are coming to an end for the season. She's had practices every Saturday and Sunday morning at 8:00 am this year ... and I am NOT a morning person. We should have at least 3 or 4 weeks before her summer season starts.

Thinking ... and this is a big one ... that I'm SUPER proud of myself for finally taking the plunge and starting Weight Watchers this week. It will be one week on Friday ... and I haven't cheated once (and I've even exercised each day). I don't think I'll be rocking a bikini by the summer, but hoping to feel a lot better soon.

Wanting - SUMMER! Enough said.

Needing a new computer. Can't seem to keep this one running ... and I've had the blue screen of death three times in the last week, but each time my computer has started again. I would have bought one already, but I'm totally dreading copying everything over ... I don't even think I have the time to do it.

And lastly, loving the summer bucket list idea. Only, we don't really have any fantabulous summer plans, yet. Summer is still 8 weeks away for me. So, thinking about it too much will just depress me. I do know I can't WAIT to get started on some fun crafts with the girls, heading out the camp with the family, and spending every single moment LOVING LIFE!!!

YAY for MAY!

Five For Friday

2013-04-26T17:03:00.002-04:00

Ahhhh .... Friday. :)

This week's Five For Friday has me thinking about SPRING!

Look at these little cuties that popped up in my garden late last week. I was so excited to see them - they must have started growing under the snow, and a day or two of rain melted enough snow in my garden I was finally able to see them. I LOVE gardening in the summer and those first spring flowers are such a treat after a long, long, long winter.

And speaking of growing, my little school is growing, too. The school nearest ours is closing at the end of the year, and the students will be moving to our school. So, we're getting an addition built on to our school. Construction has started and the students are SO excited to watch the "mighty machines" at the school every day. (This pic was taken from far away because I didn't think the workers would appreciate it if I walked right up to them and started snapping pics of them ... ;).

Another thing that reminds me of Spring is cooking with fresh berries again - no more frozen berries here. I made these delicious blueberry lemon loaves with the girls this week - I've been trying to bake at least one thing with them every week. The recipe is from The Joy of Baking - everything I've ever made from that site has turned out perfectly!

Yet another sign of Spring is reviewing for our upcoming standardized testing. I've been using my newest product, Reading Comprehension Posters for Fiction Books, to review the comprehension strategies we've been studying in reading all year. I've focused on one strategy to review each week, and during our reading of a mentor text at the beginning of each week, students completed a poster for the strategy we're studying. We read Chris Van Allsburg's Just A Dream this week to fit in with our Earth Week theme. They love that they can decorate and colour the poster while I'm reading - it's a treat for them because it's the only time I let them doodle during a read aloud. I love the deep thinking I'm getting from the posters and the discussions we've had in class about the books.

Lastly, while I was at a PD day today, my daughters were busy painting and having fun at their daycare today. My middle surprised me with this little gem when I picked her up at the end of the day. ♥

T.G.I.F!!! I wish you all a wonderful weekend!

Celebrating Earth Week

2013-04-25T19:16:00.001-04:00

Although we discuss the importance of global responsibility throughout the year, we really try to focus on it during Earth Week in the classroom. I tried to incorporate these kind of activities into all subjects across the curriculum this week.

On Monday we did this word problem for our three part math lesson. We've been studying perimeter and area for about a week, so I thought they'd be good to go. But boy, they struggled with it. They all wanted to do 1.2 x 10 = 12 for area. Not so much. I gave them hints to draw a diagram, and I even started off a diagram for them, but we still had to revisit the problem the next day to consolidate the learning and fix-up some of the misconceptions. It was a real math work-out. ;)

On Tuesday we got outside for a yard clean-up. But I decided to add a twist. I divided the class into 4 groups and we made it a relay race. I kept track of the number of pieces of garbage collected on the whiteboard - because my class is so competitive this year - this was a HUGE success. They set a goal to collect 100 pieces of garbage, but I ended up filling both sides of the whiteboard with tally marks, and we ended up collecting well over 300 pieces of garbage (I would just like to insert that we have a gigantic school yard, and we did the back, front, driveway, and parking lot). Fresh air, exercise, and some care of the school grounds ... perfect!

Our science unit is Conserving Energy, so I decided to pair it with some writing this week, and I used some writing prompts and paper from The Science Penguin. Click here to see her Earth Day Freebie. I let the students choose from 8 different prompts, then they had to complete their good copies on the Earth Day stationery in the pack. We added some art (coffee filter globes) and had a perfect display for Earth Week.

You can get directions for making the coffee filter globes here.

How did you celebrate Earth Week with your class?

Reviewing Decimals and Rounding

2013-04-24T18:17:00.002-04:00

If you're an upper elementary blog stalker (like me), you must have met my wonderful friend, Kim, from Finding Joy in 6th Grade. And if for some reason you haven't, you really have to stop by her blog - trust me. Kim is the most wonderful, most supportive, sweetest bloggy friend around. In fact, she's not just my "virtual friend" (as my husband calls them), she's a true friend. And so, when the Magical Product Swap linky came around again this year, I was THRILLED to have the chance to partner with Kim. (Sidenote - the swap linky actually happened on Saturday, but just to prove how SWEET Kim is, she refused to let me post on Saturday because she wanted me to leave up my fundraiser post all weekend. I ♥ her).

When I saw Kim's resource for Reading, Writing, and Rounding Decimals, I knew it would be perfect for review in my class. And perfect it was. The kids LOVED the hands-on aspect of it - give them a spinner and some number cards, and you'd think it they'd hit the jackpot.

I had my students work in partners for this activity. Each pair had a mat with 4 different frames, a spinner, and a set of number cards. One thing I LOVE about this resource, is how it first activates students' previous knowledge. Before they start rounding numbers, they have to first practice reading and writing decimal numbers. Another thing I LOVE about it is how easy it is to differentiate for my students (my grade 5 and grade 6 students worked with different spinners, being able to hit the expectations needed for each of their grades).

My students first worked on reading and writing decimal numbers. They first spun the spinner to find out what place value they had to read to. They then chose the correct number of cards to make the number, and placed the cards on the frame. They then wrote the number in numerals and in words on their recording forms.

Once they were ready, we moved on to rounding decimals. This time they had to spin the spinner to see what place value they had to round to - if they spun hundredths, they had to fill the frame that went to thousdandths on their mat. They had to record the number, what place value column they had to round to, then the rounded number on their mat. Another thing I LOVE about this resource - there is a column on the recording sheet for "check". The partner had to check the column if they thought the answer was correct. There was a lot of great math talk in my room as students discussed or had to prove why they thought the answer was correct or incorrect.

My kids loved the hands-on aspect of this activity - it really helped them with the rounding process as they physically removed the last column number card after rounding. (And I was even able to slip in a teachable moment about theoretical probability versus experimental probability while they were working with the spinners ... happy teacher moment).

This resource even includes two pages of exit slip task cards so students can PROVE their learning at the end of the activity. See ... so many reasons to LOVE this activity.

You can further preview this activity by clicking HERE - Kim has it available at her TeachersPayTeachers store. And after you check it out, stop by her blog - Finding Joy in 6th Grade - and send her a little joy, as sending JOY is one of her favourite things.

I Just Want To Say ... Thank-You!

2013-04-23T21:16:00.001-04:00

You have all touched my heart and truly overwhelmed me with your support during my fundraiser this weekend. Through your prayers, positive thoughts, support, sharing, and shopping, I was able to far exceed the goal I had hoped to reach ... four times over. I can't begin to tell you how much this means to me, and how much this will mean to Taten and his mom during their fight ahead. You are an AMAZING group of people, and I just want to say ... THANK-YOU!

Fighting the Monster

2013-04-19T23:10:00.000-04:00

Meet Taten - the bravest little boy I know. Taten is in grade 2 at my daughters' school; his younger sister is in my youngest daughter's class. Taten's mom is an EA at my daughters' school; she has worked in my oldest daughter's class. She is also a good friend of mine.

Taten was just diagnosed with cancer.

His fight began less than two weeks ago when doctors found a tumor in his leg. Today he is in surgery to have his port put in place, and will have his first round of chemo. Taten and his family have to travel to a hospital almost 8 hours away every three weeks for the next nine months to receive treatment.

I cannot even begin to imagine the nightmare his mother is going through, but I knew I had to help in whatever way I could.

This weekend, I'm having a sale at my TeachersPayTeachers store and I'm donating every single penny to the family. All day Saturday and Sunday (April 20th - 21st), all my teaching resources will be on sale. I hope you will be able to find something to help you in your classroom, and help this family at the same time. Please click on the link above, or in my left sidebar to visit my store. And if you can, please share this post.

A few days ago, his mother wrote about her love for her son and promised him that she would hold his hand every step of the way. Well, hold on tight Marnie, but know that we're all behind you, holding your other hand.

Five For Friday

2013-04-12T17:31:00.002-04:00

I'm so excited to be linking up to Doodle Bugs' fabulous Five for Friday. I've literally been thinking about it all week - what I would include, what pictures I would take ... and then I got sick. I've spend the last two days at home. Ridiculously wicked head cold - plugged ears, can't breathe, and a dozen other things I won't go into detail about. So, enough of that ... here are my 5 random "shares" ...

No picture for this first one - nobody needs to see that. But here's a mental image for you - for the past two nights I've been lying upside down off the edge of my bed with socks filled with hot rice held to my ears (yes, I'm trying all the googled home remedies I can). I can't stand the feeling of my plugged ears. Granted, with three little girls around here, muffling the noise can be a good thing ... but it's just too uncomfortable. Anybody know of any other home remedies to try?

Moving on ... spent some quality time with my baby girl (not such a baby anymore) baking cookies while her older sisters were busy this week. And the cookies were fabulous! (So fabulous we had to bake a second batch later in the week). ;)

We've done a lot of free writing in my class this week. Stay tuned next week for a blog post telling all about it. My students are SO excited about this new addition to our class. Here is a list they brainstormed about all the different forms of writing they could try - they came up with ALL the ideas. Just underneath that is a little freebie I whipped up this week to get my students to do some revising and editing with their free writing. You could try it for a minute or two after each writing block or piece, or go full out for a "Find It and Fix It Friday". Just click on the image to grab this little freebie.

We had a little task card fun on Wednesday with these great division task cards I got from Teaching With a Mountain View. I set out all the cards in the common area outside my classroom, and the kids rotate through answering the questions. They can use their whiteboards to work out the questions. I sit at one of the stations with two different task cards, so each student eventually has to sit with me to work out a problem as they complete all the cards. Great for some formative assessment.

I saved the best for last ... or the most embarrassing for last. ;) Earlier this year, when my students were struggling with learning their multiplication facts, I made a promise to them that if they got a class average of over 80% on their skills quiz at the end of the week, I would turn cartwheels in the snow for them. Well, it didn't quite happen with multiplication (we came awfully close), but last Friday, with their division quiz, they hit an 84% average. YAY!!!! And, since we still have snow in April (blech), early Monday morning I took my kiddos out to watch me do a cartwheel in the snow. It's not a pretty cartwheel (it's been three children and two back injuries since I've last done a cartwheel). In fact, my husband isn't convinced it's actually a cartwheel ... but my students LOVED that I tried, and my own kiddos belly-laughed at the video ... so, it's worth it, right??? Now I've got to figure out how to up the ante for our remaining skills quizzes.

And that's that ... how did you spend your week??

Thursday Art Feature - Reflection Pop Art

2013-04-11T20:15:00.000-04:00

Just popping in quickly to share a fun little art project my students completed this week. I integrated our math unit into our art (again), and knew I wanted to do something with symmetry. Then I thought I'd kick it up a notch and throw in some pop art culture. This is what we ended up with:

It's so bright and cheerful in our room ... and with the weather we've been having, and how we're all feeling, we needed a little more bright and fun in our room.

Students started out by folding their page (just a piece of white computer paper) into fourths (they drew lines along the fold lines, which would become our lines of reflection later). They then had to cut an image from a magazine to glue into one of the fourths. They used miras to help them reflect the image into the four quadrants - flipping the image each time.

We then did a quick lesson on pop art - read some quick biographies about Andy Warhol we found online, and looked at some of his pictures. When they finished drawing, they had to colour in the remaining quadrants "pop art style". LOVE!

Happy Thursday!

Math Journal Sundays: Polygons and Division

2013-04-07T14:18:00.001-04:00

With Easter last weekend, I didn't get around to posting our math journal from last week. So, I have two entries to share with you today from our Interactive Math Journals.

We're just finishing up our 2D Geometry unit. This journal entries for polygons was near the beginning of the unit. I gave each student an envelope and some coloured paper, and had them work in pairs to construct as many polygons as they could think of. They were to write the name of the polygon on the front, and on the back they were to write some of the attributes of the polygon. (We used the shapes they created for some of our lessons following that - they used them for sorting polygons in Venn Diagrams, and measuring angles). Hindsight note: when I gave them the envelopes (the "polygon pockets") I asked them to cut off the lip and glue them to their journals so they would act as an open pocket. After finding many polygons on the floor, I wish I would've had them leave the lip on the envelope so they could close the envelope to keep the polygons contained. ;).

For the proof of learning, I asked students to show the difference between a polygon and nonpolygon. I gave them free choice for their math reflection for this entry. Some of my students drew pictures with polygons, some wrote about them, and a few made a chart showing the # of edges and vertices.

The next entry I wanted to share with you is on division. I spend about 20 minutes at the beginning of each math block (I have a one hundred minute math block) strictly studying skills. We just started long division this week after a LONG time spent on multiplication. The good news ... because we spent such a long time on multiplication, division was a breeze this week. Did you hear that correctly? I don't think I've ever written those words before. Seriously. Our class average on our division skills quiz on Friday was 80% (and that was after only three days, as it was a short week). YAY!

We made a simple flap interactive tool for this one. We wrote the steps to division on the outside of each flap, and then showed the step on the inside of the flap. Easy peasy. We also included our favourite mnemonic device for division: Does McDonald's Serve Burgers Raw? (Divide, Multiply, Subtract, Bring Down, Repeat or Remainder). They LOVE this mnemonic device and have written it on every practice sheet they've done. They've really been using this entry a lot when they're practicing their division - I even had a few students ask if they could use their journals during the quiz on Friday. (I let them ... on the condition that they try it without their journals next week).

For the math reflection, I used my question fans and asked them to connect the concept learned today (division) to another concept they have learned (specifically, multiplication). They were free to explain their connection using pictures, numbers, or words.

That's about it for today. Hope you're having a FABULOUS Sunday! (It's actually not snowing here today ... first time in about 3 days ... fingers crossed it stays that way!!!)

Dear Mother Nature

2013-04-04T17:15:00.000-04:00

Can someone please check the calendar for me? Mine must be broken. The date says it's April 4th, but it just can't be right ... this was the view from my classroom door this morning.

This picture doesn't do the SNOWSTORM justice ... but believe me, it wasn't pretty. :(

So ... taking advantage of the moment, we decided to do something about it ... and practise a little persuasive writing while we were at it. We wrote persuasive letters to Mother Nature and BEGGED her to bring us some Spring weather. We've done some persuasive writing already this year, so I just whipped up a quick chart to remind students what they needed to include in their letters (it's quick - not pretty, didn't have the time for pretty this morning). We orally brainstormed ideas to include for our reasons, then the students completed their rough copies and published copies. My students are becoming such fantastic little writers - can't believe the growth I'm seeing!!!

I had to make a bulletin board on one of the blank walls outside the classroom - we're completely out of space in the classroom! I LOVE this border I bought earlier this year, and have been dying to use it somewhere. So, bulletin board done ... and I tried my very best to bring a little spring and sunshine into our day.

So, if your weather was better than this today, please feel free to send some of it my way. :)

Happy Thursday!!!

Question Fans - Updated!

2013-04-02T20:42:00.000-04:00

Just a quick post tonight to let you know I've updated my first four question fan sets (I'll post the links below). For each set, I've now included a checklist page for each strategy or element that contains all the questions. I also added a blank page of question strips for each strategy in the Comprehension Fans (the other sets already had these included). For all of you who have purchased these sets, you can download the revised version under your "my purchases" link at TPT. Look for the flashing link that says "Newly Revised Re-Download" and click on that. If you are only looking to print out the new checklist pages, they are at the end of each resource.

I also wanted to share a fabulous idea I had from one of my followers who wrote me to tell me how she was using them in the classroom. She was using the Reading Reflection Fans. She printed out the checklist sheets to give to the students. She then had students choose one question from each level of question sets to make their own summative assessment for their reading test. Talk about differentiation!!! I thought this was such a spectacular idea, I did it for my students' summative test for our novel study. To save on paper, I put each checklist sheet under the ELMO, and had students write down one question from each level. When they were finished, they had 6 different questions (that they chose), focusing on each level from Bloom's Taxonomy. The level of engagement and success on this test was so much higher than other summative assessments, because the students were so invested in it. I really want to try this with my Math Reflection Fans when we get to the end of our current unit.

Comprehension Question Fans - Strategies include: asking questions, determining importance (main idea), inferring, making connections, summarizing, synthesizing, and visualizing. I use these for guided reading groups - students use them to start conversations with each other after reading, for pair-share activities after independent reading, as questions in our reader response journals, and after read-alouds. I use them in combination with my other sets of question fans, depending on the book or text read, or our current focus for reading.

Literary Question Fans - Literary elements include: author's purpose, characterization, figurative language, point of view, and tone and mood.

Genre Question Fans - Questions for specific genres: fictional narrative, personal narrative, persuasive writing, informational writing, and poetry. In addition to using these for books we read in class, I also have students answer questions about their own writing with these fans.

Story Elements Question Fans - Story elements include: plot, setting, character, theme, and conflict.

Reading Reflection Fans - Based on the 6 levels of Bloom's Revised Taxonomy. I use these more as summative questions after we have finished a novel or book study.

Math Reflection Fans - Based on Bloom's Revised Taxonomy. I use these as exit slips after math lessons, as questions after problem-solving activities, at the end of the unit as review, and as reflection questions in our math journals.

Happy Tuesday!!! It was the first day of a 4-day week for us ... and we all survived. :)

Currently: April

2013-03-31T22:51:00.002-04:00

I am SO excited I'm finally linking up to Oh' Boy 4th Grade for another Currently linky ... and even more excited I'm a day early!!! That NEVER happens in my life of forever procrastination. Here goes ...

Listening to ... there's quite the storm going on outside. Bit of rain and bit of snow mixed in. Desperately wishing the wind would blow away ALL this snow ... I think it just may be MAY before it's all melted this year. SO sad it's the season finale of The Walking Dead tonight - it's one of the few shows that my husband and I actually enjoy watching together ... I have no idea WHY I like the show as much as I do - never thought I would get wrapped up in a zombie show, but I am HOOKED.

Loving ... my Easter Weekend. Can't beat 4 days home with my family. We had a lovely dinner at my parents' house last night and had a great time with the whole Easter Bunny thing this morning. LOVE my life.

Thinking ... about laundry??? Yikes ... moving on.

Wanting ... to squeeze in a few more moments of fun tomorrow (maybe the laundry will have to wait another day). We've been playing all the old classics together lately. Just in the past week we've had a few games of Monopoly, Life, Scrabble, Jenga ... LOVING it. (And the teacher mom in me makes the girls add up their own scores and count their own money). Favourite line from today: my oldest spelled "reef" in scrabble. When my middle asked what a reef was, my youngest said, "You know - like a Christmas reef". ;)

Needing ... to get our passports. It's driving my husband CRAZY that I haven't gotten it yet. I do want to take a few little trips over the summer, but I have BIG plans to take the family to Disney at the end of December. Shhhh ... it's a secret.

Advice ... and this is one I need to keep reminding myself to follow ... I think I've done a pretty good job this month. Get OFF the computer more - and spend that time with the family.

Well, that's it ... still can't believe I've got it done a day early. :) I also can't believe that tomorrow is the beginning of April!!! I've got to plan a great trick for my girls tomorrow. Any ideas???

We've Got Our Heads Stuck in a Good Book

2013-03-29T11:45:00.000-04:00

Independent reading is huge in my classroom ... HUGE. There is not a day that goes by that we don't find the time to squeeze it in. When I first started my teaching career I worried about keeping students accountable for their independent reading time - we kept reading logs, students had questions to answer, you name it - I tried it. I think I tried so many different ways because none of them were working for me (and my students). And then ... I scrapped it all. And the sheer LOVE of reading for pleasure skyrocketed in my classroom.

I teach readers ... and there is nothing I am more proud of. Yes, I do "challenge" my students each year - we have a 30 book challenge we take on. Yes, students discuss their reading with a partner during pair-share oral activities after reading ... but there are no lengthy comprehension questions to answer in writing, no log to send home to parents to sign every night. My students are reading because they want to - they love what they are reading and finish their books because they want to, not because they have to. I think the secret to it is that we do find the time to read every day. I dedicate 15 - 20 minutes of my (100 minute) reading block to independent reading each day. Because they are reading every day, they can't help but to get sucked into their books. I think our pair-share at the end of reading really helps too, because students are always hearing about what their friends are reading, and are always adding new books to their mental "must-read" books.

About 3 or 4 times a year, we showcase our love of reading with a project ... okay - you can call it a "book report" if you want. But, the secret is to keep it fun for the students. My kiddos LOVED the Paper Bag Project we do in class, but I did it last year with my students, and because I have half of them again (I teach a split grade), I had to come up with something new. My students have been loving lapbooking in science and social studies, so over our March Break I created a (Lap)Book Report Project, and it was a hit in the classroom! (If any of you have already purchased this product, I have updated it to include a picture of our bulletin board and the template we used to create the face and hand pictures for display. You can download your updated copy on your "my purchases" page).

Students used their independent reading books for this project. The foldables inside focused on character analysis, making connections, inferring, problem/resolution, vocabulary, summarizing, setting, reflection, etc. To display these projects, students had to draw their faces and color their faces and hands. I stapled the faces to the bulletin board and put the lapbooks just underneath. I then stapled their hands over top so it looks like they are holding their projects. My students did such an amazing job on these - I think they are just as proud of them as their teacher is. ;)

One last thing before I go (gotta start cleaning this house so the Easter Bunny can navigate his way through the piles), I've joined up with a bunch of my blogging pals to throw a "Spring Cleaning Sale" at our TPT stores this Saturday and Sunday. Cleaning out my wishlist may be the easiest of my cleaning chores this weekend. ;)

Happy, Happy Friday!!! And I hope you all enjoy a lovely Easter Weekend.

2D Geometry and Art

2013-03-19T17:58:00.000-04:00

We've started our 2D geometry unit in math this week. Today, when we were finishing up our journal entry, I had the students draw a picture that showed their learning for the reflection. Thought we had wrapped it up and all was good. And then, during recess, I remembered a fun art idea I had seen on pinterest for 2D geometry op art. So, we pulled out the paper and the markers and set to work.

Students had to first draw a grid on their paper (they used pencil then went over it in marker). I then asked them to draw a minimum of 6 polygons on the grid (not overlapping the shapes). They then had to color in the grid (alternating squares for the pattern). I had them do all the squares for the grid first, then they had to go back and fill in the shapes - opposite to the pattern they did for the grid.

There you go - it was quick and easy - and integrated math - and most of my students finished it up in one art block. Glad we squeezed it in today - it's been a bit since we got an art block in.

Happy Tuesday!!!

Lapbook Giveaway Winners

2013-03-13T12:52:00.001-04:00

Thank-you so much for all your comments! You are all too sweet. I'm sorry I'm a little late in posting the winners, my blog post didn't go out to my email followers until very late last night, and I wanted to give all my followers a chance to enter.

I had my girls pick the winners for me today. I gave them 5 pieces of paper and asked them to write a number between 1 and 65 on the slips of paper (does that count as our math lesson for the day?) ;) These are the numbers they chose:

Congratulations to:

#15 - mccutch

#20 - Jennie

#22 - Gina Coniglio

#33 - Stephanie @ 3rd Grade Thoughts

#48 - Kathleen Bond

Stephanie and Kathleen - I've already emailed you. Gina, Jennie, and mccutch - could you please comment below with your email adress? I will send off the lapbooks as soon as I have your address.

Happy Wednesday, everyone!!!

Jen

Lapbooking

2013-03-11T23:42:00.000-04:00

Oh my goodness - how I LOVE spring break!!! The school break is great, don't get me wrong ... but I think what I'm enjoying most is the break from my girls' extra-curricular activities. I have two little dancers and one soccer superstar ... and they keep us RUNNING!!! For the first time in a LONG time, we had NO activities this weekend ... which equals sleeping in ... which equals heaven to me. :)

So, with the extra time I've found plus two very rainy days (not complaining - hoping that rain melts some of this snow mountain around me) it gave me the time I needed to finish a couple of projects I've been working on.

I've been working on a Canadian Lapbook Project. My class LOVES making lapbooks in our science units, so I thought I'd create one for Social Studies. Provinces and Territories is actually taught in grade 4 in my province, but it's a unit I always review in my class at the beginning of the year because it's SO important to me that the students know all about their country. This lapbook has the students naming the province and territory capitals, population, major lakes and rivers, and exports and imports. They also research natural resources and physical regions of Canada. You can click on any of the pictures to preview this product.

I had SO much fun creating the Canadian project, and had such a great reaction from my daughters (who insisted on helping me with the cutting), I decided to create a similar one for the United States. I quickly realized that with 50 states, this was going to be a MUCH bigger lapbook. This lapbook is actually 6 pages (2 file folders). Students will study the state abbreviations, capital cities, state population, date it entered the union, imports and exports, and major lakes and rivers. They will also research famous Americans, natural resources, famous landmarks, climate, highest peaks, and more. It would make an impressive project to display and then send home to the parents! Again, you can click on any of the pictures to preview this product.

To celebrate Spring Break, I'm going to giveaway FIVE of these resources. Just leave a comment below stating which one you could use and I'll use the random number generator to choose 5 different names tomorrow. Check back tomorrow evening to see the winners.

Happy Monday!!

Jen

Math Journal Sundays - Prime Numbers and Factors

2013-03-10T13:28:00.002-04:00

I've got two journal entries from our Interactive Math Journals to share with you today. We finished up our math unit this week - we were working hard to get it done before March Break. (YAY for spring break!!!).

The first entry was a simple one for prime and composite numbers. I photocopied a hundred chart onto a longer rectangle so that the sides could fold together and meet in the middle. Under each of the flaps we wrote the definition for prime and composite numbers. We then colored our number chart to show the prime and composite numbers. We boxed the perfect squares and wrote a definition for perfect square under the sticky note (under the hundred chart).

Since we covered the numbers from 1 - 100, for the proof I asked them to identify the numbers from 101 - 120 as prime or composite. For the reflection I asked students to write about the relationship between prime and composite numbers. If you look at the student work below, you can see that this student seems like she didn't quite get the concept from looking at her journal. When I asked her about it, she realized she made a mistake when working quickly, and she should have written that some "odd" numbers are also composite. She also missed quite a few numbers in her proof. I had her go back and add to her work after our conference.

In case you missed it, I did a blog post this week with some fun lesson ideas for prime and composite numbers. You can read about it below or click HERE.

Our next entry was on prime factorization. For this one we decorated our page to look like a tree (to help them remember to use factor trees for prime factorization). For our examples I wanted to use the same number twice to show students that it didn't matter what set of factors they started with, the prime factors will be the same in the end. We also included a definition for prime factor on the page.

For the proof I asked students to find the prime factors of two different numbers. As they were making their factor trees, I heard students remarking that factor trees reminded them of a Christmas Tree. (LOVE this - so much so that I might rearrange the order I teach my math units so that this unit falls before Christmas). Another student said he'll remember prime factors because of Optimus Prime - because the factor tree reminded him of opening up a transformer. :) I was loving their discussion so much I told them what they were already doing was reflecting on the lesson. So, for the reflection today I left it open for them - they could show their learning in any way they wanted.

I do have a copy of the factors and multiples quiz I use near the end of this unit available for FREE at my TPT store. Click HERE to download a copy.

Happy Sunday!!!

Jen