Annie Syed writes about how to use bio-poems during the first week of school to help teachers & students get to know each other for a successful year ahead
To help children build their mathematical comprehension, we need to give them more opportunities to talk about math. My school system will be adopting "Go Math" this year, and they have built math talk right into their lessons. It is something that most teachers do naturally, but I think it is an area that we can become more conscious of, and try new ways to include it in our lessons. There is a great article called "Math Talk 101" on Scholastic. It shares ways to get started with math talk and how to become more conscious. There are free printables for your room. The one below is available as a poster or bookmarks for students. I found another website, "The Cornerstone" with more suggestions to get kids talking about their math. One idea I would love to try is some videotaping of my students explaining strategies. You could create an anchor chart to hang in your classroom. There are many great examples on Pinterest. Link
My projects for the first two weeks of #Made4Math Mondays have focused on sewing. This week I decided the sewing machine had seen enough sun for a while and headed instead toward a new experience - Mod Podge. Beware! It is as addictive as they say it is. Project #1: A scrapbook covered Pringles can and a scrapbook covered Velveeta box. In each case, I cut the paper to fit the box and applied a thin layer of Mod Podge (MP), smoothed on a layer of paper, and covered the product with 2-3 thin layers of MP (allowing plenty of time to dry in between coats). In the image below you can also see a couple of scrapbook flowers that I made. These have magnets attached to the back. Cost $0. Project #2: This was inspired by a to-do list picture frame that I found on Pinterest. I started with a plain brown $2 frame from Walmart. I covered the thin flat portion of the frame with a thin layer of MP, laid on a layer of scrapbook paper and let it dry. I then took a piece of fine grit sandpaper to the edge. This eliminates a definite edge to the scrapbook paper and helps ensure it won't peel off in the future. I also slightly distressed the brown on the rest of the frame. I then used a cotton ball and some ink to apply some more color to the paper. The whole project was then coated with MP a couple of times. Buttons and ribbon were added later for more decoration. This project cost $6 for the buttons and frame. Project #3: I used MP to adhere some flowery scrapbook paper inside a small canning jar. This will hold paperclips on my desk next to the No Homework slips that I intend to use this year. (More to come on those at a later time.) I used the same paper to make a sign for basket, too. Overall this project cost me $4 for the basket. Project #4: I have seen this quote several times in different forms, ranging from a simple paper quote framed like below to its painted image on the wall of a classroom. In either case, I think that the sentiment it expresses is especially useful in a math classroom. Cost $2 for the frame. Overall, these 4 projects seem to cover all the things I need for my desk. The only thing I am considering is making a small area on the side of my file cabinet for a magnetic area to place papers that don't need to take up space on my desk. I'm also interested in making a No Name paper sign similar to this but that depends on a) where I would put it in my classroom and b) if I have time to make it before #TMC12.
To help children build their mathematical comprehension, we need to give them more opportunities to talk about math. My school system will be adopting "Go Math" this year, and they have built math talk right into their lessons. It is something that most teachers do naturally, but I think it is an area that we can become more conscious of, and try new ways to include it in our lessons. There is a great article called "Math Talk 101" on Scholastic. It shares ways to get started with math talk and how to become more conscious. There are free printables for your room. The one below is available as a poster or bookmarks for students. I found another website, "The Cornerstone" with more suggestions to get kids talking about their math. One idea I would love to try is some videotaping of my students explaining strategies. You could create an anchor chart to hang in your classroom. There are many great examples on Pinterest. Link
We are about to start our measurement “stuff” in Math, so I thought it would be appropriate to create a time activity for Daylight Savings Time! Click the picture or click here for the download! As usual, if you download it, please let me know what you think! You can comment below! :o)
15+ ideas of Maths Games you can play in your classroom. Instructions, resources and differentiation included. Perfect for K-3 classrooms...
Does that say Volume 52?!?!?!?! You read it right! This is my 52 installment of Monday Math Literature which means this has been ...
Free Inspiring Quote Posters to Decorate Your Classroom. Available to download as PDF Files.
A middle school math blog to help incorporate best teaching practices. Math journals, centers, promeathean boards, class management and experiences.
This set contains 4 weeks of morning work for the month of February. The math is aligned to 6th Grade Common Core Standards and meant to be a review. Each week follows the same routine and structure. Mathematician Monday- Multiplication & Division, Whole Numbers & Decimals, Expressions & Equations, Problem-Solving, Ratios & Rates Statistics Tuesday: Whole Numbers & Decimals, Rational Numbers, Statistics & Probability Wordless Wednesday: No Word Problems! Students have 3 problems without words. Multiplication & Division, Expressions & Equations, Throwback Thursday: Relationships Between Variables, Geometry, Graphs, Coordinate Planes, Units of Measure Fraction Friday: Nothing says Fun Friday like Fractions! Fractions, Percent I created this resource in my own classroom because I saw a need to continuously review these key areas. By following this same structure each week, students know what to expect while they are also building their confidence in these essential math areas. I have also found several other benefits from this morning work routine: 1)Routine!-My students knew exactly what to do when they come in the classroom. Also, if I needed a few extra minutes due to meetings or other housekeeping duties, I knew my students were spending that time working on essential math skills, not just “busy work.” The morning work is meant to be short and sweet, skill practice, plus engaging. 2)Short & Sweet- There are only a few problems so it shouldn’t take longer than 10 minutes. This will also let you know if students are still having difficulty with a certain skill. 3)Fewer Copies- Only one sheet of paper for the whole week! (Copy front and back) 4)A Weekly Grade-My students know this and do not want to do the work for homework or have a poor grade. This helped get them started right away in the morning. I also go over the problems each morning and allowed students to fix their work before turning it in. In my opinion, this is beneficial because it keeps the students engaged as we go over it, ESPECIALLY if they had difficulty with it. This was also beneficial for students because if they paid attention and “added on to their thinking,” they can earn a good grade that will be added weekly. For students that already struggle, this is confidence building and motivating. Digital The Math Daily Review comes as a printable pdf and in a digital format. The digital format includes Google Slides and self-grading Google Forms. The links for both of these are on a separate Google Slides: The Google Slides are organized into a weekly presentation. Each day is on one slide. Some teachers like to separate out the slides to share them on a daily basis. You are able to do this if you don't want to give students a whole week at a time. Google Forms: With the Google Forms, each day has its own Google Form.🛑 Are you a member of the TLL Membership? These materials are already included. If you are not a member, click here to learn more. The TLL Membership gives you an all-access pass to hundreds of ELA resources for teachers in Grades 3-5. This ELA + Math Morning Work is available for the following grade levels: ELA + Math Bundles 1st Grade 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade ELA Bundles 1st Grade 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade 6th Grade 7th Grade 8th Grade ELA Weekly Assessments 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade 6th Grade Math Bundles 1st Grade 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade Let’s connect! The Literacy Loft Blog The Literacy Loft on Instagram The Literacy Loft on Pinterest The Literacy Loft on Facebook If you have any questions, please email me at [email protected] [email protected]
Happy Monday! God willing I will be celebrating another year of life on Saturday so this is technically my birthday week. Does anybody else draw out their birthdays and celebrate for a week?!?! If I’m being honest, I don’t do that anymore, but when I was younger I sure milked my yearly milestone as long …
While I was away last week I received a request to make a plain spinner for a teacher. Once that simple task was done I decided to make several different kinds to share. I have put them all together in one packet. There are 7 copies of each spinner type, 1 large, 2 medium, and 4 small. Here's what you'll find. Spinner with numbers 1-10 Ten frame spinner Base-10 spinner with one, ten, and hundred blocks Pattern block spinner simple (missing square and tan rhombus) Pattern block spinner complete (all 6 shapes) Fraction spinner unit fractions (1/2, 1/3, 1/4) Fraction spinner (1/2, 1/3, 2/3, 1/4, 3/4, 6/6) Here's a sneak peak at the contents. Download Spinners Galore. I hope you get a chance to use these in your home or classroom. Please let me know if you try these and how you like them!
Math jokes (and puns) to get a smile out of 'sum' of your students.
One fun math idea to incorporate as a weekly routine is a Challenge of the Week problem. It is optional for students to give it a try, but I've found that just by adding the word challenge and hyping it up a little bit...kids love to give it a shot! The problem is always an extension of what we are studying that week in class. I put each new challenge up on Monday morning and students have until the end of the day on Thursday to turn in their solutions to the turn in basket pictured. We go over the challenge every Friday after our daily warm-up problem. Students who answered the problem get a small prize (mints in my classroom!) and the recognition of solving the Challenge of the Week! Enjoy! Both my 6th grade challenge problems and 8th grade challenge problems are FREE! Be sure to grab a copy and use them with your students! Here was one of our first Challenge of the Week problems this year during our fraction multiplication unit. Go Badgers...Wisconsin sports is a fairly common them in my classroom! After multiplying fractions, we moved on to multiplying and dividing mixed numbers. I love how this problem really makes them work backwards and think about the process of multiplying fractions and mixed numbers! As we moved into our rates and ratios unit, this problem was one of the more challenging this year. My students get to know my love of baseball pretty early on in the year! Another challenging rates and ratios problem. Especially letter c... Here was a great problem that I used during our percents, fractions, and decimals unit a few weeks ago. Another Problem of the Week from our percents, fractions, and decimals unit! This one was from later in the chapter when we learned how to find the percent of a number. For our shortened Thanksgiving week, I got creative and researched some crazy Thanksgiving statistics. Seems like a lot of turkey per person, but I guess the stats don't lie! Here is a challenge that relates to order of operations! I also had to show one of my students responses because of how complex it was. I love it when I see things like this in sixth grade! On the left is the problem of the week. On the right is one of my the student's response. I rewrote it so that I could go through it with all of my classes. They loved the challenge of having to use order of operations to solve such a complicated problem! After introducing algebraic expressions at the beginning of our algebra units, here was a challenge of the week that I had A LOT of students try! As we continued our units of algebra, here is a challenge of the week that I had students try BEFORE we learned about two-step equations. I liked the writing aspect of this problem, as well as how open-ended it is! Once we learned about two-step equations, I made our challenge of the week a little tougher...fractions AND decimals! More two-step equations! This challenge of the week was also a great review of dividing fractions and mixed numbers from the start of the year. This challenge of the week involved finding a two-step rule for the function table! This problem was as we were nearing the end of our algebra units. I like how it brought together everything that we had been learning about...equations, function tables, and graphs! On to solving inequalities! This problem was before we had learned about solving two-step inequalities. Two-step inequalities with fractions! This was a tricky one for the sixth graders! This challenge of the week was just prior to learning how to find the measure of a reflex angle. I had a lot of students who remembered to subtract from 360 degrees! This one was one of my favorites! Some students surprised me by finding angle C first. I hadn't even thought to solve it that way! This problem sparked a fun discussion of the names of different polygons...including a megagon (1,000,000-sided polygon). Translations, reflections, and rotations! Putting it all together! The rotation step was tricky for my students because most of the examples we did in class were rotated around the origin! Moving on to areas...this problem was just after learning about how to find the area of parallelograms and triangles! More work with areas! I really enjoyed creating these area challenge problems! Putting it all together with a composite area problem. This was challenging with the two semi-circles! Composite volumes...combining what we learned about finding the volume of rectangular prisms and pyramids! This might have been my favorite problem to create! Who doesn't want to solve a problem with a floating pyramid inside of a rectangular prism!
I had a really tough time picking something to make this week until I stumbled across this game I found on Pinterest. Even though the original game was created for a 5th grade classroom I think it …
It’s already “Monday Made It” again and this week I have a few simple things to share with you! Thanks to Tara over at Fourth Grade Frolics, as always, for the link up! So…to get things started, here is my “I have an idea…but it failed.” photo. I have a plan for this little bottle… […]
Hello! This is Mandy from Mandy's Tips for Teachers! Today is Monday, so it is a... I know Erin has shared a fun math activity for kids before. Today, I want to share a super simple math trick that will engage all kids- even big fifth graders. The best part? Even a first grader can do it! Meet Magic Die! This can be turned into an entire lesson to introduce missing addends or just a simple trick during bus call to entertain kids! Materials: one die Set Up: Explain to the students that you have x-ray vision. You can see straight through the die, to see what number is on the bottom facing the table- even though you can't see it. Trick: 1.) Roll the die. 2.) Make sure students are aware of the number rolled, without picking up the die. 3.) To figure the missing number, simply find the sum of 7. Whatever is rolled on top + number on the bottom= 7. The way the die is set up will make it so that the problems will always equal a combination of 7. 4.) You can create an anchor chart and see if students can solve the magic trick or just show them! 5.) Allow students time to practice so they can wow their friends! Skills Learned: Missing addends Combinations of 7 Tips and Tricks: Teach students how to roll a die first so dice aren't flying all over the room. My kids knew to cup their hands close, gently shake, and then drop close to the tabletop or floor. You can use a scrap of felt or the Dollar Store placemats to muffle the noise of dice bouncing so the room is quieter. For a few dollars, you can purchase a die for each child from the Dollar Tree. I think dice are $1 and there are 6 in a package. Once children master the "trick," send them a die home to teach others (and practice even more!). I hope this added a new, short math trick to your bag! For even more ideas from The Primary Peach, be sure to follow us on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook to catch all the latest news and updates!
Help your kids develop number sense and new computation strategies with these fun and easy to differentiate mental math challenge. Fun for grades K-8.
Here’s a multiplication game that will make practicing those math facts a lot more FUN! I don’t know about your kids, but mine have not especially loved learning their multiplication facts. Back in the fall (when it was football season) we made an addition and subtraction baseball game. Unfortunately, the game didn’t work with multiplication […]
One fun math idea to incorporate as a weekly routine is a Challenge of the Week problem. It is optional for students to give it a try, but I've found that just by adding the word challenge and hyping it up a little bit...kids love to give it a shot! The problem is always an extension of what we are studying that week in class. I put each new challenge up on Monday morning and students have until the end of the day on Thursday to turn in their solutions to the turn in basket pictured. We go over the challenge every Friday after our daily warm-up problem. Students who answered the problem get a small prize (mints in my classroom!) and the recognition of solving the Challenge of the Week! Enjoy! Both my 6th grade challenge problems and 8th grade challenge problems are FREE! Be sure to grab a copy and use them with your students! Here was one of our first Challenge of the Week problems this year during our fraction multiplication unit. Go Badgers...Wisconsin sports is a fairly common them in my classroom! After multiplying fractions, we moved on to multiplying and dividing mixed numbers. I love how this problem really makes them work backwards and think about the process of multiplying fractions and mixed numbers! As we moved into our rates and ratios unit, this problem was one of the more challenging this year. My students get to know my love of baseball pretty early on in the year! Another challenging rates and ratios problem. Especially letter c... Here was a great problem that I used during our percents, fractions, and decimals unit a few weeks ago. Another Problem of the Week from our percents, fractions, and decimals unit! This one was from later in the chapter when we learned how to find the percent of a number. For our shortened Thanksgiving week, I got creative and researched some crazy Thanksgiving statistics. Seems like a lot of turkey per person, but I guess the stats don't lie! Here is a challenge that relates to order of operations! I also had to show one of my students responses because of how complex it was. I love it when I see things like this in sixth grade! On the left is the problem of the week. On the right is one of my the student's response. I rewrote it so that I could go through it with all of my classes. They loved the challenge of having to use order of operations to solve such a complicated problem! After introducing algebraic expressions at the beginning of our algebra units, here was a challenge of the week that I had A LOT of students try! As we continued our units of algebra, here is a challenge of the week that I had students try BEFORE we learned about two-step equations. I liked the writing aspect of this problem, as well as how open-ended it is! Once we learned about two-step equations, I made our challenge of the week a little tougher...fractions AND decimals! More two-step equations! This challenge of the week was also a great review of dividing fractions and mixed numbers from the start of the year. This challenge of the week involved finding a two-step rule for the function table! This problem was as we were nearing the end of our algebra units. I like how it brought together everything that we had been learning about...equations, function tables, and graphs! On to solving inequalities! This problem was before we had learned about solving two-step inequalities. Two-step inequalities with fractions! This was a tricky one for the sixth graders! This challenge of the week was just prior to learning how to find the measure of a reflex angle. I had a lot of students who remembered to subtract from 360 degrees! This one was one of my favorites! Some students surprised me by finding angle C first. I hadn't even thought to solve it that way! This problem sparked a fun discussion of the names of different polygons...including a megagon (1,000,000-sided polygon). Translations, reflections, and rotations! Putting it all together! The rotation step was tricky for my students because most of the examples we did in class were rotated around the origin! Moving on to areas...this problem was just after learning about how to find the area of parallelograms and triangles! More work with areas! I really enjoyed creating these area challenge problems! Putting it all together with a composite area problem. This was challenging with the two semi-circles! Composite volumes...combining what we learned about finding the volume of rectangular prisms and pyramids! This might have been my favorite problem to create! Who doesn't want to solve a problem with a floating pyramid inside of a rectangular prism!
Happy Monday! God willing I will be celebrating another year of life next Monday, so this is technically my birthday week. Does anybody else draw out their birthdays and celebrate for a week?!?! If
Make math fun and engaging for your child with our collection of math jokes for kids! Perfect for the classroom, homeschooling, or just for fun, our math jokes are sure to have your child laughing and learning in no time.
I LOVE using videos in math class, I love catchy songs that I catch my kiddos singing all day long (and that I sing at home while doing dishes!). I often use them as an introduction to a concept or as
Math doesn’t always have to be hard and confusing, sometimes it can be fun. These funny math jokes and puns are the perfect way to make math a good time.
One fun math idea to incorporate as a weekly routine is a Challenge of the Week problem. It is optional for students to give it a try, but I've found that just by adding the word challenge and hyping it up a little bit...kids love to give it a shot! The problem is always an extension of what we are studying that week in class. I put each new challenge up on Monday morning and students have until the end of the day on Thursday to turn in their solutions to the turn in basket pictured. We go over the challenge every Friday after our daily warm-up problem. Students who answered the problem get a small prize (mints in my classroom!) and the recognition of solving the Challenge of the Week! Enjoy! Both my 6th grade challenge problems and 8th grade challenge problems are FREE! Be sure to grab a copy and use them with your students! Here was one of our first Challenge of the Week problems this year during our fraction multiplication unit. Go Badgers...Wisconsin sports is a fairly common them in my classroom! After multiplying fractions, we moved on to multiplying and dividing mixed numbers. I love how this problem really makes them work backwards and think about the process of multiplying fractions and mixed numbers! As we moved into our rates and ratios unit, this problem was one of the more challenging this year. My students get to know my love of baseball pretty early on in the year! Another challenging rates and ratios problem. Especially letter c... Here was a great problem that I used during our percents, fractions, and decimals unit a few weeks ago. Another Problem of the Week from our percents, fractions, and decimals unit! This one was from later in the chapter when we learned how to find the percent of a number. For our shortened Thanksgiving week, I got creative and researched some crazy Thanksgiving statistics. Seems like a lot of turkey per person, but I guess the stats don't lie! Here is a challenge that relates to order of operations! I also had to show one of my students responses because of how complex it was. I love it when I see things like this in sixth grade! On the left is the problem of the week. On the right is one of my the student's response. I rewrote it so that I could go through it with all of my classes. They loved the challenge of having to use order of operations to solve such a complicated problem! After introducing algebraic expressions at the beginning of our algebra units, here was a challenge of the week that I had A LOT of students try! As we continued our units of algebra, here is a challenge of the week that I had students try BEFORE we learned about two-step equations. I liked the writing aspect of this problem, as well as how open-ended it is! Once we learned about two-step equations, I made our challenge of the week a little tougher...fractions AND decimals! More two-step equations! This challenge of the week was also a great review of dividing fractions and mixed numbers from the start of the year. This challenge of the week involved finding a two-step rule for the function table! This problem was as we were nearing the end of our algebra units. I like how it brought together everything that we had been learning about...equations, function tables, and graphs! On to solving inequalities! This problem was before we had learned about solving two-step inequalities. Two-step inequalities with fractions! This was a tricky one for the sixth graders! This challenge of the week was just prior to learning how to find the measure of a reflex angle. I had a lot of students who remembered to subtract from 360 degrees! This one was one of my favorites! Some students surprised me by finding angle C first. I hadn't even thought to solve it that way! This problem sparked a fun discussion of the names of different polygons...including a megagon (1,000,000-sided polygon). Translations, reflections, and rotations! Putting it all together! The rotation step was tricky for my students because most of the examples we did in class were rotated around the origin! Moving on to areas...this problem was just after learning about how to find the area of parallelograms and triangles! More work with areas! I really enjoyed creating these area challenge problems! Putting it all together with a composite area problem. This was challenging with the two semi-circles! Composite volumes...combining what we learned about finding the volume of rectangular prisms and pyramids! This might have been my favorite problem to create! Who doesn't want to solve a problem with a floating pyramid inside of a rectangular prism!
Are you looking for the perfect numbers to 1000 game to play with your class? Try Race to 1000. Easy, fun and great consolidation of numbers.
Tweet This time of year you will find me working hard on counting skills including counting by 2's. A few weeks ago, I shared 10 ways to practice counting by 2. I received an email from a reader with a few suggestions for other math literature book to practice counting by 2's. Because I am always on the lookout for more Math Literature, I was intrigued. I have many math literature books that mention counting by 2 but none where it is the entire focus of the story. I knew I had to get these books, and I am glad I did. Mooove Over!: A Book about Counting by Twos The entire focus of this book is counting by 2's! It is in the context of animals getting on a trolley with a capacity of 20. I used these cute cards along with this story. Penguin Pairs: Counting by 2s I love using penguins as a winter theme in primary classrooms and this fun count by 2's to 20 book will be a great addition to my penguin math materials. I also stumbled upon this great video this week! I love the songs for counting by 5, 2, and 10 and LOVE the movements as well! H This video is by Heidi Songs which is definitely a resource I will be checking out further! If you have used any of the resources from Heidi Songs, please let me know in the comments below! If you are looking for more ways to practice counting by 2, you can grab all my resources here!
If you missed my last Math Literature post about an amazing Loreen Leedy book, you can check it out here ! This week, I want to show y...
Motivation Monday quotes full of inspiration, humor and wisdom are the perfect inspirational boost you need after a chilled weekend!
As I have said before, I am a self-proclaimed math geek. Last year I compiled Pi Day activities on the blog. For the mathematically challenged, Pi Day is a day dedicated to the number 3.14... It is celebrated on March 14th, 3/14. You can see more Pi Day ideas on my Pinterest page. Free Printable from TPT Books for every level to celebrate Pi Day Free Printable Pi Day Problems Pi Day Games and Activities Pie Plate Activity Pi Day Infographic Click here to see the most adorable 5th graders singing a Pi Day song to the music of "Dynamite" Still need more ideas? Check out my Pi Day Pinterest board. If your idea was featured in this post, please grab an "I've been featured" button and display it proudly on your blog!
