EngageNY 5th grade math anchor charts for adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators.
It's a rainy day this morning ... rainy and chilly. I guess it's nature's way of telling me to stay inside and clean my house today. So ... let the procrastination begin ... I've got some GREAT foldables to share with you today. This week I had a reader ask me how I use my math journals in my classroom. I guess my math journals are more of an interactive glossary or how-to manual. Every time we have a new definition, or a formula or procedure, I try to do a foldable for it. Students keep their foldables in their math journals, which is organized with a table of contents and page numbers at the top of each page. I've been really excited to see my students use their journals as a tool during independent work or problem-solving activities. I'm starting to see them go to their journals first for help, rather than lining up at my desk. YAY! So, we're diving into the world of prime and composite numbers, and factors and multiples. LOVE this quick unit. I have a few really fun hands-on lessons from my newest math resource (see my last post here) that I'm excited to try. On Monday we made two four-folds to define and give examples of prime and composite numbers and factors and multiples. On Tuesday we made a Venn diagram to show common factors and the greatest common factor. We also defined these terms under the foldable. And on Wednesday we started on prime factors. So of course, we had to make a foldable factor "tree". Thursday we had our big three-part lesson on prime factors, and so many students went back to their math journals to see the factor tree. I've been thinking I want to start math centers or stations in the classroom - something on a far more organized and larger scale than I've done before. Okay - I've been more than thinking, I went out and started to buy a few things. I got some large sterilite containers, some flashcards, some sticker paper for cute labels, and a few more things. Getting it finished is my project for this week - hopefully I can get it finished by Wednesday so the students can have a center day on Thursday. I can't wait to share it with you when I'm done. I've been reading and researching a lot, and pinning ideas I've seen, but I'd love to hear if and how you do math centers in your classroom. If you use math centers with your older students, please leave a comment with some advice for me. And ... of course ... one of my math centers wouldn't be complete if they didn't have a pack of my cootie catchers (my students LOVE these). So, I made up a pack of Factors and Multiples Cootie Catchers. Each pack has 12 different cootie catchers - 2 of each for: prime and composite numbers, factors, G.C.F, prime factorization, multiples, and L.C.M. The pack also contains a BONUS Factors and Multiples worksheet to use as independent practice or a quiz. Click on the picture to the right to preview it. And as always ... if you are one of the first three people to leave me a comment with your email address, I'll send you a copy. Happy Sunday!!! Interactive Math Journal Interactive Math Journal 2 Building Better Math Responses Math Concept Posters InLinkz.com
Learn how to ask questions during your math lessons that require your students to conceptualize the content. From timing to rigor you'll get tips on how to make the questions you give your students more POWERful.
In fourth grade, the first standard I like to tackle is CCSS 4.NBT.A.2, which gets kids reading and writing large numbers. Here's how our lesson went this week. First, we talked about the Base-10 number system. My students had no idea what I was talking about! They tried to tell me that we have a Base-10 system because there are only ten symbols, 0 through 9. I explained that man made up the ten symbols, and that ancient civilizations had used different bases. That was a hard thing for them to swallow. "Why," I asked them, "do you think we finally decided on a Base-10 number system?" As we pondered these basic ideas in mathematics, I kept gesturing with the ten best reasons I could find: Some of them began to catch on. They began to talk about how they learned to count with their fingers and toes: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9 and then 10 was one group of fingers. Eleven was one group of all of their fingers plus one more from a second group. They were beginning to "get" the Base-10 number system. By and by we moved on to place value. They already understood ones, tens, and hundreds. That, I explained, was one period. The next period, also comprised of three numbers, is called the thousands period. It contains the one thousands place, the ten thousands place, and the hundred thousands place. The students were excited to know that once they knew about periods, they could read any large number. Then, of course, we had to stop to discuss millions, billions, trillions, quadrillions, quintillions, and especially google. These mathematical concepts really motivate fourth graders: it's big kid stuff! The time had come to actually read large numbers. This poster illustrates how I teach the skill. (Just click on the image to download it.) In no time, my students were reading big numbers. Each student read one large number aloud. When I felt they were getting the hang of it, they got in groups to read to each other, and I gave them homework for more practice. (Everyone knows that practice makes perfect.) Reading multi-digit numbers, even really big ones, becomes a snap when kids realize that they just chunk the numbers into three-digit periods and state the period name after each. Anyone can do it! Talking about math, really getting into the nitty-gritty of how the Base-10 number system works, is essential. Teaching mathematical processes must be coupled with strategies for grasping mathematical concepts. This is Job #1! If you're looking for worksheets, activities, and assessments for teaching 4.NBT.A.1, 4.NBT.A.2, and 4.NBT.A.3, take a look at Multi-Digit Whole Numbers - Differentiated in my Teachers pay Teachers store.
A few years ago I decided to start using Interactive Notebooks in my classroom. First, I strongly believe that the Interactive Notebook will enable my students to become more creative, independent thinkers, and writers. Secondly, they will give structure to all my lessons, organization, and problem solving strategies. Moreover, they will allow me to gain insight into my students' abilities, opinions, understandings, and misconceptions about the lesson/skill at hand. Lastly, Interactive Notebooks are an easy way for me to incorporate differentiated instruction and meet the needs of every student in my class. What Is An Interactive Notebook? Interactive Notebooks are a valuable tool that can help strengthen student learning of curriculum through increased student interaction and participation. These notebooks are used in my class daily to help my students learn and keep track of their learning progress. This notebook uses both the right and left-brain hemispheres to help sort, categorize and be creative with newly attained knowledge. The left side of the notebook is used for writing down information given by me such as notes, vocabulary, formulas, examples, etc... The right side of the notebook shows the understanding and references the information from the right side through self worked examples, reflections, drawings, figures, etc... The benefits for my students are endless because they become more organized and can easily access their work and notes quickly. Why Notebook? Well for starters, I was tired of students not utilizing their notes, losing their papers, and not remembering the previously learned concepts. With the Math Interactive Notebook, students now have the opportunity to reflect on their strategies and assess their own learning. They can practice putting their knowledge into words both verbally and in writing. Futhermore, by using the notebook, instructional focus suddenly starts to shift from computation to problem solving and real-life application. The Interactive Notebook serves as a documented portfolio-like record of student growth and progress. Finally, the Interactive Notebook is an open-ended and naturally differentiated assessment tool. Notebook Supplies: Composition book Highlighters (at least four different colors) Glue Stickes Colored Pencils (Basic 8 colors) Scissors Why Are Interactive Notebooks Different? Left side pages are used to write down learn-able content Class notes Discussion notes Textbook notes Graded Test Right side pages are used to process the right side notes with Problem of the Day (warm up) Independent Practice Problems Graphic Organizers (Frayer Model, Foldables, Venn Diagrams...) Glued Assignments Glued Quiz/Test Corrections The Pros and Cons Pros Everyone has the same notes in the same place. Student engagement, responsibility, and organization Students will actually use their notes. Helpful for student review Used for future math classes Quick Assessment tool Every year you don't have to re-invent the wheel. Cons For the teacher, it is a lot of work and planning to set up. Stolen or lost notebooks New students mid sememster Damaged notebooks One workbook that I recently purchased that has helped me tremendously when it comes to planning and creating foldables is Dinah Zike's Notebook Foldables for Spiral, Binders, & Composition Books. I highly recommend this workbook if you decide to start working with Interactive Notebooks. Dinah Zike's Notebook Foldables I also created an Interactive Notebook PowerPoint Presentation that I use at the beginning of the school year when we start setting up all of our Notebooks. You can find my Powerpoint by visiting my teacher store at Teachers Pay Teachers and edit it to suit your needs. Interactive Notebook PowerPoint Presentation Here are samples of entries inside my Interactive Notebooks. (I have one notebook for each subject.) Scientific Method Foldable. Place Value Foldable Multiplication Strategies Foldable Multiplication Properties Foldable Multiplication & Division Fact Family House (Door Opens!) Download a Free Copy Here! Chapter Vocabulary Foldable with Examples Algebraic Expressions Character Traits & Story Evidence Well there you have it. That's how I use Interactive Notebooks in my classroom. Leave me a comment and let me know how it works for you.
Kids explore fractions, while writing a colorful melody, without even knowing how to read music! Fill glasses up with different fractions of water and add food coloring. Provide students with paper to write their songs. Have kids make a hypothesis about why the glasses of water project different sounds. Is it the color of the water: No! Kids will be wowed at how water level makes an impact on the sound that projects from each glass. The fraction of water in each glass produces a different pitch.
Last school year I used math notebooks with my students. The notebooks are full of charts, examples, pictures, vocabulary, notes (of course), etc. I kept my own notebook, one for each class (in order to model). We filled them in together each time we wrote in it. I LOVE how they turned out. I actually kept them over the summer instead of sending them home with the kids (not because I loved them that much but because I wanted to make sure the notebooks actually made it to the 5th grade with the kids!) I plan on personally delivering the notebooks to my former students on the 2nd day of school. Below is what my notebook looked like; I didn't take pictures of the students' notebooks, but they look just like it (of course, with kid handwriting and drawings): We MUST have a table of contents; helps us keep organized. These Polygon cards are available in my TPT Store. I'll email a free copy for the first 5 people interested!!! Vocabulary words are put in the back of the notebook, starting on the last page (and working toward the front). The use of color in the notebooks is definitely encouraged! It helps the brain remember things! Frayer Model; the students actually came up with the facts/characteristics, examples and non-examples for each word so the students' work may not necessarily match mine (and that is A-okay!!!).
I'm so excited to introduce my newest math product, this fun 4th grade multiplication unit! Grab it for your students today!
Last school year I used math notebooks with my students. The notebooks are full of charts, examples, pictures, vocabulary, notes (of course), etc. I kept my own notebook, one for each class (in order to model). We filled them in together each time we wrote in it. I LOVE how they turned out. I actually kept them over the summer instead of sending them home with the kids (not because I loved them that much but because I wanted to make sure the notebooks actually made it to the 5th grade with the kids!) I plan on personally delivering the notebooks to my former students on the 2nd day of school. Below is what my notebook looked like; I didn't take pictures of the students' notebooks, but they look just like it (of course, with kid handwriting and drawings): We MUST have a table of contents; helps us keep organized. These Polygon cards are available in my TPT Store. I'll email a free copy for the first 5 people interested!!! Vocabulary words are put in the back of the notebook, starting on the last page (and working toward the front). The use of color in the notebooks is definitely encouraged! It helps the brain remember things! Frayer Model; the students actually came up with the facts/characteristics, examples and non-examples for each word so the students' work may not necessarily match mine (and that is A-okay!!!).
My students are always using and referring to different math tools during math centers. I created (and am sharing for free) individual math toolboxes.
Debrief each experiment with these science questions. Kids will think critically and learn more about scientific processes.
Teaching factors is so underrated! When fourth graders understand relationships, patterns unfold before their eyes.
Happy Friday Friends! I hope everyone had a great week! I am not feeling good (ears, throat, tired..blah!) Hoping to have a relaxing weekend of nothing and possibly head to the doctor tomorrow! Last school year I had strep 6 times and I don't want a repeat of that this year...no thank you! Yesterday I told you we were going to do a multiplication table project that I saw on Pinterest! Well, the kids LOVED it! They were so excited to draw and color during math! And to top it off, they did such a great job at this project! It took them about an hour to complete but the results are awesome! Here is my table before! It's not the straightest table you will see, or even, but oh well! Then, students each got an index card and pulled a multiplication problem out of a bag! They had to show that problem in one of the 5 ways I taught them-arrays, repeated addition, fact families, grouping, or skip counting. Once they did their index card in pencil, they had to show me to make sure it was correct. If it was correct, they got to color it and then had to show me on the board where it went before gluing it on! Here they are placing it on the board! All complete! Then I made a quick sign, printed out the strategy posters and added them to the top! SO cool huh? I am really proud of it! I had a few people stop in my room at the end of the day to say how cool they thought the board was! So so proud of my kiddos! And to top it off...their test today...WOW! I have been teaching 3rd grade for 4 years and this group gets it! On another note, since Halloween is right around the corner and I have yet to make anything or do anything in my classroom related to Halloween-sorry Lisa from Learning is Something to Treasure. I know you BOOed me...but I have nothing to write about:( I am SO out of the loop with this holiday this year! But now, I have made some Halloween No Homework Passes! I would LOVE to give some of these away! All you have to do is leave me a comment telling me about your favorite childhood Halloween memory-don't forget to leave your email otherwise I can't send it to you! So here are a few of mine! I remember my mom making me a bat costume in the 4th grade! It was SO cool! I lived on top of a hill with a massive driveway. I remember getting off the bus, running up the hill, still wearing my bat costume. My dad was blowing leaves and my Giant Schnauzer Jack was running to see me. Later that night I went trick or treating with my best friend Lori! I remember coming home and sorting through the candy and my baby sister Mallorie was trying to get into my bag! I also remember one more thing I just HAVE to share! My mom was the queen of making me costumes and clothing! I usually didn't match and had some very unique costumes. This next costume, well..I mean seriously...can you tell what my mom made me this year??? Take a wild guess...I am curious to see if anyone can get this! And yes, this is in 1988! I swear, one last thing:) Check back tomorrow for the start of my 600 follower giveaway! YEA! Have a great night!
Do your students struggle with math? Check out these FREE spiral review math worksheets for 2nd grade to help your students with math.
Teaching factors is so underrated! When fourth graders understand relationships, patterns unfold before their eyes.
Tired of using your task cards in the same way? Math Musical Chairs is a math game that uses any set of task cards and gets your students up and moving in math. They will enjoy the music and change of pace while still practicing a math skill!
Measuring angles can be fun and creative with these art projects for upper elementary.
This book and activity are just too great not to share! I actually did this with my sixth graders a while back (right before Thanksgiving...
CCRA.L.2 states: "Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing." How will you address this with your fourth grade class? The first step I take is direct instruction and daily practice of parts of speech, capitalization, and punctuation. I present three connected rules per week (for example, identifying adjectives, capitalizing proper adjectives, and commas in series of adjectives). Students practice with three sentences each day, spiraling their knowledge and understanding of mechanics. This has worked wonders in my own classroom. Mechanics: Your Daily Tune-Up is focused, gives plenty of practice, and takes only a few minutes a day. Let's take a closer look at the parts of this standard. L.4.2a simply says, "Use correct capitalization." No standards after fourth grade discuss capitalization. When I first saw this, I thought, "Wow, that means my students need to know all capitalization rules." As I came to realize that there are many rules for capitalization, the rules are quite detailed, and the resources available to teach them are few, I really said, "Wow!" In addition to the mechanics program, I created interactive PowerPoint presentations, related worksheets, and extension activities for each rule. Then I wrote review sheets and tests. It was a big undertaking, but the end result was worth it! Each presentation got my kids involved with thumbs-up/thumbs-down and/or display of fingers for practice and effortless formative assessment. This short video will give you a little taste of how the unit works. All nine PowerPoint/Lesson Plan sets are now available individually or as a bundle in my Teachers pay Teachers store: Capitalizing Dates and Names Capitalizing Holidays and Products Capitalizing Geographic Names Capitalizing Titles Capitalizing Celestial Objects Capitalizing Groups, Languages, and Religions Capitalizing Rooms, Course Titles, and Awards What Not to Capitalize Comprehensive Capitalization Unit (includes all PowerPoints, lesson plans, and extension activities; a quick reference guide and review; pretest and cumulative test) Once students have learned all of the comma rules, I like to sprinkle in some review with free worksheets offered at Worksheetplace.com. L.4.2b states: "Use commas and quotation marks to mark direct speech and quotations from a text." This extends the third grade standard by asking students to quote from a text. Although the CCSS does not officially ask fourth graders to quote from text when answering questions, it's a great way to practice (and gear up for Grade 5). After reviewing placement of commas and quotation marks in text, I work with students to generate a list of tags to use when integrating quotes into writing, like this: Opportunities for practice are easy to find. For example, after reading this brief excerpt from Aesop, I'd simply ask students to quote the author five different ways. They can experiment by using different parts of the text and a variety of tags to answer. L.4.2c is simple and straightforward: "Use a comma before a coordinating conjunction in a compound sentence." Once your students can identify complete sentences (AKA independent clauses) and coordinating conjunctions, you're set. This lesson and video on the Scholastic website may help. The author, Mary Blow, uses the acronym FANBOYS (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) to help students identify coordinating conjunctions then shows how to insert a comma when these are used to combine two sentences, or independent clauses. To reinforce this concept, try this Compound Sentence Practice from Joshua Durham (free on TpT). You can liven up your lesson with this Comma Before Conjunction Lesson, which was created by two students and posted on YouTube. Even better, your students could create their own skits, jingles, or videos to teach the skill. L.4.2d asks students to "spell grade-appropriate words correctly, consulting references as necessary." I hate to say it, but dictionaries in book form seem to be going the way of the dodo bird. I think it's time to teach kids how to use digital spell check options. Kids (and adults) can use tools found in word processing software or online spell check sites, such as SpellCheck.net. That's it for fourth grade mechanics! If you need assessment for these (or all 20) language skills covered in the Common Core, Teaching and Tapas has published a complete 4th Grade Common Core Language Assessment. Check it out!
Looking for fun, quick, and easy science experiment ideas for an upcoming science fair? Check out these step-by-step instructions for four different Skittles science experiments.
"I loved these! These are great for differentiation and I started to use them with my class today. They are very excited to try the different methods." --Jendahl Looking for a simple way to enrich your students' understanding in math? These math menus are all you need! This resource includes: --Math menus for each of the third grade common core standards --Math menus are differentiated by level of understanding to support all of your learners --Tips on how to make this work in your classroom --A blank math menu for you or your students to add their own projects --A simple self-assessment for students to reflect on their work This resource is less than 50 cents a page and will provide all the enrichment you need for your math workshop! If you like this resource, check out these math menus for grades four and five as well. *This product is part of my Math Enrichment Bundle. While it is complete all by itself, you will save 25% by purchasing the entire bundle. **Don't forget to rate this product to earn TpT credits for future purchases.
Enjoy teaching sound energy activities! Your third, fourth, or fifth grade students will love the hands-on stations.
Take a peek into what guided math centers look like in my upper grades classroom. Lots of FREE guided math centers included.
Multi-purpose organizer is perfect for home, office, or school use! Translucent drawers keep art supplies, garden seeds, office items and more organized and easy to find. Organizer has casters for mobility, with two locking casters for safety. Tubular, chrome-plated steel frame and top shelf. Round, chrome-plated knob-style drawer pulls.
A few years ago, our school implemented "voice levels" as a way to help at assemblies, in hallways, and within our classrooms. This has really helped with consistency across the grade levels and made the first few weeks of school even easier when introducing these concepts. In our school, if a teacher needs to get students' attention, he/she will hold up our hand in the shape of a zero. If kids are working in small groups and are getting a little noisy, I would hold up two fingers to remind them it was "Voice Level 2". When we create presentation rubrics, we always include "Voice Level 3" as an area to focus on. In the beginning of the year, when we are making our Daily 5 Anchor Charts around expectations, Voice Levels 0, 1, and 2 always make an appearance. I have loved thinking of Voice Level 1 (whisper) as "Spy Talk"! In the past, I have used the fingers-on-the-voicebox trick~ if it vibrates, it's not Voice Level 1~ but the idea of talking like a spy is soooooo much more fun! This year, I ask my Teacher's Assistant to help be my Voice Level Monitor. If they feel it is getting too noisy, they will assist me in showing the appropriate voice level with our finger(s). Here is the file for the poster (I recently changed over my font, so it looks slightly different). **UPDATE: If you like this idea, you will love my new Voice Levels Management Pack available on TpT! Be sure to download the Preview to see everything that's included and read my updated post HERE for more info! Enjoy!
Your students will love all these fun and engaging Thanksgiving Activities for Upper Elemenatry Math classes. Perfect for November.
I made this quick outline or "cheat sheet" as a guide for my students. Also included is a checklist for students to use as they write and one for you to use as you score compositions. I re-sized the checklist and Texas Teaching Fanatic's Expository Writing rubric to 50%, added two to a page, and simply attach them to the compositions as I score. Easy, peasy! Print on white to use with Flair pens :) or print on Astrobrights paper for a POP of color! Cheat sheet and checklists are available in English and Spanish. Texas Teaching Fanatic Expository Writing rubric can be found here: Be the first to know about my new products and freebies! Look for the green star near my store name and click on it to become a follower!
Teaching multi-digit whole numbers is key to place value for fourth graders. Grab some great ideas for thorough understanding.
Customary units of measurement stick with scaffolding. Use best practices to move kids from concrete to abstract, and they will understand.
data:blog.metaDescription
I just completed a new game! This is the first of many that will be made in December. Have students practice matching decimals and fractions together with this Christmas-themed game fit for your math center! Decimal place value includes tenths and hundredths. Click on the picture to check it out in my Teachers Notebook store. Of course, as always, the first three to comment will receive a free copy. Remember to leave your email!! :)
The words "subtracting across zeros" can make a third or fourth grade teacher's hair stand on end. All of that crossing out and mess of nines and tens. How can we teach this skill (and the underlying concept) so that our students will truly understand? Yesterday I tried something new. Each of my students was given four sheets of Kovich Class Cash (thousands, hundreds, tens, and ones), each with ten bills. As they cut out their funny money, excitement grew. Comments like, "The bigger the bill, the more Mrs. Koviches you get," and "Can we keep it?" and "I'm rich!" could be heard. Each child organized his/her money on the top of the desk to represent a place value chart. Then the subtracting began. I explained that the money at the top of the desk was the bank. In the first problem, we began with the number 1000. Each child put a $1000 bill in the middle of his or her desk. The problem was revealed on the screen in front of the class. We discussed the fact that taking two hundred dollar bills, seven ten dollar bills, and six one dollar bills away from a single one thousand dollar bill would be impossible. Instead, we would need to go to the bank. Each child exchanged one thousand dollar bill for ten hundred dollar bills. On the screen I showed how this appears in the common algorithm. We established that we still had $1000. Ten hundreds equals one thousand. But could we take two hundreds, seven tens, and six ones away from ten hundreds? No. We had to go back to the bank. The students took one hundred to the bank and exchanged it for ten tens. Then we looked at our algorithm again. Now we had nine hundreds and ten tens. Did this still equal 1000? Yes! Could we subtract two hundreds, seven tens, and six ones? No. Back to the bank. One ten was exchanged for ten ones. Now we had nine hundreds, nine tens, and ten ones. Did this still equal 1000? Yes! And here's how our algorithm looked: Could we subtract two hundreds, seven tens, and six ones? Yes! Yay! The students busily arranged their bills on their desks, taking 276 away from 1000. When the flurry of activity was over, seven hundreds, two tens, and four ones were left. We again looked at the algorithm. Yep! 724. That's the same as seven hundreds, two tens, and four ones. After this, we worked a half a dozen or so more problems, moving faster and faster. Eventually we moved to working the problems without the funny money. When the time came for each student to subtract using paper and pencil on their own, a few used their funny money to get started. P.S. Due to popular demand, I have created a PowerPoint presentation and class cash templates that you can use in your classroom. Subtracting Across Zeros with Class Cash is now available in my Teachers pay Teachers store.
I wanted to share a fun project my kiddos did. We had been working on fractions and I wanted to come up with a little fun that would reinforce some of what they learned as well as let them have some fun being creative. WARNING.....LOTS of pictures ahead....they all were so unique and creative, I had to share them all:) Directions Google Doc HERE We were fortunate enough to have a local pizza place donate enough boxes so each of my kids could have one. This is the first time I have done this project.....I'm sure next time I will add to it but for a first time, I am pleased with it and THRILLED with how they turned out. I typed up an instruction sheet for the kids to follow. Basically, they were supposed to represent 5 different fractions using different toppings. They had to include a "key" explaining their fractions. For each of the 5 fractions they had to write 2 equivalent fractions. They also had to write 2 word problems to go with their pizza:) Some of them put their word problems on a different sheet or on the bottom:) I absolutely LOVE how different each project is....some drew theirs, some used construction paper, some used playdoh, buttons, all kinds of creative ideas flowing:) I'm so proud of my kids and I know they are proud of their projects! It was fun to see them bring them in every morning and everyone would gather around to take a peek:) We were also excited because we got to display them in our Science Fair. I know they aren't Science BUT I felt like they all had put too much work into them for just me to see them. We got to set up a table to display them so others could enjoy their hard work. Hope this is something you can use in your classroom as you explore and learn about fractions! Have a blessed day all!
Learn how to make multiplying fractions simple with our step-by-step guide, including examples and activities for additional practice.
So I just wanted to share something I have used for a few years now in math. WELL probably a little more than a few years BUT what evs!!! I like to call it Pencil Strategies!!! They are problem solving steps to help the kiddos maneuver through word problems. I always start the year off with a WHOLE class lesson. I give all the kids the problem and a Pencil Strategy Pencil (available in my Teachers Notebook Store... super LOW cost too) We walk through the problem and color code each section based on what the pencil tells us to do. For example ~ the 1st section is colored red and it talks about finding and underlining the question.... soooooo... you can see where they underlined the question in red :) They continue through the Pencil Strategy Steps and color code their word problem to help them make it successfully through the problem. having their own little Pencil Strategies Pencil really helps make the process go faster and it tells them which color they need to code it. I work the problem along with them on the chart paper and color code my work TOO!!! They use their SOAR BOARD to organize their mathematical thinking and problem solving knowledge :) as you can see in the pic below (sorry they are fuzzy I whipped out my fancy camera only to find the batteries were DOA....aghhhhh what was a girl to do... I knew and planned this blog with lots and lots of pics so being the Mc Gyver that I am I popped out my phone and snapped away... hence the fuzzy-ness) BACK TO ...as you can see in the pic below... they color code their word problem and also code their SOAR board. I also made a HUGE Pencil Strategies Poster to hang in class. if you would like a Pencil Strategy Pencil of your VERY OWN... head on over to my Teachers Notebook store. I promise they are POCKET FRIENDLY!!! NOTE**** the green and blue parts of the pencil... I train my kiddos to work in pencil here NOT work in green and blue because they might make a mistake and you can't erase marker :).... NOW if we are PUBLISHING our SOAR boards THEN they will trace over their work in Green and or BLUE just a little fyi... I copy the Pencils on card stock and laminate them in heavy duty laminate!!! EVERY kiddo has one in their math bag to pull out whenever needed :) My entire grade level uses it and my admin was impressed with the process of it AND NOW my entire school uses it as their Math Strategy :) Well I hope you like this new Math Idea and I hope you can use it in your classroom too!!! If you would like your own Math Strategy Pencil CLICK HERE to head to my TpT store OR CLICK HERE to go right to my TN page :) and can I just say how frustrated I am with this whole apple rating thing a ma doodle at TN I have a rating of like 4 and 1/2 apples which does make me cringe... yes I am a perfectionist and seek high levels of approval at all times *wink* and might I add that the comments do not reflect WHY I was given a 4 1/2 rating... It does bug me sorry just thought I would get that off my chest!!! and my chest is rather large no A here or B for that matter so I really have a lot more to say BUT I am keeping that under wrap... to myself and my poor hubby who has to listen to my obsessive need to be perfect and my obsession over these apples that show everyone and the world that I am only 4 1/2 apples DARN YOU APPLES (insert super duper frowny face here) OK that is it... hope you head on over and look at a close up of the pencil and PLEASE for the LOVE of FARLEY don't look at my 4 1/2 apples PLEASE!!! ALSO do not forget to enter my Linky Party for the September Currently :)...it is just one post below :) THANKS so MUCH!!! thanks so much for supporting my blog and listening to me rant and rave and joining my parties and entering my give aways... I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!! I AM BLESSED!!! but I really have to go now because I have to get ready for some one's 3rd Birthday Party!!! thanks to our friend nicole for these awesome sneak peek pics from his photo shoot Friday...that girl is fast :) *********update as of July 8, 2012******** I have redone the math pencils.... the content has not changed but the colors have changed a little...just a little lighter for easier reading :) and AND AND I made a black line master for your kids to color their own... and I think it is CUTER :)
