Every year, geometry starts with students defining many key terms so that we can use this vocabulary as we work through the content. For some reason, this school year, I couldn’t remember wha…
Use this list of 101 math jokes to help make math class fun! The best math jokes make kids laugh, then help them learn.
We have made it through 25 days of Kindergarten! It has been a long 25 days, but I think my kids finally have their routines down. They are able to independently rotate through centers so I can focus on my small groups. We do two literacy centers and two math centers a day. They vary ... Read More about Kindergarten Fall Centers
Each night kids around the world may listen to bedtime stories as they are tucked in. Bedtime addition problems? Bedtime fractions? Not so much.
This week we tackled the challenge of balancing equations. They handled it like champs! First, I had them pretend that they were a scale as we all stood with our arms out. I put two numbers on the board and we all tilted to show which one was more or less. Then I brought in the equal sign and the word balanced. I emphasized that all the equal sign means is that one side is the same as the other. I wrote 2 + ___ = 5 on the board. Then I had them come up with ideas of how we might solve this. I asked: How can we BALANCE this equation? Some ideas were to draw dots, use a number line, use a hundreds chart or to count on. Someone also mentioned our missing number song. For this, we use a part - part - total mat and some red dots. The song goes like this: After we sung our song, I gave them a worksheet I made to help them balance equations. You can have it for FREE here: Balancing Equations Sheet -Crazy S
Come grab this free resource that is a collection of my favorite virtual math manipulatives!
Adding fractions can be confusing for some students. Help them learn how to add fractions by using this adding fractions game.
Get the bundle... Or purchase individually... Let's talk guided math. We started implementing guided math in my school about 2 years ago. Prior to my guided math awakening I was making 4 math centers per day. I found myself stressed about not only the excruciating prep of creating so many activities each day, but I also struggled to get finished with the centers. When the idea of guided math was introduced, I greeted the change with open arms. So here's what works for me. I implement guided math by creating 5 math centers per week. I group my students heterogeneously and they rotate to a new center each day. During this time, I pull students who struggled during the math lesson and provide a reteach lesson individually. This means that most of my math centers are completed independently by the students. I'm lucky enough to have a full-time assistant in my classroom who is able to take a math center are help others while I'm with my reteach group. Here's how I organize my group rotations each week... I write student names on each group. I laminated stars and write the weekly center on each star with dry-erase and attach a magnet. When I rotate groups, I simply move the stars over 1 place. This way, students know which center to go to. I organize centers in numbered buckets shown below. See? Easy breezy! Currently, I'm working with my students on addition and subtraction. I'd love to share some resources I've found to be useful in my guided math groups. First, I made a Guided Math Center Bundle. You can get it HERE. This week, we used the Spin and Subtract center. Here, students spin subtraction sentences. This is great because I was actually able to use it 2 weeks in a row. Because they spin different combinations of numbers, the possibilities are endless! I also used a similar Spin & Add center. Here, students build number sentences. Addition & Subtraction I made some lower-maintenance addition math worksheets which require no-prep! Hellloooo sanity-saver! Here are some of the activities I'll be using! Shapes geometry math worksheets Download it HERE Measurement Measurement Worksheets
Make practicing counting, shapes, alphabet letters, what comes next, and more fun with these super cute, FREE Apple Worksheets for Preschoolers!
Practice Addition to 10 and Addition to 20 with worksheets that have either 64 or 100 problems per page. 6 different versions of each worksheet provide tons of content to support addition fact mastery. Addition 1 to 10- 64 problems Addition Facts 1 to 10 (A)- 64 problems to practice addition math facts from 1
Hi ya'll! Sorry I have been a little M.I.A. lately, the craziness of the beginning of the second semester has hit me full on. For those who teach 5th grade in elementary school probably can relate to the craziness that is getting the kids ready for their big transition to middle school. The class scheduling, the testing, the music tryouts, the school visits, oh ya, and my kids who are scared out of their minds for middle school. That just might be the definition of craziness. Insert my therapist hat, one of the many we wear as teachers. Anyway, back to the purpose of this post! Mean, median, mode, and range can be tricky concepts for 5th graders to grasp. We have been working on it this past week. I couldn't give them any more of the practice problems with reading graphs, we needed to do something that required my kids to be doing something. Insert, cup stacking. The purpose of this activity was for students to generate their own data to then find the mean, median, mode, and range. It started with breaking my kids up into 6 groups. Each group was given 50 cups (Target brand cups were 5% off with the Cartwheel app, just an FYI). They were given 5 minutes to practice and decide how they were going to build their tower. The conversations they had were very in depth and some groups had some well thought out strategies. Then the fun began, they had 1 minute to build a tower with as many cups as possible. I gave them no restrictions and amazingly they all went for the triangular tower. Some more successful than others. When the minute was over, they each counted how many cups they used and I recorded that data on the board. The students were responsible for finding the mean, median, mode, and range of our class data. Shockingly, they went silent and got to work analyzing the data. This made my teacher heart smile. When they were done we did round 2, the only difference to round 2 from round 1 was the time limit changed. Round 2 only gave the groups 30 seconds to build their towers. Feel the pressure! We repeated the process with me recording the number of cups used and the students finding the 3Ms and R. By the end of the second round, some ended up like this... The teamwork the students used during the was amazing. They were talking out their strategies and genuinely listening to what each other had to say! The math was important and the point of this lesson, but it was amazing to watch them work together! I made up a simple recording sheet for 2 rounds of cup stacking. You can get this freebie HERE! This was a HUGE success in my class! I hope it works for you! Below is another resource I have for practicing mean, median, mode, and range over in my TPT store. Check it out here! Happy data analyzing! :)
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Free, fun and useful Kindergarten - 1st Grade, Common Core aligned lesson plans, math games, calendars, behavior charts, materials and more!
Preschoolers learn the difference between inside and outside on this colorful worksheet featuring monkeys, dogs, and a friendly cab driver.
Students will love playing this free 20 Frames Counting Fish Game to practice numbers 11-20 with twenty frames!
Tweet Welcome to our second week of looking closely at math workshop. Get more details about my math workshop book study here. Deep Versus Shallow Math In this week's reading, I was struck by the difference between deep and shallow math. Here are some characteristics of each type of math. Shallow Math - Memorizing algorithms - Applying an algorithm (usually a word problem found on the bottom of a page full of practice for that algorithm. - Hunt & copy exercises - Plug and chug numbers - Not considering what the numbers mean - About covering the content - Teacher gives out knowledge Deep Math - Engaging, exciting, exhausting & inspiring - Pushes learners out of their comfort zone - Mental models - An understanding of a concept that can be built upon later - Discourse - Challenging tasks - Students wrestling to make sense - Content understanding - Teacher as a facilitator of learning When I was in elementary and middle school 99% of the math I did would be classified as shallow math. I was the queen of the plug and chug. I thrived on algorithms and hated "word problems". When I was in high school, it was more of the same until I got to Algebra 2 and was faced with new and challenging problems that no one had "taught" me how to solve. This took my enthusiasm for and understanding of math to an entirely new level. Math class became exciting and invigorating and for the first time I got to invent my own strategies for solving problems and compare them to my classmates. It was such a dramatic and marked change for me that it really is what sparked my interest in becoming a teacher. Now when I teach math, I try my best to keep most of what I do with my students at the deep level. Math workshop provides me with a vehicle for giving kids support solving challenging tasks. Your turn! Can you think of anything that is missing from these lists of shallow and deep math? Where did most of your own learning take place? Please respond in the comments below! Come back next week for part 3 of our Minds on Mathematics book study!
One of our favorite ways to increase student engagement during the craziness of the holidays is with STEM. To make it easy for teachers to implement STEM during this busy time in the classroom, we have compiled a list of 12 Days of Christmas STEM activities . Our Day 9 activity is build a sled .
Looking for an easy to set up math game for your preschooler or kindergartner? Check out this fun counting game using rubber ducks and magnetic tiles!!
As a math coach, I am always trying to simplify the math classroom set up because I know there are a million other things to think about.
This fun print-and-play 2D shape activity is great to use as an interactive notebook, assessment tool or math center.
A step by step tutorial on how to print and create your own tabletop card game decks with card stock and a few simple tools.
Are you looking for super fun measurement worksheets and activities for kindergarten?? You found them!! Your students will LOVE these hands-on learning activities and fun, extra practice worksheets that teach a variety of kindergarten measurement concepts.
Looking for a fun, Monster Theme for Preschool? These Play-Based Math and Literacy Centers and crafts are a huge hit with the kids.
Hello Everyone! We had a great 4 day week last week. Isn't it crazy how even though we sometimes have short weeks, we still try to fit 5 da...
I planned to allow 10 minutes for students to ask questions & make progress on the triangle pile up. They make everything into such a big deal. After a reassuring talk about how I am confident …
Want a simple game ready to pull out to review fractions & equivalent fractions? Grab this FREE set of printable fraction puzzles to model fractions.
Work on beginning addition with these fun and free Bug Addition Cards! They're perfect for Kindergarten small groups and math centers!
Goldilocks and the Three Bears This pack includes: -1 math whole group activity (sorting by size) -1 math worksheet (sorting by size) -1 coloring page This pack also includes low-prep substitute plans! For each activity, there are substitute plans written out. Just print, copy, and go! You can get these and some literacy activities in my Goldilocks Bundle! Follow me on Instagram: @Adorable.Apples If you use my resource, please tag me! I'd love to see it. :)
