Hello! I'm Chris Reeve. Welcome to our special educator community. My passion is bringing special educators together to help them serve their students. Join our FREE Resource Library ! ! ! Subscribe I Agree to
A blog about teaching, education, 5th grade students, and classrooms.
Allison and Cody’s wedding at Aldworth Manor was long-anticipated! The two met all the way back in middle school and began dating.
Join this 3-day challenge to discover the secrets to teaching with lasting joy and peace, even in the midst of challenging circumstances.
During my first year of teaching I had the joy of 23 little student desks in my classroom... rows always moving and getting crooked, little ...
First, a PSA: Tomorrow is the first day of school! Hooray! Back to your regular programming... I've seen some academic uses of the so c...
I taught one-step equations to my Accelerated Math class yesterday. Actually my sub taught it on Monday using my SMARTboard notes. When I returned yesterday the students complained that the sub did not explain anything, but just posted the notes for them. I realized that I needed to go back over the notes explaining the importance of the "process" we use when solving simple one-step equations. Here is and example of my SMARTBoard notes on the steps to solving an equation. I give more notes and lots of examples, but this is a picture of the slide that shows step by step what to do. This is actually a page recording, but you get the idea. After clarifying the notes on this topic I felt that the students needed to do some practice on this in their groups. I like this activity because all students must participate and even though each student does his/her part individually, they have the knowledge and support of the rest of the group if they get confused or make a mistake. The way the Round Robin strategy works is that each person has to have a different color writing utensil. Kids enjoy this because it is usually pencil ONLY in my math class. Once the kids have each picked out a different color and cleared off their desks I pass out one paper to each group. The students solve the problem step by step, passing the paper around the table. Each students completes only his/her step and then passes the paper on to the next person. The whole group is responsible for making sure each step is correct before the paper gets passed on. If someone notices an error they need to explain the error to the writer and have the writer fix it before passing it on. This strategy works best for a multi-step problem like solving equations. It also is a visual representation of the step by step process. This group was all boys. Look how neat those equations are! Love the pink and green. :) While the students are working in their table groups on the activity I am circulating around the room and checking their papers. If I notice an error I point to it and ask the group to figure out what is wrong. The rule for the round robin is that each person is allowed to only write with their color ink. Each person does one step of the equation and then passes it to the next person. The only deviation I did from the set up of my notes is that when checking work (which is a two-step process) I have two different people do that. A more close up view It is important to note that once an equation is solved and a new one is started a different person must start the new equation. That way students do not keep solving the same step over and over. Notice how Each step is a different color on the worksheet. That shows how students are solving a different part of the equation on each turn. A completed equation Another group's work The students felt much more confident in solving their equations after completing this group activity. It helped students to catch some of the more common errors that are made when solving their equations. We are building a strong foundation for solving equations by focusing on practicing the process of how to solve these. Today in class the students will be completing their graded assignment to show mastery learning. I will do a follow up post on that.
I have another great Usborne review for you! 50 Science Things to Make & Do is a set of activity cards that "combine fun things to do...
Story suggestion by: Shara M. Email us a story. Last year, scientists totally pulled a “my bad” and reneged on their previous statement that Pluto is a full-fledged planet. Pluto has now been demoted to a “dwarf planet.” No really…I’m serious. That’s like the astronomical term and everything! With that logic, does that mean dwarf … Continue reading "How to Remember the Order of the Planets"
I worked in my classroom a bit more yesterday and finished my new "good work" board. I am really excited how it turned out. I love having ...
Math concepts: multiplication, mental calculation, times table Number of players: one leader (teacher) and two or more players Equipment: free MINGO number cards and boards; bingo chips, pennies, o…
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Although simple to make, the triangle hides many, many surprising patterns.
Discover new ways to differentiate your Thanksgiving math activities and lessons. These tasks are rigorous and meaningful to students.
I've got two great math journal entries to share with you today, both about fractions. With the end of the year in sight, our math journal entries will be coming to end soon, too. These math journals have been my favourite addition to my classroom this year - hands down. I'm so excited to be able to provide my students with a tool they can keep using for years to come. We've got a highschool co-op student at our school right now, who just happens to be a graduate of our elementary school. One day at lunch she told me how much she appreciated the math notecard system we used when she was in my class - she said she was able to use it as a reference for years - even into her highschool math classes. I told her she had to stop by my class and see our new math journals - same kind of valuable reference tool, but so much more interactive. Anyhow ... my first entry to share with you today is our fraction flipbook - focusing on converting fractions to decimals and percents. I got my inspiration for this from this pin on pinterest - a fabulous idea from Buzzing with Mrs. B. We cut 10 pieces of paper at various lengths to make this flipbook and stapled the pages together at the top. I made a quick handout for each student that had 9 boxes for the labels, 9 circles and 9 rectangles for drawing the fractions, and 9 tables that had fraction, decimal, and percent sections. Students cut out all the pieces and glued them into each section. We did two sections together, and then the students were responsible for finishing the book independently so I could assess for understanding. We also completed a left-side of the page thinking for this entry, where students discuss what they already know, what they learned, proof, and a reflection. Do you see the yellow dot in the top left corner? This is our traffic light comprehension - students give a green dot if they found the concept easy, yellow for some difficulty, and red for a lot of difficulty. We use our traffic light comprehension dots on our group work during our three-part lessons in math, but I hadn't thought of adding them to our math journals until now. This gives me a quick way to see what students may need a little extra help with this lesson or concept. Can't believe I didn't think of adding it to my journals until now - LOVE how the journals keep evolving this year! Our second journal entry focused on Equivalent Fractions. I've been using pizza fractions for years (and judging from the amount of pins on pinterest, so has everyone else). ;) I gave each student a circle and had them draw a smaller circle around the edge to make a crust for the pizza. We then folded our circle into sixteenths. I gave students the learning goal and instructions to make the pizza: 1/4 cheese, 1/4 pepperoni, 1/8 mushrooms, 1/8 sausage, 3/16 green olives (or alligator nostrils as my four-year old calls them), and 1/16 anchovies (had to get something in there to "gross out" my plethora of boys in the class). We discussed that 2/8 equaled 1/4, and 2/4 equaled 1/2, and so on ... We then cut along the fraction lines and peeled back the sections so we could practice our converting to decimals and percents (still working on that concept from last week). We also completed a left side of the page thinking for this entry. I completely forgot to remind the students to add a traffic light comprehension dot to their page this time ... I think I'll get them to do that before I invite a student to share his or her journal entry as our review on Monday. We also had some fun using my Fraction Cootie Catchers - such a fun way for partner review. At this time of year, (and with the sun shining outside) I've got to pull out all the stops to keep my students engaged. And I loved "eavesdropping" on the various conversations around the room. When a partner got the answer wrong, the other partner had to "teach and explain" how to find the correct answer. You can click on the picture to see this product at my TPT store. Hope you are all having a fantastic weekend - it's hot and sunny here today, so we'll be making some homemade popsicles to enjoy while wading in the kiddie pool this afternoon. Happy Sunday!!! Interactive Math Journal Interactive Math Journal 2 Building Better Math Responses Math Concept Posters InLinkz.com
I was just going to post my printable of "Graphing with Candy Hearts" because it's a tradition to do in every class, right? Instead, I had an EXPLOSION of ideas and just kept making more and more. I found tons of ideas at www.teach-nology.com but really, most of the activities I did as a child in elementary. Who played Valentines Battleship as a kiddo? {F.U.N.} I had almost forgotten how to play, but with a quick refresher from my husband (he LOVES anything to do with ships, cars, muscles, GUY STUFF), I was on board! With candy hearts and a partner, your kiddos can have a blast! It looks like this: I didn't stop at Valentines Battleship! Check out ALL of the fun games from my childhood that you can use in your classroom! {Click the picture for the download ALL of the math activities-Free ;)} Here is the same Candy Heart graph that is in packet, but this one has the color blue instead of white (it just depends on what brand you buy, usually the boxes have white and the bags have blue) Clipart and/or fonts copyright DJ Inkers. Used with permission. www.djinkers.com What was your favorite Valentine's Day game (math or not)?
Free resources from Laura Candler for teaching decimals
Hey, Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a great first day of the week. My kids were a bit nuts today...we're yours? All I can say is I am glad today is OVER! I have to work on sub plans tonight for Wednesday so I am going to make this short and sweet! I'm done with my Donut you know Division Notebook! We started it today and the kids loved it! I really think they are going to get division! Take a look :) Topics that are covered are: key words division as sharing grouping to solve division as repeated subtraction using a multiplication table to divide using pictures to solve division creating division word problems identifying proper equations in word problems Here are a few pictures:) I am posting this to my TPT and TN stores tonight! If you would like to win this notebook for free, just correctly guess the question below! What is my favorite Christmas Movie??? On a side note, I am working on changing how I do my Daily 5. I am in the process of creating all new activities for them to do when we come back from Winter Break. So far this is one thing I am almost done with! I will post them all when I am done! Have a great night!!!
Free and Funny Teacher Week Ecard: You see class...when I take my yearly salary and subtract the grief you give me the remainder is my life expectancy in dog-years! Create and send your own custom Teacher Week ecard.
Make your classroom merry this holiday season with these 28 elf-themed multiplication bingo cards. Instead of normally searching for the product, students search for the factor pair of a product. This multiplication game contains the most difficult facts to remember. Thanks for looking! FlapJack Ed...
Need a fun football theme game for Distributive property of mutiplication? This is challenging concept for 3rd graders and having games like this gives practice and confidence without the anxiety of a worksheet! There is very little prep to get it ready which saves teachers time! ✨My product includes:✨ Football Field Game Board in color and black/white 48 Equation Cards with 8 Challenge Cards Game Directions for Students 2 options for a recording sheet to complete the problems they choose. Answer Key Related Products ⭐Distributive Property of Multiplication Practice for 3rd Grade
