Ready to make math centers work in shorter middle school class periods? Get the details - structure, scheduling, activities, and more!
Ready to make math centers work in shorter middle school class periods? Get the details - structure, scheduling, activities, and more!
I started putting together these math joke of the week posters at the end of last school year. I'm super excited about how it turned out. I put the finishing
So, yesterday I showed you how I got my angle studies kicked off with my students–how I solidified understanding of “right angle”. We had lots left to accomplish–so I’ll try to share some of the different lessons and activities we did over the next days! Tip 1: If you can get your hands on thin […]
Extra math practice with FREE 6th Grade Math Worksheets for 6th grade math at home. You will love that these 6th grade worksheets include the answer key!
As a teacher, there is so much to do when it comes to setting up the classroom, that it is hard to know where to start! Over the course of my first six years of teaching middle school math, a few of these classroom projects have become staples in my classroom. In this post, I plan to share a few of these ideas. (1) Assignment Notebook Board The first thing my middle school students do (or should be doing!) when they come to class is fill out their assignment notebooks. With some ruler tape that I found at Office Max, I created this assignment notebook board. The number 1 on each day is for what we do in class. The number 2 on each day is any homework that is assigned. For example the 1 might be "Multiply Fractions" and the 2 might be "Pg 232 hw (due tmw)." (2) Math is Everywhere Board I have written about this project in a few other posts, but it is one of my all time favorites to start the year! I have two bulletin boards in my classroom. This one gets filled with these tiles. Students must show how they see math in the real world on their tile. On the back of their tile, they must write a paragraph explaining how math is seen in the topic that they chose! You can click HERE for a free set of the bulletin board letters! (3) Challenge of the Week Many of you have already seen or tried out the Challenge of the Week in your classroom! I have loved seeing the pictures! Each week, I put up a new challenge problem. They are optional and students have until the end of the day on Thursday to turn it in. Anyone who gets it correct gets a small prize on Friday when we go over the answer! Both the 6th Grade Challenge of the Week Problems and the 8th Grade Challenge of the Week Problems are FREE in my TpT store. Enjoy! (4) Teacher Book Shelf My teacher book shelf took on some major changes recently. I started with this new way of organizing all of my math workshop materials. I decided to organize them more by the type of game, rather than by the topic like I had done in the past. I cleared these shelves off and organized them in these containers that I had ordered a few years ago. If you are looking for the materials and resources that I use for math workshop, be sure to check out my Math Mega Bundle (Upper Elementary/Middle School) and my Math Mega Bundle (8th Grade Math). Below these containers, I have two shelves with labels for Monday through Friday. This is where I put all of my plans and resources that I will be using for the coming week. This has been a useful way to stay organized and prepared throughout the week! As you can see, I am not quite ready for the first week of school... On the bottom of these shelves are my task cards, which very well could be the hardest resource when it comes to organization! I found these containers at Michaels. They have worked out pretty well. I have two sets of task cards that I use throughout each school year for each grade level. I have a regular set of task cards and then a set of enrichment task cards. Each set takes up two of these containers. Teaching two different grades means I end up with 8 of these containers, which is pretty manageable! Check out the links below if you are interested in the task cards for each grade level! 6th Grade Math Task Cards Bundle 6th Grade Math Enrichment Task Cards Bundle 7th Grade Math Task Cards Bundle 7th Grade Math Enrichment Task Cards Bundle 8th Grade Math Task Cards Bundle 8th Grade Math Enrichment Task Cards Bundle (5) Bulletin Board (Number 2) My second bulletin board is filled with some routine-oriented and expectation posters. I made these the last few years. The colored math workshop poster shows where students of each group should be at any given time. The homework data chart is where we record our homework data. As a class, we figure out what percentage of homework we turn in on time each day. Over the course of the year, we graph these and look at trends. It also becomes a fun competition between classes! (6) Bobblehead Collection I started my bobblehead collection a while ago and it has just grown ever since! Students enjoy seeing them and it is a fun way for students to get to know me and my interest in baseball! My wife and I are trying to get to all 30 MLB stadiums, and recently made it to Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. Luckily it was a bobblehead giveaway, so the Kevin Appier Royals bobblehead is the most recent addition to the collection!
8 ideas to keep students engaged and having fun with a simple worksheet
I love finding first day of school math activities! These back to school activities are perfect for middle school or high school math.
My students are always using and referring to different math tools during math centers. I created (and am sharing for free) individual math toolboxes.
Use this fantastic pentomino exploration as a first day of math class activity in middle school. You'll learn so much about your students!
Planning the first day of school can be stressful! Learn my 3 favorite activities that will allow you to have the perfect first day of middle school math!
Outdoor math activities for kids from preschool to high school. Engaging way to prevent summer slide with fun active STEM activities to learn numbers, shapes, angles, time, algebra, geometry using materials in nature.
Math art projects will get kids creative while also teaching them mathematical concepts. Fun ideas for children of all ages and skill levels.
Not sure what to teach the first week of 3rd grade? Here's what we did!
FREE printable Symmetry drawing activity for preschool and kindergarten kids. A fun art and math activity in one! Kids will complete the symmetrical pictures by drawing the other half.
Alright, it's mid-July! I know you are thinking about back to school time. You can't go shopping without seeing school supplies on sale or displays of new shoes and clothing, and I know you are getting excited. It's a fun time of year, isn't it? But... it's also stressful. You have ten tons to
Hands-on learning is incredibly important for kids. There are a million reasons why! Today I am highlighting more than 60 elementary hands-on math teaching ideas that I have featured over the years on my site.
Just think of me as that friendly teacher down the hall who is your go-to resource when you aren't sure how to introduce a certain math topic.
Engage your students while learning about their math interests and skills with these free back to school math activities for grades 4-5.
Show your middle school math students the relevance of what they are learning with this fun bulletin board kit that answers the age-old question "When are we ever going to use this?" This bulletin board includes the letters to spell out "When are we ever going to use this?" and includes 15 cards that each feature a middle school math topic and 4 unique jobs that use that math skill. The topics included in this set are: decimals, fractions, integers, percents, ratios & proportions, angles, area & volume, transformations, equations, exponents, slope & linear functions, data analysis, probability, measurement, and problem solving. (Please see the preview for a look at all of the included cards!) Included in the zip folder that you download are both a printable pdf and an svg file. The pdf is for traditional printing and cutting by hand on 8.5 x 11 paper, while the svg can be used with your cutting machine to save you time and energy!! This is a great bulletin board for the secondary math classroom to remind your students of the importance of math! Check out more middle school math classroom decor here!
If you are looking for some fun ways to start the year with your upper elementary students, then consider adding in one of these 5 ideas!
The Pigeon has to go to school and he's not happy about it! In fact, he's worried. Help kids kick their first-day fears with these fun ideas!
If you're looking for a way to make your homeschool math lessons more engaging, add math games to your day. Games help middle school students learn in a fun and exciting way.
This is the fifth installment in the Everything You Ever Wanted To Know about Using Exit Tickets in your Math Classroom blogging series. If you haven’t already, check out the first four posts and t…
Enjoy a classroom tour from a teacher who has been teaching for 15 years - classroom ideas and strategic set-up!
Build fact fluency with these engaging games and activities. Check out these super fun and creative ways to help your students stay engaged.
The pencils are sharpened, your classroom is clean and the bell rings…gulp…here they come! My feelings on the first week of school are conflicted. On one hand, it’s one of the most important weeks. Explaining and practicing the class procedures and expectations sets the tone for the rest of the school year. Success is vital. On the other hand, I’m so excited to start teaching my historical content that waiting until all the expectations are explained requires a lot of patience! Every teacher has their own plan of action for that pivotal time. Here are 5 things I can’t live without during the first week of school: One: An Icebreaker. I aim to try and make kids feel comfortable in my classroom on day one. One of my favorite little activities is Fact or Fiction. Each student receives a small slip of paper and they’re instructed to write one fact and two fictions. Then each person (including myself!) introduces themselves and we all try to guess which statement is the fact! It’s a great way to quickly learn about each other. Two: Classroom Information and Expectations. This is every teacher’s staple, I know, but it had to go on the list because it’s a must-have! When you’re making your own, spell everything out – from the obvious grading procedures and late work policy to how to pass back papers and when to sharpen pencils and go to the bathroom. Trust me, leave no stone unturned. Your classroom will function much better if you set the tone from day one. (Oh, and don’t forget a seating chart!) Three: Fun and Games. On the second day of school, I love to start class with a little game. It’s a great way for the kids to start practicing our classroom procedures and expectations while getting familiar with their teacher and classmates. Here are some of my favorite games that I use during the first week of school: (P.S. Some of these activities can be found in my Back to School Activities resources! Click the grade level you’re teaching to check them out: Sixth, Seventh, Eighth) InstaFriend: This activity gets students moving around the room and interviewing fellow classmates! Their InstaFriend paper has a series of descriptions and characteristics. When they find a student who matches the description, they write their name in the box. Each name can only be used once! Right or Wrong: I love skits. LOVE THEM. I like to introduce students to the idea of skits during the first week by allowing them to create their own based on our class expectations. I first divide students into small groups of 2-3. Each group then randomly receives one of our class procedures or expectations. As a group, they have to work together to create two mini skits – one showing the RIGHT way to follow the expectation, the other showing the WRONG way. They get to be silly and I get to reinforce my class expectations. After each skit I happily point out all the positive behaviors as well as each time a class policy was violated. It’s a light-hearted way to grab their attention and create a positive atmosphere all while practicing the laws of the land. Classmate Bingo: I love to play this game at the end of the first week. I give each student a blank bingo board with a large selection of personal characteristics, hobbies, etc. at the bottom. The students choose 16 off the list and create their customized board. Then, I randomly select characteristics from the list. If a student has that characteristic on their board, they have to write down a student’s name that matches the characteristic – but no cheating! They have to use what they’ve learned about others during their first week of school to try and win the game. Four: A Pre Test. After a few days of class information and fun, it’s time to start getting down to business. Each year, I make a short pre-test on the information they’ll learn about that year. It gives me a chance to see what the kids already know and gives them a feel for what subject matter they’ll be learning about in the coming weeks. FYI: Your pre-test probably won’t take the whole class period. Make sure to have plans for other activities, too, on the day you give your pre-test! Five: A Writing Activity. True fact: when I tell kids they’re going to do a writing activity, they groan every time. It’s a signal that the “real work” is about to begin. Luckily, they’re always relieved when I assure them that this activity will require very little research because it’s about a subject they’re experts in – themselves! I have a few different activities to choose from each year. Here are some suggestions: Student Survey: What are your strengths? Weaknesses? What do you hope to learn in this class? These are just some of the questions I ask students in the survey. The more I know about my students, the better I can help them achieve success in my class. Write Away: A staple of many: write a letter to a future you! I ask students to write goals for the year, dreams they wish to see realized, and questions they want to ask their “End of the Year” self. I tuck these letters away and revisit them during the last week of school. I’m Ready: Like every middle school history class, we do a lot of writing and students always have to back up their reasons, statements, etc. with evidence to support their claim. In this writing activity, students have to identify which class rule or expectation they believe is most important and provide evidence to support their claim. This activity both reinforces my classroom policies and secretly gives me a preview of their writing proficiency. Have I left anything out? If you have any fun plans for the first week of school, share them in the comments. I’m always looking for new ideas for my classroom!
Unifix cubes are interlinking cubes that are one of the best math manipulatives you can find. You can use the linking cubes individually for one to one correspondence and counting, or you can interlink the
Are you looking for hands on back to school math and literacy centers for preschool and kindergarten? Then you will love our Back to School Unit for Preschool. This unit is great for Preschool anytime throughout the year and kindergarten for the first few months.
Looking for visuals to help your kids make sense of math? Grab this free set of printable math manipulatives for all the hands on resources your kids need.
Here's a simple way to teacher less than, greater than: with toys! Free printable included.
Geometric Art
This post explains how teachers can use an academic version of the highly engaging Spoons game to review concepts. Free games included!
Looking for high school rewards or middle school rewards to motivate students? Tired of finding reward ideas that are more applicable to elementary kids than your 8th, 9th, or 10th graders? No need to look any further. As a language teacher, I'm always searching for high school incentives to get my trickier classes to speak
Okay before we start digging into these Get to Know You activities I want to share a little bit of the “why”. When I first started teaching 5th grade math a few years ago I noticed right away that my students were coming to me with some math baggage, if you will. Both good and… Continue reading Getting to Know Your Students as Math Learners
Grab these free printable games for math facts practice at school or home! You’ll get a total of 40 games for students to practice addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Great for building math facts fluency!
There are so many ways to use math task cards in upper elementary and middle school. This game uses math task cards with a bit of a twist!
