As Earth Day approaches, I thought I'd share some exciting and educational activities that I plan use to celebrate this day with my students. The BEST part is that they are all PRINT AND GO! We are all so busy this time of year that I was so thrilled to open up my "April" binder and pull out these activities and add them to the copy bin! I am an outdoors person and I spend a LOT of time talking about my gardens and I used my love of gardening and hiking in a … [Read more...]
Engaging Math Review
Easter Week: Use plastic eggs to your advantage! I don't know what it is, but when I cut up questions that we were going to do on a worksheet and stuff them in plastic eggs, kids go wild! This week we are studying for our math test on fractions, so I am cutting up fraction questions (you could even use paper task cards) and putting them around the room in plastic eggs. I always fight for a “review game” day when we are in meetings doing our pacing calendars … [Read more...]
Extension Activities to Make Fractions More Fun
This month I wanted to share some ways that I make learning fractions more fun in my classroom! I have several activities that my students love to make during our small group time. I find that the more we practice in fun ways, the better my students learn and retain fractions skills. Real World Fraction Crafts: Fractions Greater Than One I created these food fraction activities out of necessity! Fractions greater than one ONLY make sense if … [Read more...]
8 Things You Should be Doing In March
February is on its way out, so I am starting to think about what we are going to be doing for the upcoming month. It seems wild to be thinking about March already, but it is just a few days away. Here are some of the things that I pulled to get ready for St. Patrick's Day. Area Houses These area houses make a great craft during my small group time. It really is "Print and Go," even though it looks like it might involve some prep. You can read more about … [Read more...]
Balancing Equations and Solving for Variables: 3D Valentine
We have all been there. I was there last week. My students took a mid-year math assessment on the computer. It was only practice, but as I walked around, I realized that there were a LOT of questions that involved balancing equations and solving for a variable. It wasn't that we hadn't learned the skill, because we did. It was more like we had plowed through those math lessons without a lot of independent practice. Sometimes that happens. There is a … [Read more...]
How to Organize Math Centers
Things in teaching ebb and flow. The new quickly becomes old, and the old becomes new again. One thing that keeps cycling back is the idea of Math Centers or Stations. At my school we have a designated time each day called Math SGI (small group instruction). This is the time each day that our Tier 3 students receive their intervention in the Math Lab. We are not allowed to teach anything new this time and we use this time to meet with our Tier 1 and Tier 2 … [Read more...]
