Valentine's Day Freebie!

Hi all!  Just a quick note to let you know that I updated my Facebook Freebie.  You can head over there to grab a multiplying decimals activity that is a part of my Valentine's Day Math Centers that I just uploaded to TpT.

Here is the link to my FB Page: Facebook

To complete the activity, students multiply all 8 cards and then match the birds with the same product.  Gotta love self checking work!

If you are interested in the full set of Valentine's Day Math Centers, they are on sale on TpT for $3 right now.

This set is focused on decimals and order of operations.

Have a great week, all!

Fall Math Centers! {Freebie!}

Happy fall!  I'm so in love with the cooler temperatures, the changing leaves, fun fall activities and pumpkin-y baked goods!  We will be celebrating fall in our math classroom with these Fall Themed Math Centers I just finished :-)  Take a peek!

Although we are working on Halloween Centers right now, we will move onto these in November, and I know some of you love to be super prepared and think ahead like I do!  These centers are focused on decimals, which is part of the major work of fifth grade.

 I love math centers that students can visit multiple times!  For Know that Number, students can revisit the center several times by selecting a new number.  Just be sure to keep the center stocked with worksheets!

 This center activity has addition, subtraction, multiplication and division with decimals in separate sets.  You can easily differentiate by assigning students to different sets or remove pages you haven't taught yet.  The student sheet has big spaces for students to show all of their work.

 All of the centers have easy to read instructions and are fairly intuitive for students to complete.  You won't need to spend precious class time teaching and reteaching the directions for the center.

You can check out these centers here on TpT.  They are on sale for $3 from now until Sunday night (10/13).  You can also take a look at a freebie page for adding decimals.  I've included the student sheet and an answer key so you can get a closer look at one of the centers!

Workshop Wednesday: Grouping Students (and a completely unrelated freebie)

I'm linking up with Jivey today to share how I group my students for math workshop :-)

There are several options for grouping students when it comes to Math Workshop:

1.) Homogeneous grouping:  Keep students with similar ability levels together.  You might group students based on a pretest or beginning of year test or data from the previous school year. While you will probably change the groups throughout the year, you are still keeping students together based on their ability.  This type of grouping worked best for me when I did guided math.

2.)  Heterogeneous grouping:  This is the type of grouping I use this year.  I gave a pretest on Monday and then introduced groups on Tuesday for our first official lesson.  I took the students with the lowest six scores and created my group.  Then I took the highest four scores and assigned those students as table leaders.  Using the students who were left, I mixed them up and thought about their personalities and work habits as I created the groups.

Now in each group, except for mine, I have one student with a high score and a mix of students with different abilities.  When we move into groups, I remind the students at the other tables that they direct all of their questions to the table leader (the highest scoring student) before they ask me.  This leaves me free to focus my energy on the students who need the most assistance.

At the end of the topic, I use the data from the next test and pretest to create the new groups.  To be completely open, I've found that the students who are in my group are usually in my group for the entire year.  I'll have visitors to my group and I'll have graduates, but reflecting on the year as a whole, it's pretty much the same group all year.

I love this means of grouping my kiddos because it allows me to give the most attention to the students who need it.  Occasionally, I'll have students who need to visit my group for a few minutes of reteaching and I let them sit on the outskirts of my group until they feel confident to go off on their own.  I also love it because it helps foster leadership skills in the students who serve as table leader.

On an unrelated note, tomorrow is Talk Like a Pirate Day!  I had no idea this was a thing until I reader Hunter's Tales from Teaching's Peek at My Week Post!   I made this little pirate themed math practice for my kids that are having difficulty understanding the concept of division and the connection to multiplication.  It's probably third grade level, but upper elementary teachers might find it useful for review....so click HERE to grab it.

I really do hope this was clear. I sat in a tough of traffic tonight and I'm SO tired.  But I have to stay awake because it's Meet the Teacher Night at my son's school!  I'm so excited to meet her and see the classroom!

Back to School Centers for Math

I'm trying to keep my to-do list this summer fairly short.  My two littles are keeping me pretty busy during the day!  But this item is high on the priority list: back to school math centers.  At the end of the school year, my principal arranged some time for us to meet with the grades below ours to talk about the upcoming class of kids.  I took a lot of notes about their areas of focus, especially in math, because I wanted to create a set of centers they *should* be able to use from the first day of school.  This set of centers is focused on the major and supporting work of fourth grade Common Core Standards.

Well, I'm finished!  And I'm really happy with how bright and cheerful they are!  This is exactly what I want my new students to see when they come in for their first "real" math workshop...bright, engaging and fun!

So let's take a look:

There are nine centers.  Each center has (brief) directions, cards, student recording sheets and an answer key.  These is one activity without an answer key and that is because it is an open ended center.

Check it out:  Back to School Math Centers for Fifth Grade.  On sale until 8/1!

Workshop Wednesday: Getting Math Workshop Started

I'm linking up with Ideas by Jivey again for Workshop Wednesday! Head over to her linky to read about getting your Reading, Writing and Math Workshops off the ground!

Last week, I wrote about conferring during Writing Workshop. This week, I want to sharesome ideas about planning for the small group portion of your Math Workshop, which is something you will DEFINITELY want to think about before launching your workshop.

As is with any workshop, there is no hard format for a math workshop.  The idea is similar to a reading workshop though as you begin with whole group then move to small group and then back to whole group.  That small group time is pretty flexible and I've done different things with different groups of kids based on their needs.  With classes that have high needs, I've used a guided math approach.  I found this model to be the most challenging to manage and the most time consuming to plan.

The beauty of a math workshop is that you can adapt a more scripted program to fit the workshop model very easily.  For the first ten years I taught, my school used Everyday Math.  I'd begin with the Math Message, then teach the whole group lesson, transition into independent and partner practice and then use the whole group time to review and reflect.  This process worked just as well this year when we began using the Envisions Math program from Pearson. 

So...what are the students DOING during that small group portion of math workshop?  Will the students move to different groups?  What do they do when they are finished with their assignments?  What do they do if they need help?  These are the things you need to think about before starting your workshop.  Here are my personal preferences:

What are the students doing?  Students work on the textbook assignment for the day.  I highlight the numbers and the pages on the SMARTboard.  My students complete the work in their math notebooks.  I model throughout the first month of school how I want them to show their work in their notebooks.

Will the students move to different groups?  In my class, they move.  I use the some means of assessment to determine the groups.  In the beginning of the year, I'll use the beginning of year assessment and my observations.  In the middle of the year, I'll use diagnostic tests and topic tests for groupings.  These groups are fluid, so the students may come in and out of a group during a topic, but for the most part, I'll work with the students with the highest need during the workshop.

What do they do when they are finished with their assignments?  I am a big fan of task cards.  I keep a baggie of task cards in each table bin for students to use when they are finished with their assignments.  The routine for task cards is SO simple and it is very easy to check student work.  I've found that returning a completed answer sheet with a little treat attached keeps students motivated to work on the cards until they are finished.  It's important that students understand that "finished early work" is still work!

This is a set of 15 different task cards aligned to Fifth Grade Common Core Standards.  I'm still working on this set, so it will definitely grow!

For my highest performing students, I love math projects.  I have one that is great for operating with decimals: Lemonade Stand Project.

Teaching with a Mountain View also has great and affordable projects.  My students LOVE anything that is super colorful, so they really enjoyed the Let's Go Shopping, Movie Marathon and Breaking Up the Bakery.

Another option for finished early work is math centers.  Some programs come with math centers (but I didn't care for the ones I've received...shhhh!), so you might consider making your own.  I like to use all three -- task cards, projects, and centers -- to keep things fresh and interesting.  You can use math centers to spiral your review.  I have big plans for creating math centers based on fourth grade common core....if I can find a good chunk of time to get focused!

A great option for keeping expectations clear is to post a "must do, may do" list.  This way students know exactly what their options are in the classroom.

You can easily create a file in your SMARTnotebook software or PowerPoint or just draw the chart on your easel or chalkboard.  It's a great way to keep your students on task!

What do students do if they need help?  This is important.  Students, especially in the upper elementary grades, need to have the self awareness to know when they need help.  In my classroom, I designate a few students as "experts."  If a student is not in my guided group, then they can go to one of these experts to ask for some help.  To make life easier for me, I designate an expert at each table so students who need help do not have to go far.  Then the rule in my room is that they must ask an expert for help.  They cannot come to me unless an expert can't help them.

This chart is used to keep track of student data, but I also use it to create partnerships for students who need assistance. Students in the far right column are "experts."

Whew.  That was a lot! I can't believe my 2 year old is still napping!!! :-)

Here is a quickie form version of all the questions I posed above.  You can grab it from Google Drive as a pdf!

Be sure to add your ideas to the linky!  It's open all month!

And if you haven't already, be sure to check out my Pin It To Win It....ending tomorrow!