Using Transitions In Writing {Freebie!}

Hey all! And happy Teacher Appreciation Week!  My kiddos are working on their final performance task of the year (I hope!) and I realized I never shared this little transitions packet I made.

Please don't mind my empty word wall - I took the words down for testing!

When I first introduced transitions, my students were familiar with sequential transitions such as first, next, additionally, finally, but not so familiar with transitions such as "on the other hand." With this little packet, I introduced some more complex transitions and students practiced adding them to sentences.

In this download, you'll find an anchor chart:

 Transition word sort (we completed this activity on the SMARTboard):

 A blank word wall for students to put in their notebooks:

 A printable transition word wall (I open this file every time we are writing essays):

 Quarter size transition word walls (some students taped these on their desks; also great for writing folders or writing notebooks):

 Sentence completion practice (there's an answer key as well!)

Full page class model sheet to show off exemplary student work:

To grab this download, click HERE.

And I'm sure you've heard that TpT is having a Teacher Appreciation Day Sale May 6th to May 7th.  My entire store, including all bundles, will be 20% off.  Don't forget to use code TPTXO for an additional 10% off your purchase.  And be sure to leave feedback for prior purchases to get credits to use during the sale!

Photo credit to 3 AM Teacher

Converting Measurements {Freebie}

I can't tell you how envious I am of you all that end in May.  That's next week!  While I am not jealous that you all go back in August, I am super jealous that some of you are in the end of year count down already!

We go until the end of June.  As in, the very last week of June.  Ugh. And next week we are finishing up our State tests.  We have the State Math Test on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.  Joy of all joys!  A test on a Friday!  #sarcasm

For each concept that will be covered on the test, (focus is on decimals and fractions), I've done a quickie skills review and then lots of practice with multistep problems.  Here is some of the work we've done with converting measurements:

 The arrows under 10m and 1000km are a little confusing in retrospect, but this was created with the students, so they (hopefully!) heard me while I thought aloud about these numbers.  While solving this problem, I reviewed different ways to divide by powers of ten.  Whenever I see my students using long division with powers of ten, I remind them that "this is a move the decimal situation."  They know what I mean :-)  Also, you might notice that the chart is incomplete - they solved 15 yards = inches independently.

 Here is a student sample of the same page.  {This foldable was created with Lovin Lit's Interactive Notebook Templates.}  You can grab a pdf of the student page HERE.

After the quickie review, we solved more rigorous problems such as "Mary follows a recipe for punch that uses 2 1/2 cups of juice.  She plans to make 20 batches of punch.  How many gallons of juice will she need to buy?"  Not easy, right?  Determining the correct course of action is the hardest part!  I am pretty sure this is a good example of a problem that requires perseverance on the part of the problem solver.  It's also a good example of a problem that my students might see on their State Test next week.

If you are also working on converting measurements, you might want to check out Kim Miller's Measurement Conversion Fans.(TpT link)  I gave these to my students to cut and color for their homework.

If you need a set of task cards for this topic, I just uploaded a set to my store.  This set of task cards 20 cards with a mix of skills based problems and real world problems.  Conversions require students to use their understanding of place value, decimal concepts and interpretation of remainders.

Of course, if you own my Math Task Card Bundle, you'll need to download again to get the new cards!

State Testing, More State Testing, and an Interactive Math Notebook Freebie

Hooray!  My kids took three days of state tests last week and I am sure I speak for them when I say we are so glad it's over.  I tried really hard to keep things light in the classroom, but they know that this test matters (in NYC these tests are used to determine promotion) and they really took it seriously.

I really emphasized coding text and justifying answers to eliminate incorrect choices and I am so proud of my kids that they did this on the test.  The downside to that is that the passages were so long and the questions so complex that many students did not finish the test in time.  I am a real believer that close reading should not be a timed activity, so I'm pretty upset that even my best readers (as in level Y readers) had to push hard to just barely beat the clock.


And now we are 10 school days away from the State Math Test  - and we have SO many skills to cover.  We spent last Friday reviewing subtracting mixed numbers.  This is such a tricky concept for some kids - especially if they do not understand how borrowing really works.  I showed my class how to subtract mixed numbers with regrouping and then how to use improper fractions.  Students used an interactive notebook page to create a model and a reference sheet for themselves.

 

If you'd like a copy of this interactive notebook page, you can grab it from Google Docs right HERE.

Also, be sure to check out my Facebook Page for a new Facebook Freebie - Sticky Mats for Reading Comprehension for Older Kids!

Here is a link to the full product on TpT as well!

Have a great week!

Peek At My Week Linky

I wish I had something really REALLY exciting on the books for this week, but we are in test prep frenzy this week.  Our ELA is April 1, 2, and 3 (really, NY?  On April Fools Day?  Seriously?).  I plan to (re) teach text organization and then we will spend Thursday and Friday dissecting test passages.  Thrilling, right?

I have to say, my kids are doing an amazing job justifying their choices and eliminations on the multiple choice sections.

Justifying  - students cross out parts of the choice that makes the entire choice incorrect.  Students make quick notes in the margins about why the choices are incorrect and why their choice is correct.

This week, we are going to focus on time management.  In my classroom, time is the enemy of close reading.  My students are coding the text as they read, they draw lines to designate sections, they dissect the questions by boxing words that are important, they make notes in the margins about the choices....and all of this takes time.  This week, I am going to insist that they move from making notes to talking themselves through the choices in their heads.  I hate to scare them, but *I'm* scared that they won't finish the test in time.  I think the best course of action is to apply all of the strategies we've been using, but make some of these processes a mental process.

Six school days until the ELA. How about you?  Are you in the midst of testing season?

Spark Student Motivation Saturdays: Using a Document Reader to Share Student Work

Hi all!  I'm linking up with Head over Heels for Teaching to share a way I kept my kiddos motivated this week.

We got a new toy: a document reader!

And I let my kids play with it immediately!  My students love coming to the SMARTboard to show their work for math, but sometimes that technology really slows us down.  Often the screen needs to be calibrated, or they don't leave themselves enough room to show all of their work. Another big time zapper is the work itself is sometimes so complex that I lose the attention of the room while one student shows the rest the solution.

Before we started math on Friday, I told my kids that they could use the document reader to show their work during the review portion of our workshop...but they'd need to have neat work,with all of the steps shown. To their credit, work they completed was detailed and organized!  Take a look at their work for reducing fractions:

While this student showed her I spotted an error on a subsequent problem, so I was able to fix that while she was explaining her work.

I love how neat this work is!  All of the calculations are shown and it's so easy to follow!

Lots to praise here as well.  This young lady leaves little check marks, showing that she's paying attention to the work presented by her classmates.

I am so in love with this new toy.  It is going to make it so much easier for kids to share their work with each other, for use to discuss text or to dissect text books!

Tell me, do you have a document reader?  How do you use it?

Keeping Students Happy During Testing Times

This week is filled with testing for my kids.  We have two more pieces of assessment and then we are done...for a little bit any way.  We are also beginning test prep twice a week to get ready for state exams in April, so I want to try and give my students as many breaks as possible during the day to keep them happy.  Here are a few things I've been trying to incorporate:

1.) Brain Breaks - we are using Whole Brain Teaching in our classroom, so when the students win for the day, their reward is a quick brain break.  We've done "skiing," "swimming," "yoga" - anything to get them out of their seats and moving.  For skiing, students stand and then sink into a chair pose, elbows bent and fists at the shoulders.  Students jump from side to side, as though they are skiing downhill.  For yoga, we practice warrior II and warrior III.

Credit

2.) Food!  We are allowed to give out treats (are we the only ones left???) and a handful of Jolly Ranchers can be a real motivator when we have to break out the test prep booklets.  I also keep small bags of goldfish in the classroom for the same purpose.   If you are not allowed to give out food, try smelly stickers!  Even the big kids love smelly stickers.  My kids love when I mark their work with Mr. Sketch markers.  It's so funny to see them pick up their books to smell the marker!

3.) "Fun" Practice  - anything that involves coloring feels like less work.  I love Kristine Nannini's Math Centers because they all have color by number practice.  I also found this great page on TpT that they ASKED to take home for homework.  What???  Link: Multiplying Decimals Freebie.

4.) New "toys"  - I bought each of my kiddos a smencil colored pencil (because I didn't read closely and thought I was buying pencils.  D'oh!) to use in their test prep books.  These are ONLY for underlining evidence or for checking their work.  I also plan to make these little answer sticks.  What a great idea to improve student participation!

Credit - this is from One Extra Degree

One Extra Degree Pinterest Board for Test Prep Fun

Do you have great ideas for keeping kids happy during the march towards testing?  Please share!

And check out my FB page for a Facebook Freebie!  I have a complete center for fractions to celebrate St. Patrick's Day!

St. Patrick's Day Math Centers - giveaway!

Hi, friends!

Just a quick note to let you know that I just uploaded a set of 8 math centers for St. Patrick's Day.  There is a focus on basic fraction concepts, but students also practice converting measurements and evaluating expressions according to the order of operations.

You can take a look at the product, on sale now (!) HERE.

If you'd like a chance to win these centers, head over to my Facebook page and leave me a comment!  I'll choose two winners tonight at 9 pm!