Week 15- Silent Colonies, Special Number Project, & Nearpod

I can't believe we fit so much in at school in just 2 days. We started the week with a silent scavenger hunt about the 13 colonies. The kids really seemed to enjoy this and I was laughing at these boys because I said they sounded like they were making guinea pig noises when they found the answer to a question. Want to try this with your class? Check out Settling the 13 Colonies on TpT.





I gave my math classes a project where they were able to pick their favorite number between 10-100. They also had to share information about the number which included even/odd, factors, multiples, and several other things.


Today the kids were able to share their project with a small group. They were able to make a poster, a song, a book, or a poem. Most of them made a poster but I had at least one of each. I like giving options to my students so they can create a project they are proud of.



Check out Seth's poster! He made his 3D! You can't tell from this picture but all the 10s are coming off the poster.







Kai was creative with his! He created a riddle for his number.







Then we used the app Nearpod to solve some math word problems. The word problems were about how much things cost at the store and what someone spent when they purchased what they needed. This powerpoint was given to me by our math coach last year. I'll check with her to see if I can share it with you here.



I love using the Nearpod add when I can get iPads to use with my class because I can control the speed of the slide show and everyone has it right in front of them. Want to see my post about Nearpod? Check out my Tech Nerd blog post about it.



STUDENTS: We are out for Thanksgiving. What is something you are thankful for? Make sure to write a complete sentence to answer this question. Have a great Thanksgiving!

Week 14- 2 Point Perspective in Art & Math Games

In art this week, my students were working on 2-point perspective. Mr. Mikell, Auburn graduate in Industrial Design, was our guest speaker. He talked to the kids about the importance of learning to draw in two-point perspective. Architects and designers do this all the time.










In science we used a new reading strategy called 5-3-1. They read the section on their own and find 5 important words/phrases. Then they group up and compare their lists and come up with 3.



In the end they come up with one phrase that summarizes what they have read.



I loved the conversations that took place and the way students defended their choices by finding evidence in the text.


Here are a few of the final statements from the groups.



Thursday during math rotations we played a few games. The students were able to play the factor tree race. They worked in pairs and rolled 2 dice. Using the numbers rolled they create a 2 digit number and then race to find the prime factorization for that number. Then they use the calculator to check to make sure the answer is correct. The first one finished scores a point.



We used the upside down birthday cake method to find the greatest common factor this week. So at the table with me this week I reviewed this and taught them another new game.



Each pair got 4 cards, which they used to create two 2-digit numbers. Then they found the GCF for those numbers. The team with the greatest GCF won.



Once we determined which team won they rolled the die to see how many points they earned.



STUDENTS: Do you like playing math games during our review rotations on Thursday? Why or why not?

My Math Journals Video

Here is a video I created to show how I use Math Reflection Fans and DynaMath in my 5th grade math journals. Please let me know if you have any questions.



Want to make your own Show What You Know poster? Check out the link here!

Week 13- Order of Operations

I made it home to do my blog post tonight and realized I didn't take any pictures in class this week! Oh my!

So I'm going to share a few things we did this week. In math, we were studying the order of operations.

Have you seen Aunt Sally? I thought this was so cute so we made on in our math interactive notebook so my students could remember the steps to the order of operations.

We also used a few songs in class this week. This is a take on Ron Clark's song.



I also created a Scoot game for my students to use to review at the end of the week while I met with small groups. I have 24 cards with different equations. The students have to decide if the answer is correct or not and explain why. Then I have a QR code sheet they used to check their answers. Check out my TpT page to see them. 

We also used another padlet this week to start our notes on minerals. I love using these so my students have the notes online in case they forget their interactive notebook at school. Check out the page we started today.

Created with Padlet

I've been working on a short presentation on math fans and math journals. I'll be doing that next week so be sure to check back next week for my post about that (which includes input from my students).

STUDENTS: Do you think it will be helpful to have our class notes on padlet? Why or why not?

Week 12- Keep It or Junk It & Math SCOOT w/QR codes

This week I tried a new classroom activity and I think my students enjoyed it. I feel like they understood the material a little better than usual after doing Keep It or Junk It.

I divided the class into groups to read a section in the text and create a list of words that would help them answer the focus question. Our focus question for this lesson was: "What is erosion and what are the ways in which it happens?"



The students decided if they would read together and make their own personal list or if they would read alone while making the list. Once they developed their own list their group had to work to develop a group list of words that would answer the focus question. They voted by showing numbers with their fingers- 1 keep it, 2 junk it, or 3 cloud it. If they put it in the cloud they had to come back to the word when they finished and make a decision.



Then each group shared their list with the class as a whole. Then the entire class voted on words to add to the class list for keep it or junk it.



Both of the science classes developed a list. In the end they used the list of words to write a paragraph to answer the focus question for the lesson.









Here are just a few pictures of the notebook pages that each individual made. You can see on the first list the ones crossed out were the ones that group decided to junk.





We also used the iPads during this activity. I had the students add information to the wall about weathering. For this wall, They were able to share what they thought weathering was, we added the list of words, and some definitions. I thought this would be a great summary of information and a great way for students to revisit what we did when they need to study. I posted a link for this wall on our Edmodo page for the students. Both classes contributed to this wall. If you don't know about Padlet you have to check it out!

Created with Padlet

At the end of the week I asked a small group to create a Gami about keep it or junk it. I let them decide what to say and how to do the gami. Austin created this one along with the help of his group members. I love the way he took a picture of our classroom so it looks like his character is talking in our class! Great job guys!



Check out my previous post with the posters for Keep It or Junk It.

This week our math coach, Mrs. Hamlet came to do an activity with my math classes.



She had decimal math task cards and the kids played a scoot game to answer each card. Then she had a QR code sheet the students used to check their answers.





We had enough iPads so that each group was able to share to check their answers.



STUDENTS: How do you feel about keep it or junk it? I felt like you guys were able to defend your choice of words so well. Do you think you understand more about weathering and erosion because of this? Would you like to try it again?

Close Read Word Problem Boxes

Keep It or Junk It

Have you ever hear of Keep It or Junk It? I learned about this strategy last week when our instructional coach introduced us to this video:

Organize Your Thinking to Critically Analyze Text

She had a picture posted of  the steps for Keep It or Junk It. I can't wait to try this with my students so if you follow my blog you know I had to make some posters. I thought I'd share them in case any of my teacher followers want to give this a try too. I'll post back later and let you know how it went.

Week 11- Halloween Candy and Mad Scientist Day

Are familiar with http://www.yummymath.com/? This week I used a math word problem from their site to get my students thinking about purchasing candy for Halloween. We used the data given to figure out which bag of candy was the best deal.



I had them work in groups to determine which was the best deal and which was the worst.



Some were surprised with the results. We also decided that if you like Snickers you're willing to pay a little more to get them.



Friday we had Mad Scientist Day! This is always so much fun. Every year we schedule this day around Halloween. The kids are able to dress as scientists and we do science experiments.





We did experiments like Shy Blue and Drop by Drop to explore water surface tension. In shy blue we add color to the water and then drop rubbing alcohol into the water. The water looks like it is running away from the alcohol.





Drop by drop- we drop water on waxed paper and use toothpicks to move it around.



We also made some snow with Instant Snow from Steve Spangler.



The lava lamps were a big hit! Want to make one yourself? Fill a bottle 3/4 of the way with cooking oil. Then pour in water to top off the bottle. Add 10 drops of your favorite color food coloring. Do not shake the bottle! Then use an Alka Seltzer tablet. Break it up and drop in a small piece. It creates a lava lamp. You can continue adding pieces of the tablet until it is gone. Be careful if you put a lot in at one time. Make sure to open the lid to release pressure that builds up in the bottle.



We ended the day by walking on eggs. I even gave this a try! Did you know you can walk on eggs? As you can see they had a great time doing this.





STUDENTS: What was your favorite experiment during mad scientist day? Explain what you did and why you liked it so much.