Week 32- Decimal Review in Math

This week in math we were reviewing decimals. Here is my Blendspace that I created to share videos with my students.

My class had fun playing all the games I found to review decimals. 

I found Decimal Destruction in Jersey Teacher's TpT store to help my students review comparing decimals. We used colored circle tiles to mark the spaces. 

My students also competed in a math relay race at the beginning of class each day. 

Adding and Subtracting Decimals Relay 

Multiplying Decimals Relay

Each table worked together to complete the relay race. I found that most of the time the first one finished wasn't correct. 

This helped remind my students to slow down and check their work before turning in their paper. I really liked this because each problem depended on them getting the previous answer correct. 

We played Fill 2 to review adding decimals. Check out this video and resources from the Teaching Channel if you want to learn how to play the game. 

My homeroom started working in groups to learn about the branches of government. Each group is learning about one branch and then they will present their findings to the class. 

Here is the resource I found with these activities:

Branches of Government Jigsaw & Activities

Finally, I wanted to share this gem. :) Today is my birthday and my mom gave me a basket of gifts to open all week. One of the gifts was books she kept of me growing up. This is one from my birthday book. It is a picture of me when I was in 5th grade.

STUDENTS: Would you rather play games or do worksheets to review math? Why?

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?

Week 4- Energy Fun, Math Board, Daily Data, & Eating Bugs

This week I taught my class 2 more Wordtoons. They learned how to draw a fish from the word fish. They also drew a UFO from the word UFO. Take a look at some of their work.




This week I also taught the kids several new math games and let them play with them. Each person got to choose one of the games I taught to test.



Double Shutter





Cirplexed






Qwirkle- I only found two mistakes and that's pretty good for the first time with this game. I think this one is a little more challenging.



Q-bitz



Can you tell I like games from Mindware? The kids loved them as well. So I picked a few students to use a new app on my iPad and create a Gami to explain which games they liked the best. Check out a few of our new Gamis! Like the app and want to use it with your students? It is called Tellagami.




This week during Morning Meeting I shared this book and we talked about some of the insects people eat.



Then I pulled out the crick-ettes and most of my students ate one.



Some of them thought there were pretty good.


Others were completely grossed out!



I've had a few people asking about my Math Synergy board so I thought I'd post a few pictures of what we've done since school started. You can see the number of the day, which was 14 in this picture.




The kids take the number and draw as many arrays that they can with 14 tiles. This helps them to determine if the number is prime or composite.



I also added this chart for today's number. We write the number as a fraction, equivalent fractions, decimal, percent, and ratios. We have a part to whole and part to part ratio.

 

We also complete our Daily Data notebook on Thursday. Throughout the week the kids get to vote to answer a question. This week the question was "What is your favorite kind of M&M?" Peanut or plain

The students write the following things in their composition notebook for daily data:
question of the week
draw the venn diagram with totals
draw a bar graph
I1 & I2- Write 2 inferences about the data from the graph.
Who cares? Write 2 people who would care about this data and explain why.


Later I'll add a few more things but that's all we do right now.




We wrapped up the week with an experiment to explore potential and kinetic energy. Students used a tape measure to measure the bounce height of a bouncy ball when dropped from different heights.






Then they completed the chart with the heights from their groups, average bounce heights for each, and a graph of the data.



Students mentioned they thought this was math. We talked about the fact that you use math in science a lot.



STUDENTS: Create a question for our daily data board. What would you like me to ask and what would the two choices be?