Week 35- Finished Testing & George Washington QR Codes w/7 Habits

This week we finally finished taking the ASPIRE tests! We were all happy to have that behind us.

In social studies this week our focus was on George Washington. My students used a QR code to access a website about Washington. They used the information from that site to fill in their flip book in the SS interactive notebook.

Each group worked together to find important facts to add to their flip books.

Then every group made post it notes for our poster about how Washington used the 7 Habits. 

The next day we completed a Venn diagram about George Washington and King George III and how they each used the habits. 

On Wednesday, they used another QR code to access the Rules of Civility that Washington had to copy as a student. My students picked 3 rules and wrote them in words so other students could understand what they mean. They also had to explain how each fit into a habit. 

Check out our final display for Synergize.

This is the project I shared last week! In case you missed it I'll give a quick overview. I printed pictures of my students working together in our classroom. Each group worked together to write a paragraph and one student typed it. Then another student used the iPad to record the paragraph and create a QR code that visitors can scan and hear them read the paragraph. 

Week 34- Weather Days, Testing, & QR Codes

This week we dismissed early two days in a row for the thread of severe weather (tornado watch/warnings). Thankfully we were spared but a community in a neighboring county was hit.

We took the ACT ASPIRE test Wednesday and Thursday so I don't have a lot of fun things to tell you about. However, Friday we started learning about integers. I wrote numbers on index cards and we made a human number ling. Then we "folded" the number line at zero to show how 5 and -5 are the same distance away from zero. 

We also played math games this week. Are you familiar with the book Nimble with Numbers? You should check it out if you are looking for a good resource books with a mix of games and practice. I love how they have 1/2 pages of practice problems. We learned how to play a game this week using the order of operations. Here is a quick view of the board you use. 

In each box the players take turn writing in numbers 1-20 (you can't repeat a number). Then you use the order of operations to add, subtract, multiply, and/or divide to create equations. The answers to the equations are written in the circles. The goal is to get one or more equations that equal the same number. That's how you score points. Let's say you create 2 equations that each equal 20. You score would be 40 for that round. 

The hardest part was not being able to move the numbers once they are written in the boxes. You can add parentheses but numbers cannot be put in a different order once they are written in the box. This is a 2 player game and both players use the same board to create equations. This could be played in pairs but this week while we were learning we all played it together as a class.

We were also working on a display about synergizing to go in the glass cabinet in the front hallway of our school. I went back and printed out pictures from my blog where my students had to synergize. Each group wrote a paragraph about how they synergized during the activity in the picture. Each group then typed up their paragraph and someone recorded it. I created QR codes to go along with the work. Want to hear some of my kids explaining how they synergize in class? You can scan the QR code or I also added a link if you click on them. Listen to a few and see what you think!

Jared's Group

Michelle's Group

Reed's Group

Avery's Group

Dyani's Group

Once we get the cabinet completed I'll post pictures for you to see. We have two more tests to do next week and then we'll be back to regular days. 

STUDENTS: What did you think about testing this week? Which was the hardest and which one did you rock?

Week 33- Teacher Appreciation, Lenses, & Branches of Government

As you can see, I was completely spoiled this week during teacher appreciation week! My students and their parents sent goodies and love in all week. 

I'm sure you can also tell I love Hello Kitty!

Since Earth Day was this week I had my science classes write about how they take care of the Earth. They also completed report cards for our school and our classroom about how we do things to conserve and reuse. 

Our school has a school wide recycling program so we are doing a great job in that area!

We were also learning about concave and convex lenses. I created a visual a few years ago to help my students remember them. Here are the notes they added to their science notebooks. 

I also had my students that wear glasses hold them up in front of the projector for the Smartboard. It allowed them to see if their lenses were concave or convex. You could also tell how strong the prescription is by the size of the rings given off by the glasses.

My homeroom has been working on presentations to teach the class about branches of government. This group acted out a trial and the guilty were lead away in handcuffs.

Testing is next week and we are ready! Are you familiar with these erasers? These are the all time BEST erasers for testing! I had bought the large erasers in the past but my students would forget to use them and use the eraser on top of the pencil instead. So we discovered these Hi-Polymer Eraser Caps for the pencil! I have enough for every student in my class to put on their pencil Monday!

STUDENTS: How does using brain dumps/visuals help you remember information in math and science?

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 31- Volume & Final Chemistry Experiment

This week we tackled volume! I found these great cubes my students cut out and folded. We taped them together and they used base 10 blocks to fill the cube. 

Want a set too? Paper Volume Cubes

Since I wanted them to understand that you can count the blocks or multiply l x w x h to calculate the volume this was a perfect activity. 

Each group worked on a set of 5 cubes and most groups asked me if they could just multiply to find out the volume. I was so happy that they came to that conclusion on their own! 

During small groups I taught the kids a new game! Each card has a topic and a list of words. The students can read the topic aloud to the group but they can't say any of the words on the card. The goal is to get your group members to guess a word on your card. They had fun playing this game!

We finished our chemistry unit this week. We have been studying physical and chemical changes so we made elephant toothpaste. 

Then they got to create a chemical change in a bag. They mixed calcium carbonate and baking soda in a large bag. 

Then each group added some phenol red in a cup and put it inside the bag. Once the bag was sealed they tipped the cup and watched what happened. 

They saw gas produced, color change, and felt heat from the bag. These are all indicators of chemical change. 

We also watched this video.

We talked about how younger students look up to them and decided to post positive notes on work displayed in the building. Each student created 2 post it notes that said things like "Great Job" or "Your work is outstanding!" 

We walked around the building and they added their positive notes on work throughout the building. 

STUDENTS: Which experiment was your favorite during our chemistry unit? Why was it your favorite?