Keeping Kids Awake while Teaching Math... My Latest Trick Works!!!

How do you keep your kids engaged when doing Common Core math review? I like to turn their problems into a walking and learning activity... 

On a chart paper, I write the review problems (fairly large, for viewing purposes).

Next, I cut the problems up into individual questions. Then, I walk around the room and tape them in various locations. Sometimes I post them on the inside of the door, windows, the white board, on my teacher desk, etc! 

Kids get to walk around the room with clipboards and solve each problem individually (or in pairs). During this activity, I pull a small group of struggling students so they get the hands-on review they need. I ask kids to spread around the room and start at number 4 or whatever so everyone is not congregating around the same problem.

My class LOVES it and begs for "Clipboard Math" now...

Try it out! :) 

I've been teaching the Common Core Explanatory/Informative Writing Genre... and learning about the art of teaching students to write good research reports without PLAGIARIZING!!

How are you teaching explanatory/informative writing?

Have you noticed students struggle to take notes from their various sources? My 4th graders are using many great websites, books, and encyclopedias for their reports. However, some students are borrowing more than 3 words in a row... I keep reminding them this is not allowed (unless they're using a direct qutoe).

We did the following activity: Each group of 4 students had to rewrite 2 sentences I pulled directly from our science textbook. They could use a thesaurus to help them! All my kids were SO engaged during the lesson and many even came to realize they had accidentally been plagiarizing their reports.

This next week, we'll be revising our research reports by taking out any plagiarized sections!

If you need a Common Core informative/explanatory lesson, check out my monument lesson from TpT.

 https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/InformativeExplanatory-Common-Core-Writing-Lesson-1125643

Back Up and Running... Here Are Some Fraction Word Problem Strategies

Hello Everyone!

It's been awhile since I blogged. It's time to get back at it! I've learned so much about the Common Core standards in the past year or two. It's been a really rich learning experience for me. My fourth graders have become quite proficient mathematicians with the CCSS standards. I just LOVE how their number sense has improved drastically...

Check out some of my student work below. Here they are showing off multiple strategies for solving fraction word problems.

The problem asked them,"If a boy ate 3/4 cups of blueberries each day for 2 days in a row, how much did he have total?" As you can see, my student rounded 3/4 down to 2/4 to solve it (he used relational thinking). Then he rounded up to 4/4 to solve it. He then added or subtracted by the correct amount to get his answer. This was a very unique method to solving the problem. Most kids did 3/4 x 2 or they did 3/4 + 3/4. I was impressed with Zach's critical thinking.

Another problem asked kids, "If he enjoyed 3/4 cups of blueberries for 9 days total, how much did he have in all?" As you can see, the first child did both multiplication and a number line strategy to solve this. The second student multiplied 3/4 by 8 and then added on the extra 3/4s. He also did repeated of addition of 3/4 for 9 times until he found his solution. I love the variety of strategies!

Here is what my bulletin board looks like now! We're showing off a variety of strategies for the 2 problems from above. The kids enjoy learning from one another. They know they're allowed to go up and un-pin another student's work for the day (as long as they replace it later) and try using another student's method to solving a fraction word problem. It's a very neat interactive bulletin board.