Teaching Volume and a Freebie!

Yesterday I grab the snap cubes and had my students start to investigate volume of rectangular prisms.

They were each given 20 snap cubes and the worksheet below. You can get a copy here

After reviewing examples and non examples of rectangular prisms, I had the students work in groups to come up with as many rectangle prism as they could using all 20 cubes. 

The students sketched the prism and figured out the length, width and height of their creation.

They continued to manipulate the cubes until they had created several different prisms with their 20 cubes.

Most quickly realized that the volume was always going to be 20 cubic units. By the end of the lesson, many felt confident that they had figured out the algorithm. 

In other exciting news.............I am very close to reaching 100 followers at my TpT store. When I do, I am going to have a very special sale that only my  TpT followers will be notified about. Head over to my store and become a follower so you too will be notified when I hit 100!

If you download and use the freebie, I would love to hear about it.

Enjoy!

Kim

Tried It Tuesday - Math Monsters - Part 2

Polygons and Persuasive Writing.

As we wrapped up our math monsters project I decided to try a new way to help the students improve their writing that went beyond pairing up with another students. So I am linking up with Holly from Fourth Grade Flipper for her Tried It Tuesday. 


But first let me share a few completed monsters. 

 You can see part 1 of my Math Monsters post here

In addition to creating a polygon monster, the students had to create a title that used alliteration. 

This guy is "My Magnificent Math Monster"

Here is "Wacky Withering Wilfred

And finally "Dippy Doggie"

Next, I took the assignment one step further and had the students write a persuasive paper to convince me and the other 5th graders that their math monster was "the best!"  The monsters and the essays will be hung in the hallway and voted on by the other two 5th grade classes.

Before that happens, we have some work to do. I decided to try something new. Instead of having the students pair edit, I decide to let everyone in the class give their two cents. 

Each student read their essay aloud. Using  post-it notes, the other students wrote down one thing that they liked about the essay and one suggestion as to how to make it better. 

This took a long time to do but it was so worth it. Each student came away with a stack of post-it notes that contained praise for their writing and some great suggestions to help them improve.

This math monster had super protection powers. 

This monster can do your homework. (Can it also grade papers? I can wish, can't I?)

Although this activity was too time consuming to do on the regular basis, I will definitely do it again. I loved that we were able to share everyone's writing. Since they were not finished products I think it was a lot less threatening for the students who are not confident in their writing ability.

 I was shocked when one of my lower level ELL students, who rarely completes any assignment and who I struggle to motivate, was eager to share his writing. He was so excited to receive his post-it notes from his classmates. He then poured over them and immediately got started on improving his essay. 

Definitely a success!

What new writing strategies have you tried?

Kim

Math Monsters - Part 1

On Friday we finished the second and final day of our state ELA testing. After giving the students a good chunk of free time as a reward for their amazing effort during testing, I realized we still had quite a bit of time before lunch. 

I really needed to spark my students motivation after all that testing! So I am linking up with Joanne from over at Head Over Heels For Teaching,

With our state math testing coming up in May, we still have a lot to cover. Between assemblies and snow days we are a little behind in covering the curriculum. 

I love this particular activity because it incorporates art, math, and ELA.

We started by using pattern blocks to discuss the attributes of polygons. The students then used the pattern blocks to create a math monster. Hexagons, trapezoids, rhombuses, and triangles were available to the students.

Here are a few examples.

They really enjoyed having time to create with the pattern blocks.

The designs were so creative.

After creating their monster, the students traced the shapes and add details.

The details added must be polygons - no circles allowed!

This is as far as we got on Friday. Next week we will finish the monsters. After completing their monster, they will label the number of each polygon on their paper. 

This activity can be taken further by having the students calculate the number of sides, edges, and vertices in their drawing. Back when symmetry was in our 5th grade standards, I would do a similar activity but would stipulate that their design have at least one line of symmetry.

When the monsters are completed and polygons identified, we will use the drawing to assist us in a persuasive writing piece. I will share how and some examples when we finish.

How do you spark your students motivation after standardized testing is over?

Kim

Teachers Pay Teachers Sale - February 27th and 28th!

Teachers Pay Teachers is having a site wide sale to celebrate 3 Million Teachers Strong! Everything in my store will be 20% off and TpT will take another 10% off (use promo code TPT3) for a total of 28% off your purchases!

Many children enter my classroom in September with a dislike for math. It can be a struggle to get these students to let go of their math phobias and enjoy math class. That's were my math games come in.

My Fraction Bundle contains three of my most popular math games. Clicking on the picture will take you to my TpT store where to can check out a preview of these items.

Click here and check out my other items that are on sale Thursday and Friday.

Join me in linking up with Pinkadots Elementary for the big sale.

I currently have 78 items on my TpT wishlist. This site-wide sale gives me a great excuse to finally purchase some of those items. 

Do you wait for a sale or do you just buy items when you see them?

Happy Shopping!

Kim

Tried It Tuesday - Adding Fractions

As we are making our way through our fraction unit I have been trying to come up with some different ways for the students to practice. So I am linking up with Holly from Fourth Grade Flipper for her Tried It Tuesday.

The other day I decided to have the students work in partners. This is what I came up with.

I gave each student an index card with a fraction on it.

I then passed out this sheet.

The border on this worksheet is from Creative Clips  and the font is from Teaches Third in Georgia

The students were then instructed to get up and find a partner. The only condition was that their partner could not have the same denominator as they did. (Since we were working on adding with unlike denominators).

When the student were done,  I used my document camera to project their work and the students shared their thinking with the rest of the class. 

I love how these two showed their work. You can see the list of multiples to assist them in finding the least common denominator.

I have been stressing how the students should show and label their work. I love how these two made it a point to label the LCM. Makes me feel good that they are listening!

These two went above and beyond to show two ways to find the solution. They were the only group to draw fraction tiles to illustrate their solution.

This example also gives me a opportunity to point out a common mistake that students make. Here is their mistake...
3/5 x 2/2 = 6/10 + 3/10 = 9/10 
      6/10    ≠    9/10       =     9/10

3/5 x 2/2 = 6/10 not 6/10 + 3/10. Students make this mistake all the time. The students still arrived at the correct answer and some of you might not consider this a huge issue but it can cause a lot of problems when the students take Algebra. Breaking them of this habit now will cause less problems later. 

I was hoping that we would have enough time for the students to find a second partner. I was interested to see if their work would change after seeing other examples. Unfortunately it took longer than expected and each math class ended with only completing one pairing.

How do you mix it up in your classroom?

Kim

Multiplication Dice Games - Flash Freebie!

I have been in a creative slump lately when it comes to creating new TpT products. I can't just crank them out. There needs to be a reason for me to create and I need to be inspired. Most of the time it is my children - the ones I gave birth to or the ones in my classroom - that fosters the need and inspire my creative juices. 

My son has been working hard to master his multiplication tables. I created these multiplication dice games especially for him. A fun way to practice.

This adorable snowman came from A Sketchy Guy. 

This activity pack contains a total of seven games: 

Four Roll and Cover games - two that use six-sided dice and two that use ten-sided dice. 

Three Bump games - one uses two six-sided dice and the other two use a single ten-sided die.

This penguins are from Math in the Middle

The digital paper and frames are by Theresa Lewis

This Bump game concentrates on multiplies of eight.

You can check out a preview of all the games here.

Now for the Flash Freebie!

If you are one on the first three people to leave me a comment letting me know that you would like this product, I will send it to you for FREE! Don't forget to leave your e-mail!

Become a follower so you will be notified of freebies in the future.

Enjoy!

Kim

Paper Cup Math

I was beyond shocked when I looked back and realized my last post was on Christmas Eve. Honestly, where has the time gone? When did I blink?

This is a post I have been thinking about for a while. It is not a new idea. Not quite sure how I first discovered it. I think it was from my son's teacher. But it is definitely worth revisiting. If you are like me, you discover a new idea, use it for a while, and then another idea comes along and makes you forget about the first one.

This idea was brought back to my attention when my children's school started a Math Olympics. They are both studying their grade specific facts. Each night they are asked to study and log the time spent practicing. After a week, they had become bored with flash cards. Enter paper cup math!

Start by writing the math facts on the bottom of each cup.

Then put the answers inside the cup.

The student starts by picking a cup and stating the problem and answer - ex. 12 - 8 = 4. If correct he/she can use that cup to build. If incorrect,  the student returns it to the bottom of the stack. 

The cups can be used individually. They can self check since I have put the answers in the inside of the cup.

Or they can race each other.

Or they can work together to build one pyramid.

Using these little 3 oz paper cups are an inexpensive way to reinforce a number of concepts. Being a math focus teacher I tend to use them mostly for math, but you could definitely use them for other subjects. In ELA you could use them for sight words. The students would need to read them out loud before building. Or use them for synonyms and antonyms and the students have to match them up before building. In science and social studies you could place vocabulary words on them and the students can work in groups. They can't use a cup until the correct definition is given.

How have you used paper cups in your classroom?

Kim