#TeachingHack No. 1

Teaching is such a difficult, but rewarding calling. I am fresh into summer vacation and I'm thinking of some new posts I want to make on a weekly basis.


The first series I will be starting is the #TeachingHack
I'll be posting a simple "hack" each week in hopes that it will be helpful to at least one person :)


This week's #TeachingHack is a folder I LOVE LOVE LOVE to make with my students. I saw my mentor teacher make it in her classroom and I have used it in my classroom every year since. Here's how you can make a simple 4-pocket folder.

*2 sheets of large construction paper and a stapler

 

 Steps: 

1. Fold the 1st sheet in half horizontally

2. Fold the 2nd sheet in half vertically. 

3. Fold the 2nd sheet in half horizontally. 

4. Tuck the 1st sheet inside the 2nd sheet. 

5. Staple the edges. Staple as close to the edge as possible so that you'll leave plenty of room for handouts.

I have used this folder for so many things, including: 

*STAAR Review (we assign each reporting category to a pocket)

*Homework folder, notes for home, unfinished work

*Tutoring and Saturday school

*Keeping track of handouts

Hope you find this #Teachinghack helpful. Stay tuned for more hacks that will be posted each week. 

 

Math Mapping

Have you tried Math Mapping? I was looking for a fun way for my kids to create a large visual of major concepts we have learned in math this year, so I thought we could make a mind map. We started out with a large piece of white paper. I set the expectations that they would have to be neat, use colored pencils only and that our math word wall, anchor charts and math journals would be their resources to find information.

It started out something like this.

Yep- a plain white paper. Then, I asked them to think back to the beginning of the year. They remembered we started learning  place value and so...


Kids remember we learned different ways to represent numbers, rounding and comparing decimals. At this point, most kids pulled out their journals and started looking back.

I did one more major concept whole group: FRACTIONS (insert sad, angry, maybe sick emoji). We went through finding common denominators and sketch models for the 4 operations.


Ok, now that I saw that the majority of kids had the hang of it, I paired them up to continue working and pulled a small group to my table. This is what we came up with.


Operations with decimals (and some models)- Here some students brought up some procedural errors kids could make and we took note of them so we would be alert to NOT do them!


Numerical patterns- we represented them 4 ways.



Perimeter, area, and volume- key words and models.


Hierarchy of 2D shapes- quadrilaterals and triangles.


Coordinates- a simple concept for kids!


Data representation- quick sketches to remind us of each graph.


Personal financial literacy- quick definitions and examples.

AND... the finished product

 
 Pardon the blurry pic- we were super caught up in our math!!!

I absolutely loved this activity and most importantly, it helped refresh our minds about all the math learning we did this year. Since STAAR is about one week away, I wanted to do this so that next week when we are reviewing using games (I created 4 games, each for a different reporting category that we will be using to practice as we have fun), stations, technology, and whole group conversations we can look back at out Math Map to help us make connections. Kids LOVED the strategy so much they want to make one for reading and science!!!

Give Math Mapping a try in your classroom!!!

Thank you and a freebie

I have finally reached 500 TpT followers and to thank you for your support I would like to offer an end of year memory book for free!!! Please pass it along to your colleagues. I hope your students enjoy it.
 Thank you for your support and be on the lookout for more products that will be added this summer.

-TWHM :)

Pocket chart math: A spiraling tool

How do you prevent students from forgetting the math you taught last week? Last month? The key is to find many ways to spiral spiral spiral!


Here's one way I spiral in concepts during my Guided Math Workshop.


Pocket Chart Math

As you can see all you need is a simple poster with instructions, small sentence strips and a small pocket chart from Dollar Tree. I started off by identifying the skills my kids needed to review on a weekly basis. Then, I created problems on small sentence strips (I made 5 to begin and just kept adding more cards as the year went on). I posted a poster with instruction on what to do for each problem.


I found that this was a very simple way for my students to spiral concepts and i LOVED that i didn't have to make any worksheets or run copies because they do all the work in their guided math spiral.


Try this in your classroom! I truly believe you'll see students retaining skills much better.


-THWM

Anchor chart of the week Volume 2

We have taken a dive into the next year's math curriculum and to help my students grasp subtraction of integers we created the following anchor charts.

In teams, students had to make an anchor chart that would help a peer understand the concept of subtracting integers. The following were the requirements:
Upper left hand section: Students had to make up 5 problems that their peers would need to solve

Upper right hand section: students solve 5 of the problems using tiles (red for negative and blue for positive)

Bottom left hand section: students solve 5 of the problems using a number line

Bottom right hand section: students had to come up with a physical gesture to help them remember the rules for subtracting integers Keep Change Change. They had a fun time acting these out.

Here's one more example!

Students did have some trouble with the concept at first, but I do feel that doing the anchor charts was a great way for them to review.

-TWHM

Anchor charts are an excellent way to introduce concepts, review and offer help to students. Here are a couple of ways I've been using anchor charts in reading class.

F is for Fiction 

I like to use the chart above about once a week to continue spiraling important concepts we have learned that deal with fiction.
     First off, I find a picture that I hope will engage the students and will allow them to tell a story. I then come up with sentences using 2 new vocabulary words and require students to use context clues to determine the meaning of the words. In the example above, I will be using "The lady felt melancholy when she returned home and found her home had been burglarized" and "She felt forlorn when she realized the thieves had taken all her possessions." Students will need to provide me with 3 predictions for what they think the words mean.
     Then, we will move on to reviewing character traits as justify them with text evidence (in this case their "text' is the picture). Next, we review inferencing skills and story elements. I require that students use the sentence stem "The reader can conclude that.." so that they practice the language of state assessments. We then continue making inferences about events in our story as we fill out a story map. Lastly, we develop a summary (beginning, middle, end). Doing on a weekly basis this has truly helped my struggling readers and has helped them transition these important reading skills to text.

Now for Non-Fiction 

My 4th and 5th graders are still struggling with text features so we start off with a picture and analyze it to write a caption that would describe the picture. In this case we could write something like "The flu virus affects over 2 million people each year"(just an example). Then once again I provide sentences so students can practice their context clues. Then, we think... If this picture was an article what would be some possible subheadings and text features. Students may suggest Flu symptoms and Preventing the flu as possible subheadings and for text features perhaps a chart or graph to show how many people are affected by the flu each year. The possibilities are endless and I've seen students get very creative! Next we discuss organizational pattern: how the author could take different paths such as describing the flu illness, comparing the flu to the common cold, showing the cause/effect of vaccinations, or maybe a sequence of how flu vaccines are made. I usually ask students to fill out each text structure and explain their thinking. Lastly, we work together to write a logical summary.

Our class will be working on these 2 charts this week to spiral concepts.

I'll be posting one anchor chart idea per week.

-TWHM

Scientist, inventor, historial figure

 This week my students had such a fun time researching scientists and inventors to lead us into our annual school science fair in a few weeks. I required that they use a print source as well as information from creditable online sources to gather information. We started off by reading a short blurb on the inventor/scientist they chose from Science A-Z (if your school isn't already using this site you MUST look into it. I use it on a weekly basis for guided reading material, science ideas, etc..). Then I explained the requirements for the assignment and the kids set off to work.

Here's what the finish product looked like and a little tutorial on how to make the person template.

The kids learned so much both from becoming experts on one individual and from listening to their peers present on other famous figures. They also used their creativity to decorate using construction paper and other materials.

I think this template would also lend itself nicely to a project on a particular book character, historical figures, a beginning of the year get to know you project, and so much more! Next month we will be creating this yet again, this time dressed in a cap and gown for graduation (for college week).

How would you use this in your classroom?

-TWHM