Five for Friday

Happy Friday!




We had a snow day and two delays this week, so I only taught math twice!! We focused on equivalent fractions for our two lessons-a post is soon to come!

The book box came!

We had a raffle with the books I had bought for the class.

My kids have been rocking it lately at rocket math-almost everyone is on division!

We also started learning about nonfiction text features-a post soon on that too!

Since Valentine's Day is coming up, and we had some spare time this afternoon, we started making our pouch monsters to hold out valentines!

They're coming out so cute!

Have a great weekend!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Math Is Real Life-Crochet Concerns

Happy Wednesday!

This month, I'm linking up with the Math is Real Life ladies.

Teacher Studio, Miss Math Dork, Teaching to Inspire in 5th, 4mula Fun

I'm a big crafter-especially crochet.

One of my co-workers is expecting, and I wanted to make her a blanket (I am making her a blanket!).

However, I was unsure which yarn I wanted to use/buy (I need new yarn for almost every project! ;), so I whipped up a couple of samples using different yarns and different sized hooks.

Now, I knew I was going to make a rainbow blanket, and have 24 rows (either 4 repeats of 6, or 3 repeats of 8-hey, look! Multiplication!! :), but I need to measure each so that I would have an idea of how big 24 rows would be.

First, I measure the strips across.

*Warning-the following 2 pictures are for demonstration purposes only. Real measurements were taken with a clear ruler as students were getting ready for the bus line. ;) *

Then, I measured vertically (know that I had done 10 'sets'-it would give me an approximation of how many sets I needed to do for length)

Once I had done that for each sample, I was able to write down the measurements for each sample and do a little figuring.

I figured out how many 24 rows would be for each set, as well as how many 'sets' of petals I would have to do.

The stickies (and the samples!) came with me to the yarn store-where more math happened!

Some of the yarn was on sale-and some was not :(.

Stinks to be me, but the favorite yarn I love to use on projects like this was NOT on sale. So I went with a mix of mostly on sale yarn, with two colors of not on sale yarn that I couldn't find matches for.

I managed to get a nice rainbow mix for under $25 (with teacher discount!).

So it'll be 3 repeats of 8 for this baby blanket! :)

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Currently

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

NonFiction Text Structures & Other Reading Skills

We've been working hard on different reading skills since we got back from break.

First, we spent a little time reviewing synthesizing...we'll continue to work on this one!

We then moved onto monitoring understanding. We didn't spend too much time on this one, as they had a good handle on it!

We've spent the last two weeks on NonFiction Text Structures-in between MAP testing and snow days!

I started off with a chart.

We discussed what each one was and we read some examples.

I had printed out some of Teaching With a Mountain View's Informational Text Structure Cards, and I had them glue one into their notebooks to respond to.

I noticed some students were still struggling with it.

So after we added it to our notebooks, I used some of her other informational cards and typed them up on my SMART Board.

I divided them into groups and had them discuss what text structure it was and why.

We had some lively discussions going on! We did have to do some reminders of being respectful of others' opinions-some of the friends got very excited!

Cue two snow days :)

I wanted to add some examples into their notebooks, so they could easily see the differences between them, and being inspired by the Blizzard of 2015, I used it as the basis for all of my examples.

Working on writing some NonFiction Text Structure examples for our reading notebooks-using the blizzard as inspiration! #teachersofinstagram #teachersfollowteachers #iteach456 #iteachfourth

A photo posted by Smiles & Sunshine (@smilesandsunshineteacher) on Jan 28, 2015 at 4:19pm PST

We added them to our notebooks, and I had the kids do this one independently.

I made sure that they were getting the right ones, reminding them to check, and that just because they see a key word once doesn't mean that it's telling you the text structure!

I had the students pick another task card to glue into their notebooks and respond again.

We'll finish off with a quick assessment, and we'll be moving onto NonFiction Text Features!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Wordless Wednesday: Mini Help

 What apps do you recommend for the 1 iPad classroom? (And is Confer worth the $$?)

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Spark Student Motivation: Plickers

Since Mini arrived, I have been looking for and trying out apps for the one iPad classroom. I found one through Caffeine and Lesson Plans (here) that my kids absolutely adore.

Plickers is a website and app that you can use with your mobile device (I had to get a little creative to get it on Mini-I download it on my computer, and then when Mini synced with iTunes, it appeared).
To start, you need to create a class and assign students numbers.

 

Each student will be getting a card that is specific to them-which you can print on cardstock (or you can buy through Amazon).

  Once your students have their numbers and cards, you can create your questions-multiple choice or true/false only. 

You can create questions on the computer, or you device (I try to choose the computer, as sometimes Mini and I disagree with what I'm trying to type!).

You project your questions on the board, and the students hold up their cards with what they think the answer is.

You can scan their cards from one spot in the room, and when the app checks them, a check mark goes next to their name (there is also a graphing option, to see how many have chosen what answer-but I like the checks-it lets the students know that I've 'caught' them!)

You can do a graphing instead checks, and when everyone has answered, click the 'show correct' button to show what they answer is and how many got that answer.

What I like? You can clearly see who has it and who doesn't as you are scanning-their name will highlight green or red (or stay white if they haven't answered yet).

Plus, questions are saved, and you can view reports of the questions.

I love using this-it gives me a quick check to see who understands a concept and who doesn't.

Plus, my kids cheer when I say it's time for a Plickers question- they love the kids and seeing their name checked off! :)

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Five for Friday

Well, this week flew by!



Meet my new friend...Mini :)

She's pre-loved, but we've been getting along great so far.

I would love any app suggestions that you have-but this is the only iPad in my classroom and the kids will probably not be touching it all that much. :)

(And, please tell me if it is worth it to buy the full version of Confer and/or Chronicle...thoughts appreciated!)


Since Mini and I are getting along so well, I've joined Instagram! (My phone is not smart...at all! ;)

We took 2 out of the 3 MAP Tests this week...

which led to some professional reading time for me!

We started our Explorer unit (or resumed it from our sea monster maps! :).

First up, our Sailing Journey... (here and here)

We're also working our way through a set of 'articles' I wrote last year. I've modified them a little this year to have a short worksheet instead of a foldable-it will be a little more focused!

Except I want the article and organizer side by side, and we had an extra page in our notebooks, so...

A nice intro page to the unit! :)

We've been hitting the fractions hard...and I've been seeing some great understanding!

Stay warm this weekend!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn