Early Fraction Fun

We've been using The Teacher Studio's Hands on Fraction Bundle to start our fraction unit (since Math in Focus has us start with adding and subtraction fractions!)

All pictures are examples of lessons from this unit from my classroom use. Credit is given to The Teacher Studio for these ideas. If you are not following The Teacher Studio-well, why not? ;)

We started with dividing shapes into equal parts. Some were more successful then others! :)

After this activity, we debriefed, and had a discussion.

I've been trying to use my SMART Board more (especially now that our licenses have been renewed #teacherpolitics), so I created some companions to go along with these lessons.

I had them break into 2s and 3s to discuss what they noticed, and then write it on the board. We talked about each one (included the imprecise vocab!), which led into our next discussion...

They all agreed on their answers!

The next day, we started talking about halves and fourths (and defending your answers!). This has been my favorite activity of the pack so far.

I then had the kids split up into yes's and no's. I put two chairs in front of the board, and had kids come up to state their reasons.

After each student went, I asked if anyone wanted to switch their answers. They were very stubborn!

Until one friend....

We did manage to convince the last two holdouts :)

Using that as a springboard, I created some extra slides, to talk about equal parts.

I had them write their answers on post-it notes, and attach  it to the whiteboard on a chart I had quickly done up.

We did the same thing for the next slide.

Success! They all got the answers right for these.

No's for slide 1

Yes' for slide 2

We do need some help with our explanations...something to work on!

Now came the ultimate test-can they shade half a shape?

We shared our ways (and some were more creative than others)

and I also went over some unusual ways to shade...they weren't fooled :)

I'm loving how they are doing so far with this unit. We are still in the early days, but the kids haven't realized that we've been working with fractions (until I told them today for some vocab!)

I will admit that I was on the fence about buying this unit...but I'm really glad that I did. I would highly recommend this unit to anyone who wants to learn fractions in a fun, hands on way.

I can't wait to see what my kids do next!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Monday Made It

Sigh...another Monday...although brightened by Tara's linky!

I went snowflake crazy this month-making enough snowflakes for a garland! (It's taller than I am! Which isn't too hard-but still!)

 I hung the garland on my staircase (which is wrapped with Christmas lights!)

Surprisingly (or not :), I had some extra snowflakes, which I used to make a mini garland for my door.

 Of course, I made it extra special with a mini-snowman...he's so cute! (And my kids adore him-they love squishing him!)

The mini-snowman led into making more snowmen as gifts for family!

I've also started on a blanket for a coworker-she doesn't know what she is having, so I thought I would make it rainbow colored!

I had to get a few different brands to make my rainbow (and I leaned heavily towards the ones that were on sale! Although I would have preferred some of the not on sale ones...) I love how it looks...and how it is turning out!

Have a happy Monday!


Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Five for Friday

Whew! Made it through the first week back!



I blogged about our use of reading notebooks.

We started our Snowflake How-Tos....with some messy results!

The kids were so excited to see how their snowflakes turned out...we'll see how they do with the writing part!

We've continued working with States of Matter-learning about reversible and irreversible changes (physical and chemical changes).

This involved crushing sugar cubes...

and mixing baking soda and vinegar

I picked up some tulips at the supermarket-to brighten up my apartment!

They're my favorite flower, and I love the hint of spring they bring in! (especially in this ubercold weather!)
One of my coworkers is pregnant, so I've started planning out her baby blanket.

It will be done with rainbow colors (she doesn't know what she is going to have), and I tested out some different yarns to see which one to buy!

Pattern here

Stay warm this weekend!


Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Reading Notebooks

Happy New Year! I hope everyone has settled into a nice new routine at school. :)

I wanted to share today how I set up and use reading notebooks in my class. We are a notebook based class in a lot of subjects (Social Studies-we use a lot!, Math-not so much-still trying to figure this one out with a math program!, Mentor Sentences/Language, and a Numbers Notebook!).

Let me preface this by saying that these are a work in progress. They look different from what I did last year, and I'm sure that next year they'll look different again. However, they are getting better each year! ;)


On their supply list for school, I have each student get a 3 subject notebook. I always pick up a couple extra in case someone doesn't have it-or I get a new student in the middle of the year! (The new student will just pick up where we left off-I won't have them go back and redo entries-although that certainly is an option)

Some kids can't find a 3-subject and pick up a 5-subject-that's fine too.

Our 3 sections in our notebooks are Reading Notes, 40 Book Challenge/Reader Response and Word Study/Vocab. You might find that you need a different 3 sections-but I've found that this works really well for me.

One thing I added this year was a set of notebook expectations, as well as grading their notebooks. We spend a lot of time in these, and it's also a good indicator of how well they are paying attention while we work in them.

Notebook expectations are clearly laid out and are the same for every notebook. Students have a label in their front cover to remind them of the criteria.

I will say that I am very picky when I grade these-since everything is laid out, and we do a lot of entries together, it does have to be complete to get a 3-and we've talked about where most kids missed their points. They can't say I didn't warn them-since it's clearly communicated in their notebooks for them to refer to!

I used 2 by 4 Avery Shipping Labels.

All sections must start with a table of contents-otherwise, where else could they find what they need?! :)

Our first section is where we take our notes on the different skills.

I primarily use Nicole Shelby's Reading Notebook for this. Sometimes, I'll make additions to the pages, so the students have an example to go by.

Our most recent skill

Nicole Shelby's contribution

My addition-so the kids know how to set it up!

We usually do this section together as a whole class. I usually do it towards the middle or end of a skill (a little like a review), so the students help me fill things in (I just write what they say).

I do not introduce a skill using this (although you could certain do so), but will sometimes use it as an additional teaching lesson after I have introduced it (this is what we did for synthesizing-our notebook entry was day 2 or 3).

Our next section is all about our 40 book challenge and our reader responses.

You can read a little more how I set this section up here and here.

The first half of this section is all about our 40 book challenge-although we are doing a little iffy with it-that's one thing I'll work on improving for next year.

The next part of this section is all about the reader responses.

I've taught the kids different ways they can respond to writing, and we have little templates in our notebooks.

Usually, I let students choose what book to use when responding (and have them focus on a certain skill-like summarize the chapter, what do you think the theme is, etc.), but sometimes I will give them the text to respond to (a Scholastic News, a story from our basal, task card, etc.).

We all used the Grinch for this one

They picked their own story

They used a Scholastic News-but had a choice of which article

Reader responses are graded-using my handy dandy labels!

I'll often write little notes on how they could improve (or what they forgot), and color in the hearts for things they need to focus on.

Our last section is our Word Study/Vocab section.

In past years, I've used Laura Candler's vocab foldable, but I'm doing things a little differently this year (and will continue to improve on it for next year)

The first part of this section is where we work on our root words, meanings and examples.

I've used the Brown Bag Teacher's Greek and Latin Root of the Week for this.

Next, we work on prefixes and suffixes.

They get one root, one prefix and one suffix a week as part of their spelling test. They need to know how to spell it, as well as the meaning (and they need both to get the point!). We gradually worked up to have all three- we did the first two months with just the root, in November we added a prefix, and we added the suffix in December.

The last part of this section is the vocab. This comes from our reading series (Literacy by Design), and I'll admit that we've done kind of stinky with this part-something to work on!

Hmmm-this student wasn't paying complete attention-characteristic is spelled wrong!

That's our reading notebook! We are definitely using it more than last year, and I can't wait to see the improvements for next year.

This is a good system for us-I like to set it up as a resource that the kids could keep and use in future years-as well as seeing some examples of their work. They certainly enjoy working on them in class!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn