Math Manipulatives and Fraction Art

I'm spending the beginning of the summer becoming more and more familiar with the CCSS for Math.  Fourth grade has a LOT of fractions, so I'm looking at what kinds of manipulatives we want need for the fall.  We don't have much, and we have $$ to spend for next year.  Any suggestions?  I especially like shopping through EAI Education and have already found a lot that our fourth grade team can use.

While I was thinking about it, I thought I'd take the time to go through an activity from this past year that I really liked (and I think the kids "got it", which is always exciting).  We worked hard on fractions and decimals- specifically how they are related and not just random math concepts we have to learn.

I had them do this activity- I gave them one hundreds chart and told them to create an artistic design.   The next day, I handed out another hundreds chart where we put the colors together (closer to base-10 style).  When they were finished, we figured out the fraction and decimal for each color and made a chart.  We talked about how even though both hundreds chart design looks different, there is still an equal amount of each color.

**This activity was easily differentiated based on how many colors I allowed students to use.  Some students were able to handle many colors/numbers, but some were still trying to grasp the concept and only used a few colors**

After our chart and "artwork" was finished, I had them practice adding fractions and decimals using equations and variables.  For instance, g + r = ?  (green + red = ?).  They would look at their chart and write the corresponding fraction or decimal for each variable/color.  They did GREAT!  I was so impressed with how well they were able to handle it. 

We loved this activity SO MUCH that I went ahead and made it into a center.  I made 24 hundreds grids plus worksheet pages for the fraction/decimal amount AND the variable equations to solve for each one.  

Sometimes we do this center on the Mimio and/or SMARTBoard {above}, and sometimes we do it on paper {below}...and sometimes on both. 

Either way, my students asked for this activity EVERY DAY.  

You can find this activity,  the Build-Your-Own Interactive Board, or the BUNDLE of both in the RTL Store!  

  

For the colored hundreds charts ONLY, you can find them {here}.  Let me know how you use them- I would love to hear more ideas!

            

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Recycling containers- removing stickers

We have two half-days of school left before the end of the school year, so I'm in clean-up-and-organize mode. I'm already looking forward to next year and envisioning how I want my classroom to look.

That being said...I have a small obsession with containers.  All of them...small, large, long, short, with lids, without, etc. The Container Store is my Mecca, but I hate spending money on containers...mostly because I'm already most likely spending money on whatever is supposed to go IN the container.

Next year I'm getting a bunch of brand-spanking-new math manipulatives and I'm trying to figure out how to store them.  Plus, a family friend just gifted me a giant box of craft materials for my students to use.  Let the organizing begin!  

I love Tide Pods (I'm not advertising, I just love the product!) because they are super easy for this girl on the run.  Plus, the container is awesome.  I wanted to use it to organize some of these craft supplies, but I didn't want the Tide label.  Turns out, they use some kind of super sticky sticker.  It does NOT peel off!   I read that you can rub cooking oil on the sticker and let it sit overnight and it will peel off in the morning.  I put cooking oil all over both sides of the stickers and let them sit all day.  By the end of the day, I could get just about half of the sticker off, so I did it again and let it sit overnight and the next day it all came off!  

(I stored some leftover Easter egg parts in there so you can see how great the sticker came off.  Amazing  demonstration, I know.)

Generally, I don't love see-through containers in my classroom, but they are super nice to have in the closet so that I can see what's inside!

Link up for Tried it Tuesday! 

            

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Projects!

Happy Saturday!  This morning's first project was to update my iOS system so that I'm not living in 2008 anymore.  It took all morning (I had more than one iOS update to complete) and I didn't lose anything.  Success!  Onto project number two...this blog post. 

I'm linking up with I {heart} Recess for new bloggers and I'm pretty excited about that!  I'm a day late (per usual), and I'm going to blame that on being new to blogging and still getting used to doing this and not on my laziness in updating.  

1. Why did you start blogging?

Lots of reasons- I thought blogging would give me a good outlet for posting where I found something or how I got an idea, as well as sharing ideas I use in my classroom and joining a growing community of professionals.  But ultimately, I started because some of my colleagues at work continued to mention that I should do it, and I crumbled under the peer pressure.

  

2. What is your favorite subject to teach and why?

Math and Science, which is weird because Reading was my favorite subject growing up.  Math and Science just lend themselves so well to problem solving, interactive activities, and new ideas.  However, I really love getting students to enjoy reading books.

3. Describe your teaching style.

Eclectic.  I believe students need to learn both collaboratively and on their own and that the process is more important than the final product in many cases.  I like freedom within structure in the classroom and value student thoughts, feelings, ideas, and creativity.  

4. Give three interesting facts about you.

I'm that person at the store stocking up on things for next year (I currently have 220 DOZEN Easter eggs being stored because they were such a great deal) and I hoard things "just in case I ever need them".

I smile a lot.  A lot.  Mostly because when I'm not smiling, people think something is wrong. 

I love my job, even on the days when I don't like it so much.

5. Do you have a TpT store? 

Yup!  Real Teachers Learn TpT Store 

So today's next project is finishing my end of the school year slideshow for the students.  Last year someone in our building had a bunch of Yellow Pages cds that they were throwing away, so naturally I scooped them up.  At the beginning of this school year we did some CD art that I blogged about here- which wasn't even using these discs, so now I have more!  

I had one of my 8th grade helpers unwrap these and take them apart for me so that I could turn them into this year's DVD gift to my students. 

Now I have the cases all ready to go (Free!  Score!) and today's project will be finishing the actual slideshow...because I don't think a fancy CD case is going to impress any 10 year olds.  

I better get to work!

Writing and Retirement time!

**Disclaimer:  In a series of unfortunate events, I couldn't find the blog I wanted to link, couldn't figure out how to image capture on this computer, couldn't locate the pictures I had, and my computer stalled for about 30 minutes... I fought with it for over and hour, and somehow got this posted, so I'm not sure who won.  Anywho... not quite what I had in mind, but I'm going with the flow.



First up, it's Workshop Wednesday with Ideas by Jivey so I'm **trying** to link
up to share just a few quick resources.  I'll start with... I really don't like writing (and yes, I see the irony in blogging about it).  It's not that I don't like what I write, it's just that I hate the physical (hand)writing of papers.  Computers were a great invention.  If only I had computers for my students to use during writing time, and then we wouldn't have to make multiple drafts and all that jazz.  This discussion might be for another day.

Previously I blogged about a brief system I use for creative writing time.  The only major change I'm making for next year is that I will put it together in a notebook instead of a file folder.  Before we begin, I do a status of the class to see what everyone is working on.  Some students are working on a piece, but some are in need of ideas.

One of my favorite ways to get ideas is from Back to School Night at the beginning of the year.  I give parents five blank address labels to write down writing ideas for their student.  Then I put those on the inside/outside cover of their writing folder (notebook) for ideas.  Almost every student in my class has used every idea their parents left for them!

Scholastic's Story Starters is a great website for creative writing prompts.  I actually just saw this in use in a 3rd grade classroom the other day and the students loved it.  We are using this in the future!

We have another great blog with writing prompts that I just spent way to many minutes of my life trying to locate, so I'll have to get back to you on that one...



And it's retirement time!
...I mean, not for me, because that would be really soon and I just don't make that much $$.  It does sound dreamy sometimes though, doesn't it?

It's the end of the year which means some teachers are getting close to their final few days of school FOREVER.  Our school puts together a memory book with scrapbook pages from each class, and every year I'm busting my booty to find something to (thoughtfully) throw together.  This year I decided that is silly and I should have something on hand for this yearly event...so here it is!  It's a quick and easy (I feel like I say that a lot...) activity for students to complete and put together in a little booklet.  We are going to do it in scrapbook page format using the little retirement idea slips and half page book cover- I'll post a picture when we have it completed in case that doesn't make any sense.  Click on the picture to find it at my store.

    

            

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Teacher Appreciation!

I'll make this quick- my school day started off observing some excellent teachers at another school and ended with "Miss B?  I barfed."  Teacher appreciation week is off to a great start...

Actually, my school doesn't do anything for this week.  We do a Teacher Appreciation Day earlier in the year, so things like the TpT Teacher Appreciation sale are always a surprise to me.  I love a good sale, so I went ahead and added my tiny store to this celebration for both May 7th and 8th- use code TAD13 to get the full discount! 

End of the year craziness is in full swing.  May is such a busy month!  Enjoy teacher appreciation week- only a teacher understands how much work you do every day (and night...and weekends...)!

May Currently.

Is it really May? With snow in the forecast and 16 more days of school? Time to link up with Farley's Currently. 

I tried to do this month's Currently on a different computer and didn't really know what I was doing. Grab your reading glasses, because it's kind of small.  I have files on too many different computers and need to just take the time to get them all together so that I can actually find the files I want when I want them. Wow. That sounds so ridiculous and probably belongs here.

May is also that time of year when everyone is ready for a break.  Kids start to get antsy.  Testing is over.  I think Kristin at A Teeny Tiny Teacher described it best in #4 here.   And it's supposed to rain and/or snow, so indoor recess is likely happening for the rest of the week.  Deep breath.  16 Days.