Monday Madness!

I don't know about everyone else, but my students are officially in vacation mode! We have nearly three full weeks of school until winter break but the kids seemed checked out. I've been doing my best to make class as fun and engaging as possible so my students stay entertained and on task.

Every year when we hit the "interpret the remainder" section, teachers and students alike hit melt-down mode. For many of my students, the word "interpret" is tricky and they instantly decide they aren't having it.

I always introduce this lesson by acting out real life situations where remainders would exist: for example, I tell them I'm going to the supermarket to buy 8 cupcakes, but since they only come in packages of 6, I'm going to open up a package and take two out.

"No, Miss I! You can't do that! You'll get arrested!"

Hmm...then what should I do? I need to make sure to have enough for everyone, so I must buy 2 packages so I have enough.


I then act out a "real life" example for each way to interpret a remainder. As I do, I jot down what we did with the remainder on the board.

Did we:

Drop the remainder?

Use it as the answer?

Add 1 to the quotient?

Turn the remainder into a fraction?

I created the following center activity for my students to practice basic division with remainders and problem-solving with interpreting the remainder.

             

So far, it has been a huge hit! Click on the photos below to visit my TPT page.

I hope this activity will help your students stay in school-mode before the holidays!!

xoxo, 

Miss I.

Wednesday Blues

Welp, the election is over. Hallelujah!

Regardless of which party/candidate you were for/against, I am sure we will all welcome some kindness and peace on social media and in life in the coming weeks once the madness dies down! My students so enjoyed all of the election day-themed activities we have been doing for the last two weeks, but it's time to put that aside and begin preparing for Thanksgiving!

I think the best way to reach my struggling learners is to make math relatable to them. Not only are they able to connect to the content easier, but they see a purpose in what they are learning. I try to avoid the question,

"....but when will I actually USE this, Miss I?!"

This year, I re-vamped my behavior system to include money. I find that with the increased use of debit and credit cards, many of my students aren't exposed to coins and physical bills the way I was as a child. Gone are the days of checking between the sofa cushions for a few coins that fell out of someone's pocket. I have been encouraging my students to practice using money when shopping with mom or dad or by counting the coins in a piggy bank every so often, but as the years have passed I realize students are less exposed to physical money than ever.

How it works:

Each of my students now has their own "penny pouch" that they keep their coins in. I purchased a ton of these on amazon (click on the photo below for a link!). They earn a coin each day for good behavior, but its a very fluid system where students can lose coins or earn bonus coins by completing challenge work or giving a great response/being extra kind to others. They must trade in pennies for nickels, nickels for dimes, etc.

Once they accumulate enough money (10-20¢), they can "buy" something from the prize bin. Most prizes are 10¢, but a few special ones are 12¢ or above. Within weeks, I can say that all of my students in grades 1-5 know more about coins than they did in September! I was afraid this would be tricky to keep up with, but fingers crossed, so far we are good!

"Penny Pouches"

xoxo, 

Miss I

The Distributive Property! *Freebie!*

Call me crazy, but I LOVE the distributive property when teaching multiplication facts! Some of my students have a really hard time remembering their facts and we work hard on strategies to understand them and make the "tougher" ones a bit easier.

My students have a difficult time grasping the concept of the distributive property in a large-group setting, so I break it down for them as easily as I can in the small group. We begin by using tiles to show equal groups,  which for this array was 6 x 7.
We then "break apart" the large array into two "mini-arrays" using a ruler.

      

We then write two equations, one for each "mini-array."  (6 x 4) and (6 x 3)

We then do our multiplication, and add them back up. 

We discuss why we would want to break our arrays apart towards the middle, so we can work with small numbers. We often break it apart in different ways vertically and horizontally to see if (and explain why) we get the same answer.

I broke this procedure down into simpler terms and my students SWEAR the lightbulb goes off every time!! "Oh.....THAT'S it?!" We review this sheet while following each step to complete our distributive property wipe-off cards (created with my one true love, my desktop laminator! *see previous post!*) Click on the links below to download these freebies!

       

Distributive Property Worksheets

Distributive Property Wipe-Off Cards

Enjoy!

xoxo,

Miss I.

My secret weapon...

Last year, I took a workshop and class on Guided Math. Although I don't think Guided Math is a good fit for my specific program, I LOVED getting some new ideas!

If you're like me, you loathe heading down to the teacher's room to plug in the 20 year-old laminator and wait for it to warm up. I have so many great things in my classroom that I end up re-printing and cutting every year because I hate using the giant, ancient laminator. This year, an epiphany. My co-worker suggested I pick up a small desktop laminator.

Well, actually, the first one I picked up at a local store didn't work, so I had to wait an extra few days for my trusty Amazon Prime delivery. About 3 boxes of laminating sheets later, my classroom is eternally changed. It only takes minutes to warm up, too!

The best part about it? My students think everything is a "whiteboard" since the laminated pages are erasable. I will be posting TONS of these activities that my students have become addicted to. The AmazonBasics Thermal Laminator below is the exact one I purchased, along with laminating pouches. I hope this changes your life, too!!

            

*affiliate link

xoxo, 

Miss I.

Back with a Vengeance!

It's been a while since Miss I. has popped onto the blog. Looking at my last post, I feel like I wrote it yesterday! This overdue comeback has me refreshed and filled with so many new ideas to share.

This is my sixth year of teaching Basic Skills Math. This year, I have about 40 students on my caseload in grades 1-5. I also assist in kindergarten classrooms during math time. My students are referred to my program because they struggle in math, and it's my job to help them understand while making math fun! This year I have completely changed the inner-workings of my classroom; old lesson plans have been tossed out and each day I work hard to create hands-on center-like activities for my kids.

Since I do not have a specific math program to use, I create most of what I do on my own (with a little help from Pinterest and other TPT resources!). I try to make our activities relatable to life and as relevant as possible. Of course this week, we're all about the election! 

This month will also be filled with lots of Thanksgiving activities. My students adore our yearly math project, Thanksgiving Dinner Problem Solving. 

Thanks for popping by! Enjoy this Thanksgiving Freebie that's all about fractions! 

                   

xoxo, 

Miss I.

My fish had a "case of the Mondays......."

Happy Monday! Since this is a 3-day work week for most school districts, today is basically Wednesday in my book!

This weekend, I learned how hard it is to keep a goldfish alive. Its so, so, so much harder than you think. If you are like me, you figured you could pick up a couple fish at the pet store, give them cute names, throw them in a bowl and feed them once a day for the next 3-5 years. WRONG. 

If you are thinking about getting goldfish, read this first! I certainly wish I did....... Poor Taco made it about a week before going belly-up. 

http://thegoldfishtank.com/goldfish-care-take-care-of-goldfish/


In other news, I kicked off the autumn season today with a fun activity that I was able to use with students in grades 2-5. By just enlarging the number you assign to your students, this activity can be used at any elementary grade level! My students reviewed standard, expanded and word forms of a number and colored in the candy corn when they were finished. It made for a perfect, festive bulletin board! Enjoy!

-Miss I. 

Place Value Freebie!

Happy Thursday!

We're all in full swing and nearing the end of our second full week of school! Mine was interrupted by a severe sinus infection which always hits me at back-to-school time! 

As a Basic Skills Math teacher, the first chapter we are working on in each grade level is usually related to place value. Below, you will find a freebie that will help your students build number sense and place value understanding. Apologies for the short-and-sweet post...it's tea and bed time for this sick girl!

Enjoy!

-Miss I