The Perfect Square: Reading and Math Activties

I am so excited to be part of this new collaborative project! I think this can be a great place to see wonderful lessons in action and find out more about them than you can get on Teachers Pay Teachers. 

My name is Adrianne and I author over at The Tutor House.  I like creating things for small groups and tutors.  The lesson I wanted to share with you today is aligned with CCSS for Math in grades 2-4.  They all have to do with geometry, so it's okay to cover each of these standards no matter which grade you are teaching because they do have some overlap.

Perfect Square by Michael Hall  

Book Activities

Start out by watching this book trailer with your students.  I love this little short and sweet video because it shows the book in motion and how the square changes.  Then read the book with your students and talk about the attributes of the square.

In the following days, you'll complete this math/art project with your students.  Each child will make their own Perfect Square book.  Check out my sample below and make sure to head over to my TpT store to download your free lesson.

Here's the book trailer!

Adrianne is the author of The Tutor House

Multiplication Fact Boot Camp

The Common Core tells us that by the end of 3rd Grade, students should be able to "fluently multiply and divide within 100...and by the end of Grade 3, know from memory all products of two-one digit numbers".  With this standard in mind, I have enlisted my students in "Multiplication Boot Camp". 

I have used this packet with my 3rd graders after teaching the concept of multiplication.  Each week, we focus in on a single set of facts which are tested on Friday.  Students learn strategies and practice at school.  They also practice their facts at home nightly and record their practice on their homework log.  Students track their own progress in their portfolios using the progress tracking sheet included in this packet.  Students who pass all tests, 0-9, are invited to celebrate at our class "Boot Camp Graduation".  We've had a blast working our way through Boot Camp!

This product is available for sale in my TPT Store, Down the Hall in Third Store.  For more Common Core aligned teaching ideas, please visit my blog, Down the Hall in Third.  Enjoy!  

Teaching Fractions on the Number Line

Teach Fractions on the Number Line

When we teach fractions, we usually begin with pies or pizzas. We cut them up, teach the fraction names and such. Then Common Core Standard decides that students must know how to put fractions on the number line.  {Panic}

All of my students that have never done this before completely flipped out on me (so did their parents). It was just too strange and difficult to figure out. I came up with an activity that takes the simplicity of a pizza and added the number line to it.

This lesson actually works well for any grade level because the standards are so new, a lot of students younger and older still need to learn this concept.

Watch the video below to see how I to teach this concept and download this freebie from my Teachers Pay Teachers shop. This video came from my sister site, Kids Cog Works.  I made this video a long time ago.

Adrianne is the author of The Tutor House.

Poetry Month Resources

April is National Poetry month, so we celebrate each year by creating our own poetry books. Each student creates his or her own poetry book, but we also compile our resources into a classroom anthology that I copy for each student. It truly is a unit I look forward to teaching each year. Figurative language, parts of speech, creative writing... it's all there!

If you want to try a poetry unit with your students this month but aren't sure where to start, you can grab my poetry pack in my TpT Store. I also made a short video to walk you through the process with your students. They're going to love it!

For more Common Core aligned teaching ideas, click over to visit me at Ms. Fultz's Corner.

Comparing and Ordering Integers

With Spring Break coming to an end, I am busy planning for next week.  Math is bringing us integers and I am hoping my little darlings don't get too confused!!  I created a number line for them that I will laminate and stick to the top of their desks so they don't have to squint to see the one on my wall!!

Click on the picture below if you need one for your darlings:

The Common Core doesn't get into integers until the 6th grade, but it is a part of my curriculum, so I can't not do them!!!  I am sure most of you are in the same boat as well.  I honestly believe that students need to "meet" integers before the 6th grade.  So, I am in the process of creating some fun integer games and task cards.  The first few are focused on just ordering and comparing positive and negative numbers.  I will soon be looking into creating products to help with adding and subtracting positive and negative numbers.

This is a fun twist on the old card game, War.  It is played the exact same way as well.  The students lay out a card and the highest card wins.  The person holding all the cards at the end is the winner.  Click on the picture to grab this from my store:

These task cards can also be found at my store:

If you like what you see, visit me at my blog for more fun!!  www.myjourneyto5thgrade.com

Thanks for reading,
Julie

Math Intervention! {Customary Conversions}

Are your students struggling with converting customary units of measurement?  It's a tough concept.  When used before introducing customary conversions to the whole class, my remediation students were able to keep up with the new concepts as they were taught.

The scaffolded instruction through 6 short lessons and a 4 question progress quiz helped them gain the skills and confidence to meet grade level requirements.

This intervention pack meets the customary measurement portion of the following Common Core Standard.
CCSS.Math.Content.5.MD.A.1 Convert among different-sized standard measurement units within a given measurement system (e.g., convert 5 cm to 0.05 m), and use these conversions in solving multi-step, real world problems.

Included:
1- Units of Measurement- Reviewing customary units of measurement
2- Length- 2 mini-posters for 2 different problem solving strategies (5 Steps and Conversion Tables), 4 word problems
3- Weight- 4 word problems
4- Volume and Capacity- 4 problems
5- Extra Practice- 4 multi-step word problems
6- Task Cards- 8 review task cards
7- Progress Quiz- 4 question quiz

This product is available for sale in my TpT Store, The Science Penguin.

For more Common Core aligned teaching ideas, please visit my blog www.thesciencepenguin.com.

Scribble Stories for Creative Writing

If you want to get your kids to write, let them do a little art first.  With scribble stories, students take the scribble and turn it into something creative. They get to spend some time designing and even coloring.  I absolutely love seeing how different kids take the same scribble and make it become something totally different from others that have the same scribble.  By the time they have finished the art, they have already created some kind of story in their head.  Plus, for some reason, by simply allowing them to do the art first, they seem to take ownership of the paper and the writing will pretty much flow.  When I hang these in the hallway, I typically take any that started off with the same scribble and hang them right beside each other.  That way everyone can enjoy seeing how each child turned it into something different.  It's a fun and creative writing project.  Enjoy!

You can get my scribble stories pack by clicking HERE.

Thanks for checking them out.

Hover over image and click to pin to Pinterest. 

For more Common Core aligned teaching ideas, please visit my blog Classroom Confections.