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Welcome to my math blog! The purpose of this blog is to help you stay informed about our learning and experiences that have taken place during our math class. I have also included links your child (and you) may want to use in order to supplement math learning in 5th grade.

Thursday, November 30, 2017

Bell Ringer:  Mystery Numbers



Lesson Frame:




Lesson:

We are still doing benchmarks.  Today was the Think Through Math benchmark.  TTM allows you to benchmark students every 90 days, so it was time.  Again, students were allowed to use their math folders and journals.  TTM has a read aloud component that is available to all students.



Some students are still working on completing this activity.  They worked diligently on the benchmark, so had less time to work on this activity.  Once they finish today's TTM benchmark, they will work towards completion of this activity.

If students had any remaining time, they worked on Think Through Math.

Assignment:


I am not giving any additional assignments this week, I do not want students rushing through the benchmark or the fraction review.

Wednesday, November 29, 2017

MOY Benchmark: STAAR 2017 (final day) and Review Multiplication and Division of Fractions

Bell Ringer:  101 Questions

Screenshot 2016-11-29 at 6.34.24 PM.png

Lesson Frame:

Lesson:

It is that time of year...  the middle... it is time to take our MOY benchmark to assess learning/needs.  I am using the released STAAR test from March of last year.  I have decided to take some of the pressure off by splitting up the assessment into 3 sets of 12 questions.  I did not want my students to stress over the number of problems or the amount of time.  I also am allowing my students to use both their purple folder, which contains a multiplication table, prime and composite table, and the 5th Grade Measurement Chart, along with their math journal that we have created this year.  This is not a "gotcha" assessment for me.  I want to see what they have actually learned so far and get an idea of how they will do.  For those students who are to have tests read aloud, I created a Screencastify for each of the 3 sections.  This allows my students to have the problems read to them and have the ability to rewind and listen as often as necessary.


 Once they completed the 12 questions for today, I wanted to have a little review.  I found this activity on Teachers Pay Teachers.  As usual, I modified it to meet my needs.  So, I split this activity up into 3 sections as well and created Google Forms.  Each day students answer about 10 problems and input their answer into the form AND on the answer sheet I put on the back of the color page.  I never require my students to color the page, so I need to see their answers to determine if true effort was given.

If students had any remaining time, they worked on Think Through Math.

Assignment:


I am not giving any additional assignments this week, I do not want students rushing through the benchmark or the fraction review.

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Middle of Year Benchmark: Released STAAR 2017 and Fractions: Multiply and Divide

Bell Ringer:  AIMS Education Foundation

I found this activity saved on  my DRIVE, but have no idea where it came from.  I know that it is called "Winter Logicland" and that it is from 1989.  My kids really enjoyed this warm up!


Lesson Frame:




Lesson:
It is that time of year...  the middle... it is time to take our MOY benchmark to assess learning/needs.  I am using the released STAAR test from March of last year.  I have decided to take some of the pressure off by splitting up the assessment into 3 sets of 12 questions.  I did not want my students to stress over the number of problems or the amount of time.  I also am allowing my students to use both their purple folder, which contains a multiplication table, prime and composite table, and the 5th Grade Measurement Chart, along with their math journal that we have created this year.  This is not a "gotcha" assessment for me.  I want to see what they have actually learned so far and get an idea of how they will do.  For those students who are to have tests read aloud, I created a Screencastify for each of the 3 sections.  This allows my students to have the problems read to them and have the ability to rewind and listen as often as necessary.


https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Christmas-Multiply-Divide-Unit-Fractions-Color-by-Number-TEKS-53I-53J-53L-2889141


 Once they completed the 12 questions for today, I wanted to have a little review.  I found this activity on Teachers Pay Teachers.  As usual, I modified it to meet my needs.  So, I split this activity up into 3 sections as well and created Google Forms.  Each day students answer about 10 problems and input their answer into the form AND on the answer sheet I put on the back of the color page.  I never require my students to color the page, so I need to see their answers to determine if true effort was given.

If students had any remaining time, they worked on Think Through Math.

Assignment:
I am not giving any additional assignments this week, I do not want students rushing through the benchmark or the fraction review.

Monday, November 27, 2017

Welcome Back! Middle of Year Benchmark and Multiply/Divide Fraction Review

Welcome back!  This is the final push to Christmas Break!  It will be completely full of math and hopefully some fun activities!

Bell Ringer:  SET Game

Lesson Frame:




Lesson:

It is that time of year...  the middle... it is time to take our MOY benchmark to assess learning/needs.  I am using the released STAAR test from March of last year.  I have decided to take some of the pressure off by splitting up the assessment into 3 sets of 12 questions.  I did not want my students to stress over the number of problems or the amount of time.  I also am allowing my students to use both their purple folder, which contains a multiplication table, prime and composite table, and the 5th Grade Measurement Chart, along with their math journal that we have created this year.  This is not a "gotcha" assessment for me.  I want to see what they have actually learned so far and get an idea of how they will do.  For those students who are to have tests read aloud, I created a Screencastify for each of the 3 sections.  This allows my students to have the problems read to them and have the ability to rewind and listen as often as necessary.



 Once they completed the 12 questions for today, I wanted to have a little review.  I found this activity on Teachers Pay Teachers.  As usual, I modified it to meet my needs.  So, I split this activity up into 3 sections as well and created Google Forms.  Each day students answer about 10 problems and input their answer into the form AND on the answer sheet I put on the back of the color page.  I never require my students to color the page, so I need to see their answers to determine if true effort was given.

If students had any remaining time, they worked on Think Through Math.

Assignment:

I am not giving any additional assignments this week, I do not want students rushing through the benchmark or the fraction review.

Friday, November 17, 2017

Book-In-A-Day, Macy's Make-A-Wish Santa Letter, and Think Through Math

Bell Ringer:  101 Questions
silly44.gif


http://www.101qs.com/

Lesson Frame:



Lesson:

Image result for towers falling

To begin each class, we read a portion of the novel, "Towers Falling," by Jewell Parker Rhodes.  It is a wonderful historical fiction novel.  Beware, if you read this aloud and you personally remember that day, you will sob openly in front of your students.  I did.... twice!  I'm not ashamed, they need to see how this affected everything.



After the book, we went to Macy's Make-A-Wish 2017 and wrote a letter to Santa (online).  Macy's will donate up to onemillion dollars, $1 for each letter received.  The kids really enjoyed this!

Finally, we spent any remaining class time on Think Through Math.  Students donated point at the end of class.  They are trying to be the first class to reach 100% to donate to a charity they have chosen.

We will be out all next week for Thanksgiving:

Image result for happy thanksgiving animated gif

Thursday, November 16, 2017

Multiplying and Dividing Fractions Wrap Up

Bell Ringer:  Clue 9 & 10


Lesson Frame:



Lesson:

My focus today was having my students complete the Khan assignments before our Thanksgiving break.  I was very pleased with the work the kids did today!  Most students completely finished the assignment, with just a few exceptions.  Those students who completed the assignments yesterday or quickly today had time to work on Think Through Math.  Again, the amount of work shows was outstanding!  My Jolly Rancher jar was almost depleted today and many lessons were passed!  I call it a successful day!

There was not an assignment today so that we could wrap up loose ends.


Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Multiply and Divide Fractions: Kahoot (Day 4)

Bell Ringer:  Clue 7 & 8


Lesson Plan:



Lesson:

https://kahoot.com/

We played another Kahoot today as teams.  I had a fantastic epiphany about how to solve a problem playing Kahoot.  Typically, students will let the "smartest" student do all the work as fast as possible to enter an answer.  So, to combat this, I set the timer for 120 seconds and said that the newest rule was that no one could input their answer until the counter reached 60.  I cannot believe how well this worked!  Students were much more willing to work the problems, collaborate on answers, and there wasn't a feeling of hysteria in getting it done quickly!  Students enjoy this game very much and I love sneaking a review in!

Close:

Assignment:  Fifth Grade Builder #36

We finished up the day working towards completing our Khan assignments and/or Think Through Math.

Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Multiply and Divide Fractions: Kahoot (Day 3)

Bell Ringer:  Clue 5 & 6


Lesson Frame:



Lesson:


Today I wanted to have my students work with word problems and models that incorporated fractions.  I used the math TEKS 5.3H - L and created a Kahoot for the kids to play.  I used the survey mode in order to be able to see where my kids were struggling and to deal with any misconceptions.

Students also worked on the assignments from Khan Academy to practice multiplication and division of fractions in particular.

Close:


Assignment:  Fifth Grade Builder #35

Monday, November 13, 2017

Multiply and Divide Fractions (Day 2)

Bell Ringer:  Clue 3 & 4


Lesson Frame:



Lesson:

I wanted my classes to spend some time practicing multiplying and dividing fractions.  Specifically unit fractions, so I turned to Khan Academy.   Students worked on the following lessons:


Screenshot 2017-11-09 at 8.00.33 PM.png

Close:



Assignment: Fifth Grade Builder #34

Friday, November 10, 2017

STEAMing into the Weekend (Fun Friday)

Bell Ringer:  

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Whodunnit-Multiply-and-Divide-Two-Fractions-Class-Activity-2948023

I found this activity on TpT and decided to use it as my bell ringer over the next few days.  Basically, it is a whodunnit .  Students answer the problems to discover who, where, and what was NOT used to "murder" a reality TV show contestant.  The three remaining items solve the crime!

Lesson Frame:



Lesson:

I had six different STEAM challenges with each group having 3 students.  I carefully arranged the students myself, but then each table group the a number that represented one of the activities.  This allowed students to see that I didn't play favorites.




Bloxels - http://home.bloxelsbuilder.com/index.html is a build your own video game activity.  I had three Bloxels kits and three iPads for students to use.  

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Lego Marble Run - https://frugalfun4boys.com/2016/01/13/lego-duplo-marble-run-stem-challenge/ is a STEAM challenge I found on the blog:  Frugal Fun 4 Boys and Girls.  We used the regular Lego sets I have with no difficulty.  This was the only true group activity where students worked together to complete a single outcome.

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http://littlebits.cc/

littleBits - http://littlebits.cc/ are easy to use electronic building blocks.  I was gifted a class set through Friends of Hamilton.  Again, there were enough pieces for all three students to have their own to explore with.

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Hour of Code - https://hourofcode.com/us/learn gave students a chance to learn how to code.  To be honest, this was the least favorite, as everything else was more of a hands-on challenge.  I may try to find another hands-on activity next time.

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BigKids1
https://intentionalstorytime.wordpress.com/hands-on-science/engineering-challenge-index-card-towers/


STEAM Engineering Challenge:  Index Card Tower -  https://intentionalstorytime.wordpress.com/hands-on-science/engineering-challenge-index-card-towers/ challenged students to build a freestanding tower using only index cards.

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CrazyAction Contraptions - students worked to create one of the contraptions and, while no one was successful in fully completing the challenge, everyone loved it!

Close:

I actually used a random closure generating  website to reflect on the activities.  The website is:  Learning In Hand with Tony Vincent.  The reflection generator web address:


The question that came up was :  

What was especially satisfying to you about what you achieved today?

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To finish off the day we got onto Think Through Math and made donations to our classroom charity.  The classes are in a competition to get to 100% on their charity first to win a pizza party!  These were the standing BEFORE we made donations today:




Thursday, November 9, 2017

Multiply and Divide Unit Fractions and Whole Numbers

Bell Ringer:  Guess My Number
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Guess-My-Number-1054423

Lesson Frame


Lesson

Today we moved into multiplying and dividing unit fractions and whole numbers.  We began by looking at multiplying fractions:



https://jrh794.wordpress.com/2012/01/23/fast-fractions-easy-system/

In an effort to help students make connections and to see patterns in math, we used the second piece from "Fast Fractions - Easy System".  

Next we moved into dividing fractions.  Since my students are in 5th grade, they need to understand reciprocals before learning the shortcut shown in "Fast Fractions - Easy System."  So, I made up my own:  Reciprocal Applesauce Applesauce

https://www.mathsisfun.com/fractions_division.html 

However, I did use a graphic from "Math is Fun" to complete my idea.

To practice our new content, I created a Thanksgiving Riddles page.  Basically, I looked up some riddles and made problems for the letters.


Close

Assignment

Fifth Grade Builder #33