March Madness: A Reading Challenge

If your students are anything like mine, they are in a bit of a reading slump. It's not that they aren't enjoying reading, it's just practicing for our state test has gotten them .... well ... bored to tears. If it was up to me, test prep would not be on the table. Alas, it's not up to me and I'm following the rules. BUT ... and I mean BUT, I still like to bend things, just a bit. Seriously, who wants to have students sit for 30 minutes a day doing mind numbing multiple choice?

UGH!

Enter March Madness and Math Madness .... (mini drum roll)

What exactly is March Madness? It is certainly NOT a basketball bracket! It IS a reading challenge. We have 6 classes of 4th grade on our team. Each class was challenged to READ! And read ... read ... read! Each class has a month to read as many books as possible (If you want a copy of the poster, just click on the picture to download it).
In order to get credit for books. Students must read books:
-In the month of March
-on their reading level

Then they take an Accelerated Reader quiz (a program our school pays for). You could also have them writing summaries to show what they've read or have parents sign a log. Either way, whichever class reads the most books in the month is the big winner.

I put a display in the hallway so students can track their progress as well as the progress of other classes. Once I approve their book, they write their name and book title on a Shamrock to hang in the hallway. We are losing .. big time! But, that's ok. Today I tried to get them all riled up to read. Will it work? Who knows?

We are also doing some ELA testing practice. I found some practice questions from old released items and books I've collected. Students are working in partners to answer questions and find text evidence to support their thinking. We have also been talking a lot about text taking strategies and ways tests "trick" us into picking answers that aren't correct. It's not the most exciting way to do it (and I'm open to anyone's suggestions!). BUT, one way I motivate them is to do some brain break activities at the end of our activity.  Have you ever heard of GoNoodle? Check it out! Its FREE and my kids love it.
https://www.gonoodle.com/ 
Their favorite are the Zumba videos. Though, today we did The Cupid Shuffle :)

Then, we have Math Madness...

It's basically math practice with a fun twist. We have to practice math questions like the ones that will be on our state assessment in two weeks. So ... I changed it up a little. I could not stand the idea of my kiddos sitting and doing packet after packet of problems. Instead, I split them into "teams". Each team has three students. The teams pick a question card from my pack (they are old released items from previous tests).

Questions all have different point values. They range from 1-4 points depending on difficulty and number of steps required to solve the problems. Each person on the team has to solve the problem on their own scratch paper and explain their answer. If each person does this AND gets it right, they earn the points to record on their points sheet.

That isn't the madness part of it. The madness is that once they do that, they may each shoot a basket to earn extra points for their team. You'll notice that the recording sheet is numbered. So are the questions. They record their points for a correct answer and any baskets made in the box that correlates to the question they just answered.

They are so excited to work together to get the correct answers. I split the groups up so they are all mixed ability. My math students who struggle are getting the benefit of hearing other students explain strategies. My high fliers are getting the benefits of being made to explain and verbalize their processes.

And, if that wasn't exciting enough ... I also give them GUM!

Here is my box of gum and questions. I do think they are enjoying it AND getting a lot of good review from the activities.

2 minus two weeks until we can go back to normal education. Where standardized testing doesn't rule the world ....

Math Centers - and a little freebie

I don't know about you, but I'm always looking for things to put in my math centers. My kiddos tend to finish their work at varying speeds. Also, sometimes I have students who need more help and guidance than others. This leaves me with some students who are bored, and others who need more direct instruction.What's a teacher to do?
I decided to make some games for my students to do. And when you're creating, why not make it TpT worthy? At least that's my motto. So, I put together a set of 19 games to help review and practice intermediate math skills.

If you click on the first picture you will not only see a preview of the set, but also one of the game included for FREE!!

Like what you see? Here's the link to my TpT store: CLICK ME!!

All About Inferring

Why is making inferences so hard?! We've been working on this skill, and my kiddos still struggle. So, I searched and searched for some engaging activities that would get their inferential wheels turning.

1. Inferring with picture books:

I love to to use the book Tuesday by David Wiesner.

 

This is an awesome book with VERY few words. The pictures are simply amazing, and they really made my kids think. As we "read" the book, I modeled my thinking on the first couple pages. I really emphasized how to think deeper about the pictures. There is a lot of detail that the reader can really focus on. After I modeled, I let the kids help me infer what what was happening next. They were glued to the pages, each one leaned as far forward as their bodies could go. I would have been really cool if I had more copies so they could have each had a book in their own hands. The best part of the lesson was the giggles each time I turned the page. This book is definitely not one who will disappoint. 

Another great book for inferring with books without words is Good Dog, Carl by Alexandra Day.

2. Inferring with book that have VERY few words.

I love the book Yo! Yes? by David Raschka

Yo! and Yes? are basically the only words in the book, but it's great for inferring feelings. I like to use a talking/thinking bubbles worksheet like the one below for the students to infer what the characters are really saying with their words.

The students write the actual words from the book in the left speech bubble. Then, on the right they write what they think the character actually means. It's great for getting them to be creative and think "out of the box". 

3. Visualizing what you infer

It's great to pick a book where students can make inferences even if you don't show them the pictures. Two great books for this are Little Green by Keith Baker and Two Bad Ants by Chris Van Allsburg. These are great books to have kids infer what is happening as you read (without showing them ANY pictures). 

With Little Green, I had my students fold a white piece of computer paper into 3s. I first read them the title and had them draw a picture about Little Green. Underneath this picture they had to write a sentence about who they think Little Green is. I then began reading the story, and stopped twice more for them to again draw a picture of little green with a sentence. 

A similar activity works with Two Bad Ants. This activity works better when you have the students fold the paper into 8 sections. As you read, the students can draw what they visualize the ants doing by inferring what the text is saying. Their pictures will be very funny, and VERY different than the actual story. If you want them to be closer in their drawings to the actual story, before reading remind them that these are ants in the story, not people. Remind them that ants see the word differently than we do. 

4. Inferring with comics

While perusing the web, I found a link to this great for an inferring powerpoint using comics. 

http://jc-schools.net/dynamic/la/LA8.html

You have to scroll down almost all the way to the bottom as the site has tons of powerpoints. But the great part is that it is completely editable... And the stars are Garfield and Calvin and Hobbs. Comics area great way to teach the art of inference since many times you have to infer a lot to get the giggle. Comics make jokes without telling us the whole story. Sometimes kids are inferring and they don't even know it! 

5. Inferring - then writing about it.

My new favorite book for making inferences is The Mysteries of Harris Burdick. If you've never read it, Chris Van Allsburg has put together a book of mystery, that started with a mystery itself. A man name Harris Burdick dropped story ideas off one day with a publisher, and was never heard form again. All that remains of these stories is a title, sentence, and a picture. We read the "story" together, talking about each picture - thinking about what the rest of the mystery might have been. Below are some examples from the book: 

 

My students are now working on creating their own stories with these pictures and captions as their inspiration. I hung posters of the pages in the room, and they are now writing machines. They started by brainstorming the setting, characters, and plot, as well as where in the story their picture belongs. I'm really excited to read their final products! 

How do you help you students make inferences? What is your favorite book to use? I'm always looking to find more books and activities to strengthen by students' skills!

On a completely different note, I finally finished my Division Dash Pack! It includes division posters, division flash cards, division "I have, who has", AND division dominoes. Plenty of activities to get your class engaged in dividing!

Here's a sneak peak: 

Check it on on my TpT site. Or, if you're the first person to respond to this post with you favorite book to use for inferring (and your email address), I'll send you a copy for FREE ;)

Decimals ... with a freebie and giveaway (if you hurry!)

So, first I just have to say how much I LOVE the winter break. Not only do I get time to spend with family, but I also have been able to do some things for ME ... yes ME! :)

Anyway, before break we were working on decimals in my classroom. I think it is one of the toughest things for me to help my 4th graders understand. This year, since I am teaching with Everyday Math, decimals came up even earlier in the year than I had previously taught it. I was trying to think about what I could do to make sure my kiddos really understood what a decimal is and means. Previously, I taught a homogenous group for math. This year, my group is heterogeneous, which means that I have a wide variety of levels in my room. I've really been trying to use as many hands-on manipulatives as I can, so I broke out the base-ten blocks.

Isn't this clipart so cute?! It is the base-ten set available at www.scrappindoodles.com . I decided that I wanted to create some visuals to go along with my lesson ... and an "I have, who has" game because my kids are OBSESSED with it! So, I finally just put the finishing touches on the rest of the decimal activities/visuals pack and uploaded it to my teachers pay teachers account. Follow the link here to check it out for yourself.

AND if you are one of the first two people to comment on this post with your favorite decimal lesson AND your email address, I'll send you a copy for FREE!!

The other thing that was really tricky for my class this year was converting between decimal measurements. And I can't blame them ... it's tricky! So, I adapted an idea I found online and created my own "cheat sheet" for them. Click the picture below and get your own copy for FREE! :)  Hopefully it will help your students as much as it helped mine.

Enjoy!