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Fancy Ideas for the Everyday Classroom

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Sunday Snapshots Linky

September 17, 2012 By fancyfreein4th

Hello all. I hope you are all cooler than I am- it has been 100°+F here in Southern California!  Imagine having no air conditioning and chasing after a 14 month old… it feels like 110°F! I can’t wait for fall, for boots, scarves, sweaters, hot coffee, blankets… oh man!

Today I am linking up with Clutter-Free Classroom for her new weekly linky- Sunday Snapshots. I only have a few shots of what I did in my class this week… but next Sunday I will be more prepared. Here is what I have to share!

I am so proud of my class wanting to use synonyms for overused adjectives! This week we worked on Compare and Contrast. They wrote an essay comparing their 3rd grade teacher to their 4th grade teacher.  I had several students ask to get synonyms from the wall while they were writing their rough drafts.  Talk about ego-boost. There is a “beautiful” category on the word wall, and when the students were talking about they way that their 3rd grade teacher and I looked, instead of calling us “pretty” we were bumped up to “gorgeous”…. totally worth it! Thank you Tonya’s Treats for Teachers for this amazing bulletin board idea!

My students have gone “buck wild” over the Idiom of a Day lesson that I created. Each day I introduce an idiom and we go over it, draw it, guess the meaning and use it in a sentence.  They show SO much EXCITEMENT for learning during this activity. They beg me to do more, they have used the idioms in their writing and everyday speech. This is one of my most favorite things to do each day. I mean they ever cheer if I say we can do 2 idioms in one day!  You can find this activity here.

     Last, but certainly not least… Math Ruler. I guest blogged for Apples and ABCs over the summer and shared one of the most important and impact-ful math ideas that I have been doing to help students memorize their math facts (multiplication and division). 
Basically….
after teaching 5th grade for 3 years I noticed that the biggest problem that my students faced in math was that they didn’t know all of their multiplication and division facts. This made more complex math impossible for some and very difficult for many.  To encourage the students to want to student and their  math flashcards on their own we created a weekly-all grade level- math facts competition.  I call it “Math Ruler.”

    With my grade level team, we committed to Friday being our competition day.  First, we line up nearly 100 4th graders in two rows, separating them by teacher, gender, birthdays, or any other random grouping we decide on. Before the elimination rounds starts, we have a practice round where every student has a chance to see a multiplication or division flashcard to prepare themselves for the competition. After the practice round, we move to the elimination rounds.  Whomever correctly answers the flashcard first, stays in the competition and goes to the back of the line, and the other student is eliminated and sits down and cheers on their class.  This continues on and we celebrate the “Sweet Sixteen,” the “Great Eight,” the “Final Four,” and the “Last Two.”  

     It always grows very tense once students narrow down to the final few. Students sit on the edge of their seats in anticipation of who will win and bring glory to their class!  The final two have to answer three math facts correctly in order to win.  Once the winner is announced, the crowd erupts WILDLY! The winner is awarded a small trophy, a crown to wear on their head or place on their desk for the entire week until the next competition.  I wish I could express how S-E-R-I-O-U-S these students take it. I always saw students walking home with their math flashcards in hand practicing.  Students even borrowed my flashcards at lunch and recess to get ready for the big day.  
     This week was our first whole 4th grade competition- and while it was 100°F, the kids seemed really into it and so excited! I know this will help them know and study their math facts!
      I hope you all have a fantastic week! I have amide a promise to myself to take more pictures to share.

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Filed Under: idioms, linky, math ruler, Uncategorized 3 Comments

Comments

  1. Mrs Poultney says

    September 17, 2012 at 9:41 am

    Layla, I used your Math Ruler idea with my 2's and 3's over the last couple of weeks, except I called it the Multiplication Tournament. They loved it!! The best one was when one of my lowies "just" beat the top math fact person in the class. He had been working on his 11's tables and the look on his face when he won was priceless, he never wins anything and he is a real struggler. We all love it in our classroom and my kiddos now have a weekly goal to work towards. Thanks for sharing this very motivating idea.
    Tania
    Mrs Poultney's Ponderings

    Reply
  2. Layla Wiedrick Henry says

    September 17, 2012 at 1:38 pm

    Tania! This comment made my day start off on the right foot! I am so happy to hear this. I had one of my low-RSP kids win in our class competition last week. He wore that crown SOOOO proudly! I loved seeing him on the playground at lunch playing handball while wearing it. Anything to get them to want to learn!

    Reply
  3. Diane R says

    September 17, 2012 at 8:36 pm

    I passed this idea off to the math teachers and I'm checking out your idiom activity!

    Diane
    Fifth in the Middle

    Reply

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