Workshop Wednesday: Fractions

How many of you dread teaching fractions??!! It's a very difficult concept for students to grasp, so I'm excited to read all of the ideas linked up this week with my BBB Jivey for her Workshop Wednesday!

I'm going to share a quick idea I use to introduce fractions to my students.

I want them to be able to relate fractions to real life, so I use my students as manipulatives. For example, I have 22 students, so my denominator is 22. I ask several questions that involve using the same denominator, but changing the numerator: how many students are wearing red, how many students ate cereal for breakfast, how many students have practice after school?, etc.

It gets them to notice and observe their surroundings and it's fun!

After we do several whole class examples, we create fractions for our group members. And, as a challenge, I have them create other fractions around our classroom. For example, 3/4 of the bulletin boards have polka dots, 5/18 of the reading baskets are pink, etc.

This is always a hit because it's about them!

( I usually just write these on a piece of chart paper, but I made a copy for you to grab to use in your classroom).

As long as you're a Head Over Heels For Teaching Facebook Fan, you can have this Fractions in the Classroom sheet with just one click on the Fan Freebies tab! If you're not, all you have to do is "like" my page here.

Have a great rest of the week...just two more days! We can do it! :O)

Must Read Mentor Text: Faithful Elephants

Collaboration Cuties has one of my favorite linky parties because you can never have too many books and everyone has so many great activities to accompany their book recommendations!

This week I'm reading Faithful Elephants-A True Story of Animals, People and War in honor of Veteran's Day. This book will spark such emotion with you and your students!

It's incredible and heart wrenching at the same time!

Faithful Elephants is great to teach war from a different perspective. The book is about the zookeepers at the Ueno Zoo in Tokyo, Japan during WWII. Fearing that a bomb attack would release all the wild animals into the streets, the zookeepers have to kill all the dangerous animals. All the animals are put to death by poison, however the elephants prove to be tricky because they are too clever to eat poisoned food, and their skin is too tough for a lethal injection. In the end, they have to starve them to death. This story teaches the other repercussions of war that we don't think about and how much is lost by war. It teaches the importance of peace and is a great addition to any WWII unit of study.

The watercolor illustrations are perfect for the tone of this book. Faithful Elephants will have an emotional impact on you and your students!

Warning: I've NEVER read this book without crying!

 

Because this story evokes such emotion, I will be using my Reaction to the Text template from my Reading With Post Its II pack. I know their emotions/reactions will run from anger to devastation, but they will have to support their feelings with details from the text.

You can grab this FREEBIE here! If you download, feedback is greatly appreciated.

 

This book sparks a lot of discussion amongst my students and I love hearing the passion and empathy in their voices! I can't wait to read what they write for their reaction to the text!

Although I've read this book for years and I enjoy the maturity of discussion it brings to my classroom, I probably wouldn't recommend it for primary grades.

 

 

Linking up this lesson with my buddy Jennifer for A Peek at My Week linky!

 

Have a wonderful week!

Spark Student Motivation: A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words!

It's Saturday and time to get MOTIVATED!

 

 

I love to send my pictures/texts to my parents and students that will make them SMILE!

Imagine sitting at work and getting one of these sent to you about your child:

(Each picture is a separate student/text)

It not only brightens your students' day, it brightens their parents' day!

Sometimes I text them from home while I'm grading and other times I text them at the very moment I captured their child's awesomeness!

How funny is the left one above? It was only September and he is worried about the school year ending! LOL! So cute!

 

The one on the above right is a student I've been working very hard to motivate to complete work this year, so this was such an exciting moment!!!!!



If I send it in front of my students they beg me to turn my phone on so we'll hear it when their parent responds! :O) They get so excited!

I also like to recognize students who are showing improvement and are growing! This motivates them to try even harder! This mom was super proud!

 This motivational tool is so quick and is really appreciated!

I know not everyone likes to give out their personal cell number, but I have found it to be very beneficial for many reasons: instant feedback and communication, shout outs, and reminders. I don't use texting for concerns about behavior or academic progress, those are done in person or by phone. Many of my parents don't check or use email, but ALL of my parents text, so it's the perfect communication tool for me!

**This is my 6th year using texting with my parents and I've never had a parent or student abuse it, but you know your parents and what's comfortable for you.

 

 

I hope you had a wonderful week! Please link up any lessons, ideas, tips, tricks, incentives, ANYTHING you do get your students motivated or excited!

Don't forget to grab my button and link back to this post!

Check out all the wonderful ideas from my friends who link up and don't forget to leave some love by commenting....we LOVE comments!

Workshop Wednesday: Poetry in Science

We're more than halfway through the week! Wednesdays are great because I get to join my BBB Jivey for her Workshop Wednesday!

Today's workshop topic is writing in the content area. How do you integrate writing?

Acrostic Poems for the planets!

(These 4th grade samples are from students who are graduating this year!)

 

 

 

 

 

Each student became an "expert" by researching a planet. They collected information and facts to describe their planet and its features.

Writing an acrostic poem can be a challenging task when you're trying to include factual information and write phrases, not just single words. Another challenging aspect is that the students have to be creative and concise with their word choice, so the beginning letter fits their information.

These poems can be used in any content area and students enjoy writing them! After displaying them on a bulletin board, we made a class reference book.

I hope you can use this idea in your classroom! Have a great rest of the week!

Social Studies Mentor Text: Shackles

It's time to spend some money on some great mentor texts! Collaboration Cuties' Must Read Mentor Text is very dangerous!!!

 

 

I found this book at a local bookstore and I thought it would be perfect for children as an introduction to teach slavery.

Based on a true story, Shackles describes what happens when a group of boys search for buried treasure in their backyard on Sullivan's Island, South Carolina. They unexpectedly dig up shackles, instead of the treasure they were hoping for, they are sad and confused. Mr. Green, their neighbor and friend who is African American comes over and tries to explain the painful hidden history of Sullivan's Island. It's amazing what history we have in our own backyards!

 

I think this book would be perfect for questioning, as your students will have many after reading Shackles. I plan to take my students' questions and have them research in groups to find the answers to their questions.

 

The illustrations are oil paintings, not sharp and clear like most children's books, but still beautiful. I wish the author would've included a historical note or fact page at the end of the book, like many historical fictions books.

 

Questioning is one of the things my class will be working on this week, so I'm linking up with my buddy Jennifer from Mrs. Laffin's Laughings for a Sneak Peek at my week!


Congratulations to Holly and Yashika for winning my Shout Out Cards!
Have a super week!

Spark Student Motivation: Shout Out Cards

Saturdays are SUPER because we get MOTIVATED!

I'm very excited to share my new Shout Out Cards! You know you always hear "Shout Outs" on the radio and TV? Well, I thought a great way to recognize and positively praise my students would be to make some shout outs for them! 

They can be handed out in class, stapled to a student's work, or even have students give a shout out to each other! 

It's the little things we do that make a big difference...which is why I'm so excited about these cards! I printed all my cards, cut them out, and now I'm ready for the rest of the year! :O)

 I've had them on my desk for a week and the curiosity has peaked!

I think these would be perfect for administrators to give to teachers! We like a shout out every once in a while too!

There's one full page of shout outs to match "trinkets" if you'd like to accompany the card with a goodie. For example: You Rock (rock), You Make Me Smile (smiley sticker), You're Sharp (pencil), You're on the Mark (bookmark), etc. 

 To show my appreciation for coming to my party today, anyone who links up gets the set!

Don't have a blog? You can PIN TO WIN! Two winners will be announced tomorrow!

(Pin any of these pictures, copy the URL address, and paste it in the comments).

I hope you had a wonderful week! Please link up any lessons, ideas, tips, tricks, incentives, ANYTHING you do get your students motivated or excited!

Don't forget to grab my button and link back to this post!

Check out all the wonderful ideas from my friends who link up and don't forget to leave some love by commenting....we LOVE comments!

Workshop Wednesday: Reading Tricks and Treats

When my BBB Jivey said this week's topic was Reading Tricks and Treats, I knew I had the perfect idea to blog about!

  Lunch Bag Reading!
After reading a mentor text (I Need My Monster) this week, my students responded to their reading on these lunch bags!

I just fed the lunch bags right into my printer-voila!  A fun, new way to respond to reading!

Funny thing....none of my students even asked why we were writing on lunch bags! (I'm not sure if that's good or bad!) One of my students last year said it best, "Expect the unexpected in Mrs. Miller's Class!" Great motto!

After reading all of their responses, I filled those bags with some delicious popcorn!

They loved it! And, one student responded, "That's why we wrote on bags, you're so clever Mrs. Miller!" :O) (Extra credit for him!)

 

 Sample student responses:

Responses can be thoughtful even on a lunch bag! LOL! 

Of course, it had to be a working snack! 

So, I "TRICK"ed them with their assignment, and then surprised them with a "TREAT"! Yay!

Printing tips: Manually feed one bag at a time. Small piece of tape at the opening and on the bottom fold will help prevent paper jams.

Hope you can use this idea in your classroom!  

Be sure to check out all the other ideas at Ideas by Jivey!