Five for Friday and Freebie Friday...TGIF!

This week has been a busy, busy week. Red Ribbon Week has added some extra excitement to this week....just in case Halloween wasn't enough excitement!

I'm linking up with Doodlebugs Teaching for their Five for Friday, so here we go!

1. Red Ribbon Week

This week was Red Ribbon Week.  We've had crazy sock day, wear a red shirt day, team jersey day, mustache day, and Halloween day.  Here's a picture of my awesome team supporting the mustache day.....

Needless to say, the fake mustaches didn't last that long!  It was way too hard to talk with them on.


2. My Mom's Birthday

Yesterday was my mother's birthday.  She is the best mom anyone could ever ask for!  And she is an amazing resource for my sister and I.  She was a teacher, administrator, and mentor for our school district for over 30 years.  In fact, she stills works for the district, even though she's "supposed to be" retired!

3. Dividing Decimals

We have spent this week dividing decimals in the classroom.  My students have done amazing and were actually looking forward to their skills test over it today.......I know, sounds impossible! :)   This game was fun and a freebie from For the Love of Teaching Math.  Saying that my students loved playing this game is a HUGE understatement!

You definitely need to snag this board game.  Plus, make some new cards and keep reusing the board and game pieces.....I know that I plan to.  Actually, my students asked me to! 


4. Multiplication Facts Game FREEBIE!

We are still working on memorizing our multiplication facts.  While 90% of my 5th graders have them down pat, there are still those students who continue to struggle.  I made this game for them to practice; just another tool in the toolbox for multiplication facts!

I'm linking this up with Teaching Blog Addict's Freebie Friday.  Clink on the picture below to be linked to a whole world of freebies!

5.  In the Process of.....Task Cards!

It's been one of those weeks where conference periods are full, there have been after-school meetings every day, and family events have occurred every  night.  But I am dead set on these task cards that I am making for my students to do next week!  So, a little each night, I am getting them completed!  I better hurry, though, or I won't have time to finish laminating and cutting them out this weekend!

I hope that everyone has a great weekend!!!

Dividing Decimals Walks the Plank! Arrrrrr Me Matey.....

My students have made me soooooo proud with how well they have done this week!  They have tackled dividing decimals, giving 100% effort, and it shows.  Today, we practiced by playing this fantastic free board game by For the Love of Teaching Math.

My students loved it!  The cards that came with this awesome freebie actually had decimals divisors, and we only have to teach dividing decimal numbers by one- and two-digit divisors.  So I just made my own set of cards to match our standards.  This game was perfect for keeping the students engaged!  They were all working out each card drawn (to make sure the person whose turn it was actually got the correct answer) and having a blast!

 Students had pages full of division problems worked out, and I never heard one single complaint....I'd say that is a win!

The board game came with cute pirate game pieces.  I just laminated them, cut them out, and taped them to some game pieces that I had ordered from Amazon here.  100 game pieces for only $3.95....yes, please!

Today was such a fun day!  It's so exciting because they were so comfortable in their own ability to divide decimals that they were able to have a blast playing this game! Nothing is better for a teacher than to see her students successful...am I right? :)

Have a great end of the week!

Wordless Wednesday Linky!!!

A quick linkup with Christina DeCarbo over at Second Grade Sugar and Spice for her Wordless Wednesday!

We are dividing decimals this week, so I need a break from that!  (New posts about our fun activities will be coming soon, though!)  So this is about my weekend...

Making a new flowerbed in the backyard....placing the boulders was WAY harder than we thought it would be.

Taking my dog, Hank, to the vet for vaccinations.

But, on the plus side, I got all some Christmas presents bought and delivered this weekend! Yay!

Happy Hump Day everyone!

Multiplying Decimals with Models....Oh How I Love Sheet Protectors!

Ever had a Monday that felt like a Friday?  Well, that was today for me!  Oh, the Monday blues! But, no matter what, the teaching must go on!

I was pretty concerned with teaching my 5th graders how to multiply decimals using models.  This summer, I went to about 4 trainings on how to do it......and then I slept! :)  Despite the students acting like it was a Friday, they did AWESOME on our whole class lesson on how to multiply decimals with models.

Each student had a sheet of paper I made in PowerPoint that was inside of a sheet protector, two different colored Expo markers, and a kleenex.  And away we went!

      We went over at least a dozen examples of how to multiply with models, and the students did great.  I think it was using the Expo markers that did the trick!  Anything different is exciting, right?!?!

We really spent time discussing how the number of boxes "shaded" with both colors was not a whole number but a number out of the 100 boxes in the grid.


We went step-by-step through the process each time, eventually with the students telling me which step I needed to do next.

First, we shaded in the tenths represented with the first number vertically.  We used diagonals to make it easier to see the eventual overlap.  If we had colored in the squares, the Expo markers wouldn't really show where the two overlapped, making determining the solution difficult.

Then we shaded in the tenths associated with the second number horizontally.

We then determined how many on each hundreds grid had the "double cross" with the X's made from both of the two different colors.

Students then added those two numbers together to get the final solution.

It was so nice to see the lightbulbs going off as we went through examples.  Some of my students who really struggle with math were volunteering to tell me the next step or give the answer.  Moments like that are all a teacher ever wants!

We then put examples in our Math ISN.  I made the hundreds grids the size I wanted them and cut out enough for each student to have six for their ISN.  Do you think I'm crazy for cutting them all out? Ha!  There's just never enough time, it seems, and I didn't want to spend time having the kids cutting them out when I could over the weekend.

We will still be practicing this tomorrow, and then we move on to using the standard algorithm to multiply decimals.  It was really amazing hearing some students discuss how they would work this out with the standard algorithm just from today's activity.  Exciting things happening in Ms. Green's classroom!  Students making the connections is what makes all those trainings and weekends spent making activities so worth it!

Have a great week!!!

Multiplication Stations...Oh My!

The school year is finally getting under way....and by that I mean all the students are finally settling into the routine and getting used to switching classes four times!  It's such a big adjustment for them (in 4th grade at my school they only switch twice a day) and it can take a while for them to realize how they have to come into class ready to work because we have limited time.  I love this time of year because we have time to actually complete all the fun activities that I have!

All the students have multiplied three-digit by two-digit numbers before, so we just have to review (basically reteach :) ) the concept.  Instead of just doing examples in their ISN and worksheets, stations are my favorite way to have students work together to review any concept....expecially multiplication!

My students work in groups of four, and they complete each station.

I make sure to emphasize that they all have to do the work!  Sometimes students want to assign a problem to each student and just copy the answers the others get.  No ma'am!  They need to check they answers against the ones their groupmates get.  That way they can help each other correct mistakes in their solving.

They love working together, and my students are really good at helping each other out.

I put the stations on file folders so that it is easy for the students to stand up on their desks.  That way all the students in the group can see the problems they need to solve.  All of the stations that I make have skills problems and one word problem.

Stations are just such a great way for students to work in cooperative groups.  They also make it easy for me to see which students may be having difficulty with either skills or deciphering word problems.  Sometimes, I make myself a station so I can work with each student in a small group, depending on the content.

If you want to try out the Multiplication Stations, just click on the picture below.

Now that the year is getting going, I will be much better at blogging!  Until next time!