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Wednesday, July 29, 2015

SALE!!

I am having my first sale at my store today through Friday.

Everything is 15% off.

Make sure to take a look and see if there is anything you just need to have!




Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Interactive Notebook Pages-Rational Number System

My project for the summer has been to make an interactive math notebook for the year. When I taught science, I used it the notebook all the time and LOVED it. Last year was my first year teaching 6th grade math and I didn't really start using the notebook until November. We set it up the first week of school, but then it would be a thing we would get out every once in a while. I really missed having one consistently. 

I want it to be truly interactive as well. Something students can use throughout the year to study, add to, revisit. I also want to incorporate more journaling in it. 

So these are the pages I've created so far for our first unit--The Rational Number System. Use these pages as inspiration to create your own. Or you can buy individual pages or the BUNDLE at my Tpt store. (I'm having a sale from 7/29 to 7/31)

The first page will be a VENN DIAGRAM that the students will add to as they learn about the different types of numbers

Whole Number, Natural Numbers and Integers
Fractions As Division

Absolute Value and Opposite Numbers
Rational Numbers
Ice cream Cone and Ice Cream flip up and explain why each type of number can be written as a fraction

Fraction, Decimal, Percent Converting
Ordering and Comparing Rational Numbers

Coordinate Plane
  
I've left various pages blank to add in practice that we'll do at in small groups.

One of those pages will be for this activity made by my new co-worker. It is an awesome Rational Number Sort. 



Monday, July 27, 2015

The Flash Mind Reader

This was a fun website to show my student and have them figure out what is really happening behind the "magic."

I was very much freaked out that first few times I used this. Especially because I had headphones on and it makes a pretty creepy noise. 

My students liked trying to figure out what the rule was. I did it as a whole group this year and asked students to pick a number and try out their theories on what was happening. 

For this next year, I think I will make it a small group activity. 

The Flash Mind Reader

Anybody have anything similar to this to share? It is different way to get students thinking mathematically and start seeing patterns in numbers.

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Plickers

I was introduced to Plickers this past school year. It is a wonderful assessment tool for the classroom.

It is a picture clicker. Instead of passing out clickers to all of the students, they have a something like a QR code that I can scan and record an answer. 

After a whole group lesson, I would give the students 1-3 questions about the topic and assess where the whole class was. Then I could pull the students who needed more help into small groups. 

Each card has a number--which can be assigned to a student. It also has A, B, C, and D around the edges. You project a question with answer choices and the students hold up their card with their selected answer on top. In the case below, the answer chosen is B. 


Then using the app (which is free), you scan the room. The camera on your phone or ipad scans the answers and records it for each student. This is what the screen looks like as you are scanning. You get real time results for what each student choose and who hasn't answered yet. 

                                   

Once everyone is scanned, your screen looks like this. You have a the percentage of correct choices and what each student choose. 
                                               
When I was first introduced, I wasn't sure how to get the students their Plickers or how to help keep them nice and readable. Then someone suggested taping them to a notebook. Which you can see from the top picture I did. It kept the Plicker nice and the students are supposed to bring their notebook to class everyday. 

You can enter a question on the app, but I prefer to do it through the website. Their latest feature allows you to upload a picture which I haven't used yet but will in the next school year. Once you add a question you have to add it to you planned questions so it shows up in the app. Then you just select it and start scanning answers. You also need to have the website projected with LIVE VIEW selected so the students can see the question. 

                                             

There are a few things that I wish this tool did. I want to be able to organize the questions more. I love folders on my computer and Dropbox (it is the only place that I am organized) so I would like to have the option to put my questions into categories. 

You can add several classes to your account and then students to those classes. There are at least 60 different codes so you'll have enough for even your biggest class. I would like to be able to click on a student name and see their answers to the question. Right now, you can only click on question and see all the responses for the class.

I love the quick feedback this gives me on how students understand. They can also see fairly quickly how they did. I anticipate them improving the app and am excited to see what changes they make to it. 

Friday, July 17, 2015

Number Line Clip Art--FREE

I have been enjoying summer, while working on school stuff late at night when my daughter goes to bed. That is the only time I am allowing myself to work on or think about school. I am spending as much time as possible with my little girl.

As I was working on my interactive math journal for the year, I wanted some number lines. I was unable to find what I really wanted, so I made some.

And for you, you can download my first attempts at making number line clip art for FREE.


There is one number line included ranging from -8 to 8 in 5 different colors. Each file is a PNG with a transparent background. You can find it in my TpT Store. For Free. Please leave feedback or send me a message with your thoughts.

I am going to bombard my students with  number lines the first weeks of school. We are going to draw them, look at them, make human number lines until they are thinking about number lines in their sleep.

Do you have any amazing number line activities to share? I would be interested to hear them.