Easy Fraction of a Set Game

Fraction of a set can be a challenging concept for fourth grade.  Often they are still trying to understand the idea of fractions dividing a whole into equal sized parts.  So looking at a given number of equal sized groups that relate to one as "one whole set" is very confusing.

To begin, we go back to the division dots task cards that we used earlier in the year.  This gets them comfortable.  I much prefer the "we did this already" as opposed to the, "I don't get it."  Because the moment they are bored I tell them, "Good, you remember.  Now we're just going to add one more step, which is to color a certain number of sets after you circle them."  And they are on their way!  There are 3 levels of practice in my fraction of a set task cards.

In order to help them conceptualize fraction of a set without a visual, I came up with a quick review game you can do with your class, and all you need is masking tape!  

Here's how I explain and scaffold for the game.  Right before Morning Meeting, I used thin masking tape and divided the rug area into a large area and a small area.  That day I had 16 students.  I told them "I want 1/2 of the class in the large area, and 1/2 in the small area."  They quickly and easily got into 2 groups of 8. 

Next, I asked each group to line up in their section.  I wrote "1/2" on the board and explained that there were TWO lines, because 2 is the denominator.  I asked if they thought they could get into FOUR lines, with only 1/4 on the small side and 3/4 on the large side.  Once that was done, we determined that 1/4 of 16 is 4.  I asked them how much 3/4 of 16 was, and they counted 12.

The next day I pushed them a little further, asking for 3/8 of 16.  They needed some reminding about getting into 8 rows, but what most of them COULD do independently was to get 3 of those lines in the smaller side and 5 on the larger size.  I asked how many kids were in the 3/8 of 16 section and they counted 6.

The final variation of this game was to find a "mystery number."  In Math in Focus, Chapter 6 (Fractions) they have to basically "do fraction of a set backwards." 

In other words, I tell the class that I am thinking of a certain class size that is SMALLER than the number of students present today.  That number is a mystery.  However, I will tell them that 3/5 of that number is 9. 

Again, to start out they need reminding that they need to get into 5 rows.  They remembered on their own to have 3 rows on one side with 2 rows on the other.  Then I reminded them that there should be 9 kids on the side with 3 rows.  At that point, they remembered they needed equal sized groups.  

When there was a single student left over, not in a row, they determined that the class size I was thinking of was one less than 16:  15. 

In the end, we discuss 3 ways to find fraction of a set.  I had a few kids find the algorithm (method 2) on their own as they were working on the task cards!  They really feel like they "own" it when they "Find a method."  

Do you have any tips for teaching fraction of a set? 

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Number Line Frustration? Walk the Walk!

It took a while to really "sell" me on the idea of using number lines (and I'm a visual learner)!  However, since number lines don't seem to be going away when it comes to curricula and standardized testing, I knew I had to accept them, get comfortable with them, break them down for those kids who also are not initially "sold" on them either, and make them interesting for my class.  I've developed coloring worksheets and homework pages, but this year I wanted to "step" it up a notch and engage those kinesthetic learners.  So that's when I created "Number-line Tightropes!" 

The set up: 

While my fourth graders were at music, I broke out the masking tape.  I taped 2 horizontal lines and 2 vertical lines on the floor.

Next, I labeled the whole numbers with tenths at each intersecting tile.  I started on a vertical line with zero and worked my way up to 2.20.  Notice at that point, there was an intersecting horizontal line.  

On the horizontal line, I did the same thing, but instead of starting at the end with zero, I worked around the intersection.  To the left it says 2.10, and to the right (although you can't see it) it says 2.3.  Of course, I did not fill in every number; some of that work had to be for the kids!

Next, I drew smaller increments on the horizontal lines.  Those represent the hundredths.

 I followed the horizontal line to the left until I got to 1.3.  At that point I came to another intersection.  Just as before, I worked up and down the vertical line from 1.3, filling in the tenths, but saving some spots for the kids to complete.

Below, I followed the vertical line to 0.4, which brought me to the final intersection.  I filled in the hundredths on the horizontal line.

The activity:

When the kids walked in after music, they were "floored."  They could not WAIT to interact with the tape on the floor!

I had each of the 4 groups take a "line" to fill in some of the blanks.

Finally, a simple dice rolling game kept the kids engaged in studying the lines.  Roll a dice, move your "guy" that many tenths (for the vertical lines) or that many hundredths (for the horizontal lines). 

So much more fun than worksheets!

How have you turned number lines into fun?

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Have you tried Edmodo yet?

I recently had the opportunity to attend a workshop on Edmodo.  Whenever I heard about teachers talking about creating a class page with their students, Edmodo always came up.  And I'm interested in using technology more with my students;  I already had a classroom blog which I talked about in this post.  I just didn't know how Edmodo was different.

The instructors likened Edmodo to Facebook.  While I wouldn't "sell" it to parents in that way, the kids did see the connection right away and were excited about all the features:

1. Kids can personalize their account complete with avatar, learning style, career goal, and inspirational quote (they can even search by famous person within the system).
2. Kids can reply to posts.
3. Kids can write their own posts for others to reply to.
4. Kids can upload photos, links, and documents.
5. Teachers can post all of the above as well as polls and quizzes (very similar to using Google forms, but integrated onto Edmodo itself).
6. Teachers can enter dates and assignments into an integrated calendar.
7. There's an app for that (Apple and Android).

However, Edmodo is designed for children and therefore has safeguards against predators as well as cyber bullying. 

First, when you sign up for Edmodo as a teacher, you are given a "classroom code."  You will give that code to your students when you sign them up, and no one else can see the page unless they register with that code.  It's not the same as a password, in that the children will sign in with a username and password each time they log in, but the code is only used by them once when the register.  Once your whole class registers, you can "lock" the group.  If you get a new student later in the year you can reset the code to register that student (students who registered already don't need to re-register with the new code).  So the bottom line is, no one is getting on now or later without your help.

Second, unlike Facebook and other social media sites, there is no private messaging between students.  Anything a child writes will be seen by you and every other child in the class, and it will be logged under their real first name.  If a child was going to say something inappropriate, it would be as if they stood up in the middle of class to say it; it's all out in the open.  You even have the option (in case you do have a "bold" class this year) to "moderate" comments.  That is, you can set their posts to stay hidden from the other kids until you approve each one.   

Edmodo does not require an Email to sign up (unlike most websites that you create accounts for).  The only tricky thing about signup is that children need to tick a box that says their parent has read and agreed to the terms of use.  Out of respect to this rule, I sent home a permission slip that granted the children permission to tick the box in class during my introductory lesson.  [Update] A reader requested a copy of this permission slip.  I've added it to my TPT store for free for a limited time, so if you're interested, grab it now!

I've used Edmodo for 2 weeks now, and honestly I am not sure I love it more than the classroom blog.  Tomorrow over on Shut the Door and Teach I will be writing a pros and cons list for Edmodo versus Weebly.  So if you're interested in Edmodo, I feel it IS worth trying, but you might find a different platform suits your needs better. 

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Easy Decimal Game: This Means War!

Right before our February vacation, my fourth graders started decimals.  To start out, I always find it's easiest to equate decimals with money.  .50 is 5 tenths just as it's 5 dimes, and .05 is 5 hundredths just as it's 5 pennies.  They understand that; it's those pesky zeroes that throw them for a loop!  So to practice seeing decimals concretely (and relating them to fractions) we played Decimal War!

The game is easy if you have decimal cards.  Notice that in fourth grade we use units that are divided into tenths and hundredths (there are also thousandths in this set which are great for kids who like a challenge).

The basic directions for Decimal War are:

1. Shuffle the cards. 
2. Deal the cards so that each person has the same number of cards.  Note:  the number of red and green cards each person has does not matter.
3. Players should NOT look at their cards.  
4. Both players flip over their top card at the same time.
5. Determine who has the most shaded area.  That person wins both cards.
6. In the event of a tie, both players will place their next 3 cards face down, and choose 1 of those to simultaneously flip over.  The winner takes all 8 cards.
7. The object of the game is to finish with the most cards.

In this regard, the game is just like the traditional card game of War.  But now comes the math part!

Each player needs to create a T chart with their names at the top.  They write the card they flipped over in decimal form.  Finally, they need to write < > or = in the center to compare who had the greater amount.

This type of War Card Game is easily adapted to fractions, negative numbers, numbers of varying place values, coins, or anywhere that comparing or ordering numbers enters into your curriculum.  I love when I can reuse a format and save time teaching new directions (if the particular class loves it).

[Update: 3/16, I had a request through TPT's Q&A to make this a product.  If you would like a version that includes the cards and is ready to print, I have it for $4 here:  Decimal War Card Game]


If you're looking for more fun math games (or other resources) for your kiddos, you should know that Teachers Pay Teachers is having one of their HUGE sales this Thursday and Friday (2/27-2/28).  You can save up to 28% in most stores with promo code TPT3.  To help celebrate right here at All Things Upper Elementary, we're giving away TWO $25 gift certificates for TPT.  Just click the graphic below so you can enter.  That $25 will go a lot further this week, so don't miss out!   

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Practicing Long Division with Money

Do you find that the topics that you struggled with the most in school are the ones that you love teaching the most?  That's how I feel about math, and in fourth grade the math topic I remember struggling with the MOST was long division.

I remember when I was a kid, it would take me FOREVER to solve a page of 10 long division problems.  I was one of the last ones done, sitting off to the side to finish up.  I'd stare blankly at 658 divided by 7 and try multiplying every number by 7 in the attempt to get 65.  I felt so frustrated that I had to do all those "extra" math problems and hope that they were right too.

So when it comes time every year to teach my students long division, I've tried lots of ways.  I had them make their own mnemonic devices to remember the steps (similar to the Do My Scissors Cut Bricks type acronym for Divide, Multiply, Subtract, Check, Bring Down).  I've tried partial quotient.  But for me it always comes back to practicing the physical process of dividing.  Base ten blocks are a great way to do it, but my favorite manipulative when it comes to math is money.  There's just something about counting money that makes people happy! 

Last week I described how I introduce the concept of dividing hundred dollar bills, ten dollar bills, and one dollar bills into "wallets" over on Shut the Door and Teach.  This activity helps get the kids used to the manipulatives involved and has a high success rate; with numbers that are carefully chosen to be evenly divisable (such as 486 divided by 2) the kids are able to compute in their heads before long.  So to up the ante the next day, I give the kids numbers that are not as simple to divide.

In the example on the right, you can see that the child knew he couldn't divide a hundred dollar bill 4 ways, so he had to regroup it for ten tens.  He was then able to put 2 ten dollar bills in each wallet, and he had 2 ten dollar bills left as a remainder. 

Of course this does not complete the problem, however he is learning that 20 is a reasonable answer to 100 divided by 4, which is pretty powerful!  I'm much happier with him knowing this than memorizing DMSCB and not understanding what numbers to compute at each step. 


The child on the left is working on the same problem.  She also knows that the answer to 100 divided by 4 will be about $20.  However she is continuing the regrouping process.  She is trading in those 2 ten dollar bills for one dollar bills.  Although she has written a bunch of zeroes in the ones place on her place value mat, she will soon be able to refine her answer to include the ones place.

This child has completed the process of dividing 100 by 4.  She is also able to accurately record the steps she has taken to arrive at an answer.  She regrouped the one hundred to become ten tens (although she forgot to erase the hundred).  She also knew she could tally up the 4 twos in the tens place when writing out the long division algorithm.  She used the difference (10 - 8 = 2) to find how many tens to regroup into ones, and she divided the twenty ones by 4 to get 5.  Although it's difficult to read her paper, she transferred the process she used with the manipulatives to the traditional long division algorithm. 

If you need more examples of numbers that increase in difficulty when it comes to long division, I have 3 different levels of long division task cards with numbers similar to these two examples available as a bundle (they will be 28% off on Cyber Monday and Tuesday, 12/2 and 12/3 with promo code CYBER).  I use the cards as review throughout the year because long division is one of those concepts that kids need to see many times before they can master it.  I never feel guilty leaving these in my sub plans because the kids know what to do and actually enjoy long division when they get to use the money. 

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Free Educational iPad App: Educreations

Have you tried Educreations yet?

At the beginning of last year I started a classroom blog that was tailored more to my fourth graders than to their parents.  I posted photos of anchor charts as well as educational online games to keep them coming back to it on a weekly basis.  Then, later in the year, when the PTO bought all the teachers at my school iPads, I was determined to put mine to good use.  I wanted an app that was going to enhance my instruction in a new way, and that's when I found Educreations. 

Educreations is like recording yourself teaching a whole class lesson on a white board, except your audience won't see you.  They'll hear your voice and see what you draw.  You can also embed pictures into your presentation, and on the iPad you can add text (typed) instead of writing words. 

It takes a little bit of practice to find the possibilities and limitations to the program.  For example, I love that it lets me pause my recording so I can collect my thoughts after each slide.  However I don't love that if I make a mistake in the recording I can't go back and redo it!  There have been a few updates to Educreations, such as the addition of an eraser tool (because users begged for it) and you can now use Educreations on your computer as well!  I love a product that is regularly updated based on user feedback.  It's rare when a product is FREE.  That's right, it's a free app. 

So how has this changed my teaching?  Well, although I'm not sure my district would approve of going the flipped classroom route (hard to do when not every child has internet access at home) it really has helped my kids learn some tricky, multistep processes in the following ways:

1. Kids love anything novel.  Sitting in front of the computer (no, I don't have a projector either) for 4 minutes to watch a video is more interesting than the other 179 math lessons at the rug listening to me.  Suddenly no one needs to go get a drink of water!
2. If a child needs reteaching, all they need to do is go back over to the computer with a small group of students and rewatch it.  Obviously I am available to answer questions, however sometimes, as one boy told me this week, "I just want to watch it a bunch of times until it REALLY sinks in!"
3. Two words:  Sub Plans!
4. Two words:  Homework help.
5. If a student is absent of course they can watch it at home and learn without spreading their germs around!

If you're not sure you're up to creating videos, keep the following in mind:

1. Don't feel you have to make a video on EVERYTHING.  I started out with the idea of 2 math procedures that I really wanted kids to see in action because historically their written notes just weren't enough.  This year I added another video for a third concept.
2. You don't have to make videos for your class to benefit from Educreations.  The site is searchable, which means there are TONS of free, public presentations available.  You can show them in class or link up on your classroom website.  Once you start finding great videos you'll get a good sense of what you really want in a video, and then you can rethink the idea of creating your own.

To get you started, here is a video I created to help my fourth graders multiply 2 digit numbers by 2 digit numbers.   

It's a nice lead in to some hands on practicein class (this is a paid for product).  By keeping the direct instruction short, sweet, and engaging, we can get into the practicing quicker, which I love.  The work you put in creating or researching videos will make your job during class time much easier; you can focus more on the kids' learning than the subject matter itself.

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Estimating on Number Lines

I have found that estimating on a number line was a big shift for my class.  At first, they looked like EXPERT estimators; I was ready to hug their third grade teachers.  But then problems kept cropping up.  Why were they suddenly struggling?  Everyone knew that 48,053 rounds to 50,000 and everyone knew 21,923 rounds to 20,000. 

It was pretty clear that when I asked them to round 34,356 to the nearest hundred and suddenly they looked like deer in the headlights that place value was the issue.  Oh, they all whizzed through chapter 1 and knew their word form and expanded form and lined up numbers in columns like pros.  And we've practiced regrouping on a daily basis in our Every Day Counts routine.  But they are still not able to put it all together to really conceptualize how numbers differ.

To fix this I designed two activities.  The first was "Pin the Number on the Number line."  I started out with a single sticky note with the number 35,421 on it.  Then I created four number lines on sentence strips based on that number.  Each number line represented a different place value:

Ten thousands:  10,000  20,000  30,000  40,000 and so on.

Thousands:  30,000  31,000  32,000  33,000  34,000   35,000  36,000 and so on.

And so on for the hundreds and tens...notice that the original number will fit on both of the number lines.  All the number lines were designed to have a space where the given number would fit into. 

Next I wrote 7 more sticky notes that could all fit somewhere on the tens number line, since of course that line would have the most limited choice.

For the activity, I put a number line at each table and had students rotate through, working with a partner to determine where to place the sticky note would go each time, and record it onto their sheets.  As they finished they switched sticky notes with others to get more practice. 

This activity was simple enough for all students, yet it gave them the practice they needed to start looking at a number more than one way.  They had to switch the focus of the place value at each spot.  Since they already had the concept of the 5 determining if a rounded number is larger or smaller than the original, I didn't even focus on that in this lesson.  It was all about find the place value and determining what the higher or lower value was.  In fact, when they sat down and looked at their recording sheets with the higher and lower value their number fell between, they automatically made the connection to circle which of the two the number rounded to.

I had an extension activity that I cycled students through, which I wrote about on my other blog.  This estimating activity was also hands on, but instead of using number lines as a tool I used money to help us estimate!  

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Organizing the Math Manipulatives Shelf: Summer Project Series Kickoff!

Is it just me, or is it a lot harder to think of things to write about on a blog for school when school isn't in session?  It's cruel; we've got all this time, but no kiddos to keep us on our toes.

Well, after some thought and lots of Pinterest browsing, inspiration struck.  Pictures of other people's classrooms have given me so many great ideas this year.  So maybe pictures of MY classroom could give me ideas this summer!  I don't mean pictures of my classroom perfectly staged, like it feels at the beginning of the school year.  I mean pictures of the "decay" that eats away at my classroom for 175 days while being inhabited by a couple dozen children.  What does my classroom look like when it's been used?  What are the areas that stick out like a sore thumb?  Because if I can hone in on those, I can really figure out what I need to do to make the organization more efficient.  And since I have the whole summer to do it, I might as well do it with style.

So over on my other blog, Shutthedoorandteach, for the next 6 weeks I'm running a "Summer Project Series."  Think of these as the "before" pictures, all of them taken right before the end of the year packing and organizing began.  I'll go over what worked in each space, what problems I plan to fix, and if I get stuck I'll ask for suggestions on how to solve those issues.  Then at the end of the summer I'll take some "after" photos.

The first area I zeroed in on when flicking through my cameral roll was my Manipulatives Shelf.  Be warned.  These pictures are not pretty.

What works:

1. I just created those fun "curtains" in my classroom colors to hide half of the stuff.  I made sure that the items we use the most are on the open shelving in the middle, and the items we're not currently using are under the fabric.
2. All the items are grouped together according to the units they are needed for.
3. A year after I "inherited" all these treasures and the various containers that housed them, I got rid of a few and got several plastic shoeboxes to replace them.
4. That same year I made labels for just about every box on the shelf (that coordinates with the Measureworks labels on some of our kits).

What I plan to fix:

1. That Fluff container has got to go.  But why stop there?  I feel like I'm ready to splurge and get rid of all the miscellaneous shapes and sizes and invest in uniform containers.  Maybe not every single item will fit, but most of it will, I'm sure.  I have a few shoeboxes in other areas of the room that I'll swap out.
2. Update the labels.  I've been working on some labels to match my classroom color scheme.  Getting new containers is a good excuse to swap those out too. 

These will be small cosmetic changes but hopefully they will project a nicer image.  Examining this shelf also sparked a lot of ideas regarding changes to other shelves, since I'll be swapping out those Sterilite containers.  So if you're interested in classroom organization and decor, stop by my other blog.  Or if you have ideas for my shelves here, answer in the comments below.

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End of the Year, Start of New Traditions

By the time you read this, today will be my last day of school, woo hoo!  Over on my other blog I talked about some tried and true activities that I do every year and how they went yesterday.  However, in this post I want to share a couple new activities for the last day of school that I'll be piloting tomorrow. 

Last year I tried having the kids write letters to the incoming class, but I was underwhelmed with the results.  Had I given them more time and more direction I'm sure it could have been a really worthwhile thing.  However since I do the scrapbook/portfolios which are a HUGE project, I felt like another big project would be overkill.  So this year I've given each child their own individual, specific, manageable piece of the "letter" to do.  They'll each get just  a half sheet of paper with a short prompt, and I'll compile them into a booklet.  It will either become part of our classroom library or I'll make copies for each student.  Here are 4 sample prompts:

On the back, EVERY student will have the same second prompt, "And here's something else you should know about Mrs. Thomas's class!"  I'm hoping to get some funny and heartwarming stuff there!  :D 

Finally, before we're all stuck in a 90 minute "closing ceremony" with the rest of the school in the cafeteria, for our final Morning Meeting share, we'll be reading "Memory Strips," which we've been writing all week in secret as part of their Morning Work.  The prompt was simply, "Write a memory you have from this year.  We'll share them on the last day of school."  I have a handful that I wrote myself that I'm certain will get laughs and tears from my group.  I can't wait!

What are your favorite end of the year activities? 

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Happy Square Day's Eve!

Happy Square Day's Eve, Readers!


At my school, along with Math in Focus, we use Every Day Counts (or "Calendar Math," as we commonly refer to it).  The beauty of this system is its daily repetition.  However kids, like all people, learn things better if they are emotionally involved.  So in looking over the math Common Core frameworks for fourth grade, I started thinking about where I could fit in square numbers.


I always feel like square numbers is one of those things that is easy to forget.  And what a waste that they get it wrong on their End of the Year tests or MCAS test, because it's not actually that difficult!  They just need a quick reminder every so often, and they'd all be capable of getting it right.


This year I realized how easily square numbers could fit into the Every Day Counts portion of our day.  It would work especially well during a month when we work on area and perimeter every day.  So one day, after we looked at our improper fraction with a numerator of 9, the perimeter of a random figure we had drawn with 9 square centimeters, the geometric figures in our pattern, and the next entry in our running cash total, I wished my fourth graders a "Happy Square Day." 


"What's Square Day?"  They asked.


"What's Square Day?  It's the happiest day of the month!  You don't get brightly wrapped square presents, or eat square shaped cake or sing, Happy Square Day to You, but it's still the BEST holiday."


"Why?"  They asked excitedly.


"Because it happens FIVE times every month!"

(...)

Hey, some of them saw the humor.  The ones that didn't, well, their curiosity stayed piqued as I started to demonstrate how to create square numbers with one, then two, then three, and finally 4 small squares, the latter which formed a larger square.  "We had a Square Day on the 4th.  It's a 2 by 2 square."  I continued around the first square with 5, then 6, 7, 8 and finally nine small squares that formed a square.  "And today is also Square Day!  3 long by 3 wide is 9.  A perfect square."


"So it's basically a doubles fact" my smart little former third graders recalled.


"That's right.  But here's why we call it a SQUARE number.  You CAN'T turn 5 blocks into a square.  You CAN'T turn 10 boxes into a square.  But you can with 9, and you can with 16, and you can with other Square Numbers, nice and even and neat.  That's why I love Square Day!


After giving them time to draw their own squares with a partner, I challenged them; "So when is the next "Square Day's Eve this month?"


Instead of drawing the squares on an anchor chart, I drew it on the white board so I could erase one square from each corner. 


"When is the day after Square Day, also known as 'Extra Boxing Day' in England?"  We added a box to each corner. 


Once we explored squares (as well as what it looks like right before and right after a perfect square is drawn) I challenged them to redraw their previous figures for the month.  I asked them to create figures that were as compact as they could.  That is, I wanted figures that are as close to squares as possible.  Although sometimes it's great to draw creative, zany shapes to find the perimeter, interesting patterns emerge when the figures are more compact.


As a result, the kids started to see patterns in their work.  They were noticing that the figure that is one off from a perfect square has the SAME perimeter as a square!  "It's like that one square is just inside out; it goes in at the corner instead of out to fill the corner."  They also noticed that the perimeter never went down as we progressed.  Previously there was no rhyme or reason to how area and perimeter were connected, because many kids were drawing skinny rectangles instead of allowing for irregular figures in between squares.  Now they actually had some data to analyze and draw conclusions from. 


And so, in my class we celebrate Square Day, and they know that on the day before Square Day their weirdo teacher is going to be giddy with anticipation.


How do you keep square numbers fresh for students?

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Fourth Grade Test Prep: Math Review Centers with Combined Classes!

Our state testing is exactly 1 week away!  My fourth graders will take their math MCAS right in the middle of Teacher Appreciation Week.  Sad, but true, so what else can I do?  Pretend I didn't realize/care to my kids, whine to my colleagues, and have my fun this week instead with some of their favorite math review centers!

My Long Division Task Card Center

Now that we have a year of Math in Focus under our belts I got a sense of what concepts the book flies through and require additional practice.  So over the summer and throughout the year, I made games and activities that targeted 2 digit multiplication, long division, lowest common multiple, prime and composite numbers, equivalent fractions and fraction of a set.  Every so often I pull out these centers and group kids according to which skills they need (keeping a strong student at each group unless I plan to work with the lowest kids while the strong kids have a challenge to do). 

My Color Multiplication Learning Center

This past week, however, I had another idea to really motivate the kids and keep the centers from feeling stale.  I asked the other fourth grade teacher in my building what he planned to do for review, and when he said with a sigh, "just keep going over old MCAS tests," I asked if he'd like to join forces!  My idea was to "mix up" the classes, and have half of his class come to my room, half of my class go to his, and have a mix of half and half in each activity station.  Being the epitome of easy-going, he said sure!  

My Prime or Composite Game

We decided to have a nice long block of time, since kids would have a new environment, half of them would be learning a new activity (Mr. E. had his own favorite fraction activities that differed from my usuals) and there would be a whole new group dynamic trying to work cooperatively with kids they hadn't worked with in nearly a year.  We also decided on only having kids visit 2 stations in that time so that they got a taste of transitioning (and nearly all could have a chance to visit the "other" teacher's room) but they didn't feel too rushed and frustrated to have to leave an activity just when they were getting the hang of it.  So we settled on 45 minutes on the first activity (since it would include some introduction time) and 30 minutes on the second activity, with 5 or 10 at the end to debrief and clean up before lunch.

My students' names don't really span the alphabet.  ;)

Next, I created a table for the groups.  Names of centers on the vertical, and teacher's names on the horizotal.  I put those kids who could use a challenge into the activities Mr. E. had created, then used my test data analysis to place the other kids into activities that they needed to practice.  I made sure I had at a child with a leader-type personality in each, but with my class there is no shortage of those!  I knew that if they could teach a center to someone else, they would feel much more confident come test time.  Once that was finished, I filled in a second copy of the sheet for session 2, making sure I had different kids in each, and I handed it off to Mr. E.

Once he got me a copy of the finalized roster, I wrote the 7 centers on the board (sorry no photo of this) and a piece of colored construction paper got taped under each.  I copied the 6 names for each center underneath, then flipped the papers over and wrote the next six names on the back.  This way once we were ready to switch groups, it was as easy as flipping over 7 papers.  It went pretty easily!  They did have to pack up and bring their centers into the other room at the end of the first session (to help everyone get their change of scenery) but that also ensured couldn't blame any mess on the previous session, since they had to have everything they needed in order to play for the half hour, hehe.  

Mr. E.'s Fraction Game

Overall, it was a huge success!  The kids seemed very invested.  They seemed to enjoy showing new people how to do the games they were familiar with, and they concentrated hard on learning a new game that their peers were already familiar with.  Then they relaxed and had fun until it was time to move on.  It really helped keep math practice fresh and interesting during a time of the year when test anxiety can make school feel like the last place you want to be.  At the end of the second session, Mr. E.'s kids were thanking me!  This Friday we're going to repeat the process, (I was so excited I stayed that Friday to write my new rosters) but have 3 sessions instead of 2 now that they're familiar with the process.  I never thought I'd say this, but I can't wait for our next MCAS review day!  

How do you keep review interesting prior to your state exams?

My Blog:  Shut the Door and Teach (Today's Post is on the end of my Fraction Unit)
My Store:  Amber Thomas's Classroom Favorites

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