Math Moments with My Kids

Greetings!

It has been a crazy month since I last posted! 

This past fall, our community was the recipient of some amazing math additions to our community. We have had two monuments for some time now- the golden ratio and the four elements.  However, the University of Utah recently came and added a few new goodies. 

My wife and I (with my parents) took our kids around the area to see these great mathematical additions.

This bench is one of the new attractions. The kids were excited to try it out. My kids were amazed at the patterns that were created by the builders. And, when you are sitting on the bench, you are looking at the golden ratio monument.

This monument is one of my favorites. They are designed to represent the four elements. The group that added to our collection in town, added the boxes you can see pictured below on the left. The boxes get smaller as you get closer to the four elements. My kids were baffled about them and the way they were designed. We talked about how the boxes were reduced by a set amount each time they moved closer to the elements, so that the last box was pretty small. It was a great discussion.

 The last stop we went on was a lookout called Goose Point. These chairs are amazing! Can YOU find the pattern in their design? I took my kids and stood them in front of the chairs and had them study them. We looked at the number of boards and noticed a pattern. The kids were so excited to figure it out.

I guess what I am trying to share in this post, if it isn't evident, is that there are opportunities all around us to teach our kids (and students) about math. The discussions you get to have are sometimes awe-inspiring.
I challenge you to take your class outside or pull up pictures of a nearby landmark, and discuss the math that can be found within.

By the way, here is what those amazing chairs above provide a seat to see...

I wish you a great weekend and happy math hunting-

Mr. Hughes

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New Year, New Me (Mobile Activity)

Greetings My ATUE Friends!
It is so nice to be stopping by with my monthly post! I don't know about you, but I can't believe that today starts my Christmas vacation. HOLEY MOLEY! Keep the theme from Leanne, here is my take on the new year!  
    With Christmas Break knocking on our doors and the hope of a nice break from the routine of recess duty, correcting assignments, and endless meetings a heart-warming thought ready to happen, you may NOT want to think about those first few days back. After all, if you are like ME, you will want to just pretend school is our for the summer break.

     Sadly, the reality of school will hit us about December 29th, and we will hit panic mode! Now NO ONE should have to worry about the new year with New Year's Eve and Day that needs to be celebrating!

Enter the solution:

This fun activity is PERFECT for students in most every grade. Students are asked to reflect on the past year and set goals for the coming year! They look AMAZING hanging for the ceiling in your classroom, hallway, or even on the wall!

Here a couple of pictures from MY classroom:

I LOVED how they looked last year, and I am excited to see them hanging again this year! If you want a more detailed post about them, visit MY blog post by clicking HERE!

I am confident that this will be one of the best activities you will do in the new year! You can get your OWN FREE copy simply by visiting my Teachers Pay Teachers shop HERE.

From all of us here are Created by MrHughes, have a most joyous Christmas and a wonderful new year!

Mr. Hughes

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Abstract Noun Poetry- Making It Concrete!

 Howdy Friends!
     Mr. Hughes here from Created by MrHughes and An Educator's Life blog. As many of know, I am the writing/language arts teacher for the 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students of my school (I also teach science to each of those grades...phew...).
     This is the second year of do rotations with our students and so I have been working with a majority of my students for two years now. Can I just tell you how much I love having the same students for three years in a row. I get to know them so well and I know where I need to start each year with each student.
     Well, last year, we had to learn just the basic parts of speech! Yes, I am talking about nouns, verbs, etc. Nothing extra or fancy, just the simple definitions.
     I started with nouns again this year with my 6th graders, only this year we are focusing on concrete and abstract nouns. It took a bit of work, but nearly all my students can now tell me the difference between a concrete noun (a noun that you can see, hear, smell, touch, and/or taste) and abstract noun (also known as Idea nouns).
     I wanted to push their thinking a bit more, so I found a poetry form that required the students to present an abstract noun using concrete ideas. It was interesting to watch and listen to the students as they worked to define an idea with tangible things. Below are several examples. Some are definitely better than others but I love how they turned out. Take a minute and read over a few of these.

     After I was able to collect all 22 of them, I hung them on a bulletin board in my classroom. I have had many students from my other classes read them and discuss them (during breaks and recess time). Because of the unique choices many students made, there have been many lively debate/discussions- Something I consider a total bonus!

     If YOU are interested in trying this poetry form with your kiddos, it's easy. Have each student chose an abstract noun and write it at the top. Next, have the students use the following format:

(Abstract Noun)

Smells like...

Feels like...

Tastes like...

Sound like...

and Lives in...

I had the students write and draw on 9 x 12 art paper. I also required them to use color and provide small illustrations for each of the concrete words. (You can also Google abstract poetry forms if you would like other options).

I hope you will take your students on a noun adventure and give this poetry a whirl!

Cheers!
-Mr. Hughes

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Language Arts...Fitting It All In!

Greetings Friends!
Mr. Hughes here of Created by MrHughes. I love my monthly slot here on ATUE! It is fun to share with you and learn from you. Today, I am going to address how I attempt to fulfill all the language arts requirements that are put on 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students.

Each year I get the opportunity to work with at least 60 students and open their eyes to the wonderful world of grammar, spelling, punctuation, and all the goodies that go with it. I LOVE teaching this subject. The students enjoy writing (well...okay, not at first, but by the end of the first week they are begging to share!) and learning.

So, if I could just let them write all day, I would totally have it made. But, dang it, I have to fit in that study of pronouns somewhere... or wait, what about correct tense verbs, or... oh yeah, expository formatting! I thought I was a total ninja at teaching this "stuff" and had no fear of my students testing. Yeah... THAT didn't pan out.

I knew when I saw my students test scores last year that something had to change, that I couldn't keep teaching the way I was teaching. I truly had felt that my kiddos were going to rock the test. After all, we had studied, written, studied, practiced, and more. But, then I saw the format for last year's test and realized, that while my kiddos KNEW A LOT ABOUT WRITING AND THE NEEDED SKILLS TO BE GOOD WRITER'S, I had failed them in the test application department. You know, the super nitty-gritty items. (We never get to see the test unless we peer over our students shoulders and try to see what is on them!)

This really bothered me. I pondered and thought, sketched, and stressed. What came about the realization that I needed to focus on 8 key components each day AND do my regular writing. I set to work and ended up with my Language Arts Daily Dose. I am only making a 6th grade set right now. (Side note: Even though they say 6th grade, they are perfect for 5th and 7th grades as well!) Even though they are crazy to make, I am seeing growth in my students! They are remembering more of the basics and what they mean- such as adverbs and test taking tips.

The eight key components that I work on Monday-Thursday with my 6th graders are:
1- Spelling
2- Punctuation/ Sentence Correction
3- Literary Terms
4- Quick Write
5- Cursive Reading and Writing
6- Parts of Speech
7- Testing Tip
8- Media Awareness/ Reference Materials Use
Fab Vocab: One new word per day. (These words cover Reading, Science, Math, and Affixes. This cross curricular connection makes this an even more valuable resource.) 
Here is an example page:

On Friday, I work on reviewing the skills of webbing, reading for meaning, supporting answers with text, and/or rough drafting.

It has been eyeopening to see how little my students know about media use and vocabulary words I would have guessed they had mastered! I am thrilled at how well they can talk about how to tell if a website is trust-worthy and about print and digital resources that are available to them.

I won't lie and say these only take 10 minutes. These take up to 15-20 minutes for the students to complete and then another 10 or so minutes to correct. Because I was running out of time each day, I switched how I was using them.

Now, I correct the previous day and assign the current day. So I correct Monday's on Tuesday and then assign Tuesday which we will correct on Wednesday. I let them work for 10 minutes in class on the current day. This lets them ask questions on problems that are confusing, etc. Then, what is not done, is assigned as homework. This has cut the time needed from 35-40 minutes to 15-20 minutes, and I can totally "sacrifice" 15 minutes to cover so many topics with my students.

So, now I don't worry as much about if I am getting it all in. I still teach grammar mini-lessons to really go indepth on some topics or to cover a topic that didn't seem to be as well received on the Daily Dose pages. I also have the pages in a spiral review so that they can't just learn it for the day and forget it.

So... what about YOU? How do YOU fit in all your language arts topics?
-Mr. Hughes

AND, as a bonus for being a loyal follower of All Things Upper Elementary, I am giving away ONE COPY OF EACH OF THE FIRST THREE SETS to ONE LUCKY WINNER! WAHOO! Go ahead and enter the raffle copter below.

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Mentor Texts... Are they worth the time?

Mentor texts.
     I have tried, and tried to make them work for me. I have a shelf of picture books. I have several professional texts that explain all about how to use mentor texts. I have an extensive classroom library from which I can pull many popular books from which to use.

     It just wasn't fitting into my day or my lessons. I was unsure of how to make it work. I wanted it to be a part of this year's writing lessons.

     Que the lights! (Yes, those bulbs and candles that burst in to life above our heads...)

     Our school's new writing program! WAHOO! Not only  is this writing program pretty extensive, it has mentor texts embedded into the lessons. It is a dream come true.

     Take for example, my lesson with my 4th grade writing class on Wednesday. I used the book Bobby vs. Girls.

OH.
MY.
WORD!

Back Story:
We have been working on revising in class, and we read  a section from the book and talked about which of the 6+1 traits could be found in it. (We have been learning that the 5 revision traits are: Ideas, Organization, Voice, Word Choice, and Sentence Fluency.)

Back to the Present:
I read a section from the book and then put a copy of a page under the document camera. The students then called out traits that stood out to them as really great examples. This was a great lesson and I really enjoyed using the mentor text. This is actually the third mentor text I have used this year, but the first one where the students were actually engaged! SCORE!

     Then, in the afternoon, I had my 5th grade writing class. The lesson called for the book Bud, Not Buddy to be the spotlight text! (Can I just tell you that this is an EXCELLENT book!) 

                             

     I read several pages from the book while the students listened for good examples of the five revision traits. I again put a copy of several pages under the document camera and we talked about them as a class. I was amazed at how engaged the students were with the text. In fact, they got mad when I told them we wouldn't be reading the rest of the book. (Two students came to class yesterday with a copy of the book and were very into reading it! A great side-effect of mentor texts.) 

     The program then had the students do a short writing assignment to practice the skills we had been reviewing all week.

     So, what is the point of this posting? 

Mentor texts are TOTALLY worth the time. 

Do it. 

Do it today. 

Take the book you are reading aloud to your class or take a book off the shelf and find a few pages that students can look over and discuss. Authentic text experiences are vital to students building writing skills.

Thanks for stopping by. Have an amazing day... and USE MENTOR TEXTS!

-Mr. Hughes

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Oh What Do You Do In The Summertime?

Hello Friends,
I decided that since it was summer, and I didn't want to think about school (yet), I thought I would share what my family has been doing for fun. After all, don't we all need a short break from thoughts of our "other" lives?

This summer has been exciting for me. This is the first time in 14 years that I haven't spent nearly every summer day at school preparing, stressing, prepping, stressing...

What changed this year?

Good question.

By all accounts I should be freaking out. I have 3 writing classes that are using a new writing program this year which I have barely glanced at, AND, I am teaching all the science for 4th, 5th, and 6th graders. I know 6th, and most of 5th, but 4th grade science is ALL new to me.

BUT- I realized that if I didn't start taking time for my family, and for me, and for creating (which I enjoy doing), that something would give, and, I realized, it just might be my job! Best part is, I have thoroughly enjoyed the break. I am actually looking forward to school starting for the first time in years. WAHOO!

So...

What has the Hughes clan been up to then, with all this extra "together" time?

Well, just this week we took this idea from pinterest:

OH MY HECK! The kids LOVED IT! We used dollar store glowsticks and cheap-o water from the store. We didn't have a soccer ball, so we used a mini-basketball. This is a keeper, and we will be doing this at my wife's family reunion next month. WAHOO!


We go swimming twice a week and the kiddos are LOVING that. We bought a season pass for the local pool here in town. I am not a big fan of swimming, but the kids get me to go at least once a week. I even get in the water and play with my cutie-pie 2 year old girl (pictured below).

One of our most favorite events is hosting the Hughes Summer Cinema at least once a month. We started this tradition last summer and we have really improved on it this year. In fact, we got all sorts of serious this year and invested a small fortune to make a viewing screen. We bought the materials for and created a HUGE screen for our back yard. We used 2" PVC for the frame we designed and a painter's cloth for the screen itself. My wife sewed it all up in about an hour while my father and I played measure and cut with the PVC. We break it down between viewings as the finished screen is about 10 feet tall and 18 feet wide! WAHOO!

As you can see, this is a HUGE event and we LOVE having our family and friends over. Everyone comes early and eats treats and visits. This last time we secured a subwoofer and it was pretty amazing.
So far this summer we have watched: Brave, Life of Pi, and Emperor's New Groove. We are planning our next showing a week from Friday.

As part of each movie, we have a theme for a treat. We made this for Brave. I think the theme was BRAVE something new, or maybe it was just bring a tasty treat to share, I don't know... ha ha. Whatever it was, this is what we made. S'Mores Mix. It was super easy to make and OH SO TASTY! I think I ate most of it myself.

(Click on the picture to see the Pin on Pinterest)

We have also made and played Kick Croquet (idea on pinterest, but couldn't find the pin). Dollar Tree hula hoops cut in half, small balls (1 per person), and 3- 36" dowels but into 6" lengths (from our local ACE Hardware).

I have also been busy creating resource for the FOUR on-line stores I sell in. It is very relaxing (most of the time) to take a blank screen and turn it into a resource that will help my students learn a concept better. I enjoy sharing those with others as well. Here a few of my latest:

There are many more, but I will let you find them if you are interested. :)

As you can see, I have been enjoying my summer. This is all new to me, and I think I can handle this EVERY summer. I didn't realize how much a break can truly do for the soul of a teacher.

How about you? Are you MAKING time for you? What is your favorite summertime activity?

I wish you a restful summer!

Cheers!

-Mr. Hughes

 

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Calling ALL Book Lovers!

Can one EVER have too many books? Or READ too many books?

If you ask me, the answer is simply- NOT A CHANCE! Just ask anyone I work with OR come and take a peek in my room. They will let you know that I have as many or more books for youth than our local library! ha ha. And THAT is just awesome-sauce!

I absolutely LOVE to read, to collect books, and, my most favorite thing to do with my students, is read out loud to them. 6th graders are funny creatures. I have years where the students tell me from day one the HATE to be read to.

I smile and tell them that they will have to "get over it". The slump down in the their chairs and stare at the ceiling. They do the same thing the next day. By the next day they are sitting up with their heads resting on their hands, and then it isn't long before they are leaning towards me, eyes focused, and questions ready. It is a truly magical event.

Nothing gives me more of a kick when I stop every day and a cliff-hanger in the story.

"NOOOOOOO! Mr. Hughes, you CAN'T stop there! It isn't fair..." I smile, walk to my desk and put the book away. I keep my ears open as the students transition to the next part of our day and grin as I hear them debating what will happen next, or who is going to get caught or achieve the goal.

No, nothing can beat read aloud time with students. A close second is sharing a great book I just read with my class or a student that I know will LOVE the genre, topic, or style. I really don't read many "adult" level books. I don't appreciate the content in most of them- the offensive language and such... sigh. Not sure why it needs to be there. AND, I love the story lines that accompany YA writing.

So, where is all this leading?

I am working hard to create a HUGE database of read aloud books (or books that you love) for grades 3-8 on my blog. It will be a linky "party" that I never intend to close. After all, new and exciting books are being written and published all the time. We need to have those included too!

I need YOUR HELP!

So far I have encountered many teachers who have told me that "they don't get to read aloud" to students. SO WHAT!!!!! :) Link up the books you loved growing up, the books you love to share with your kiddos, the books you have had students share with you.

To link up is REALLY easy! All you have to do it blog about your books (1-5+) in a single post. Tell why you love the book, why the book is a great read, and/or how you have used the book with students. Be sure to put the book title and author where you would normally put YOUR name in the linky.

Then, link EACH TITLE in the grade appropriate linky on my blog. And link each title back to YOUR post!

You can read all the how-to's over at An Educator's Life. It is my sincere hope that you will join in by linking, and, just as importantly sharing this with ALL your social media friends! :) Pin it, Facebook it, Tweet It, Google +1 it, and "whatever else"-it you belong to.

Click HERE to learn more and help build this amazing collection we can all use for years to come! WAHOOOOOO!

Click on the picture below to visit the post, check out the current shared books and fall in love with a new book!

Thanks so much for your help and support!
Have a great week and stop by often-
-Mr. Hughes

 P.S. The first chapter of my Summer Book Club was posted today over on MY blog, An Educator's Life. Come and check out the post about Chapter One from Teaching with the Common Core Standards (Grades 3-5).  Even if you prefer not to read the book with us, you can still join in the discussion and share your thoughts! We would LOVE to have you stop by! WAHOO!

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