Websites

Some free websites that I find useful with my students are:

Reading:
 For beginning reading skills  Reading Bear is a resource that approaches reading phonetically and begins at a very basic level, with letter sounds.


StoryWeaver allows children to hear books in both English and other languages.  Text levels are not very challenging, so it's better for younger students or beginning readers.

Math:
 To work on specific lessons and skills, Splash Math allows some free accounts for teacher's to tailor and assign tasks.

Videos & Lessons:

 Khan Academy gives lessons on a multitude of topics.

 TeacherTube gives students the advantage of watching a video of a teacher teaching lessons and is searchable by content.

Bilingual Kidspot has a variety of poetry, nursery rhymes, and videos in different languages for kids to interact with.

Castle Unit and Read Alouds

(A work in progress)


Using castles to thematically teach in reading and writing:

References for kids:  

I Wonder Why Castles Had Moats- Philip Steele

Castles- David Macaulay



Read alouds:

A Brave Princess- Beatrice Masini
  to discuss characters

Tumble Tower- Anne Tyler


Math related:

Sir Cumference and the Round Table
 - draw and measure the perimeter or circumference of tables and/or moats
Other Sir Cumference Books

How Big is a Foot?


Writing:  

- Describe a castle in detail- project a photo on the board and brainstorm whole group descriptive words
- Write about the adventure of a knight

 

Math Superlatives

We measured some folks around the school when the students were studying centimeters (they questioned who was the tallest teacher/principal, as well as Abraham Lincoln.  I then printed photos of them and we arranged them in order from shortest to tallest, etc and used verbal statements to make comparisons. 

Since the students have now moved onto money, each of the people were assigned a handful of change, which we then counted and ordered from least to greatest and so on.

Letters for Geometry

To practice flips (reflections), slides (translations), and turns (rotations), I make the first letter of the children's names, and the students cut them out.  We then use these letters as manipulatives, so that they can demonstrate each movement on their desktop, as I call them out.

These letters can lead into another activity:

Activity link

Decimal Letters

The kids used 10 by 10 grid paper (100 squares any size) to color the first letter of their name.  They then recorded a fraction and decimal to show how many squares were colored out of one hundred.  

Fraction Flip Books

When I'm teaching fractions, we do a lot of work with fraction strips and manipulatives.  Another way I have them compare fractions is with fraction flap books.  This year we started with using them for equivalent fractions, so I had them simply glue color the strips of a printable.  (I found the printable by googling fraction strips printable).
Later, as we begin decimals and percents, we will go back to the flap books and under each flap, we'll add the decimal, percent, and a picture depicting each.
Below is the model I made.  I usually make the flap books ahead of time, especially if they have a large number of flaps, such as for this activity, which has nine flaps.  Some kids can make them easily, but for others it's frustrating and takes away from the activity we are doing.

 To make the flap books, you count the number of flaps you will need and divide by 2.  Take the first sheet of paper and fold it so that the corners are not lined up- so there is about two inches difference between one side and the other.  The next piece of paper is placed underneath that piece, and folded so that it is less than the top piece and longer than the bottom piece.  You continue doing this until you have finished all of your flaps.  If you have a long armed stapler, that works better for opening the flaps.  If not, staple the top (as I did below).

The kids colored the strips and glued them on.  Then we cut each strip on the corresponding line.  Now I can ask questions such as, "1/2 is equal to how many fourths?"  They can use the flaps to determine the answer.  Some children need a ruler to line up the 1/2 and see the equivalent fraction.

Magnetic Boards for Learning

Any magnetic board is a fun way to practice multiplication facts, spelling words, writing letters, answering teacher questions.  One year I found several at the dollar store and was able to use them in small groups at reading and math time.  You can be as creative as the kids with the uses.  Also a great center activity!

                                                       
                                                     Early letter formation work

Multiplication facts strips

One way to remember multiplication facts, for the auditory and visual learner is to get a long strip of paper, like adding machine or cash register tape.
On the strip write the answers to the multiplication facts that are currently being worked on, and hang them somewhere visible and accessible.  Each day before class, run down the strip pointing out each answer as the class choral reads it.

For instance, the 3's:

0
3
6
9
12
15
18
21
24
27 and so on.

By learning just the products, or skip counting, children have another access point if they cannot quickly recall the fact.  You can faze out the visual after a week and continue chanting, or leave the visual to refer back to.

Students can also have their own strips at their seats, stapled inside a folder, to track with a clip or their rulers as you are reciting the products.

3 feet = 1 yard Visual

I haven't done this activity for a few years, but I was pulling it out as we are leading in to measurement now.  Of course the examples I have from past years really aren't perfect, but I figure they are at least models.

Steps:

Teacher prep:
Materials:  construction paper 11 x 18, gride paper, cardstock, glue, scissors, paper cutter

- Trace templates of a foot onto cardstock that measure exactly 1 foot each.
- Copy grid paper that has one inch squares and cut into strips

After the lesson:
Students
- Students choose a piece of large construction paper for the background and three smaller pieces to trace their "feet" onto.
- They glue the three footsteps down toe to heel with no overlapping or spaces.
- They cut 2 twelve square grid paper strips, gluing one into each foot.  It's easier to do one foot at a time so that they recognize one foot equals twelve inches, and three feet equal one yard.
- Label 12 inches= 1  foot & 3 feet = 1 yard
I let them decorate a border after they title their papers.

Dream Bedrooms

To review area and perimeter a fun activity is creating a "Dream Bedroom" on a piece of grid paper.  The kids draw linear items, bed, entertainment center, bookcases, and get very creative, adding in fish tanks, cotton candy machines, etc.  They then have to calculate the area and perimeter of each object or piece of furniture before outlining them in marker and coloring them in.  You can create a bulletin board or class book to flip through and they love to share their rooms with their classmates and friends.  The students also can work on other rooms in a house.

Planting Seeds

Planting seeds are a great science, math, writing activity that can be tied into literacy thematically with books like Titch, seed or gardening books.  They can be simply a fun activity or a daily exercise in graphing, writing, observation, and recorded through science journals.
Bean plants grow the most quickly and can be done as simply as by dampening a paper towel, folding it around a couple of seeds and placing them in ziplock bags.  This year I used sunflower seeds and clear Starbucks cups (reuse) and tied a ribbon around them as an end of the year present.

We grew them in math class and charted the growth on graphs each day.  A good tip is to always grow a couple of extra at home to switch them out if need be ; )

Surface Area and Volume

When the kids learn about surface area and volume, we begin collecting boxes that are rectangular prisms (shoe boxes do not work well as the lids overlap the top of the box).  We work with the formulas for volume and surface area for a few days. 

Two activities we do are:

Distinguishing between the uses.  The kids write the words "surface area" in large letters on one index card and "volume" on another.  You can attach these to popsicles sticks if you have some.  I then state a scenario:

"Filling a pool with water" and the kids hold up the corresponding index card.  Then "wrapping a present" and so on.  This is a quick, kinesthetic way to check on their understanding. 

Another activity we do is make a chart of different boxes that we have collected, then the kids measure the length, width, and height of the boxes, record them in the chart, then use the posted formulas to calculate the surface area and volume of each rectangular prism. 

- The kids often mix up which is the width, height, and length.   It is actually a good review of the rules of multiplication and the order of operations, as they figure out, as long as they have measured correctly, they will get the right answer.

- Another approach to finding the surface area is to find the area of each side, write it on a Post It note and then attach them to the corresponding side (or with a marker).  At the end, they pull of all the Post-its and add them up.

Circles

As we continue to explore circles, we also do a classroom project where we collect circular items and use them to find the diameter, radius, and circumference.  One thing that I note though, is that it is helpful to measure them ahead of time, since they are often not an exact measurement.  Depending on how much measuring, estimating, and multiplication with decimals you want to do, dictates the objects you may want to select ahead of time.

The students trace each object onto a piece of paper and label it (blue lid, wipes dispenser, etc).  It helps to have a running chart posted in the room that can be filled in to check answers against.  They then use a ruler to measure the diameter of the circle, divide by 2 to find the radius, and multiply by Pi to find the circumference.  This project can be extended as kids can use different units to measure with.

Teaching Circles with a Read Aloud

To teach circumference, radius, and diameter of a circle, I have a few lessons that I do.  One is to read aloud Sir Cumference and the Knights of the Round Table.  We chart the story as we go along.  (Helpful to have this done ahead of time). This is a fun book that gets the kids thinking about circles and tricks to remember the names of the parts of the circle (Lady Di of Ameter stretches her body across the circle, and the diameter is the measure of her toes to finger tips). 
Then we label a number of circles with diameter and radius.  The next day we discuss our charts and revisit the story.

Movement in Geometry

Teaching flips/reflections, slides/translations, and turns/rotations in the Geometry unit.

The students choose a letter, draw it once and cut it out four times (or trace a stencil), then give an example of this letter from a starting point, making each of these movements.

Mode, Median, and Range Dice Game

This game can be extended in many ways, adding mean, by making an even number in the set, by graphing data, collecting class data, competing partners, etc.

                 Mode, Median, and Range Dice Game

Directions:

1.)   Roll your dice and record the number.

2.)   Your partner rolls the dice and records the number.

3.)   Do this until you have rolled seven times.

Next,

4.)   Order the set of data (recorded numbers from least to greatest).

Find the mode, median, and range for each set of data.

Set A numbers:  ____  _____ _____ _____ _____

 Least to greatest: ___________________________________

Mode
Median
Range

    

Set B numbers:  ____  ____ ____ ____ ____         

Least to greatest:____________________________________

Mode
Median
Range

Set C numbers:  ____  _____ _____ _____ _____ 

Least to greatest: ___________________________________

Mode
Median
Range

Set D numbers:  ____  _____ _____ _____ _____

         

Least to greatest: ___________________________________

Mode
Median
Range

    

Geometry Flashcards

angle	trapezoid	rectangle
acute angle	obtuse angle	quadrilateral
right angle	equilateral triangle	isosceles triangle
scalene triangle	intersecting lines	rhombus
parallel lines	perpendicular lines	parallelogram

square	sliding	rotating
line of symmetry	turning	translating
flipping	symmetry	symmetric
reflecting	reflection

Rounding

For rounding lessons, I have often found that printed number lines work to a certain extent, but after that, the students need something that can be changed according to the problem that they are on.
Here is one example of a number line that kids can write on and erase when they need to change the numbers.
I usually make copies, then we insert them in sheet protectors or laminate them, so that they can be used repeatedly with dry erase or transparency markers.

A colleague of mine started to write the numbers at the top, with the arrow indicating to round up if the number is 5 or higher.  Some kids like this visual to be vertical, some work better with it horizontally.  Eventually, they will write it in themselves.