Everyday Math Chapter Review Cards

I finally finished my goal of converting all of my review cards for the chapters into digital files. I've been using random sized index cards with hand drawn pictures and scratched out errors for long enough, and my summer tutoring along with the TpT sale days were enough motivation to get me to finish the digital conversion!

Each chapter has a set of task cards, an answer sheet (and answer key), and a set of mini-cards to send home for students to study from. You can get one chapter at a time, or buy the bundle (only chapters 1-11 though... I usually only get to a lesson or two from chapter 12, and I'm more focused on year-long review than the chapter 12 assessment.) My kids loved the little hand drawn pictures in the corners of my cards, so I kept the idea with my digital files. Here is what the set looks like.

If you are interested in purchasing the bundle, you can find it in my TpT store. Enjoy!

Severe Weather Project - Pyramid Dioramas

This year, the 3rd, 4th and 5th grade classes got together to do an end of the year project which we named Biome Bonanza. We put the students into mixed grade level groups, and had each group choose a biome to study. Once biomes were assigned, the 5th graders researched the biome itself and created a trifold, the 3rd graders each chose a country within the biome and put together a country report and short powerpoint, and my 4th graders studied a type of severe weather in the biome and created a pyramid diorama. Then, they had to work together to create a diorama of the location, banner including a world map, and artifacts representing the cultures of the area. My fourth graders had just finished their unit on magnets and electricity, during which they had created electrical boxes, so they had to survey their group members and create a set of questions for the box as a quiz for the end of the presentation. We set up tables in the gym and presented to other classes in the school in the morning and to parents in the afternoon. It was pretty amazing!

Electrical Box

Pyramid Diorama

I have put together the pyramid diorama project on my TpT page, which includes:

• Introduction
• Diorama Instructions
• Photos
• Student Packet:
• Instructions
• Note taking sheets
• Pyramid Diorama Rubric
• Presentation Instructions/Rubric
• (Choose one) Group or Individual Overall Project Rubric

• Bottom section templates (unlined and lined)
• Side sections templates (unlined and lined)
• Teacher Rubrics for scoring/comments (note separate group/individual sheets for overall project) 

If you would like to download it, you can view here it in my TpT Store.

Math Challenge - Presidential Math

With every unit in math, I give out a math challenge that reviews some of the major concepts from the previous unit. I had a challenge for mean, median and mode, but it turned out to be far too complicated, which meant I had to create something new. I figured social studies and presidents would be a good tie-in. So here it is, the Presidential Math Challenge! You can view it on my TpT Store.

NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. During the month of November, people from all over get together and set their own personal word count goals, with the big idea being that you get a novel drafted in a month (or at least a good start to a novel). Last year, I happened to find the NaNoWriMo website just a tad late, on November 1st. But as it was a weekend, I figured I had a whole day and a half to revamp my writing plans for the month and bring out a new challenge! My students had mixed reactions, but even the most reluctant were happy when they could set a small word count goal, such as 500 words. We didn't quite plan as much as I would have liked, but the enthusiasm was infectious, and final word counts ended up between 1,500 and 9,000 words. Of course, if they were going to do it, I figured I had to promise to do it too, and I ended up writing a novel over just over 32,000 words.

I knew it was a project that I wanted to do again, and the resources that are available from the Young Writers Program are amazing. So, this year we started in October with the planning stages. First, we put away our inner editors, and then we started planning characters, settings, plot arcs, dialogue... all the things that make a good story! We set our word goals, and when November 1st hit, we all started writing. At the end of the month, everyone in the class had once again met their word goals, and my small group of 6 boys had written a total of more than 45,000 words, including one Choose Your Own Adventure book. A student from the previous year wanted to do the project again and added 10,000 words, and I wrote a sequel to my first book to add on another 30,000 words for a total of just over 85,000 words! Incredible! 

We took a short break from the novels, and then started on the revision/editing process. Since students are always looking for new books to read, and I'm always looking for ways to get them to respond to literature, this was a perfect match. Each student got to take home another book and proof and comment right on the draft as they read. The kids conferred, revised, read, edited, smiled, and asked eagerly for the next book. We then worked on formatting the text in class, and during art class they worked on cover designs and publishing. In the end, each of the kids had their own published novel.

And me? Well, the kids kept telling me that I should publish my book, too. So that's my next project. Here are a few of their published books on display.

Veterans Day

Veterans Day is a big deal at our school, as it should be. Each year we invite Veterans from the community to join us for an assembly where we honor them in different way. This year, my students created a large mural and they presented information on the history of the Star Spangled Banner.

Mad Libs - Part 2

As a follow up to one of my most popular items, School-Themed Mad Libs, I have put together a set of 4 Animal-Themed Mad Libs which is available on TpT! There is a separate recording sheet for the list of words before students put their answers into the story so the teacher can then check the list of words for correct parts of speech before having the student their list of words into the actual story.You can also find my original Mad Libs which are school-themed on TpT.

Biography Partner Projects

My students recently finished a biography partner project, which was designed not only as a reading and research project, but also to help students work on their organization, time management and cooperative skills. I wanted to stress the process and quality of work with this project. I used the ‘Who Is/Who Was’ series of biographies, since they are all about the same length, and they include a starting place for the timeline requirement. The entire project took 4 weeks, with children working on this both in class and for homework.

I started by grouping students into pairs, keeping in mind their work habits and organizational skills. Each group looked through the list of famous people and chose their top three, and from those lists I assigned books. The first task was to work on reading the book and taking notes as they went. They had to set nightly reading goals with their partner, but I gave a general guideline for when their book should be finished. They were also working on the ‘Looking Back In Time’ sheets, researching other events that happened during the decades that their famous person was alive. I gave the last 5 minutes of each class for students to set new goals, split up tasks, and update their Time Management planners.

Once a group completed the reading and note taking, they moved on to organizing their notes into topics. This step was time consuming, but it was since mostly useful for those doing reports or flip-flap books, I think I would only use this as a tool for those students who needed it.

Projects were the next step. Students were required to do the timeline, including both events from the life of their famous person AND events happening in the world at the time. They also had to choose which project(s) to do. They could either choose to do one writing and one art project, or a mixed writing/art project. Students then worked on writing up steps checklists for each project and a list of needed materials before drafting or working on the project. The rule was that both partners must work on each project so that they had to communicate their ideas and find a way to evenly distribute the work.
 
On the due date, students came into class with all of their projects and materials from the process. They had to grade themselves on their grading sheet, organize all of their notes and planning sheets, and then highlight their actual contributions to the project on the steps checklist. They turned all of these items in, along with their Time Management/Materials sheet. We then spent the next few days presenting projects and even invited the first grade class to see our projects, since they were doing biography projects, too! Here are a few of the projects.

Cereal Boxes

Flip-Flap Book

Poster and Report

Museum Display

Accordion Book Timeline

Shape Timeline

I have put the packet of instructions, planning sheets, examples etc. up for sale on TpT.  Included in this packet are:
Instructions
Grading Sheet
Looking Back In Time (research/notetaking sheet)
Time Management Planner
Materials Planner
Steps Checklist
Notetaking Sheets
Notes Organization Sheets
Project Overview Sheet (Projects noted with *)
*Timeline Instructions
Timeline Planning Sheet
Timeline Template
Timeline Sample Page
*A-Z Booklet Instructions
A-Z Template
*Interview Instructions
*Flip-Flap Book Instructions
*Cereal Box Instructions
*Biography Hanger Instructions
*Poster and Report Instructions
*Museum Display Instructions
Museum Display Explanation Card Template
*Scrapbook Instructions
Scrapbook Planning Sheet
*I Am Poem Instructions
Teacher Checklists (3 versions)

I hope you find it useful!