Math Stations in the Classroom

Hey Everyone,

 I have some amazing ideas on how to run your Math stations in your classroom check it out at this new post at Student-Centered World.

Formative Loop Math Warm Up

  Since I have started teaching math, I have struggled to find the best warm up for my kids and what they need to help them become successful. Until one day, I stumbled upon Formative Loop.  It has been the quickest and easiest way for my kids to get a repetition of math skills every day. My kids enjoy doing too. They looked forward to moving up levels and they LOVE the homework part. My kids love coming in knowing that they will as they call it "warm up their brain" for the day.


Formative Math also breaks down each skill math individually. For example, if a student did not pass the mixed addition test, Formative Loop starts them off at addition using zero's, then one's, then two's, etc... and builds confidence each day in that student.

Check out this video!

Formative Math is quick and easy to use. You just have to start using it. 

If you have any questions ask below.

QUIZIZZ

Quizizz has been a game changer in my classroom for review skills.

 If are unfamiliar with Quizzes it's a company that "creates review tools that help students learn at their own pace and celebrate together"

Educators, parents, anyone can create any quiz about a certain subject. There are many options to create your own quiz that can fit your students' learning needs.

Here is a quick how-to for creating an account on Quizizz...(SO EASY TO DO)

The website for Quizizz is https://quizizz.com/ you can can click this link to Quizizz

 When you so to the homepage, click the green button for sign up.

Another screen will then pop up asking you to sign in with a Google account or any email you have.

You will then have three options whether you are an educator, learner, or parent.

If you are neither of those you can click the link "I'm not connected to a school" which means you get to skip the part of connecting to an organization. For most educators that means connect your school to Quizizz. 

After you choose how you are using Quizizz follow the next couple of steps to complete the process.

When you are into Quizizz your home screen looks like this 

From here you can search for a certain quiz or look at the most popular quizzes.

By your name at the top you have options to "Create a Quiz","Find a Quiz",  View Reports, Collections, and of course create your own MEMEs for your kids that pop while your kids are taking a quiz. 

Let's look at Create a Quiz......

On your homepage, under your name click,  this page will pop up and you feel in all of your information for your quiz.

One of the best things about creating a quiz is you can align to your states standards for any subject. Which helps other educators know what your quiz is about. 

Once you feel in your information,  you can will see a screen like this one below. From here, you can create your questions, edit the name of your quiz then add your quiz image if you did not add it to the earlier screen.

If you click create new question this screen pops up. It's really simple to enter a questions and if you mess up on one..you can go back to edit it after you have published it. 

              One of the neatest features is that you can insert an image (see below) instead of typing the question out. I like this feature personally since it can be time consuming to type if you have a long quiz to make. 

When you finish creating your questions, you will click on "Finish Quiz"

When you have published your quiz, it is ready for your students to play or other educators to enjoy.

I hope you enjoy Quizizz in your classroom.

If you have any questions ask below! 

Number Line Fun

My students have been struggling with number lines. I needed a big activity for them to really grasp the concept especially when you add decimals to it. Those tenths and hundreths are really tricky.

 I decided to use my floor as a giant number line. You can make it really easy using painter's tape or washi tape.

For my students to be interactive with it,  I used index cards that had various numbers on them. Examples would be: 1, 14, 7, 3.4, 2.09, etc

I would start the students off by saying the first tick mark is 1 and the last one is 3. Then, using the correct index cards that I made.

30 students would place them on the correct mark on the number line. I repeated these steps using the tenths and hundreths place. 

You can vary this activiy in so many ways to meet the needs of your students. For an extenstion activity, do not give them the first mark, allow your students to create their own number line with the cards you created. Or allow the students to create the numbers on the index cards.

A few times I would call out a number then the students would have to race to find it. This was their favorite part with it. 

This activity was a great eye opener about number lines for my students.

Survivor Transformation

 This classrom transformation may have been my favorite one to do!

 My husband gave me the idea since he started to make paracord bracelets this summer.

 It was fun to do and hopefully you have fun with it as well. 

The Setup

    I started out by using pinterst for my inspiration. The room set up was the most difficult part due to having to climb up and down the ladder. But quickly the room came together. The ceiling was coverd in dark green and lime green table cloths from Dollar Tree. Woven in between the tables cloths was brown butcher paper that was twisted to look like vines and branches.

Black butcher paper was used to line the sides of the classrom. Their house names were on one side which we used to write down to house points accumulated during the challenges. The other side of the room had a scavenger hunt.

The Challenges

Coming up with challeges was the most fun part of the whole transformation. Students had three challenges they had to compete in. Challenges are based on math and science topics we have been working on and what my students struggle with the most.

1. Place Value 
2. Expanded Notation Scavenger Hunt
3. Building Bridges (STEM activity)


Challenge #1
 Students were given a series of numbers that the needed to put in correct place on giant size place value chart. The chart was not put together either so they had to be able to recgonize the correct places on the chart. Students worked in pairs to be able to place each number correctly on the place value chart.

 If you are interested in the place value chart along with numbers find it on my TPT Store.

Challenge #2

 This challenge was all about expanded notation (See above picture with classroom setup). My students have been struggling with this so for this challenge it was made into a scavenger hunt. Students worked in their houses to complete this challenge and for everyone to be accountable. All students had to individual complete the scavenger hunt but could ask only their house members for help.

  If you are interested in the expanded notation scavenger hunt find it on my TPT Store. 

 Challenge #3

 This challenge was difficult it included math and science. In science, we learned about models and are currently working on building models of our school. This challenge had student's design and build a bridhe BUT they had to stay within budget (So much math involved)!!! It was great ending acivity of our last two weeks of learning together. 

Immunity Cards, WORMS and CRICKETS, OH MY!

No survivor day would be complete without these three items!

 The immunity cards were easy to do. Since our mascot is a Bearkat I used the symbol on the cards. Each card was given during and after challenges. The cards were house points or Class Dojo points.

The worms and crickets were pure for the fun part of this day. Students could opt out of not eating one. It was a symbol in taking a risk together and stepping out of our comfort zones (including my own about eating these things).  They actually did not taste terrible, cheddar cheese flavored worms for the win!

We had an amazing day together and I can't wait for more room transformations.

 If you have any questions comment below! 

Feels good to be back!

My name is Kelcee Calloura. My family is everything to me. My husband is my best friend. my rock, who makes me laugh and still gives me those little butterfly feelings when we are together. My daughter is a sassy five year who gives me so much joy. She's my inspiration and motivation to get up every day. We are expecting a son in September too.

I teach 4th and 5th grade in a small town in Texas. Teaching is my passion. Being in my classroom feels my heart with excitement. I have been teaching for 7 years almost finishing up my 8th year. I teach Reading now but have taught Math and Science in the past. I have a Master's Degree as a  Reading Specialist.

To finish this first post off here are some top ten facts and favorite things about me.

1. I could watch Hallmark and old classic movies all day long

2. I LOVE Fall and Christmas time (anything pumpkin spice)

3. I prefer cheeseburgers over salads

4. I make custom leather earrings.

5. I am a homebody but love to travel

6. I love all sports. (really competitive)

7. I drink coffee, sweet tea, and Dr. Pepper

8. Amazon Addict :) 

9.  If I could live anywhere it would be next to the ocean

10. I love wearing converse shoes and teacher t-shirts

Top 3 Student Engagement

Hi Texas teachers!!! With a little less than a month away from school starting, I thought I would give you my three favorite ways to get students engaged in a lesson. I am a huge fan of Ron Clark. If you have not ever read his books...you need too. They are career changing, at least for me. Most of what I do in my room comes from his books. So, here are my three ways to  get students engaged........

 1) Before EVERY lesson tell the students they are going to do great at it....sounds crazy and you would think students will get tired of hearing it everyday but they don't. Get excited about the lesson your going to teach even if it is boring. As teachers, we know that not every thing is fun to teach but that is life. You have to get through some not so fun stuff to get to the fun stuff. But if your kids see you excited they will get excited.

2) MOVE around your classroom. When I visited the Ron Clark Academy, I learned that students will loose their focus every 4-7 minutes. A good way to keep them in engaged and focused is by moving around your classroom, have the students watch your every move. You can even let the students get up and move around. If you are unable to move in  the room due to space or any other reason, then move your hands.

3)  Make lessons about your STUDENTS.  This third one has two strategies in it. What I mean by making lessons about your students is to find out what your students like and put it into your lessons. I had a student last year that was so quiet. I had to do some snooping but I figured out that she loved to draw. So, one day I had the students draw their favorite book, she was so excited. I took her drawing and copied it to a worksheet we were doing the next day. She was on cloud nine about seeing her drawing on our paper that day. The point is to get to know your students, if you know their likes and dislikes your lessons will be great.

An important thing to remember is to do what works for you in your classroom. This is what I have found works for me. Below, I have added links to the Ron Clark Academy and Elementary Shenanigans. Hope King, a teacher at RCA, is also the blogger of Elementary Shenanigans. She has a new series out about student engagement. It is awesome!!!

http://www.elementaryshenanigans.com/2014/07/increase-student-engagement-ebook-guide.html

http://www.ronclarkacademy.com/Educator-Welcome

Kelcee