Category Archives: Math

ELA, Math, Project, Standard 2 - Learning Differences, Standard 3 - Learning Environments, Standard 4 - Content Knowledge, Standard 5 - Application of Content

Virtual Field Trip :: National Museum of African American History and Culture

On Friday, February 10th, the 4th graders at my school took a virtual field trip to the National Museum of African American History and Culture.  Students started out with an overview of the newest Smithsonian museum, followed by scenes from the opening ceremony.  For maximum engagement, student also got to compete in a “Presidents for Equal Rights” Kahoot game and an equality quote match on Quizlet.  After these activities, the museum was open to be explored by students with their iPads.  Around the museum were various QR codes that would give access to the content:  a document, image, or video.  The students were engaged in this virtual field trip, and you could see students working with peers to complete writing, reading comprehension, and math activities inside the museum.  The highlights were hearing students say:  “This was the best field trip I’ve ever gone on!” and “Ms. Payne, I didn’t know that there were that many black people that did so many great things!”

Specific skills in the museum:  ordering decimals, compare and contrasting different passages, editing a writing passage to correct errors, identifying fact and opinions in literature.

Virtual Field Trip

Math, Standard 3 - Learning Environments, Standard 9 - Professional Learning and Ethical Practice

Motivating Students in the 3rd Quarter

I’ve been trying to motivate my students to work hard this third quarter of the school year… So I created some goals that I had for my classes, and I asked them to create their own math goals…

Here is what went up on the bulletin board to track how we’re progressing through some of these goals.

Third Quarter

  • Fraction Equivalence Drills Trackers – Students need to earn 6 basketballs between January and Spring Break after mastering each of the equivalent fraction drill sheets. Fraction Equivalence Drills
  • Test Average for All Students – My goal for the students is that they score an average of 75% on our assessments.  We met this goal on our first 2 assessments.

Test Average Tracker

  • Homework Completion Goal – The goal is that all students will complete their homework and turn it in on time.  Homework Completion Chart
Math, Standard 2 - Learning Differences, Standard 7 - Planning for Instruction, Standard 8 - Instructional Strategies

Mastering our Multiplication Facts

When I started this school year, I knew that I wanted my students to master their facts by October so that they would not struggle during the Multiplication and Division units… So I set up this bulletin board to motivate them to move their car along the Multiplication Grand Prix.  I was inspired by the popular Multiplication Grand Prix game on Arcademics, but this did work to motivate most of my students to move their cars along this race track.

Multiplication Facts

Math, Review Activity, Standard 2 - Learning Differences, Standard 4 - Content Knowledge, Standard 5 - Application of Content

Going Back to Rio

 

 

 

 

When the school year started, I, like many others, just couldn’t get enough of the Olympics.  I was determined to find a way to tie it into the curriculum… So I decided to update a planet project I did with place value.  I wanted to review the skills of 10 times as much or 1/10 of a value as well as write numbers in expanded form, word form, and standard form.  The students love this one!  I made to sure to the differentiate the content for all my learners!Olympics

Games, Math, Review Activity, Standard 2 - Learning Differences, Standard 4 - Content Knowledge, Standard 5 - Application of Content, Standard 7 - Planning for Instruction, Standard 8 - Instructional Strategies

Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month

I love making MATH relevant and finding a way to tie it into current events.  Back in October, we celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month with a math review game!  They learned some facts for their scavenger hunt, and they got to find math problems hidden around the classroom.  I made this a little challenging for the students by using Spanish numbers around the classroom.

Hispanic Heritage Month Hispanic Heritage Month Hispanic Heritage Month Hispanic Heritage Month

ELA, Math, Project, Review Activity, Standard 4 - Content Knowledge, Standard 5 - Application of Content, Standard 6 - Assessment, Standard 7 - Planning for Instruction

Black History Month Activities : 2015

This year, I decided to spend 2 months covering black history events.  We started in Africa in the 1300’s – 1500’s, and then we traveled to the United States in the time of slavery.  We got through the Civil War and the Reconstruction period.  We then covered the Harlem Renaissance, the Civil Rights Movement, and where we are now as it relates to equality.

Students were assigned one or two individuals to research and create a digital board as well as a tri-fold presentation board.  All of the reading lessons were tied to a skill and a the week’s study.  We found facts and opinions in a newspaper from the time of slavery.  We compared and contrasted kings and queens in Africa.  We looked at the elements of drama through a play that focused on the Greensboro sit ins.  We planned out a new Civil Rights Museum using area and perimeter concepts.  We converted fractions to decimals and found equivalent fractions for our Black History Timeline.  The students absolutely LOVED this unit, and it was a joy to be able to help them learn about a part of our country’s history that is all too often skipped over.

The students also created an Equality Quote Quilt with famous quotes from important figures in the fight for equality.

At the end of the unit of study, I organized a commemorative Selma to Montgomery March, which was 50 years after the actual march in Alabama.  In our march, 4th and 5th graders marched around the school, singing “I ain’t gon’ let nobody turn me around” in harmony.  The march ended in the library with a beautiful slideshow of images from black history with “Lift Every Voice” – the National Negro Anthem – playing in the background.  The students all sat quietly glued to the screen, where many of them saw these images for the first time.

I remember days later, one of the 5th grade teachers came up to me and told me that next year, we really need to plan (even earlier) to incorporate more black history into our lessons.  I could not agree more!

Mary McLeod Bethune Presentation Board (student)WEB DuBois Presentation Board (student)Frederick Douglass Presentation Board (student)Alex Haley Presentation Board (Teacher Model)Equality Quote QuiltBlack History TimelineCivil Rights MuseumCivil Rights Museum ExhibitSelma to Montgomery MarchSelma to Montgomery MarchMarch PostersMarch Posters

ELA, Math, Project, Standard 5 - Application of Content, Standard 6 - Assessment, Standard 7 - Planning for Instruction, Standard 8 - Instructional Strategies

4th Grade EOY Research Project :: Career Planning and Budgeting

In Texas, the teaching standards for 4th grade a mostly similar to Common Core for math, but they veer in a completely different direction with the unit on Personal Financial Literacy.  I wish I had learned these skills when I was coming up, so I LOVE teaching them to my students.  Well, we spent a few weeks talking about budgets, fixed expenses vs. variable expenses, income, and savings… And then I wanted the students to put these skills into action!

In this research project, students had to choose a career, find the median salary for this career, create a budget based on the median salary, find a car to purchase online, find a place to live online, and then put whatever leftover money they had towards savings.  The budget was created in Excel, and there were formulas for students.

After their budget was completed, the students were ready for the real work of researching their job.  Their final product was going to be made into a book, typed from Microsoft Word.  To prepare for this, I created a graphic organizer (packet) that helped them find and source the information and then led them to writing each paragraph.  There were sentence starters in 3 of the 6 chapters, as well as a bonus chapter for extra credit.  Students were  given the choice of their book design, and once they selected their design, their Word document would open, which was a book template that they were able to customize.  This book has a plethora of text features, like a graph, a glossary, citations page, table of contents, section headings, italics, bold print, photographs, and captions, etc.  I am excited about seeing my students’ final products!

In the meantime, here are images from my sample/example book that I shared with my students.

Also, here is a link to our project website, which has most of the resources that my students used.  The graphic organizer or project summary page are not posted here.

http://monthlybudget.edublogs.org/ 

Sample Book Cover Sample Table of Contents

Sample Chapter 1 - What this person doesSample Famous People with this JobSample Glossary

Games, Math, ST Math, Standard 6 - Assessment, Standard 7 - Planning for Instruction, Standard 8 - Instructional Strategies

Tracking ST Math

Last year, the school I was at had a subscription for ST Math.  I am a believer in the effectiveness and usefulness of the ST Math program by Mind Research!  It was not my teaching curriculum, but it was a tool in my tool belt that allowed me to give my students the time and chance to apply the skills that I taught.  The program gives immediate feedback to the students and amazing visualizations of the major skills that they are expected to know.  I used the following spreadsheet to track all 4th grade students at my school last year.  I used the data to show me who needed more time on the program and to project where they would most likely be at the time of our high stakes testing, the DC CAS.  The goal was for students to reach 75% syllabus progress in the game by the time of the test.  I taught all but 11 of these students in math, and for those that needed more time on the program, I would tailor their instruction time.  That being said, I would ensure that they received a math lesson each day, as well as some time to apply the new skill.  Then, I would send  them to the computers or iPads, and have the other students work on an advanced lesson.  I would even have the students that were further along on ST Math to coach their peers, helping them think to get to the answer, rather than just telling them the answer.  I would also send this spreadsheet to my colleagues each week, so that they could see who also needed more time on the computer program and allow them to log on to the program when appropriate.

ST Math Tracker Spreadsheet

ST Math Tracker Thumbnail

 

 

 

This was the final ST Math wall at the end of the school year.  The majority of the 4th graders had reached 100% completion.  Even more exciting was the fact that all but one of the students on my roster reached 100% completion.Final ST Math Wall

ELA, Math, Standard 10 - Leadership and Collaboration, Standard 5 - Application of Content

Children’s Book :: Budgeting at the Mall at Prince George’s

With a group, I created a children’s math trail book. My role was the primary photographer and layout designer. I used my skills in graphics design and what I’ve learned as a professional photographer to create a professional product. I filed this under School and Community Involvement because this book takes place at a well-known location in the DC community – Prince Georges’ Plaza. The math scenarios presented are actual scenarios that students may be faced with, and we used math to solve their real-world problems. As an educator, I make it a point to make what I teach real to my students. I want them to be able to connect their learning with a purpose!

View the Children’s Layout HereBookCover2