We are back from Spring Break!! We quickly got back into the swing of things with our morning routine, and I was trying to focus on spiraling back around to topics we haven’t touched for a while. We also had a Mystery Number Skype scheduled for Friday, so the problem that day was specifically designed to help that thinking.
Tuesday
Thursday
Friday
If you’ve been around here for a while (thanks!), then you know that one of the “regular” posts I do is to share our math warm-ups each week. For many reasons that hasn’t happened for the last few months. So this post is to catch up on some of the best ones from recently. 🙂
Measurement
Before the holidays we were working on measurement (mostly length) and had some questions at the beginning to get minds thinking about how and why we should know how to measure. The last one also addresses being able to visualize the size of a unit (centimeters) and apply it to appropriate situations. In between and after all of these, we did lots and lots of measuring with different units, tools and objects.
Measurement (Time)
I only ended up with one picture (sorry!) of this round of warm ups, but after we came back from Winter Break we were still working on measuring, only with time! There were several days of questions related to where the hands would fall on the clock, how many minutes would have passed if the minute hand were on a certain number, as well as one where the had to tell all the ways to describe a certain time (4:30, half past 4, etc.).
Measurement (Money)
Now we’re on to money, and so we’re working on some foundational questions that get kiddos thinking about the numbers behind it first. Then we’ll work more specifically on counting amounts, giving change, etc.
This first one was just to get kids thinking about groups. What was great (and what happens often when we discuss the problem later in the day) is that while I never mentioned anything about money, someone used that model to help them figure out the answers and then once we made that connection, it made sense to other friends, too. Then we could explicitly connect the numbers to coins and amounts we knew (or needed to learn!).
This one got kiddos thinking about combinations that make 25 (which I knew meant a quarter, but wasn’t saying that yet)…
…and then the next day I asked that same question with new parameters (which again I knew was connected to money) to connect to that previous thinking:
As with most everything else I throw at them, kiddos are doing great things with making connections to previous knowledge and incorporating new concepts. It’s great to watch them think like teachers and figure out the method to my math warm-up madness–often kids will say “Hey, you asked this question because….” Good stuff!
If you’re doing math warm-ups, do you have any to share about measuring length, time or money? We’d love to try them!
It’s been a while since the excitement of the 4o Book Challenge began. And I HATE to say that that excitement may have weaned a little bit. Remember back when I told my class about it, and everyone was really energized by it? Ready to do it and not at all worried? And remember how my friend Brittany asked if I would do it, too, and I begrudgingly gladly accepted? Yes? Well let me update you on how it’s going.
First of all, I feel like I should share with you what my kiddos are saying about it. Of course, as with any important thing in our class, it becomes a topic on our blog. I’m excited to say that the topic has come up multiple times in the “What I liked…” section of their notes for student-led conferences (yes, that is a topic I’m going to add here soon!), and that many have WAY over half of their challenge done already!
As a reminder, the challenge looked like this:
Requirements for the 40 Book Challenge, which is inspired by Donalyn Miller’s The Book Whisperer.
Not surprisingly (at least to me), most kiddos started with what they know and what they love: fiction. Many of them knocked out Realistic Fiction first, then did their chapter book choice, and then tried mystery before they got a little annoyed by my list. Still, they trudged on, heading towards informational and poetry. I was noticing, though, that there has been very little traditional literature or biography/autobiography/memoir showing up in the hands of my readers lately (more on that later).
What? You want to know how I’m doing with the 40 Book Challenge? Me? Well….
I’m gonna be really honest with you that I have not been doing my part to keep up with the 40 Book Challenge like I’d hoped and like I’d expected. I think I am probably at 5 or 6. I know, right??? YUCK! I have had very good intentions, and I truly believe in the importance of showing my reading life to my students, but like I mentioned earlier, I’m having a hard time finding prioritizing time to make it happen. There always seems to be something else to do, you know?! But I WANT to make it happen (I really feel like I’m letting my friends down!), and since I don’t make resolutions, I guess it’s time to make a goal and a plan to achieve it. And I’d love your help!
How do you make time to read inside your busy life? What do you leave out so that you have that time (there are, after all, only 24 hours in a day!)? What suggestions do you have for me to achieve my challenge goal by the end of the school year? Come on, I KNOW a lot of you are readers, and I want to be one, too! 🙂
20somethingkids and 1kookyteacher 