Today, I have a little introductory lesson to share with you.  This took one math session, and the kids really seemed to get it when we were done.  We have started our unit on geometry and geometric solids.  To introduce the concept, I played on the fact that the students already knew what a cube was.  They told me there were 6 squares all put together to make the cube.  So I asked the students to make a cube using grid paper.   This was really interesting, as most did what you see in the picture above.  They made 6 separate squares, cut them out, and taped them all together.  There were a select few though that actually did make the net to begin with, but not as many as I thought would have (as they did learn about nets in 4th grade.) Once they had the cube constructed, I then asked them to cut it apart and form the actual net.  (then there were the oohs and ahhs and Oh!  Duhs! ;) )  Vocabulary learned and reall......

With February fast approaching, that means Valentine's Day is just around the corner.  I know that many people are gearing up for parties and celebrations but, eh, that just isn't me.  I shared with you last year that I really don't make too big a deal out of this day of love, but I do like to do two little things that the kids really enjoy.  These are the same activities I shared with you last year, but I know that there are many more people joining me along on this journey and I wanted to share them again :) Of course, the students will pass out valentines to their classmates.  I am not into spending a ton, so I made these Valentine's Day Homework passes.  I know my kids will love them, and they didn't cost me a dime :)  Win-win!   Feel free to print out a copy for yourself .  The download includes a "Love, Your Teacher" AND a blank one for you to sign, or just keep as is! Another thing we will be doing is in math. You see, just like ......

I saw this on pinterest and it just struck a chord with me.  I all too often think about this in regards to my math instruction.  I find that I am spend far too much time feeding the answers to the students and not letting them think it out.  There just isn't time. But really, if I am constantly feeding the students the answers, they will never be able to do anything without me.  This learned helplessness will happen where the students just wait until someone comes along to tell them exactly what to do, never letting them think for themselves.  I really have to force myself to schedule time devoted to mathematical thinking.  It is just too easy to let it go but I KNOW that when I teach my students to think, the way their brain works in my class changes for the better. What I am finding particularly successful this year in getting them to think more deeply in math is asking my students to solve one problem in two different ways.  You see, every ye......

I know, super boring title right?  But it is quick and to the point, which is what I hope this post will be (fingers crossed...as you all know, I am not so good at that ;) ) My students just finished their Quarter 3 Math Assessment, so I thought we could bring all of that knowledge together for a new concept lesson.  I have written about concept lessons before ( fractions here and surface area here ). I love doing them, as they help to cement so much learning.  I usually do these types of lessons as an introduction to a concept, however this time, I used an actual real life task for the students that required them to use the knowledge they have about data and statistics. I gave them the class results from the Quarter Assessment.  Each question that was missed was tallied up, so that the students had a record of how many students missed each standard.  I also gave them the standard that went with each question.  The students, working in groups, then calc......

You may remember that I was planning on doing a surface area concept lesson for Valentine's Day.  This lesson was a precursor to my formal algorithm teaching of the skill and was designed to get the students thinking about what surface area actually means rather than just rote memorization of the rules. WELL....I didn't do it on VDay.  Just too much to do.  BUT I did do it the day after, and I am back to report about it with SUCCESS!!!!!! I started the lesson asking the students how they would go about covering a present that they received.  Many of them knew to wrap it (and a few would just put it in the bag of course...like me ;) )  We talked about how, when you wrap a present, you want to cover the entire box so that the person getting the present can't tell what it is...that would ruin the surprise after all. Here is the page I gave the students Then I put the requirements for the concept lesson on the ELMO.  I asked one student to read it alou......