Card Sorts

 One of the activities I like doing is called... well, I don't know if it has a name, but I call it a "card sort". The students get 10 problems with answers on the other side. Except the answer doesn't match the problem. It leads to another problem, and then that one leads to another and so on. I like it because it gives students an answer bank that grows smaller as they progress. It's also more fun than a worksheet because you only see one problem at a time and lets you have a bit more flexibility with the ability to flip problems and create a pile instead of just seeing a worksheet with the same 10 problems.

Math Enrichment Activities

I have a few "early finishers" activities ready to go in my room for anyone who finishes an assignment and is looking for something to do. Most are either about using math sense and looking for patterns or are building on higher level thinking. Some are on paper, but I have two fin activities on the chromebook that I captured some students doing the other day.

Math Jong

It's like mahjong but with number tiles. The students need to create true math statements to clear some tiles. The more intricate the statement, the more points!

Witzzle

 This is a variation of an activity the students can do on paper in my room called "Today's Numbers". The goal is to use 3 numbers in a row, column, or diagonal to create a target number. It helps students look for patterns and use mental math.

Coordinate Planes

I said I would try to post more. It's still September, so I haven't missed too much time! ;) I do need to get better at taking photos, because we've done quite a few fun things in room 204, but I just don't have them documented. I did remember to snag a few photos of my 6th graders playing my math version of Battleship. They played "Civil War" style and were either Team Captain America or Team Iron Man. They had to hide their Avengers and then try to guess the locations of the other person's. Lots of requests to replay this game!!

      

Book Review: Solo

Solo

by Kwame Alexander

I LOVED The Crossover by Kwame Alexander. I first read it when I took over the Summer Reading program a few years ago. I fell in love with it and knew my students would love it. I couldn't wait for summer to get closer so I could finally introduce it to the students. I was right. The students who picked it for their summer reading devoured that book. Nothing made me more happy than seeing a group of boys who I usually had to cajole to do some reading during independent reading time ask me if they could sit in a circle and take turns reading aloud from the book because they were so excited to read it. I'm pretty sure at that moment, my heart was doing the snoopy dance.

Why did I know the kids would love it so much? First of all, it was so well written. It was, and probably still is, the only book written in verse I actually like. I'll admit it. I don't enjoy reading poetry and I don't prefer books in prose. But Kwame Alexander wrote this book with such rhythm. My students could hear the rap music in his words as they read. It also told a compelling story. All I knew going into it was that it was a "basketball book". It was so much more than that. It was about two twins, who yes are basketball stars, but they are also navigating life through middle school, finding their way, and dealing with some family problems. And it read real. My 6th grade (almost 7th grade) boys could related to the characters and it felt like it could have been someone they knew.

Okay, so why I have I spent so much of this book review talking about a different book? Because when I sat down to read Solo by Kwame Alexander, I was hoping for the same type of thing, but about music instead of basketball. In fact I was more excited because I personally love stories about music. However, this book just didn't live up to that. Maybe it's my fault comparing it to The Crossover, but I just didn't find the verse as compelling, the story as interesting, or the characters as relatable.

The author still keeps the book in verse, but it isn't as stylized as The Crossover. It also is very dialogue heavy which I felt doesn't need verse then. In fact, this book may have been better written in prose. The plot isn't bad -- a boy with a love of music, Blade, is born in a rock star family can't wait to get out if and go off to college. His drug and alcohol addicted father makes mistakes at every turn, even to the point where his girlfriend's father is so fed up and forbids the girlfriend from seeing Blade. Without spoiling too much, halfway through the novel Blade receives some information and ends up spending the other half of the novel in Africa. Originally presented to me as a love story, this is actually more of a "finding yourself" story. However, I just don't think Blade is as relatable to people as Josh and Jordan from The Crossover. Solo is probably fine when compare to itself, but unfortunately, I can't help comparing it to The Crossover, which in my heart will win every time.

First Week of School

As tough as it was to wake up in the mornings and drag myself out of bed, these first two days have gotten me so excited for the school year! We had lots of fun doing challenges and brain teasers. Unfortunately, I never think to take photos until I want to brag about my classes to someone else. Oh well, maybe next week.

I'm excited for the 2017-2018 school year!!

Summer Update

Wow.... I did not do a great job of updating this blog like I promised. I cannot believe the last post was in March! I'm hoping to be much better next year! In fact, I have a lot of technology related goals for next yet.

Let me post some photos from my phone in an attempt to sum up whatever I documented of the last 3 months of school.

The Pageturners had a day where we created forts to read in. Who would have guessed middle school students would take fort making so seriously!

Here's two photos of my 6th graders doing one of my favorite investigations/challenges. We do this lesson during the geometry unit. One of the 6th grade standards is to be able to find the area of composite figures by breaking them into triangles, rectangles, parallelograms, etc. After practicing a few days, they're ready for a challenge. We discuss oil spills, how the occur, the consequences, etc. I even show them videos. This year was extra interesting because the students really took the information to heart -- especially when they saw the affected animals. I explain that it can be hard to determine how many sq mi an oil spill takes. We can use an aerial shot to help us estimate.  So their job is to take an aerial outline of an oil spill, break it up into shapes of which they know how to find area, measure the dimensions, convert the inches to minutes using the scale, find the area of the shape, and eventually of the whole oil spill! It's a challenge, but it's worthwhile and they enjoyed seeing if they could get close to the actual size!

  

If photos had sounds, you would be able to hear 6th graders screaming my name from the Statue of Liberty. Someone always has to stay behind with the bookbags when we visit the Statue. This year I was the volunteer, but I didn't expect to hear some students screaming my name and waiving after climbing it. Always a great feeling!

"Merchantville is full of Stars" was our theme for Teacher Appreciation Week. I got pretty excited when I saw my name by the red carpet. Our PTA is definitely one of the best!

Another graduation in the books. So sad to see this year's class go. I will certainly miss them!!

Challenging Geometry Problem

Here's an enrichment activity for my 6th graders:
(Please get the information sheets from me when you're ready)

All credits go to Dan Meyers for this videos

The Girl Scout Cookie Problem: