Cyber Monday and Tuesday Sale

This is Robyn and Amy and we are joining in on the Cyber Monday and Tuesday sale on TPT! We are putting everything in our stores on a discount of 15%!!! You can find some great things on a discount! Click here for Robyn's TPT store!
This is one of Robyn's new Christmas/Winter items!
                      

Click Here to visit Amy's TPT store!  Here are a few Christmas products Amy has just released!

  

Decorate the tree.  Each tree has the product or quotient to a multiplication.  Match the factor ornaments to each tree.

 

This product has one and two step multiplication word problems.  Students work through the problems and then use an IPAD to scan QR codes to see if their answer is correct!

 

Mistletoe Multiplication contains 20 multiplication sentence cards with a matching array card, groups of card, repeated addition card, and related division sentence card to help your students better understand multiplication strategies!

December Currently

Can you believe it is December?! This is the best and craziest month of the year.  By the way, this is Robyn!  I am linking up with Oh’ Boy 4th Grade for her monthly currently.

Listening: COMPLETE SILENCE! Miss Priss is sleeping and that always makes things much quieter. I am enjoying this!

Loving: I am loving all of my Christmas décor.  I haven’t really decorated the last few years.  This year I am really in the mood. We have a total of 4 trees in the house this year!

This is our main tree.  It has lots of silver, white, and blue.  It also has all of Andrew’s ornaments that he made in daycare last year.

This is my favorite tree! This is in our kitchen.  It has burlap ribbon around and on the bow.  LOVE IT!

Thinking: Do I have to go back!? We go back to work next week after a whole week off. It is so hard to leave my own children!!

Wanting: A date night with the hubby! One weekend really soon we are going on a date all ALONE! We are going to have a nice dinner and watch The Hunger Games!

Needing: To spend time with friends.  I have missed spending time with the other two ladies that contribute to this blog! They are such wonderful friends! We are getting together next Sunday!

Favorite Tradition: Secret Santa! We always have Secret Santa at work and it is so much fun! I got a really great person this year! SHHH!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

Spark Student Motivation Saturdays - Self-Assessements

Hello everyone!  This is Kim again, bringing you a way to motivate your students.  I am linking up with Head Over Heels Teaching for Spark Student Motivation Saturdays.

Several units ago, I created a self-assessment form to use after my students take major quizzes or tests.  I particularly like using these after a major quiz because it gives the student a very good idea of what they need to work on before the big test.  Realizing what their strengths are and that they may only have a few skills to work on to be proficient can be motivating for students.  Now that I have the form created, it takes just a few minutes to change out the topics for the next set of skills.  I have also included a section for them to write to their parents or guardians a reflection about how they did on the test.  I have had parents write notes back to me or better yet, to their own student!

The top picture is the back page of one of the self-assessments.  The students put check marks by all of the questions they got right in a particular area.  They then calculate the percent correct for that particular sub-section of the quiz or test.  Sometimes we take the time to work the percentages out by hand.  We also discuss the connection between common fractions and percentages.  In the bottom picture, we are using BYOT to speed up the process for that particular class period.

Taking the time to do the self-assessments has helped my students be more aware of their own learning.  I have had some students pull out the self-assessment from a quiz and show me that they improved on that area for the test.  The more I can get them aware of their own learning, the more they may care about their grades!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Kim

A Peek at My Week Before Thanksgiving Break - Kim

Hi everyone!  I hope you have had a good week so far and that Friday brings a great finish for you as well!  I am going to link up with Mrs. Laffin's Laughings for a Peek at My Week.

So my 6th grade math partners and I decided to finish up our unit on equations and inequalities before leaving for break.  We scheduled the test for Thursday to give us enough time on Friday for self-assessments, test corrections, celebrations, and of course, make-up testing.  We have really been into data as a school this year, which has prompted me to keep track of student data outside of just keeping a grade book.  I have found that I collect and analyze as many non-graded pieces of work during the week as I do graded pieces.  Here is how the week shaped up:

Monday - We finished discussing the last piece of new material (substituting into inequalities to find solutions) and assigned a short 6 question homework assignment.

Tuesday - We reviewed homework, completed a graphic organizer (made with a cute chevron pattern-maybe it will one day be in my TpT store), and did a ticket out the door.  Here is the best part:  The ticket out the door had 6 questions, one of each skill that the test was going to assess.  I let the students use their graphic organizer for one very important reason.  If they could be successful on the ticket out the door with their graphic organizer, but didn't do well on the test, I knew that they really just didn't study the material well enough to know what to do when.  If they couldn't get the questions correct even with the graphic organizer, I knew I would need to do more work with them on Wednesday.

Here is how I analyze data that is not in my actual grade book.  I have one master excel file that includes all 5 of my classes.  I have each student, any special information such as testing accommodations, and column after column of formative assessment data.  Once you get the excel file set up, it is just as easy to add information here as it is to a grade book.  I let excel do all of the calculations for me.  I have highlighted below how to let excel calculate the percent proficient for each particular assignment (I set it at 70).

The formula is (COUNTIF(P5:P25,">=70")/COUNT(P5:P25))*100

Wednesday - I arranged groups based on my ticket out the door data.  I do NOT record ticket out the door data into the grade book.  The average column is really for me to see more class information.  Also, in fairness to the students, a score of 4 out of 6 would cause the student to show up as not proficient.  This gives me good data to base instruction, but does not represent a fair grade in the grade book (in my opinion).  I retaught word problems with equations to the whole class (based on the data) and then made different activities for other areas of weakness.  I was able to pull 5-6 students to the back table to work with me, while other students worked on technology or practiced other self-correcting work independently.

Thursday - TEST Day!  After grading tests today, I am extremely pleased with the results!  It is so rewarding to see students who received not proficient scores earlier in the week make HUGE strides.  Sharing the data with the students can be a huge motivating factor if done correctly.  These types of formative assessments give students a way to get help in the area(s) they need it most. 

Friday - Tomorrow we will complete a self-assessment form (another potential TpT product that I have created) that will allow students to calculate their percent proficient in each sub-section of the test.  We will then work on test corrections.  As a reward, students that have made a proficient score will celebrate by bringing in a snack during class! 

This is the first year that I have ever kept numerical data on students outside of the normal grade book.  So far, it is providing extremely valuable information to help me meet students where they are.

Happy calculating,

Kim   

Tried it Tuesday---Blog Partner and Websites

I am linking up with 4th Grade Flipper’s- Tried It Tuesday!   This is Amy and I am going to share a few things I've tried this week.  Not only am I blogging with two very awesome educators and two women I care so much about, I am also learning from them.  This week I tried Kim's word problem wheels in one of my math stations.  My students enjoyed the hands on technique added to the problem solving skill.

 

My students have also started learning about rocks and minerals in science.  They LOVE it and honestly it is one of my least favorite things to teach (only because I don't have an abundance of knowledge in the area).  I worked with our STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) teacher this week to find a creative way to engage my students when it comes to investigating minerals.  The students were able to use mineral kits to conduct scratch test to see the mineral's streak and test the minerals hardness.  Then we introduced them to this mineralogy4kids.org  an AWESOME interactive website.

Check it out:

An excellent introduction to The Rock Cycle

 

This part of the  website allows students to explore mineral groups, mineral properties, crystals, minerals used everyday, and interact with a mineral identification quiz and mineral games.

I loved the mineral properties section and hope to be able to use it in the upcoming weeks as my students learn more about color, cleavage, and luster.

 

The mineral identification tool was our main focus.  Students were asked to take a 5-step quiz to help them determine the mineral they were given.  For the most part, the mineral identified was the mineral they were given.  The students kept asking for new minerals to see if they could correctly identify it through each step.  It was awesome to see how excited 8 and 9 year olds were over MINERALS!

Monday Made It

Happy Monday everyone! This is Robyn and I am going to share one of my newer TPT products.  Thanksgiving is right around the corner and I love to incorporate holidays into learning! Below are some examples of what is in my Thanksgiving Literacy and Math Fun!

Color by Sight Word- 2 versions

 

KWL and Venn Diagram

Math- Ordering Numbers, Comparing Numbers, Fillin the missing number

Thanksgiving FUN! Reader

I have already used many of these and the kids LOVED them! You can get this here! Enjoy!! 4 more days to Thanksgiving break!!

Spark Student Motivation: Homework Pass

                                              
This is Amy and this is our first time linking up with "Head Over Heals for Teaching's" Spark Student Motivation Saturday.  Over the last few weeks, I've noticed a lack of drive in my classroom.  The concepts being taught are getting harder and the demand on my students has increased.  I am constantly trying to find new ways to motivate my students.  I've used candy, spell out word motivation, extra technology time, and extra credit points (dojo points) with many of my previous classes.  I have also purchased those cute little homework pass certificates sold at The Dollar Tree and used them for students going above and beyond.  I have not attempted the homework pass approach this school year, but after viewing my homework check-off sheet, I actually don't have a problem with my classes completing homework. This week after dealing with the same students participating, answering questions, and going above and beyond; I knew I needed something to "get those hands up."  During planning, I quickly made these homework passes and started passing them out to those students who were always participating during math discussions. 
                                                         
By Friday, it was amazing to see the number of students participating.  You can grab these passes FREE at my TPT store!  I would love to hear how you motivate your students!!