Area and Perimeter

Area and Perimeter is something my students struggle with every year, especially when that have to solve for a missing side when given the area or perimeter. This skill takes a lot of repetition which can get boring for the kids...and ME! Here are a couple things I do to help teach this skill.

First I really discuss the difference between the area and perimeter. I always say that you need to know the area to put carpet or tile in room, and perimeter is like a fence to keep your dog in. When I am teaching how to find a missing side when given the perimeter, I tell them to think of the perimeter as pieces of wood for a fence. For examples, if the perimeter is 20 feet and the length is 7 feet, its like the have 20 pieces of wood and 7 of them are on the lengths of the rectangle. I ask the students to tell me how many pieces of wood are left. They know that if the length of the rectangle is 7 then his congruent side has to be 7 too, and when you had those two together you get 14, so they've used 14 pieces of wood. Then I ask the students to tell me how much wood is left, the know that they are to subtract to do this so...20-14 is 6. I have to explain many times that 6 is not the width! If 6 was the width then there would not be enough "wood" left over to close the fence and your dog would run out! So in order to enclose the fence all the way around you have to divide the 6 by 2 since you have two missing sides, and you'd get 3! Length is 7 feet and width is 3 feet, which makes a perimeter of 20 feet!  I find that my students will say out loud a lot, "Have to divide by two otherwise the dog will run out!" It is the cutest thing to see that they use what I say and that they grasp what we are doing when trying to find the missing side!
Finding the missing side when given the area my students find pretty easy, they just to the inverse operation. A=LxW so if they are given the area, just divide by the side that is given!

I found a game on pinterest to practice area and perimeter!! The students found a partner and I gave them grid paper and two dice. They rolled the dice and drew the dimensions on the grid paper with a crayon, each pair should each have a different color crayon. The first 10 minutes of the game I had them find the area of the figure they drew and write it in the middle of the rectangle. The second 10 minutes I had them find the perimeter of the figure and write it on the page. They drew their figures on the grid paper and the point of the "game" was to see who could fill up the grid paper the most with their color of rectangles. It was a quick and fun game to practice the skill!

I have also made task cards, worksheets and a coloring page for area and perimeter! They are GREAT! Check them out at my teachers pay teachers store! Be sure to follow me on TpT and pin the task cards on pinterest so other teachers can use them too! Hope this helps you and your students!!!

Holidays In the Classroom

I created this activity on TpT for Thanksgiving and Christmas and my students and I LOVE them! The Thanksgiving dinner activity lets the students create their own thanksgiving dinner where they invite anyone they want. I let my students walk around the room and "invite" people to their dinner and ask them what they want to eat off of the Thanksgiving menu. They record what they want to eat and how much each item is. They then have to calculate how much they spent on all of the food total...but they have to stay under a $75 budget!

The students LOVED walking around and calculating how much each persons total cost was! I let my students use a calculator, it was great practice! I found that many of my 4th graders had no idea that they had to type in the decimal point when adding with the calculator! They kept asking me if they had to type the dot in! So this lesson allowed me to teach a quick and very important mini lesson about decimal points!

The Santa's Christmas Budget is just like the Thanksgiving dinner activity but the children are to pick out gifts that they want! I again let my students walk around and let them ask their friends what they want for christmas! This time they are to stay under $650 per person and spend no more than $4,000 total.  I also created a paper that looks exactly the same as the Christmas Santa list but says donation list for those children that do not celebrate Christmas but still want to participate in the activity! I know the child I had that didn't celebrate was very happy that she was still able to join in the fun when I showed her the alternative paper!

Both the Thanksgiving and Christmas activity comes with multi-step word problems for the students to solve!

I hope that you find a use for them, they really are great to use the week before holiday breaks!! Fun and educational!

Happy Holidays!!!

Math Balloon Pop!

So I saw something like this on line and had to try it! I am trying to think of fun ways to practice double digit multiplication with my 4th graders and this activity was PERFECT!!!

I wrote answers to double digit questions on balloons and hung them up all over the classroom. I did it while my class was gone and when they came back from specials they were so excited just because of the balloons! I set out strict rules on behavior while playing this game, which I highly suggest because the kids...being kids...do get pretty excited! 

I had the students work in their table teams which is their center groups. I put a question on the projector and as a team they had to solve the problem. For example group one had the problem first and I only gave them one minute to solve the problem. They had to work together and agree on an answer, I made it very clear that they had to be a team and agree before they told me the answer. If they got the question correct TWO members from that group got up from their seats to find the balloon with that answer. Who ever found it first could pop the balloon by themselves or they could decide to pop it together somehow. It was SO COOL to see the children working together, getting along being in charge of their teams, work and feelings. After the team popped the balloon the next question went to group number 2 and they followed the same directions.

If the team got the question wrong or did not answer in the one minute time limit the same question would go to the next team and they would have a chance to answer the question. I can tell you that I had EVERY student working and solving the questions because they wanted to be ready just incase the team before them got the question wrong! It was AMAZING to see! And I am telling you I have never seen my entire class working as a team so well before! It is amazing what a few balloons can do!

My students came up with fun creative ways to pop the balloons which was so funny! Some just jumped on them, some sat on them, some squeezed them with their partner.

Just remember to set up clear rules and expectations for behavior, remind them that they are allowed to laugh and  have a great time but they also need to show self control too! It is a blast, give it a try! And it can be done with so many other lessons! Not just math!! The options are endless!!!

Like my Facebook Page to WIN!!!

I'm trying to share my items and ideas with more people so I want to try to do a give away! If you click on the "fb" icon on my blog page it will take to you to my facebook page! Like the page and then like the post that gives away the 4.NBT.4 Subtracting activity! It is Halloween themed! There are 8 headstones with the date of birth and death of a famous person in history. There is a blurb of information about that famous person too! The students are to take the years of the persons birth and death and subtract them to find out how how they were when they died!

My students LOVED this activity! Hope yours do too! If you don't end up winning this activity then you can get it from my Teacher Pay Teacher store!!!

I will pick a winner next week!!

Best Surprise EVER!

I dropped my students off at lunch on Friday and came quickly back to my room to get my lunch. I had left over pizza and was super excited about it! haha normally I just have yogurt and vegetables for lunch! Well when I walked to my door I saw a figure in the dark in my room. I walked in and turned the light on and there was my boy friend standing in my reading area! I said "What are you doing here!!!" He said, "I have a question to ask you" his chin starting quivering, he got down on one knee and said, "I love you so much, and I want to be your husband, Tess, will you marry me?"

I got down and hugged him around the neck and just cried and cried and kept saying, "I can't believe you just did that!" While hugging him I did say YES! He took my hand and put on the most beautiful ring! It is so shiny and just perfect! He picked it out all by himself and did an AMAZING job! I couldn't  have picked out anything better. He knows me so well!

I went out in the hallway and was just squealing with excitement! The teachers in the hallway and my team members were so happy for me! They couldn't believe he came to the school and didn't tell anyone what he was about to do! Word traveled through the school QUICK! teachers were coming to the door to see us, my principal and assistant principal came down to my room to congratulate us. Students in the hallway spread the news to all the kids in the cafeteria! By the time I picked up my students they were filled with excitement and wanted to see my ring and meet James! My students were so happy for me! James stayed for about an hour (my students had specials after lunch) and we called my family and told them our exciting news! James finally had to leave to go back to work but not until I had him take a multiplication timed test with my students!

The students were super hyper after James left! I finished teaching my lesson for the day and let them watch a Magic School Bus video for the last 30min of school! While the students were packing up they all starting singing, "Happy Marriage to you..." (The birthday song tune) They are the sweetest!!!

A little background on James and I! We met when we were 16 in biology class. We remained friends through high school. We went out a couple times but nothing too serious. I adored him in high school by the way!! We both went to different colleges across the state from one another and we both dated other people while in college. He would come to my college and visit friends and every time he came my heart would just skip a beat...still just crazy about him. My last semester of college I became single after a 3 year relationship. James was also single and told me that he has always been crazy about me all these years since high school! I told him I have always felt the same and we have been together ever since! 3 of the 4 years of our relationship were long distance and it was very hard at times, but we made it work! He is my best friend and the love of my life! We are so lucky to have one another! I can't wait to see what is next as we enter this next chapter in our lives!

4.NBT Task Cards!

I've made another set of task cards for all of the 4.NBT strands!!! You can get them from my Teacher Pay Teacher store. Each set has 20 task cards and a worksheet form of the task cards. They also have a 20 question assessment and a 10 question coloring page all for just $3! Below you can find the links to each set of task cards! I also have put ALL of the task cards, worksheets, assessments and coloring pages into one bundle and is sold at a discount price of $9.... that is buy three get three FREE!!

4.NBT.1 Identify and Compare Place Value Task Cards, Worksheets, Assessments and Coloring page

4.NBT.2 Expanded/Word/Standard Form and Compare Numbers Task Cards, Worksheets, Assessment and Coloring Pages

4.NBT.3 Rounding Task Cards, Worksheet, Assessments and Coloring Page

4.NBT.4 Adding & Subtracting Task Cards, Worksheets, Assessment and Coloring Page

4.NBT.5 Multi-Digit Multiplication Task Cards, Worksheets, Assessments and Coloring Page

4.NBT.6 Division Task Cards, Worksheets, Assessments and Coloring Page

Bundle of ALL the NBT Task Cards, Worksheets, Assessments and Coloring Pages!  Buy 3 get 3 FREE!!

Talbert Lottery

I have not written in forever! I went on a couple trips this summer after I started my blog and when I came back in town it was time for school to start! As most of you teachers know, once school starts life just gets crazy and time flies! Can't believe it is already October! Well better late than never!

Here is something I've made during the summer and use as a reward system in my classroom and my students LOVE it! Here is how you make lottery tickets and what you'll need!

- Clear contact Paper
- Card Stock
- Glue
- 2 parts metallic silver paint (Could do any color, silver just looks more like a real lottery ticket)
- 1 part dish soap

Stir together 2 parts paint and 1 part soap! I used a table spoon of soap and 2 table spoons of paint! Use a paint brush or form brush to paint on the clear contact paper. (The foam brush works better I think, and covers more area than this little brush I used) I have learned the best way to do this is to paint a big piece of contact paper all at once and then cut it in to the sizes you need. You will need to do a few layers of paint on the contact paper. I have learned that if you add too much soap, it has a very hard time drying. It is normal for the the paint mixture to feel a little tacky when it is dry, but this batch I made was a bit too tacky and some of the paint peeled off when I stacked the cards on top of each other. Lesson learned!

Once you paint the contact paper a few times and it has dried, (let it dry about an hour) you can cut it in any way you want! I just cut mine in thin rectangle pieces to cover up the name of my prizes.
Peel off the paper on the contact paper and cover up the reward on your ticket! DONE! That simple! They are adorable and so fun for the kids! I do not give these out very often, these are a special reward! Also, every card is a winner, just some prizes are better than others! Here is a list of my class lottery rewards!

- Tablet time during AR
- Lunch with a friend
- Recess with a friend
- Movie during lunch with teacher and a friend
- Shoes off in the class
- Move desk for the day
- Sit at teachers desk for the day

Some how I did not take a picture of my final product! I'll take one at school and post it! Till then you can get the idea of what it would look like once the contact paper is on the lottery ticket! Hope you get some good ideas on how you could use this in your classroom!!