Line Plots with Fractions!

I LOVE teaching line plots with fractions! I have always teaching fractions on a number line first and teach them how to read and understand how number lines work. Once they have an understanding, I teach how to plot the data. 

I have found that many students have the same issue with line plots, and it is understanding what the questions are asking. The biggest misconception I've found is that when the questions asks, "What is the longest length?" the students will pick the fraction with the most data points. I have to go over and over and over this with the kids and tell them to read carefully! Especially the ESL students who struggle with vocabulary, they tend to really have a hard time understanding the difference between the most common length and the longest length.

To help with this I cut straws and had the students measure them and plot the on the number line. They LOVED the hands on aspect of it and got a measurement mini lesson! Once the data was plot, the students could easily see which straws were the longest/shortest and which straw length was the most common or least common. This activity also helped with the questions that ask, "What is the combined length..."I was able to put the straws end to end to show what the question is asking!

In the past I actually had the students measure REAL earthworms! Oh man do the kids love this! This year I wasn't able to do it because I did not have any worms! In the past I our school had compost bins and I was in charge of taking care of the worms!

Oh well...straws work great too...and are less squirmy!! 

Check out my line plot task cards to help enforce this skill!! They are great and give a variety of questions to practice this skill! I know you'd love them! 50 questions total which include 20 task cards, worksheets and coloring page! All for a great price!!! 

                                    

Add and Subtract Fractions and Mixed Numbers

Last week I taught adding and subtracting fractions on a number line. I decided to just use painters tape as my number line so I did not have to keep redrawing lines over and over again! When I started writing on the table instead of dry erase boards, it really got the kids attention!

Here I showed how to read a number line and how to add and subtracting using a number line. I extending the activity for some groups by making them represent their answer as unit fractions and then as a multiplication sentence (multiplying a whole number by a fraction).

I also have task cards that I use to practice this skill! You can get them and all my other cards at my TpT store!  I also have task cards for adding and subtracting mixed numbers!! All of these include 20 task cards, worksheets and coloring pages. A total of 50 questions in each set.


Don't be afraid to get your desks dirty!! The kids love it and it is so much easier that getting out all the dry erase boards!! Even better...you don't have to BUY dry erase boards!!!

FYI---dry erase board cleaner gets all the marks off best once you are done! 

Multiplication and Other Facts Student Recording Sheet

A new school year has started and I've been trying to come up with an eco friendly way for my students to practice their multiplication facts. They are supposed to come in to 4th grade knowing them...but we all know that is not always the case. So I find myself spending the first few months of school really drilling the basic facts so that way multi-digit multiplication, long division, and simplifying fractions are much easier for them.

I do 100 question multiplication timed test every Friday. I try to make it fun for the kids and not stressful. I remember being so stressed out about learning my facts and dreading the timed test! So to do this I tell them that they are competing against the other 4th grade classes to see which class can get the most students with a 100 on the 100 timed test. When a student gets a 100...and I mean a 100%...not "oh you only missed one I'll get it to you"...100% on 100 questions in 5 minutes, they get their name outside in the hallway. I color coded each class a different color and since our school is the wolves, their name will go on a wolf that is the color of there class. I told the students that which ever class has the most names outside the door will get a prize before Christmas break! The students are SO excited about it, and it's only been the 2nd week of school and the kids are working together to study and help each other reach this prize!

For the students that pass the test early, I give them a 100 question division timed test, if they pass that with a 100 I give them a paper with about 30 two digit by 1 digit multiplication test, and if they pass THAT before December, I give them a double digit multiplication page to do in 5 minutes! I promise the kids get SO excited about this! I just find these timed tests on line...there are a whole bunch of them that are free to print off!

So...to help them study and check their progress, I like to use the free website called Fact Dash. The kids simply type in Fact Dash in to google and it is the first link.

When they click the go button they have the option of choosing which operation to practice. 

They can also choose the length of the drill. I tell my students to do no more than 3 minutes at a time.

When the students get done with their drill they record their results on the Fact Dash Data chart I created for them! I usually tell them to practice a few times and the record their best time on the chart! The most questions they will be asked is 30, so they simply just shade in up to the number of the total they got correct. It will be up to you when you want them to move on to the next set of facts to practice! : ) Make sure to tell them that when they have this chart, if they are setting the timer, then they are to write the time on the data sheet on the top right hand side and continue to use that time for the duration of recording on that sheet. If they want to change the time to 2 or 1 minute, they will need another recording sheet from you! 

I made these charts for all the operations on this site so you can have students use the same data recording with out looking too different from their peers! 

Get these charts for FREE from my Teacher Pay Teacher site!! Be sure to follow me and leave a comment after you download! : )

Check out my other 4th grade math items! My favorite are my task cards I made for ALL 4th grade math standards! 

Hope this helps you easily hold your students accountable to studying  and tracking their progress and it doesn't require you do do a nights worth of grading or printing off drill for the different operations!!!!

Another Year Begins!

It has been a LONG time since I posted last! Over a year...I can't believe it!
I had a crazy end of the school year in 2016! As many teachers know, life always gets hectic around EOG time...and to add to the stress, I decided that I would apply at another school. I loved the school I was at, mostly because of my 4th grade team. They were my family and I'd been with them since my first year teaching! But, I had an opportunity for another 4th grade position at a charter school just a mile from a house that my husband and I just purchased...yes another big event I added to my plate at the end of the year. I was driving about 30 miles to work every day, so a one mile drive at a 2 year old school seemed appealing!



With a heavy, heavy heart I left my school out in the country and accepted a job at a charter school in a suburban, middle to upper class location...very different than the public, title one school I'd known for 5 years. I was so depressed about leaving, it felt as if I was breaking up with someone...and I guess in a way I was! I was happy at my old school, but knew God was pointing me in this direction and I couldn't ignore it, I knew it would be a better place for my future. A huge bonus was that I had a co-worker/friend from my old school who worked at this charter school, and would be my neighbor! Once summer began, I decided to teacher summer school for 3 weeks, I got pregnant but unfortunately miscarried just a week before my training at my new school began. It was a heart breaking summer...not at all relaxing or rejuvenating! The miscarriage took a long time for my body to recover from it seemed like. School started with a blur! I felt like a brand new teacher all over again...especially since I had to teach all four subjects again, which I had not done since my first year teaching! SCARY! My new school was amazing! So supportive and positive! They were wonderful helping me get on my feet and were understanding when I needed to make doctor appointments to figure out how to get my body back on track after the miscarriage and to help me get pregnant again!

The stressful summer and beginning of the year ended and started turning up in January 2017! I was finally feeling like myself again, feeling like my confident teacher self and ended up getting pregnant again and another co-worker/friend from my old school quit and got a job at my new school!! I ended the year happy and so blessed to be a part of such an amazing support system of co-workers, friends, admin and amazing students and parents!


That kind of explains my lack of adding to my blog and adding new and exciting things that I've been doing! Life just took over for a little bit and it took some time for me to get back in control! I am now 7 months pregnant, enjoying my summer, resting and working on new Teacher Pay Teacher items for my classroom and store! My school is using my classroom for the training of new teachers so I went in yesterday and today to clean it up! I'm adding some pictures to share my new classroom for the first time!

This past year I had to teach all 4 subjects, but this year all I have to teach is 4th grade math! I am beyond excited to get back in my comfort zone and back to focusing just on one subject! I feel this is the best form of teaching...as long as you trust your co-teachers! 
I have always loved how I do my math centers/workshop! I do not do a lot of whole group teaching, I do most of my teaching at "teacher table." I think it is wonderful and has totally changed the way I work in the classroom. I do my very best to schedule my rotations so I meet with EVERY group EVERY day! My students sit with their center groups and I just differentiate at the teacher table with kids I see missing concepts and also in the other centers the kids are working on while I'm at the back table.
 
I have the same system but this year I changed the stations to spell out MATH. I saw this on pinterest and thought I'd give it a try! I have 5 table groups, so I have 5 rotations. I'm a little nervous about having 5 rotations...sounds like a lot, but there are some rotations I won't have to create a ton of work for. The M stands for Mrs. Camp, that is where the kids come to the back table with me. A stands for At desk, which is where the students will work on independent work at their seat...this is where I will do my best to differentiate for each kid...still trying to figure out the best way to do this! T stands for Technology, where I will have the kids rotate between Iready, Tenmarks, Khan Academy...etc. H stands for Hands on, here is where I will have the students work with their group either playing a math game or working on task cards with each other. The spiral is where they will do a spiral activity to review past skills. I think a spiral review each day is absolutely critical to be successful in math! I think I'm planning on having my kids work on Drops in a Bucket pages or I might buy a spiral activity from TpT that I saw.

Last year I did not have room for my math word wall and it killed me!! This year I made sure to find a spot for it! I bought math word wall vocabulary cards from a seller on TpT and I LOVE IT! The students really use it and I think it really helps build their vocabulary! As always, I only add to it when I get to that new vocabulary word! Word walls are no good if you add all the words for the year at one time!
The Bravo Board is where I will pin up students who did great on their work and show it off! This is something new that I've never done! We have an achievement board outside in the hallway to display students work, but sometimes students do not meet all of the requirements to get on the board out in the hallway, so I wanted to have something in the classroom for kids that worked hard and deserve to be recognized!

I bought a cursive math alphabet a couple years ago on TpT and I LOVE it!! Another way to reinforce math vocabulary and cursive! My school also uses CHAMPS to help with classroom expectations. I was new to this, this past year...I've learned to really like it and the kids expect it since they've had it since kindergarten!
 
I added this little growth mindset quote above my door this year....I had college banners hanging their before, but they kept falling all year long so I changed it up! I think this is cute and I'm in a pretty bad habit of saying "awesome" ALL the time! I also added a little reminders dry erase board for me to write messages on there! I think this will help students stay organized since they will be rotating classes for the first time!

I am excited for a great year! I am looking forward to getting back to my TpT store and Blog and for my sweet baby girl due in October!!

Equivalent Fraction Hearts

Here is a quick activity I had my students do to practice equivalent fractions just in time for Valentines Day! I cut out 6 hearts for each student and on a sheet of paper I had each student write down any fractions they wanted. They then had to write an equivalent fraction to go along with their fraction, I made them draw a picture for at least one of their equivalent fractions. (You can see a picture of the picture one on the last picture.)

 Once they were done, I checked their work and then they were able to write the fractions on the hearts and cut the hearts in half! I gave each kid a baggie and they kept their puzzle pieces in them. As students finished they traded baggies and solved each others heart puzzles!

My students are keeping their puzzle pieces in their homework folder so they can practice them at home. I will probably end up stapling the baggie with the pieces in them in their math journal after our test this Friday for safe keeping!

Fraction and Decimal Task Cards FINISHED!!

I finally finished!!!! I've been working on creating task cards, coloring sheets and worksheets for all of the 4.NF Common Core strands! It has taken me almost a year to finish the whole thing! I usually get a lot done during the summer time, but I hardly worked on my TpT store this past summer since I was getting married, went on a honeymoon and then was in a wedding...very busy summer! So when Christmas break started this week I work up the first 3 days at 6:30AM, when my husband got up, and started working on the task cards! I am proud to say after about a year of slowly working on it and 400 questions later...it is complete! I am thrilled and very proud of it!!

Could be another reason it took so long to finish! My cat requires a lot of my attention!

Here is just one example of what some of the task cards look like. This is for 4.NF.6

I also make a worksheet version of ALL the task cards! This one is for 4.NF.3 c&d

I have the bundle of task cards (400 questions) for a discounted price right now in my TpT store for only $3!!! That is the regular price for just one set of task cards, worksheets and coloring sheet. I want to sell it for this low price as a thank you to all my followers who have been waiting for this bundle. I will eventually raise the price up, but I hope that people take advantage of the low price and review it and then WRITE a review for my TpT store!

Here is an example of another worksheet I make for EACH strand. These can be used as extra practice or an assessment for the strand. It is 20 questions! This one is for 4.NF.4a, b & c

Here is an example of the Coloring pages I make for EACH strand! This one is for 4.NF.5

Here is the worksheet that goes along with the coloring page. These are 10 questions each! I even put a small picture of the coloring page at the top of the question page so that if you ever print them out and mix them up by accident you know what question page goes with which coloring page!  This one is for 4.NF.7

Check it out here and preview it!

I use these task cards ALL the time in centers when teaching and reviewing these skills. I think they are great and hope you do too!

Hour of Code

Hour of Code is something our students have done for the past two years and the students love it! Our entire school participates and students of all ages can do it. Whether we like it or not, times are changing and technology is becoming more and more apart of our daily lives. Our students will have jobs using technology that is not even invented yet...that is an amazing thing to think about. How can we prepare them for the future and their future education and jobs when we do not even know what type of education and jobs will be needed in the next 10-15 years!? One thing we know we can do is introduce them to coding!

We have a group of teachers get together and make the schedule to get all the teachers and students in to the computer lab in a 2 week time period. We have responsible 5th graders go to the kindergarten and 1st grade sessions with the teacher so that they can walk around and help the students and teachers. We also allow 5th grade teachers go to other classrooms too to help if a teacher requests it! (It's usually the not so "techy" teachers and that is ok!!!) 

Everything we use on a daily basis, technology wise, requiers codes to create it and make it work. As of right now those jobs are booming and there are not a lot of people to fill those much needed jobs! Hour of Code is a way that students can learn about coding and even code their own video games! It is a way to inspire children to consider learning coding and hopefully join a job that needs them to code! Students love learning that some of their favorite games are created because of coding!

I am always amazed how some children pick this up like it is nothing! To me it is like a foreign language! I have a hard time even helping...so I use this hour to help as much as I can, but to also allow the students to help one another complete each round of coding! 

Go to www.hourofcode.com

I encourage you to watch the 2 minute video on the home page of hour of code and discuss the importance of learning this new technology and take one hour out of your day just one time this school year and expose your child to this type of growing skill. 

Students do not need to log in, they just go to the site and press start and pick a game to practice with. There are videos they can watch to explain more why coding is important. I would recommend students bring head phones! You do not have to teach or explain anything, just let them click and explore! After the hour is up they can print a certificate! Students can also get on this site at home or anytime they have computer time to practice, play and learn!

The goal is to get 2 million students to code for one hour by December!!

Take a leap for your children, you will not regret it!!!