I’ve always enjoyed the time of year after testing and before summer vacation, which for me is about six weeks. It’s nice to teach without the stress of the big test hanging over my head. It’s also the time of year when I feel like I have a little more flexibility than usual, because ideally […]
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My absolute favorite thing to teach in math is area and perimeter. There are SO MANY fun things to do with this topic that keep students active, moving, and engaged. In this post, I’ve shared some of my favorite methods for teaching area and perimeter. Each of these lessons are from my Third Grade Area
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Teaching poetry can be a rewarding experience! Most upper elementary students love learning about poetry. It’s new, different, and a genre where all students can find a style of poetry they enjoy. The easiest place to begin teaching poetry is to simply read poetry to students, whether it is of a silly or serious variety.
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I love using these spring math centers for 4th grade! If you teach third grade, you can see my 3rd Grade Spring Math Centers here. These activities should take me through all of March and April. In April we’ll be out a week for spring break (yippee!!) and I won’t have centers during testing week.
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Teaching nonfiction text structure can be a bit of a challenge to make interesting for students. Nonfiction text structures can also be a difficult concept for students to completely grasp and apply. However, it’s an important part of reading comprehension, especially with informational text. Fortunately, I have a few strategies that have been efficient, AND
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This week completed our unit on space. I wanted to end the unit in a big way, so I dedicated an entire day to teaching about space through activities. I hung a space backdrop on one of my larger walls, which made a big show! Finally, I placed a space tablecloth on my two tables.
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Who has ever experienced this scenario? You spend weeks conceptually teaching fractions. You incorporate hands-on activities, multiple models and visual representations. Your students complete a variety of problem solving tasks in authentic situations. You also have students writing about fractions in their math journals. Then a few weeks after your fraction unit you have a
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Many upper elementary teachers notice a severe lack of number sense in their students, and that makes high levels of math extremely difficult for students. Number sense refers to “a well organized conceptual framework of number information that enables a person to understand numbers and number relationships and to solve mathematical problems that are not
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Geometry is typically the one topic in math I run out of time to teach thoroughly. While I certainly believe it’s an important topic, I do place my greatest emphasis on my standards that incorporate number sense and operations. With that shortened time frame, I have to make sure my lessons are as powerful as
Teaching Geometry in Upper Elementary Read More »
Guided reading groups are one of the most complex areas of planning and instruction. I still remember when I first started teaching thinking, “Okay, I have my groups. Now what do I do?” Hopefully, this post will be helpful to anyone who has experienced that same thought or feeling. You can read this post for
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