The Happy Learning Den

We did it again! (And we will do it again next year too!) Six classes of 5th grade students were "set up" by their parents and teachers for a Valentine's Day surprise!
All 5th grade students went home the week prior with a sealed envelope for their parents.  Students were given explicit instructions not to open the envelope, that it was only for their parents.  I told my class that it was information about middle school, and that if they open it something important might fall out (insert devious smile here).  One student told me the next day that he knew what was in the envelope.  When I inquired about what he knew, he told me that he could only tell me outside the classroom.  He told me that he read the first line as his mom was opening the envelope and saw the word "SURPRISE" written on the first line.  So he knew the truth.  That middle school teachers from all the schools were going to come and surprise them.  I LOVED THIS!  
Of course I played along.  I told him that under no circumstances was he to tell anyone else.  That he would ruin the surprise for others.  He then looked down and told me that he already told 2 of his friends in class.  Lol!  I told him not to tell anyone else... it spread like wildfire!  
February 13th, from 2-7pm parents came to decorate their child's desk.  Of course some parents weren't able to come due to a variety of reasons.  Thankfully, parents donated extra balloons and decorations after they were done with the ones they wanted.  I had also gone to the dollar store and bought several different balloons and other decorations.  This way no student was left out.  
February 14th, students were not allowed into the hallway.  This gave parents time to sneak into the classrooms and wait to surprise their child.  When all 5th graders were allowed up, we told them that inside the classrooms were middle school teachers waiting to give them an important presentation.  And then they went inside and saw the explosion of love:







Once parents left (around 8:15), I had controlled chaos for the rest of the day.  :-)   I showed a Valentine's Day Idiom PowerPoint that I created.  Idioms about love!  Perfect timing!  Once I had shown the PowerPoint, and students had a few silly discussions, students took the 5 question quiz at the end of the PowerPoint.  (This quickly brought their energy down for a few moments since now they started to realize that there would also be work on this day- not just a party day.
After the quiz, they wrote stories using candy heart stickers that I bought at the Dollar Store.  The only rule was that it had to be "appropriate" for school, and that it would be read out loud.  This was also a perfect day for students to write thank you letters for all the Donor's Choose projects that had been funded this school year... I never seem to be able to find time to do that.  I was very happy with how excited they were to thank people for donating to the classroom.  
I have a variety of center games, some that I created and others that I purchased on Teachers Pay Teachers... that I put out for learning rotations.  We also played Scoot with some task cards that I created for review.  I wasn't planning on playing Scoot, but a few students requested to play.  How can I say no to learning?  :-)  So I managed to get two games of Scoot squeezed into the day!  The first one that students played was using my Operations and Algebraic Thinking task cards.  Students have played this game multiple times, and they are getting pretty good at it.  I decided to change it up a little.  I didn't put the task cards in consecutive order around the room.  This way I could make sure that they hadn't just memorized the answers and were actually doing the work.
Students also played Scoot using my Multiplying Decimals task cards.  Once again, I didn't put the cards in numerical order because they have played so often.  However, lots of learning was taking place so I was a VERY HAPPY teacher.  And all of this took place in a classroom where it looked like Valentine's Day had exploded.

After lunch we had our Valentine's Day party, and then they cleaned up the room and took everything home.  It was just as amazing as it was last year!  Which you can read about here if you are interested.  I hope this is something we continue to do every year.  It is beautiful and oh so special!

I hope you enjoyed reading about Love-fest 2017!
~Sandy @The Happy Learning Den

We have all been there.  We've given an amazing lesson.  Students were engaged, correctly answered questions and explained their steps they took to solve it, were able to give alternative ways to solve problems... and you feel confident that you can now assign practice problems.

And then... BAM!  It happens.  You know what I am talking about!  It's that exact moment your students realize that there are *gasp* word problems for them to solve!  Before you even have a moment to take a sip of water or just gather your thoughts you hear something like...
In most classrooms, there are students who are below grade level in reading.  So they have difficulty determining what the problem is asking. Then there are other students who struggle with word problems because they do not understand which part of the text is relevant.  And of course, some students struggle with reading AND figuring out which information is needed to solve the problem.

I have a few strategies that I find useful.  Let me know what you think!

1.)  I read the math problem to the students.  Sometimes this is done whole group, while other times I do this in small group.  I  use this strategy every single day! I have students in my class who are English Language Learners and/or below grade level in reading.  By taking the "stress" out of reading the word problem, students can focus on the math piece.

2.)  Students are quite familiar with the concept of "Close Reading."  After all, they dig deeper to analyze the text daily during Reading, Science, and Social Studies.  So why not have students 'close read' their math problems? I have students rereading math problems a minimum of four times, and doing something different EACH time with the information.  By the last step, students have a better understanding of how to solve the problem.  Some of my students are able to memorize the steps and use it without me reminding them.
I have a blog post if you are interested in reading about it.  Just click here!

3.)  Whenever I introduce a new math concept I use a real world word problem or story.  For instance, in my class we are currently working on fractions.  I don't want students to think that they will only do this in math class!!!  So we discuss real world situations that involve math.

"It's your birthday and you and all 15 of your guests want a piece of birthday cake.  How many pieces do need to be cut?"  (Answer:16)
Or "before you pass out the pieces of cake, your mom puts birthday candles on half of your cake.  How much of your cake has candles?" (Answer 1/2, and then you can start developing the understanding that 8 pieces out of 16 is 1/2 of the whole.  Equivalent fractions!!!)

4.)  One of my favorite strategies to help my students become more successful with word problems doesn't involve me speaking a lot.  At least two times a week (when my schedule allows it), I have students take their homework up to my document camera and explain how they solved the problem.  This involves students rereading the problem, circling any numbers needed to solve, underlining key words, and then explaining the steps as well as doing the math.  During this time we discuss misconceptions, strategies, and new ways of thinking.  I love when students show me a new way to solve a problem!

I hope you are enjoyed reading this post.  Please leave a comment below to let me know if any of these strategies help you!
Happy Teaching!
:-) Sandra @The Happy Learning Den

Happy New Year everybody!  
This is going to be a fantastic year!  
This is the first Friday of 2017 and I am still on winter vacation. (I do go back to school Monday, but I am not thinking about that right now.)    

Most of this vacation I either spent in the gym, with family and friends, or lounging on the couch.  I did not bring home one single paper to correct, nor did I bring home any lesson plans!  I made sure to complete the first week back lesson plans before I walked out of school the last day of break.

However, I did complete a teensy tiny tidbit of work while on break, and I am so glad that I did.  

During the first week of winter vacation, I finished a major project.  A teacher friend/colleague and I have been working for over a year creating scales for the Florida math standards.  We were informed by our administration at the beginning of the last school year (August 2015) that all classrooms must have standards, scales, and activities posted. Easier said than done!


(FYI the school board does provide the standards, in teacher language, however they are not student friendly at all.  I don't know about you, but if students don't understand it, I'm not wasting valuable wall space.  Also, and I am sure we were not the only teachers who faced this, some of the standards are not teacher friendly either.  A few of the standards are difficult to figure out!)  

The first thing we did was turn to Teachers Pay Teachers, but all we could find during our searches were the standards written in fancy fonts and pretty colors.  So we worked together to write each standard on 8.5 x 11 inch posters and include the information that we knew our administration required.  All posters have the standard in teacher language (small print), student friendly language (large print), a 1-4 scale with level 3 always being the proficient scale and level 4 always being the "enrichment" level.  We struggled many times with levels 1 & 2, because breaking a standard down into smaller pieces while maintaining the integrity of the original standard is no easy feat.  But we did it!  Yes!  Sweet relief!  

MAFS.5.MD.1.1 Converting Standard Measurements

We also struggled with how to include the activities section.  After all, our classroom demographics are significantly different.  We had some heated discussions over what the activities should be, but after a few months we realized that not having the same activities in our classrooms was normal/typical/par for the course.  We left it blank.  After all, the students we have from one school year to the next are different too.  We decided to put each poster in a sheet protector and we will guide our math groups and help students create the activities for the levels.  Talk about taking ownership of their learning! 

Now those of you who know me know that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE clip art.  So we made sure to include student friendly clip art on each poster.  After all, we want our students to feel comfortable interacting with the standards.  If I am required to have it posted, then it MUST be student friendly.

If you are interested in checking out this major undertaking click here, if not, scroll down for my New Year Resolutions for 2017.

Resolutions for 2017

#1. I'll grade papers in a timely fashion - at least before the stack buries me. 

#2. I'll stop comparing my anchor charts and bulletin boards to the stuff I see on Pinterest - my colleagues' out-of-this-world creativity is enough for me to feel inferior.

#3. I will not bad mouth the copy machine when it jams - after all, I have plenty of time to come back later.  I don't need to eat my lunch!

#4. I will keep my hands, feet, objects, and unkind words to myself when non-teachers tell me how to run my classroom.  Yes.  Really.

#5. I will not pray for a hurricane day every Sunday night during Hurricane Season - even though it would be nice to sleep an extra hour or two.