Blog

Discover Pi on 3.14

March 14th is the perfect day to explore the Greek number, Pi. Why? Because the number Pi is approximately 3.14. And, it’s a great time to introduce the concepts of circumference and diameter in a relevant, fun way.

I like to have students learn about a new concept though exploration and discovery. Instead of teaching a rule they’ve that will be forgotten, students generate the rule through what they believe is exploration and play.

Begin the lesson by telling students they will be have a Pi Day! Of course, they’ll think they’re getting cherry, apple or lemon meringue pie but, no, they will be learning about the Greek number, Pi.

Students will need a tape measure, ruler, paper and pencil. Send them on a scavenger hunt to find circular or cylindrical objects. Have them make a chart and record the circumference and diameter. Have students take the circumference and divide it by the diameter to discover the number, Pi. Discuss what students have discovered.

When they ask where’s the pie, tell them they’ve just discovered it! THEN bring out some pie to eat to celebrate and culminate the activity.

Enjoy 3.14 day!

Learn all about the number, Pi — Explore the number, Pi

Biography Projects That Students Enjoy!

Students love having choices, but they may not love writing reports. I’m going to share how using CHOICE you can watch your elementary students eagerly work on and create some amazing biography projects. Use student enthusiasm to integrate and teach deep concepts at the same time with the focus on learning more about a famous person during a biography report project.

Biography projects are great opportunities to teach skills like reading writing and public speaking.

There are so many educational standards to cover during the course of your year but by integrating them into a fun and engaging project, you can do it! Keep reading!

Biography anchor charts are included with the biography project for grades 3, 4 and 5.

A well-designed project-based biography project can integrate and cover lots of content standards, including:

·Reading – a novel at his/her own reading level and comprehending the non-fiction text

·Writing – note taking, rough draft writing, final copy writing, poetry writing, listing sources used for research

·Speaking – public speaking during a wax museum event or other presentation can let students demonstrate the speaking standards to show content, organization, use of proper language, and having a good delivery

·Citing Sources – writing a bibliography of sources using proper format

·Math and Art – Students will draw their famous person, using math to measure their own face dimensions and then draw their person’s face to the proper proportional scale

Biography projects are more engaging when you give them a choice of who to write and learn about.

Use learning about famous people as the motivator. If you ask students to tell you who they would want to learn more about, you’ve almost got them hooked. YES! They willingly dig in and get to work because they chose the person. It’s so easy but it works.

Biography projects allow students to read novels at their own reading level.

Allow students to read a novel to learn all about their favorite person. Make sure the book is the proper reading level. There are lots of biography series books and they make a great item to begin collecting for your classroom library. Here are a few places to find good biography books for elementary students to get you started. (Note, I’m not making any money from providing these links).

“Who Was . . . ?” Series – a great series for elementary readers

“The Story of . . . “ Series – has various age ranges for each book

ABDO Books – search their catalog by reading level, interest, Lexile rating and more!

Introduce the Research Project Have students take notes while reading about their famous person. Teach student the importance of writing down books and online sources they used and have them create a bibliography.

of writing down books and online sources they used and have them create a bibliography.

My biography website collection is designed for grades 3, 4 and 5 and is geared to help students stay safer while conducing Internet research.

I created a website for my students to use for biography research that includes 125 famous people with web links pre-selected. Students can use any of the websites on the web page built for the this project to research famous person. This helped ease my mind that students would be researching and are safe using the Internet.

Biography timeline templates are included in the the complete biography project for grades 3, 4 and 5.

Ask students to find important dates in the person’s life. I give students the choice of recording a minimum 8 events, and by doing this, you may find that many students will go above and beyond the minimum and find 10 or more events.

Biography final copy paper is also included in the complete biography unit and biography project.

When the report components have been completed, students may be losing enthusiasm to keep going BUT, give them another choice and watch them perk back up! Give students a choice of final copy paper to use. Yes, something that simple works! You can offer students choice of paper with a fun scroll border, paper with a barbed wire look, paper that allows them to color the border, paper with different sized line spacing, or maybe it’s choosing a background color for their final digital biography project. Choice helps motivate students!

Students enjoy having control over their learning. Give it to them while YOU present a curriculum-rich project that reaches the standards you need to.

Biography file folder project in print and digital format perfect for students in grades 3, 4, and 5.

If you’re looking for a complete BIOGRAPHY REPORT PROJECT in print and digital format especially for grades 3-5 with everything you and your students need for a print and digital use, you can see it in my TpT store.

Fostering Learning During School Shut Downs

School closures. Teaching remotely. Being unsure of when students will return to school after the Coronavirus closures. These are unprecedented times. My heart goes out to you all during these difficult times. I wanted to do some little thing to help out so I created a set of free calendars and newsletters to help you stay in contact with your students and families during this unprecedented Coronavirus crisis. I hope these free calendars and newsletters ease some of the stress on you. I have also compiled a list of online resources for parents and teachers which you can find below.

For Teachers – School to Home Communicator

Using the School-to-Home Communicator ~ Ideas for Use:

Use the PowerPoint tile to customize and type your information. Save the pages you need as a PDF. You have permission to email or distribute to your students and families through your district network Please do not share this file. Please ask teachers to download their own copy of this free file.

Use the fonts you like. Shrink or enlarge the font to fit the boxes. Add your own clip art if you wish.

Calendar page ideas:

Keep students and parents informed during the challenges of school closures
Use extra boxes to write a quote or inspirational message
Type your contact email and school phone number

Second page ideas:

The second page is totally flexible. Make your own category headings.
Use the second page as a weekly newsletter or second page to your monthly newsletter
List spelling words, learning goals, events, due dates, celebrate student milestones (birthdays, awards, kudos, etc.) and whatever else you need
List website addresses your students and families need and use for student projects
Share subject area content

I hope this helps ease the difficulty of teaching remotely.

For Parents & Kids – Free Online Educational Resources To Fill Time At Home

Please note – these links are here for reference and updated on 3-19-20, please use your discretion before allowing students/kids to access. If you’ve found a great resource that isn’t included and you think it should be, feel free to drop a comment below with the link and I’ll get it added!

Science

Math

Arts

Language Arts

Scholastic Learn At Home – daily activities, scroll to bottom to choose your grade level (preK – 9th grade)
Story Time From Space – Youtube Video Collection
Storyline Online – Listen to books
Spanish Story Time – Stories read in Spanish with written English Translations
English Zone – activities, worksheets, games etc. organized by topic
Read, Write, Think – Lessons, Interactives & Ideas Grades 3-4 (you can change the grade level)
Reader’s Theater Scripts – by Aaron Shep
IXL ELA Resources Grade 3
IXL ELA Resources Grade 4
Poems for Kids
Daily Grammar – has lessons and quizzes by topic

History & Social Studies

All Subjects

Physical Activity

Beachbody Kids Workouts – geared towards fun movement/dance

Museums

I hope this post helps teachers, parents, and children feel a little more at ease during these strange and unprecedented times. Remember to take time to love one another, spread kindness, get a breath of fresh air outside, and wash your hands. 🙂

Division Strategies Made Easier – Partial Quotients Method and More!

Do your students groan when you say you’re going to be working to learn division strategies? With better understanding and easy to use methods, that won’t be the case. If you teach Common Core division, you probably know about the partial quotients method, but what about the box method, area model, and grid model. How about rectangle sections division or the expanded notation division method? There are lots of choices to learn division. What works for one student may not work for another, which is why teaching multiple methods is so important!

Division strategies for elementary students explained in detail including partial quotients, area model, distributive method, long division and MORE!

Before you begin teaching division, ensure that students have a solid understanding of multiplication, the meaning of “making equal groups of,” “divvying up,” and “sharing fairly.” This is a crucial foundation to teaching division with larger numbers.

Make sure students have a solid understanding of how multiplication and division are related through fact families, for example, 4 x 6 = 24, 6 x 4 = 24, 24/4= 6, 24/6 =4. This is will help speed up the division process. Use fact family flash cards to help reinforce these skills.
*Hint: Get spinner flash cards here
*Hint: Need help teaching Multiplication, check out this Blog post

Teach fact families and multiplication and division with these spinner flash cards that are FUN for older students.

If you really want to get the idea of fact families and divisibility across, money (fake Monopoly money or your classroom economy), is a great real life way to do so! Choose 4 volunteers to demonstrate. Take a $20 bill and four-$1s and give it to one student then ask the student to divide the money among all 4 of the students fairly. Let the student figure out (and help if needed) that s/he needs to trade the cash for smaller bills first in order to divide the money equally. As the student distributes a dollar bill one at a time to each of the 4 students, record using tally marks. When you’re finished, ask each student how much they got and reinforce 4 students with $6 each equals $24. 4×6 = 24 AND 24/4 = 6

Teach lots of different division strategies and allow students to use the ones that make sense.

ALWAYS USE REAL LIFE PROBLEMS

Teach division using the context of real-life problems that are meaningful for students. Some great ways to start are sharing money, sharing candy, or sharing a whole pizza. Begin with problems students can easily do with whole answers (ie: 8 slices of pizza between 4 students, $20 between 5 students, 30 pieces of candy between 3 students) and model the math on the board. Check and prove the answer using multiplication each time to reinforce the relationship of division with multiplication.

Examples of Progression of division and divisibility:

The six students on the recycling team shared 30 pieces of pizza. How many pieces did each student get? (30/6 = 5 pieces each).

Then move to a problem that has a remainder such as:

The six students on the recycling team were going to share some pizza. Then three more students arrived who would also be sharing the 30 pieces of pizza. How many pieces did each student get? (30/9=3 pieces each with 3 pieces left over or 3 r3). Help students take the remaining 3 pieces and divvy them up into thirds, so each student would also get 1/3 of a piece.

INTRODUCE A PROBLEM SO YOU CAN TEACH THE PARTIAL QUOTIENTS DIVISION METHOD

Next, move on to more challenging problem that can’t be solved easily. This problem is perfect to allow you to teach the partial quotients method. The partial quotients method makes a problem easier to do, since the divisor gets smaller each time and the numbers get more manageable.

There are 28 fifth graders who will share 890 pieces of Halloween candy. How many pieces of candy will each student get?

Partial quotients stacking method explained step by step and color coded so students can follow the steps.

Remember when teaching division that there are 10 ways! What works for one student may not work for the next, and that’s okay. There are so many different methods you can use to teach division. For some learners, the standard algorithm long division works. For others, the area model makes more sense while other students might like the rectangle sections method. *Hint: Check out this Division Strategies PowerPoint, posters, and folded booklet to help teachers, students and parents find the method that works for each child.

Teach 10 different division strategies with the bundled set of worksheets, posters, reference booklet, slideshows, interactive notebook flaps and more.

10 Division Strategies at a glace. Each strategy is further expanded upon within the division strategies set that you can find in my TpT store.

NEW! Now also in DIGITAL format, for distance learning!

10 Division Strategies Explained with color coding and step by step directions perfect for all students bay Mrs. Renz Class.

Writing to Explain Thinking in Math Problem Solving

Have you ever heard your students say, “Ugh, why do I have to write about how I solved the math problem?” If students can TELL you what they did to solve the problem, they can WRITE about it. It seems like a daunting task to get students writing, but step by step you can do it. This blog post is lengthy, but worth the read if you are serious about helping students explain their thinking with confidence.

Why Students Need to Write About Their Thinking

Let’s think about the big picture of why we ask students to share their thinking when they are solving math problems. Fast forward to the employment years. When businesses hire employees, the employee will never be given a math problem to be solved. They will be given a PROBLEM to be solved. They will need to defend their thinking with their boss to convince him/her of their findings. Students are in training for their future.

Give students a structure when problem solving.

Ask students to restate or tell in their own words what the problem is asking. Students will tell what they know and what they need to figure out.

Next, have students draw a picture, diagram, sketch, T-chart, table, or whatever helps show their thinking. Encourage students to draw arrows and underline things that help them explain what they are thinking. Students should show what they are thinking in this space.

Then ask students to write using words, sentences, lists or whatever it takes to explain the steps they took to solve the problem. Encourage students to pretend the person reading their explanation does not understand at all so they need to be very clear in their explanation.

Have students state the answer and underline or put a box around it. Remind students to always label the units on their answer. They will also prove they are right.

Collect Student Work Samples and Practice Scoring Sample Tasks

When you being problem solving and integrating writing to the process, be patient. It takes time to help students become comfortable explaining and drawing about their thinking.

Look for great student examples so you can show students what great pictures, drawings, and explanations look like. Talk to your teaching partners and help each other find examples of student work you can use for practice scoring. Compile your stash of great examples and add to it each year. Be sure to white out student names for privacy. Label the papers, Student A, B, C, etc. Using actual student work helps students understand what they are being asked to do.

Teach Students How to Read the Scoring Guide

Teach the parts of your district or state scoring guide. Get students into groups of four. Give each student in the group a completed student math task and scoring guide. Once you’ve found a few student example tasks, give students the task of scoring an actual student math task. Ask students to use the scoring guide and score the math task. Encourage students to discuss their thinking as they score the task. In time, students will become more comfortable as they defend their thinking. After students have scored the student work, show the actual scores the task earned. Discuss and allow students to review the scores they assigned compared to the actual scores earned. If you can allow students three or four opportunities to score student work, you will see their confidence build.

Showing Thinking

Show examples as you teach students to take time drawing sketches and label them. Draw and use T-charts to organize data. T-charts are so handy and helpful to see patterns, too. Draw number lines and show the jumps needed to get an answer. Draw a map or picture. Encourage using color if that helps the visual explanation.

Writing to Explain Thinking

Have students begin by using ordinal words like, “First I …, then I …, next I …, last I…” Encourage students to slow down and explain like they would talk.

When students have the answer, insist they label the units and then either underline their final answer or draw a box around it. I love joking with students when they forget to label the units. I say, “Your answer is 14? 14 toothpicks? 14 dimes? 14 thousand dollars? 14 pickles?” Students laugh and get that units do matter.

Proving the Answer Correct

An important part of the math task is proving they answer is correct. Students may begin by saying, “I’m right because I am right.” In time, they will become better and better and eventually become masters of proving their answer is correct. You need to encourage them to think like a defense attorney whose job is to make sure their client is proved innocent and apply that method to their “proof”. Use the analogy of the story of Jack and the Beanstalk as you set the stage for proving that Jack is innocent or guilty. In the story, Jack climbs the beanstalk several times and each time he returns home with things he took from the Ogre including a goose, gold coins, and a harp. Ask students to pretend they are the attorney accusing Jack of the crimes of breaking and entering the Ogre’s house and theft of his possessions. As Jack’s attorney, you can’t say to the jury and judge, “I’m right because I know I am right.” You have to PROVE it with facts and other evidence. The same is true in math problem solving. How do you KNOW you are right? Can you prove it? What facts and details do you have? Does your picture match the equation you wrote? Did you solve the problem a different way and get the same answer? Is your sketch labeled correctly to prove your thinking? Ask your students to be the jury and give a response of “thumbs up/I’m convinced” or “thumbs down/I’m not convinced” verdict.

Be Patient! Keep Practicing!

Take it one day at a time and know that with repeated consistent practice, your students will get more and more comfortable writing to explain mathematical thinking. Remind your students that their future boss will give them a real-life problem to be solved and they need to be skilled to justify their thinking. With practice, students will have the confidence to undertake the task willingly and cheerfully.

Advice for a New Teacher

Dear New Teacher,

Welcome to the best profession there is. It’s by far one of the most rewarding, but also most challenging. There are so many things to think about when you land that first job that your head starts spinning from classroom set-up and decor, getting to know the new lay of the land, getting to know your teaching partners and school district, getting to know your students, teaching to the standards, parent teacher conferences, the list goes on and on.

Here are some words of advice for you, new teacher:

1. Teaching is a job that never ends so set the limits for yourself and take care of yourself. You WILL work more than the typical 8hrs a day quite frequently. You’ll be thinking about your students and their needs and how to do a better job all the time. But remember, it’s okay to put all the schoolwork aside to take care of you. When you’re healthy and happy, your students will thrive. Make time to get out there, do what you love, whether it’s traveling, kayaking, having coffee dates with friends, walking the dog, etc. The most important thing to remember is you DO have time to take care of you.

2. Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day. It took me years to get the hang of teaching, discipline, and building rapport with students. I encountered my fair share of “false starts”, “backfires” “mis-steps” but none of there were ever a full force failure, because were all learning and growing experiences. Every year you teach you will be a better teacher. Each lesson you teach and each discipline issue you encounter, you’ll find a way to handle it better or say it better next time. It also takes time to acquire things to decorate your classroom. You don’t need to have the perfect Pinterest classroom to be a great teacher. You can create the basics, but don’t underestimate the power of student decor in your classroom! Students love to see their work on the walls, and it’s FREE decor that you can change as you see fit.

3. Laugh and show your students you are a real person. When students point out your mistakes, agree with them, laugh. It makes you a real person. Wear the craziest hat on crazy hat day. Sing the goofy songs that kids help kids remember the 6 times tables. Play games with your students. Tell stories. Connect with your students by showing them you’re interested in them.

4. Respect your students and teach them as if they were your own children. Remember that each child you teach is the most special person to their family and relatives. If you teach each student as if s/he is your own child, you will be mindful to respect those precious kiddos who are entrusted to your care. You’ll do a better job of teaching and they will do a better job of trying to learn.

5. Teach ALL students as if they are gifted. They will surprise you and appreciate your belief in them. Every now and then, teach concepts that are above the grade level you are teaching. Students will either get it or they’ll hear it again in a year or two. It’s okay! It stretches them. Allow all learners to have the opportunity for the enrichment activities. Your special needs learners will surprise you by learning and doing things if given the chance. It helps their self esteem to be better at something than their peers. Let them shine and have their moment.

6. Never compare yourself to others. No one has the unique skills that you possess. No one has your personality or comes with your uniques skills and talents. Don’t compare yourself to other teachers who’ve been teaching for awhile or to pictures of perfect classrooms you see on Pinterest. Your decorating abilities don’t make you a better teacher. Sure, make your classroom learning space fun and kid friendly, but it doesn’t have to be perfect or cost your first month’s paycheck. Do watch what great teachers do and learn effective ways of teaching and dealing with students and difficult situations but don’t compare yourself to the teacher. Be yourself. Be YOU.

7. Ask for help! It’s okay to get help from your teaching partners. They know the routines and can offer lots of advice that might save you time and energy. Listen and then do what you need to do in your own way. Probably the most challenging things to learn are in behavior management. (Hint, see #4 and #5 above). Learning effective classroom management skills comes with time and each child is different so there’s no perfect way that works for all students.

8. Find a way to get and stay organized . Whatever you do, be/get organized. Find the systems that work for you. You might be a binder person, or a crate and tub person, or an online organizer, or a filing cabinet person. It doesn’t matter what you choose, just choose what feels right for you and be organized. It will save your sanity. Years ago when I found great websites, I saved them on my website in my online file cabinet so I could find those great sites again. I’ve tried all kinds of methods to get organized in the classroom. For my teacher materials, calendars, duty schedules, student information, lesson plans etc. I have to use a 3-ring binder so I can add and removed materials as the year progresses. There are some super cute pre-made spiral bound teacher planners that I wanted like but they just never worked for me. We’d get a new duty schedules, goal setting sheets, testing information, etc. that I could file behind the right divider tab. I could take out the beginning of the year lesson plans and file them, giving me more space in my binder. For curriculum storage, binders were expensive and I would put the papers in binder front pocket because the paper wasn’t punched. Besides, after years of teaching, you just can’t have enough binders to store all those great ideas and you don’t have the space. For the paper items and ideas, I had file cabinets full of ideas all organized by drawer and filed alphabetically. I had one 4-drawer file cabinet full of math topics. When I’d find great ideas, I’d put them into file folders. I never had to open binders and punch holes. The first file folder in each drawer was a “To Be Filed” one so I could quickly plop the paper in and worry about filing it exactly until later. That plus my online website links worked for me. Just find what works for you and stay organized.

9. YOU are enough! A happy, healthy teacher is a more effective teacher. You’ve worked hard to get your teaching degree. You can do this job and you’ll be great. I’m not saying it will always be easy. It won’t. Your students will appreciate you and you’ll make a difference in their lives. The notes of appreciation and words that you made a difference in their lives makes it all worth it. You’ve got this!

When you take a step back and remember these simple things, you will feel a little less stressed, and a little more empowered. Don’t sweat the little things! Have a great year!

Sincerely,

Heather Renz,
from Mrs. Renz Class

P.S. If you are looking for somewhere to start and want access to some great FREE online web-links for all subjects, click here to follow me (it’s free) to get access to the huge collection of links!

Wrapping Up the School Year

It’s mid May and the countdown to the end of the year is on! The end is coming and school will be over before you know it. There’s SOOO much to do! How will you get it all finished? The to-do list seems to be ever growing. My mind races between all the things to get done, finish file and organize end of the year portfolios, complete report cards, classroom inventory, clean up and organize the room, and of course we can’t forget yearbook signing day!

I have a love/hate relationship with yearbooks. I love how adorable they are and how they capture the big events of the year for my students. But, that comes at a price. I don’t like that not all of my students can afford a yearbook, and they end up missing out on all the photo memories of the year. Even worse, on yearbook signing day the students without a yearbook often sit back and watch their peers or try to pull out a scrap piece of paper to fit in.
The solution? I make memory books for each student in my class. Memory books have lots of pages in them that help students reflect on their year, What were the highlights? What was the favorite field trip? What was the funniest memory from the year? What are students most proud of learning? The memory books are a great way to keep kids engaged (and writing) at the end of the year, give each kids something to be signed for yearbook signing day, and give them memories to last a lifetime.

Memory books can be as simple or elaborate as you want them to be. If you’re short on time, need something right away, here’s the folded memory book If you’re a teacher who captures lots of photos, you can easily make a few photos pages to add into the memory books. I personally like to start memory books at the beginning of the school year. I use a plastic crate and make a file folder for each student to hold the custom memory book photo pages. On field trips, class plays, talent shows, etc. I like to take a class photo and a photo of a smaller groups of students. Then I make a custom memory memory book page writing a little blurb about the field trip and include the generic photo of the trip or whole class photo along with the smaller group photo. If you want to make it easier, you can just do a group photo rather than personalizing a page for each student. Once the special page is complete, I file them away. When the pages are filed into the student folders, the newest pages always get filed at the back of the stack so the book come out in order. At the end of the year, we used the book binder to bind all of the pages together. A parent volunteers does the book binding for me and that frees me up to do other end of the year tasks.
If you’re looking for a jump start, you can click here to get a peek at memory books for any grade in 1/2 page format. If you’d rather have a full page memory book, click here. My personal favorite memory book, half page. Why? It saves paper. It seems every year we are out of supplies and saving paper is a big deal. Smaller books are just plain more fun that a big sheet of paper. Student write neater when they are writing smaller.

Have fun, and enjoy the end of the year!

Teaching Fractions in Upper Elementary – Fraction Frenzy!

Fractions can be hard for students to learn and really understand. Make it a goal to help all students master fractions while they’re in your class. Using different approaches and lots of practice, students will become confident at working with fractions. Below are a few tips that helped students in my classroom master fractions.

Master multiplication first (multiplication and division have common fact families)
When you’re learning about common denominators, you want to focus on fractions, not on multiplies and how to find them. Teach the multiplication tables and work with multiples as much as you can so the terms become second nature. When students have strong basic fact skills, they can focus on the new concept. Do whatever it takes to master multiplication facts.
Hint: Here is a link to a set of flash cards ready to print and go to master those facts to make learning fractions a breeze.
Hint: Here is a link to a reference chart that reinforces multiples and common fractions to help along the way.
Use class data and create fractions every day
Every day of the year, ask a question that students respond to, then compute the fraction, convert it to a decimal, and then change it to a percent. Do this every day and you’ll be amazed at how students really understand fractions in real life. Here’s an example: Let’s say there are 24 students in class today. Ask a question such as, “Do you prefer to eat hamburgers, hot dogs, neither, or both?” Allow students to come up to the board and make a tally mark under their selection. If 11 students preferred hamburgers, write 11/24. If 8 like hot dogs, write 8/24. If 5 liked neither, write 5/24. Make sure that the numerator equals 24 students voting. Next allow students to use calculators to quickly get the decimals and then get the percent. Make sure the decimals add up to 1 whole (class). This daily practice gives students confidence working with fractions. Confidence is key when doing math. Here are some other questions to get you started: number of siblings, vanilla or chocolate ice cream, favorite season, pencils or pens, ski, snowboard, both, or neither, etc.
Hint: Here is a link to a ready made set in SMART board sign in to get you started.
Hint: Use the online website “Decifractator” to convert fractions to decimals. It has great sounds and works great on a SMART Board.
Use money to teach fractions
Students in my classroom loved money. I also used it to teach fractions. Pull out your plastic coin manipulatives. Use each coin to teach fractions of a dollar. For example, the penny: You’d need 100 pennies to make a dollar, so a penny is 1/100th of a dollar. You can then move on to combining coins, addition of fractions, and reducing the denominator. For example 2 quarters: Each quarter is 25/100 and together they equal 50/100 or 1/2 of 1 (whole) dollar.
Use visuals & hands on manipulatives
Fractions often feel overwhelming, until you can actually see them. Fractions is a key math area where you really need your manipulatives (circular pie manipulatives, number lines, number cubes, snap cubes, etc.). Teaching about the “whole” and “parts of a whole” can feel so foreign to students. I have found that by allowing students to see with their own eyes and handle the manipulatives that this diffucult concept become much easier.
Hint: If you don’t have manipulatives in your classroom, here is a link to a FREE online manipulative game.
Hint: Here is a link to a pattern block worksheet online that is totally free and (self checking)
Relate fractions to real life
Most students love foods like pie and pizza so use them to teach fractions. If you have faction circles, use them as your “pizza” or “pie” models. Students can create a pizza/pie store, where customers come through asking for a specific amount of the pizza/pie. Students can choose to cut their pizza into any number of pieces (I like to start at 6, 8, and 12). Then you can tell students that one person would like what is 1/6 of the pizza. Use this to cement the concept of equivalent fractions. Have students draw their pizzas. You can also have students add toppings like, there’s 15 mushrooms. Put 1/3 of them on the pepperoni pizza. Cover the pizza with 1/4 pineapple. Have students record the problems, then draw the pizzas. You can also use fractions to increase or decrease a recipe so it feeds more or less people, adding in addition and subtraction of fractions. For example, if a recipe calls for 1/2 cup of sugar and you want to double it, you now need 1/2 + 1/2 = 1 whole. One of my favorite activities to use with a recipe is during my teaching of the Oregon Trail. Kids LOVE to make pioneer apple crisp in Dutch oven. Take a recipe that would feed 8 people and increase the recipe so it feeds 24 people, 32 people, etc. Ask parents to volunteer to help supervise this activity. Bring in measuring cups and all the ingredients. Have students do the math and figure how much of each ingredient they will need. Students love cooking and the eating is the best part! Students can read silently as they watch and smell the apple crisp as it cooks. Put a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top and enjoy!
Hint: Here is a link to a ready to go lesson on increasing a recipe using fractions Increasing a recipe fractions lesson
Hint: Here is a link to an online fraction pizza game, Tony’s Fractions
Online practice
Practice makes perfect! There’s tons of websites that allow students to play games and practice their fraction skills. Use them! Students will learn through play what works and what doesn’t.
Hint: Take an online fractions quiz for grade 3. Fractions quiz for grade 4.
Hint: Play Fractions on a Number Line.
Hint: Play Cross the River Fractions (fraction recognition)
Hint: Ordering fractions game
Worksheet practice (ahhh…hold on a second)
Worksheets used in isolation without touching and manipulating fraction pieces can be frustrating without background and deeper knowledge. Worksheets do have a place when teaching fractions, however I typically introduce them after lots of hands on practice. If students are trying to follow rules without and understanding of what they’re doing, they won’t get to deep understanding. I have found that once students have grasped the basic concepts and have had hands-on practice, using worksheets helps, too.
Hint: Here is a link to a lesson kids love, quilt block fractions reinforcing fractions, symmetry, and ties well into teaching the Oregon Trail.
Practice, practice, practice!

Classroom Management Ideas for a Chatty Class That’s Driving you Crazy

Do you have a chatty classroom? It’s supposed to be quiet work time and the volume keeps growing and growing. But how do you stop it from happening in the first place? And what do you do when things start to get too loud? Here are a few ideas.

Start out the year with class rules (and review after breaks)
Starting out the year with a class discussion of the rules and expectations is essential for a successful year. It helps set the tone from day one. Whatever you decide for rules is fine, just make sure you establish an expectation of how your room will function when it’s time to work. There will be times you need absolute silence (testing), and times when a whisper voice is appropriate. When you’re doing group work, a normal speaking voice is okay. Sometimes, there will be another expectation of the noise level. I like to use a noise meter during activities so students know what the expected speaking volume is (think traffic light, red = no talking, yellow = whisper noise, green = normal indoor voices). When the noise is too loud, you need to establish routines to get the class back on the track, keep reading for more ideas! Post your classroom rules on the wall as a visual reminder for kids to always refer to. This will ensure you set your classroom on track for the year. It’s also a good idea to review classroom rules and expectations after a long break so students can easily get back into the routine.
Hint: Here is a link to a FREE classroom noise meter, ready to print and use.
Respect all the kids in your class
This one is a no brainer, we respect all of students…don’t we? We often THINK that we are treating all of our students the same, but we might be experiencing some implicit bias. Some bias towards the kids with good behavior, or away from the kids with poor behavior. These are biases within our subconscious that we really aren’t aware of, but can be. The more we recognize these biases, the better teachers we will become. There’s always that one kid just gets under your skin, won’t listen to you, takes more of your time than any other student in your class, and has behavior issues all the time. Spend more time building a working relationship with the kids who seem to need a little extra care and compassion. When kids know that you care about them, they are more apt to work for you and follow your class rules.
Hint: Interested in learning more about your own implicit biases? Check out this Harvard survey to learn more about yourself and your social preferences. Trust me, this is unique and will start to change the way you teach.
Create a unique signal to get kids back on track
It’s inevitable that things will get out of hand, and that students will get more chatty than you’d like. In these times, it’s helpful to have a universal signal to get kids back on track. Something as simple as the quiet coyote signal that you hold up and kids do too silently reminds each other that it’s quiet work time. You can also use an auditory signal. When it’s work time and the noise level is too high, try clapping twice, then say, “Class, class”. Teach students to respond, “Yes, yes.” followed by silence, so they are ready to hear directions. This works great not only in noisy situations but it also works great on field trips!
Allow kids movement breaks
Students need to wiggle and move so let them. I really believe that moving helps learning so give Brain Breaks and have students move then get back to work. When your group is super chatty, stop and have everyone stand up and do physical movements. Set a timer and do this for maybe 1 minute. Then it’s time to get back to work. Sometimes this breaks the cycle of chatting when they should be working.
Accountability Charts
You can have each student keep track of their own behavior. You can say, “Time to evaluate”. Ask students to evaluate their behavior. Ask, “How are you doing? Are you working and doing the right thing? Is your voice level appropriate?” There are any many ways to implement this. You can just verbally ask students and they can self reflect on their behaviors. For some classes, this works great! Other classes might need a little more concrete visual. There are lots of different styles of accountability charts out there that work for each kid to keep track of their behavior throughout the day. If students need a little extra help in honestly evaluating their behavior, you can choose to sign off on their behavior chart.
Hint: Want to get started with behavior charts? Here is a link to some editable behavior charts, easy to customize to best fit your classroom!
Allow socialization time throughout the day
It’s human nature to want to chat, and that’s okay at the appropriate times. So, make time to allow students to chat! This helps control unwanted chat during inappropriate times because they’ve already gotten it out. I like to allow time first thing during the day. This allows kids to talk to each other about what they did over the weekend, the exciting thing they did the previous night, or just to catch up with friends. I also like to set a timer so students know when chat time is over (see #12 for more info on the timer). I think building in time throughout the day for partner talk and small group talk is important during lessons. This allows appropriate socialization regarding the lessons at hand.
Moving kids might not be the answer
Students who have big personalities and those who love to talk won’t necessarily be silenced just because you move them to a new location. Students don’t like to be separated from their peers and moving them might make the situation worse. Those students who are super chatty might need to have a simple behavior contract to help them monitor their chatting. Again, set a goal for the student that is meaningful.
Class points
You can give class reward points for doing the right thing. I like to make my teacher life simple so I set up a simple T chart with C (for class) and R (for Mrs. Renz). If the expectation was followed, students earned a tally point, if not, I earned the tally point. At the end of the day students did the math to see how many points they earned and lost. Students subtracted their points from my points and the difference (reinforce the language of math) they equalled the points they got to keep. Add the day’s points to the class running point total and write it on the whiteboard. It was simple for me to implement and keep up with. We set a goal of 4 points earned per student. So if we had 24 students, when the class earned 4 x 24 = 96 points, students earned a class party. The party doesn’t have to be a huge party full of food and movies. It could be as simple as an extra 10-20 minute recess that day, getting to watch a 30 minute educational video, getting 30 minutes of silent reading time, etc.
Provide activities for students who are fast finishers
Fend off chatting by making it clear what to do when the task at hand is finished. Make a list of choices and ask students to refer to the list if they forget.
Hint: Here is a link to a blog post I wrote, all about how to challenge your fast finishers.
Have student leaders help monitor group behavior
Students monitor their own behavior when they are all working together, and best yet, your job gets easier! Set up an incentive program and have student groups earn points toward a goal. Better yet, have students help decide what the goal and rewards are going to be. Students can take turns being the group leader role.
Use a noise meter
Giving students a visual helps them know the expectation. Maybe a student came in after the directions were given. If you’ve got a visual reminder posted or displayed of the noise level expectation, it sets everyone up for success. You can use a poster or an online reminder.
Hint: Use Bouncy Balls noise meter, it’s FREE, and allows you to change the theme, sensitivity, and provides reminders when it’s too noisy!!
Hint: Here’s another free noise meter
Use a timer to count down quiet work time or socialization time
It really helps to give kids a set of rules and expectations for the time frame of noise levels. If you want your classroom silent, kids may get antsy about when they can talk again, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, and hour? This can cause kids to start to whisper, and all of the sudden the noise level is at an unacceptable level. Set a timer. This visually shows kids how much longer they are expected to be quiet, whisper talking, etc. It helps set a concrete expectation, and kids have less anxiety and impulse to talk knowing when it is acceptable again.
Hint: Here is a link to a great set of classroom timers that you can pick with animation and audible alerts that kids love.

Remember, whatever you choose to do within your classroom, make sure it’s consistent. When you’re consistent, students will understand the expectations. Cheers to a quiet(er) classroom!

10 Tips To Effectively Teach Poetry

Are you gearing up to teach poetry but just aren’t sure where to start?! Have no fear, here’s a list of tips and tricks to make teaching poetry an cinch, AND get your students loving it too. Yes, even the boys!

Introduce poetry with poems that your students can relate to.
This is huge. You have to hook students on poetry from the get go. My of them have a preconceived notion that poetry is boring, for older folks, for girls, you name it. It’s your job to hook them! My 2 favorite poems to read to students are “Sick” by Shel Silverstein with reasons that . . . “Little Peggy Ann McKay cannot go to school today. She has the measles and the mumps, a rash, a gash, and purple bumps.” {You have to put on your silly acting hat and use a great voice when you read this poem!} At this point all of the students are with me and are starting to see that poetry can be silly, fun, and creative! Next up, I read Silverstein’s poem, “Sarah Cynthia Silvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out.” Once students have hear these two poems, the walls of resistance start coming down. Most of my students can connect with these two themes of being sick and not wanting to take the garbage out.
Hint: Here’s a link to the poem, “Sick” by Shel Silverstein.
Hint: Here is a link to a video of the poem “Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout” read by Shel Silverstein.
Hint: Here’s Shel Silverstein reading his poem “Ickle Me, Tickle Me, Too” on YouTube.
Read each poem aloud to students more than once
I am a firm believer in reading a poem at least twice. Often on the first reading because students are so engrossed in the story the poem is trying to tell that they miss all the poetry elements. By reading a poem a second time, students can start to listen for the important components, and they’ll discover things not seen before.. When you reread the poem, ask students to listen for patterns and for the overall flow of the words. Do any words stand out? Why do you think the author chose the words she or he did to convey the meaning? These pieces of the puzzle help create the mood, feeling tone, and message of the poem. Most importantly, do this process with students the first few times so they realize you can’t read a poem once and “get” the meaning on the first go-round. It takes many readings.
Set up a poetry corner in your classroom
I love getting students excited and keeping them excited about reading poetry. One of my favorites is to transform my reading corner into a poetry display corner. I pull out all of my books relating to poetry and put them on display. Use post-it-notes with arrows and put them on the pages of the poems you enjoy and write things like, “Great use of alliteration!” and “The author repeats the word, ‘thump’ three times.” etc. This simple task shows students what’s on your mind when you read the poem.
Learn about the poet prior to reading their poetry
A lot of poets write poems about their mood, life events, family and relationships, and nature. First, learn as much as you can about the poet. Where and in what time period did he or she live? Understanding the time period the poem the poem was written and the background of the poet is essential to drawing conclusions about the poem’s meaning.
Spend time analyzing poetry to really understand the authors purpose
The fun part of analyzing poetry is figuring out what the poet was trying to say. This is where the use of figurative language comes in. It’s what makes the poetry have that music-like rhythm and flow. It’s the flow of the words, the rhythm of the beat, the pattern of the syllables, it’s the words carefully chosen to create images in the reader’s mind. It’s really important that you spend time reading the poems yourself and fully understand it before you attempt teach it to students. Teaching children to analyze poetry isn’t one of those things you can just pick up and teach; some poems really are hard for adults to understand, let alone ask students to understand. You really need to spend time thinking, reflecting, asking questions about what you’ve read, and really understand the poem yourself.
Hint: If you’re not sure where to start with poetry analysis and need some help getting jump started, check out these task cards that guide students through analysis of 9 poems that are also on the CCSS-ELA text exemplars list.
Start each day with a read aloud poem
I like to start off each day during the poetry unit with a read aloud. Kids really enjoy hearing poems and the writing voice of different authors. If you aren’t big into reading, you can put a youtube video of someone performing poetry reading as well. Shel Silvertein has recorded quite a few videos on youtube and uses a great voice to read them. Remember to read a variety of poems so that you can reach all of your kids.
Hint: Here is a link to the Shel Silverstein Books youtube page with lots of videos to choose from.
Teach figurative language to help students better understand the poem’s meaning
Some poems require very basic surface level understanding while other poems are challenging to grasp what the poet is really trying to say. Poems often use metaphors, similes, onomatopoeia, alliteration, idioms, and other figurative language. Teach students the meaning of these kinds of figurative language. Understanding these poetic devices will help unlock the meaning hidden within some poems and allow for deeper critical thinking.
Hint: Here is a link to a set of quick reference wall posters for figurative language and poetry
Hint: Here is a link to an interactive notebook all about figurative language Figurative language interactive notebook
Hint: Here is a link to unique Cootie Catchers that reinforce figurative language skills
Get excited when you teach poetry, let loose
When you really enjoy reading and responding to poetry, your students will pick up on your excitement. Use the funny voices when you read aloud. Laugh at the funny parts. I’m totally an introvert, so this is hard me, but my students really enjoyed when I read poems
Give kids a chance to write their own poetry
To solidify students love for poetry, let them write! You can provide them with many different styles, alliterations, haikus, “I am”, 5 senses, concrete, etc. As long as students are writing poetry, I don’t mind! Teach students that poetry doesn’t have to rhyme. Let them experience the fun of writing their own poems about what interests them.
Hint: If you’re looking for a little more guidance, click here for a fully prepared, ready to teach independent poetry project.
Hint: Here is a link to a FREE lesson on writing a 5 senses poem.
Encourage students to share their poetry
Once students have written some poetry of their own, let them show it off! There are a few ways I like to do this. #1: You can pair up students allow them to share their written works in buddy pairs. This is great because it’s a small group and helps build classroom relationships and confidence. I then encourage students to share kind feedback the poem their partner wrote. #2: Have students read their poems aloud to the class. I like this as well because it helps foster public speaking skills and students get to share with the whole class a poem they wrote and are proud of. #3: Display their written works on the wall! Often times my students write their own poetry and add pictures to go with it, and it makes decor in your classroom.