Thursday, February 25, 2016

Any Angle you TRY!


Any angle that you look at it---AREA is fun.

 I love geometry and all the hands on opportunities that it easily lends itself too! One of my favorite things to teach (or review ;) is area of a triangle. It's a pretty simple concept and but sometimes it is tricky--the dividing by two or multiplying by one-half always seems to trip students up!

Do you have the same woes as me? 

I wanted to share somethings that I do with ONE resource to mix things up with students.



We do power SCOOTS through out the year. I don't expect my students to do complete every single card--there are 72! But I'll put on one song and my students will SCOOT around the room solving area problems.

I've found that when we have a few spare minutes that they are perfect to dust off some cobwebs and practice some math skills.

 If you are like me and want to save time, post answer keys around the room so they can self-check and self-assess as they go. TIME SAVER.


Greater than or less than is something that I like to hit throughout the year. No matter how old you are sometimes that greater than and less than sign can easily throw students for a loop!

I like my students to compare areas of triangles so they are familiar with the sign and can also speak fluent math ;) when  discussing area!


Continuing on with comparing I have a few sets of these cards and my students will play triangle area WAR. One of the many reasons I love this is it's so easy to differentiate. My students that really need practice can paper and pencil it while my students that need a challenge can sharpen their mental math skills.

And everyone is held accountable because they all want to win!

Last it is so important to have examples at your fingertips. While I like to think I can think fast on my feet. I always stumble.

Inevitably.

Especially if it comes to me drawing on a white board. Have a deck of triangles on hand at all times is a lesson I've learned.

Do you have any favorites for teaching area? Let me know!

You can find this many dandy set of 72 triangle cards in my store.

Over and OUT!

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

EXPRESS YOURSELF!

Ah! Have you ever had something that you are so excited about you can hardly wait. And every day the anticipation builds?! Than you'll totally understand how excited I am about these
EXPRESSION WHEELS!!!


When I teach expressions the 90's chime of "PLUG it IN, PLUG it IN" always runs through my mind. I've cued up a vintage commercial for you to share with your students. Sometimes things like VARIABLES can easily trip students up...especially when they've never mixed numbers and letters before. Let alone throwing in adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing, and a few exponents.

We just really throw them for a loop all at once, don't we? ;)


Enter EXPRESSION WHEELS. I love these especially when introducing expressions and they are also the perfect intervention tool.

My students LOVE these--think relays, twister (even though I haven't tried it yet...I'm determined to find a way!), pass the expression wheel (each student solves one and the 7th student checks them all!). Even a perfect center to visit throughout the remainder of the school year.



One of my big passions is creating tools that students can use to be so confident in math. I struggled in math as an elementary school kid and totally get that frustration.

Past frustrated math child syndrome. See...self-diagnosed!


AND students can self-check...which puts them in charge of their learning. And it saves me time...win/win.

Not only do I love sharing my tools with my students but also you! Thank goodness for blogging and teacherspayteachers. 6th grade teachers need all the help they can get! (well, all teachers too ;).



I love these wheels! I print them on different colors, slice the answers, cut and laminate. HOWEVER, I know that sometimes time is short and these are easy to print, cut off or fold the answers back and go. Easy peasy.

You can find these in my store here!

Over and out!

Monday, February 15, 2016

Currently Reading


I finished a few books since my last currently reading post! I finished Move Your Bus
Big Magic, and Rump within the last little while. 

This month-ish I'm reading Magnus Chase by Rick Riordan and so far it has not disappointed!

 It's definitely a little more teenagery than Percy Jackson but the quick pacing and quirky named chapters have me staying up later than I should every night! 

Plus, I love learning about the Norese gods...because let's face it, they are totally over shadowed by the Greeks and the Egyptians. Admittedly, I don't know very much about them other than what I've learned from The Avengers. Ha!

I'm sure your students are already reading it or are begging your for a copy...it's totally worth it!


Over and out!

Thursday, February 11, 2016

It's Better to LOOK Up!

I posted this on instagram but wanted to post it on "the blog" because it's one of my favorite places :)



I know it's the middle-ish of the school year and it's so hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. February is a month, I'll tell you, it's a month! It's dark early in the evening and sometimes you probably hardly see the sun. But the work is all worth it. I promise! Just keep looking UP!

Over and Out!
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