TESTING! TESTING!

State test time is quickly approaching... and our district is Benchmark Testing our kiddos next week.

This isn't the first "big" test my students have taken this year (we've had 2 district CBAs), however, this is the first 48 question with a 4 hour time limit test (Texas went to a timed test last year... not sure how it is in other states). 

When I test I get nervous... so I can only imagine how my poor students feel. I wanted to help them out a bit, so I created a testing foldable. The idea came from Savvy School Counselor (God bless Pinterest for bringing so many awesome teaching ideas to one place!) and I just created one to fit my kiddos needs.  I call it "Rock the Test" foldable. :) 

On one column, I listed a lot of our important math strategies (praying this makes them remember them and more importantly, USE THEM!) and on the other, I put test taking strategies incase the freeze up, lose their concentration, forget to check their work... 

 

If you notice the top right flap, it says "Remember Your Goal". I did goal setting with each of my students on Friday. Together, we looked at how they performed on the two CBAs we've taken and decided on a number they'd like to aim for on this test. Rather than focusing on the grade percentage (which makes it pretty obvious if you've failed, and seriously... who likes to feel like a failure?), we focused on the number of questions the student needs to answer correctly. I want to focus on growth and improvement, and for my students who struggle to see passing grade on their benchmark and/or CBAs, I'd like them to focus on getting 1 or 2 (or more!) questions correct with each assessment. I think that will be a huge confidence builder for them! Anyway - we wrote our goals on the back of a "Rock the Test" goal sheet. It will be taped to their desk so they can flip it over and be reminded of what they're shooting for (and see some 'surprise' encouraging words from their teacher!). 

Lastly, I've jumped on the student-data-tracking band wagon. I think it's so important to have kids be responsible for their grades, UNDERSTAND what they mean and to monitor their growth! Here's an example of my Student Data Tracking Sheet (it looks simple but I think it will be very effective): 

If you dig any of these ideas, I've made them available on my TPT store. :)

- Rock the Test Foldable 

- Rock the Test Goal Sheet

- Rock the Test Student Data Tracking Sheet 

Also, I've lost 6 lbs HOWEVER, I made these little beauts' tonight, so I may be up a few pounds tomorrow... They're Reese's Peanut Butter Cup cupcakes with a hidden peanut butter cup on bottom, rich chocolate cake and peanut butter butter cream frosting on top, and chopped PB cup for garnish... OMG YUM. If you're bored, hit up my baking Facebook page, KJ's Bakeshop, for more goodies! 

Happy teaching, y'all! 

I've Returned! With Resolutions and "Currently"!

Ok... So I haven't posted in almost 3 months.... I'm sorry! There were many a'Saturday that I thought about updating but just didn't. My creative juices felt like they were lacking and I was just down-right tired. So I ignored my cute lil' blog for too long... That is going to change!

My 2013 resolutions include 1) blogging more and 2) eating less... YEP. Very original, right??

My boys and I decided we ALL resolve to be more active this year. This includes walking around the block and riding our bikes. We live in a coastal town and are walking distance to the beach. I see a lot of walking/riding to beach picnics in our future! Also, we are changing our eating habits. We went grocery shopping today and loaded our cart fresh veggies and fruit, light yogurts, nuts and cottage cheese for snackage, and lean meats and fish for dinner.... WE SHALL SEE!

Any "life style change" tips you want to share with me?? PLEASE, PLEASE DO! I need the help and the encouragement! :) 

It's a family effort this time (Well, kinda... I haven't quite clued my hubby in on this yet-- I'm hoping he doesn't notice our bread-free dinners... hehehe) and I'm excited about the changes we're making. Also on our resolution list: making God more present in our day to day lives!! My parents bought my kiddos a daily devotional for Christmas called "Jesus Calling: 365 Devotions for Kids" and we are LOVING it. It's not too wordy (we all know how fleeting children's attention spans can be) and has a verse for them to look up. My kiddos are 10 and 12 and they love it. I LOVE IT, TOO!

Honestly, I have nothing teaching related to talk about... Sorry! But I do have a Currently for ya! For those of you that read Farley's blog at Oh Boy 4th Grade you know what I'm talking about... If you haven't checked her out yet (which is surprising because she's a blogging super-star!), get on over there and view blog-someness!  

Geometry!

Right now my sweet math classes are fighting their way through division... UGH. (Any fantastic-sure-fire-ways to teach it out there?? Help me, super teachers!!)

My light at the end of the division tunnel is knowing GEOMETRY is right around the corner!! I LOVE teaching angles, lines, 3-D objects and their properties, symmetry, congruent shapes, transformations.... WOOT!

First Up: SKELETON SYMMETRY!
This activity is a fun way to learn about symmetry and it's a fun Halloween activity, too! Click HERE to purchase it at my TPT store.

Next: MY BOOK OF TRANSFORMATIONS! 
LOVE using this in my classroom to define and explain what transformations are. Great hands on activity and an excellent addition to a math notebook! Students define each term, then put three shapes onto a grid to show how they slide, turn and flip! Click HERE to purchase it in my TPT store.

"Hey Girl"

I have nothing curriculum related to share today... But I think you'll enjoy this post anyway.

If you're obsessed with Pinterest even half as much as I am, you've seen the Ryan Gossling "Hey Girl"s. If you haven't, they're pictures of Ryan Gossling (hotness) saying things that would make any teacher swoon. Finding one is as exciting as finding Waldo for me. They make my day!!

Here are all the "Hey Girls" I've found:

THESE MAKE ME LAUGH SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Have you found a Ryan Gossling "Hey Girl" that's not on my list?? PLEASE SHARE!!

Multiplication Madness!

Monday starts our multiplication and division unit. Our Fourth Grade TEKS (the Texas version of Common Core) state my kiddos need to be able to mulitply two digit by two-digit numbers and divide three digits dividends by one digit divisors. This is hard when they still struggle recalling basic facts... To remedy this, I've created several basic multiplication activities for my kids to do during math stations.

While enjoying one of my favorite past times, Pinterest, I stumbled upon The Crafty Classroom's Times Tables Folders. LOVE! Each pocket contains multiplication facts so students can study their areas of weakness.  I had to create my own IMMEDIATELY!!

The Crafty Classroom provides those cute little pocket templates and I found the perfect sized flash cards from Multiplication.com HERE.

I attempted to use our school laminator to laminate these babies (my laminator was too small to accommodate the file folders) and almost ruined all of my hard work. I had let the machine heat up for over an our but I guess the thickness of the folders was too much for the aging laminator... EVERYTHING PEALED OFF and took some of my pockets with it. I fixed my poor folders and decided to reinforce with clear packing tape instead.

Next is my super cheap up-cycled multiplication game.... Using bottle tops my dear family and friends had been collecting for me since summer time, some garage sale stickers I found at the dollar store and modge podge, I made these little guys:

FUN! I've seen a lot of these games on TPT and Teacher's Notebook. A few versions have the fact on top and the answer inside of the top... I opted for a "blind draw" so my kiddos can't get away with only answering the easy facts. 

All the bottle tops are flipped over and students draw and answer their fact. If they get it right, they keep the top. If they get it wrong, they put it back. The kiddo with the most tops wins! Easy enough, right?

There are enough for me bottle top facts for me to introduce this game whole class, then split up and make three different sets for station use. I also have wide bottle tops (from Gatorade bottles and such) that I'm thinking about using as "challenge questions". For example, "Recite your 5s Facts," and things like that... 

What are your multiplication ideas??

Math Journal EXCELLENCE!

We are rocking out with Math Journals this year... Check it out!  


We started of the year with understanding place value vocabulary.

Then we made a foldable that allowed us to identify and practice with our places (whole numbers to 999,999,999).

After that, we began studying tenths and hundredths (please excuse the spelling error in the title... It should say "hundredths" not "hundreds"! I assure you, this student now knows there is a difference!)

Check out our tenths and hundredths odometers. THEY ROCK! Kim Sutton (math guru) has place value odometers for whole numbers that I LOVE to use. Since my kiddos struggled with tenths and hundredths last year, I decided to make odometers for these places as well. LOVE THEM! So do the kids! They did a phenomenal job of putting them together. Minimal stress for me and huge payoff for them! 

Like these? Stay tuned for my TPT Place Value Pack I'm putting together! Hopefully I'll get it posted this weekend. :)

GIVEAWAY WINNER!

My Rockin' Giveaway is over and Katie S. is the winner!! 
Check out her blog at 
I want to be a Super Teacher!!

From one Katie to another, congrats!!