My third and fourth graders have been learning about time! They have been telling time to the minute and finding elapsed time (intervals of time). Telling time can be fun, but it can be a bit challenging sometimes! Here are a few tips and a FREE Printable to get you started! Continue reading
Yearly Archives: 2016
Great Websites for Homework, Homeschool, or Classrooms
Need help with homework, homeschool, or classroom lessons? There are a lot of great resources on the internet! Some are better than others! Here are 3 that I think are pretty good!
Spring Fever
I am so excited to be part of the Springing into Learning Blog Hop with Kim from Elementary Antics and many other teacher bloggers! I can’t wait to see all of the great ideas everyone has to share! After reading my blog post, be sure to click the link at the end to hop on to the rest of the great blogs!
The winter holidays are over, the weather is warming up and the children have … Spring Fever! Well, as a veteran classroom teacher, I can sympathize with you … this is NOT the time for the kids to get silly and stop working! This is the time to pull out all your “tricks” and get them back on track!
I have a few tricks for keeping students engaged and counteract “Spring Fever”:
St. Patrick’s Day FUN!!!
Who doesn’t love a shamrock and a pot of gold? St. Patty’s Day can be a lot of fun! And why wait until March 17th? You can start now with these engaging resources! Continue reading
Measurement Conversions: Teaching Tips and a FREE Printable
Measurement conversions can be quite overwhelming for some students! This is especially true if they do not understand the relationship between the different units of measurement. Notice I use the word “understand”, not the word “know”. Students can know that 1 foot is 12 inches with out really understanding how they are equal to each other. Below are suggestions for building understanding so that student can be successful with measurement conversions. Continue reading
Resources for Decimals
In my last post I shared some of my strategies for helping students understand decimals. Today I would like to expand on that and share some of my favorite resources!
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Scholastic Study Jams has a great tutorial on decimal place value which can be found here for FREE!
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MathAntics has a great FREE video which explains fractions and decimals in terms of powers of ten and place value:
3. I have card games with fraction models on my TpT page which are great for naming, matching, comparing and ordering decimals:
Making Sense of Decimals
Recently I have been working with my 4th graders on decimals. We have been identifying decimals, naming decimals, comparing decimals, adding and subtracting decimals. For some students decimals can be daunting at first, but I have a few strategies to help them understand and be successful!
- Money! Get out the money and review the relationships between dollars, dimes and pennies. Give students a set amount such as $2.37 and ask them to show you with the money and write it out. Most students will already know how to write the amount of money with the decimal. Help the students who need it. This is a great time to ask the students what “the little dot” is called (decimal point) and what it means. If no one knows, fill them in. Then lead the discussion to the meaning of the words “tenths” and “hundredths” and relate again to money.
Helping Students Understand Fractions
Fractions can be a difficult subject for some students. Even students who seem to “get it” when doing simpler fraction work may become quickly confused by more complex skills such as comparing or adding fractions.
So, what can a teacher or parent do to help students develop a deeper understanding of fractions?
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Start with concrete, and real world examples:
How about pizza! Yum! If you are at home you can use a real pizza to discuss how the equal parts of your pizza make a whole. For example if your pizza is cut into 8 equal slices, talk to your child about how each slice is one-eighth of the whole pizza. If you are making your own pizza you can slice it into halves first, then fourths, then eighths and discuss the pattern that you develop. As the pizza is cut into smaller pieces, there are more pieces to make the whole. In the classroom, you can use “pretend pizza” like this one from Learning Resources. Or you can have your students make their own pizzas out of paper plates. Fun!
Fraction Flash Freebie!
Today I would like to offer my latest game as a Flash Freebie! For the next 48 hours, my Fractions of a Set Game will be FREE!!!
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