Fact Fluency Freebie

If you've been teaching 5th grade for a long time, you know how frustrating it can be to teach math when your students aren't fluent in their facts.   How can you teach kids to add fractions with different denominators if they don't know their basic multiples?  Suddenly, finding a common denominator is a very time consuming process.

Recently, I attended a math training where the presenter said that students shouldn't be memorizing facts.  I've heard that at a lot of trainings lately. Frankly, it scares me.  There is a misconception that the Common Core discourages memorization.  That isn't the case.  If people start to believe this misconception, math is going to be so much harder for upper grade teachers to teach.

I recently updated a FREE Common Core Math Fluency Posters set.  These posters can be useful in having discussion with kids, parents and other teachers about grade level expectations.  These fact fluencies can be the basis of intervention.  If you start your year determining which students haven't met goals for previous years, you can catch them up before they fall even further behind.

Here are a couple of the FREE posters included in the packet:

Stop by my blog by clicking on the picture below to read about why Memorize is NOT a Bad Word and for some links to resources that you may find helpful.

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Do Your 5th Graders Know How to Give Each Other Feedback?

Collaboration can work wonders in a classroom when we teach students what it means to work together.  One essential skill students need to learn in order to work together is providing effective feedback.

Hi, I'm Mercedes from Surfing to Success.  My district values Project Based Learning and my school is a STEM school and an SFA school, so collaboration is key to our success.  When our students present a project with their group, their classmates give them feedback keeping our Feedback Protocol in mind.

While the concept seems very simple, it can be a great tool to get 5th graders to think before they speak.  Students tend to naturally say things like, "I liked your presentation."   With be specific in mind, they say things like, "I like the way you made eye contact with the audience while you were presenting."

This practice of giving effective feedback starts to influence the ways students work together.

I had the opportunity to attend PBL World put on by the Buck Institute and one of my favorite moments was watching this video where we see students practicing giving feedback and how it leads to a better project.  If you've never seen Austin's Butterfly, it is worth your time.

If you are interested in Project Based Learning, there are tons of free resources at BIE .

If you'd like a copy of the feedback protocol, you can find it here.  I'm a bit font obsessed so there are several versions.

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Free Coding Lessons

There are so many free resources on the internet.  The trick is figuring out which ones are worth your time.

The 4th through 6th graders started out using Khan Academy to learn to code.  The enthusiasm around school was refreshing.  Now all of our 3rd through 6th graders are learning Math with Khan Academy.  This was all started by a specialist on my team that teaches in our computer lab.  If you'd like to read more about it, she recently did a guest blog post for me here.

Khan Academy can be a great motivating early finisher activity.  If you are looking for a free math website, that motivates kids, I highly recommend it.  (They haven't asked me to say any of this.)

Recently some of our 5th grade girls were at an ALPs event and I made these signs for them.  They had a great time sharing their coding skills with people from around our district.

Maybe you'll find a use for them as well. :)  Download them here.

What are your favorite free math websites?

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Goal! Helping Students Set and Reach Goals

Spring is here which means the energy level goes up and the focus level can go down if we aren't careful.

The easiest students to teach are those that want to learn.  One of the ways to foster the desire to learn is to have students set goals for themselves and plan out steps for reaching that goal.

My current 5th grade intervention group is working on adding and subtracting mixed numbers.   Well, that is what the intervention referral was for.  What became clear to me right away was that some students needed so much more.

Students come to me for intervention while their class is at Fitness, Art or the Computer Lab ("Specials").  Teacher typically refer kids to me for 1 to 3 weeks.  While my Kinders and first graders love coming and getting special attention, the upper grade kids are motivated to prove they know something and go back to Specials.  This motivation leads to kids begging me to take tests. 

I stand firm.  You can't take the test until you have met your goals.  This week, even though our goal is to add and subtract mixed numbers, some students had the goal of simplifying correctly while others had the goal of changing fractions to a common denominator.  I love having students enthusiastically prove they know something.

Today, I have a freebie to share with you that can help you help your students set and attain their goals.

This freebie has a few different versions and some tips on how to help your students exceed their own expectations.

Feel free to stop by my blog to read a bit more about it.

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Cough Like a Vampire

As an intervention teacher, I teach K-6.  I made a poster that I thought I'd share with you.  While fifth graders SHOULD know how to cough without spreading their germs throughout the room, not all do.

Here's to a healthy school year. :)

Click here for a free copy.

I used my Halloween Colorful Clipart to make it.

Building Character

Have you seen this video?




One of my 5th grade classes adopted this as a theme song a couple years ago.  Honestly, I was a little shocked.  I thought they'd be anti- Sesame Street, but maybe Will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas brought in the cool factor.

I love the message of empowerment.

I created a worksheet for my students to fill out and choose some positive adjectives that describes them.  This was a great beginning of the year activity because I learned quickly which students struggled seeing themselves in a positive way and it helped me develop a positive relationship with them early on.

Then, we turned their main adjective into a classroom art project.  Click on the picture to be taken to my TPT store and download the freebie with directions.

When it came time for writing adjectives, I played this version of the video so the kids could see the words.


Thanks,

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Fact Fluency Freebie

Hi, I'm Mercedes from Surfing to Success.  I'm currently a K-6 Intervention teacher.  Part of my desire to teach intervention came from my year as a 5th Grade Math teacher.

One of the biggest challenges teaching 5th Grade Math was the lack of background skills.  I found myself trying to teach a 5th grade skill to students that on a 3rd grade math level.  It is important to communicate with the students and parents what you expect.

Today's freebie has a poster that shows what students should be able to do fluently in grade K-6. 

Click here to get a copy.  There is a second version included that has the standard numbers.

There is so much to accomplish in 5th grade math.  Knowing that multi-digit multiplication is the Common Core Math Fluency goal, can help provide some focus.  

We start the school year screening for multiplication fluency so we can provide basic multiplication intervention for the 5th graders that need it before they fall too far behind.

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FREE Division in the Real World

How will I use this in real life?

I asked that question all the time in school. 

This activity gives the students a chance to see how important division can be. 

What do we all wish would happen in the real world?  Finding a pile of money, of course!

I gave my students a pile of (fake) money and this worksheet and let them figure it out. I made sure the pile had different denominations.

 My students weren’t very efficient.  If I found a pile of money with some friends, I’d count it, do a division problem and we’d each get our share.

My students took forty five minutes figuring this out.  Most used the one for you, one for you, one for me method.

The discussion they had involved the need for problem solving and logic which was a challenge for them.

The key to this was walking around and prompting them.  Here is an example of one conversation I had.

  “You have a remainder of $211?” I asked surprised.  “If this were real money would you leave that just sitting on the ground?”

  “We only have two hundred dollar bills and there are four of us,” they replied.

  “Hmmm.  There has to be a way to solve that problem,” I said while walking away.

The debrief was key.  Each team shared their methods and I did the long division with them on the board.  The students had an “Aha!” moment when they realized it took them 45 minutes and it took us 2 minutes to do it with long division.

  They hadn’t realized long division could make their life easier.

I hope you enjoy the discussions that this project can bring.

I’ve provided a blank in case you want to have them find something like a bag of candy or almonds. 

The possibilities are endless.

Click here to download the freebie.  If you enjoy it, please consider leaving feedback.

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I'm linking up with

A monthly REAL WORLD math blog link-up hosted by

 4mulaFun, The Teacher Studio, Teaching to Inspire in 5th, AND MissMathDork,

Common Core Standards for Mathematical Practices

 Have you looked at the 8 Mathematical Practices?  I'm getting ready to introduce them in my classroom and made a freebie to share with you.

I blogged about this during a blog hop.  Click here to read more.

I'm linking up with

Free Foldable

Simplifying fractions is so challenging for my students!

I recently created a PowerPoint to review the vocabulary needed and teach three strategies for simplifying fractions.  My PowerPoint contained two foldables and I thought I'd share one with you as a freebie.   This foldable is meant to have the students take notes on three strategies for simplifying fractions.

Click here for your Free Simplifying Fractions Foldable.




If you are interested in the PowerPoint, you'll find it here.

Teaching Respect

Do your fifth graders have a bit of an attitude when you give them a warning?  Read here about how I use this phrase to deal with that and for a freebie.

Rounding Numbers

I'm excited to say, we have some wonderful people that have volunteered to contribute!  I look forward to seeing their posts soon.

In the meantime, check out this link for a little rounding numbers freebie.