5th Grade Math Unit 1: Factors, Multiples, 2x2 Multiplication, 3x2 Division

As I've evolved my thinking on this blog a little in the five weeks I've been at it, I've started to change my own purposes for doing it. As I planned out math Unit 1 (which will be starting up for us here in just a little over two weeks), I started to think about the resources that I use year after year. So, I decided to include the PDSA (Plan-Do-Study-Act) files, as well as all the exams we utilize in the unit.

This units is housed in one of my subject specific static pages (the math 9-week plans page), in a page titled 5th Grade Factors, Multiples, Multiplication, and Division Unit, but I will include the text of that page verbatim below. Thanks for viewing, I hope this is of some help:




This is a big moment in the short history of this blog. I finally was able to get my computers set up in my classroom, and download all of my PDSA files and math tests that are already put together. As always, I will provide you with these for free. If you'd like more information on PDSA, see my page titled What is PDSA?

Math instruction for Unit 1 is divided into three portions, factors & multiples, multiplication, and division. Each section has a test, except for the final section (in this case, division). To save time, we always include the last section on the unit final exam. My goal here is to provide you with the necessary documents, and some resources as well. I work with my colleagues to make the exams, and plan our instruction backwards from there. The backwards design approach ensures that we are teaching what needs to be taught in the most efficient manner possible. Let's get started:

Factors & Multiples

The factors & multiples unit is set by the PDSA for that cycle, and was planned using backwards design, beginning with the Unit 1.1 Factors & Multiples Exam. It is set to take 10 days to teach, with one day at the end for testing and discussion. When viewing the exam, you will see that the main concepts to be taught are factors, multiples, prime numbers, composite numbers, square numbers, and prime factorization. What follows are resources and ideas for teaching each concept:

• My blog already includes a post and a static page about factors & multiples. I don't want to completely re-hash those here, but there are five different computer based resources available there.
• Factor Trees: I start right from the beginning of the year teaching with factor trees. Here are some great factor tree resources:
• A short and simple pdf document explaining what factor trees are. 
• Factor Tree Worksheet Builder: A good tool to make your own printable worksheets. You can customize the level of difficulty before making a pdf that you can save and/or print.
• Math Lines at Cool Math: I love played Zuma on Xbox Live (I'm kind of a video game nerd). This is Zuma with a twist. You can select a number, it defaults to 12. You have to shoot balls into other balls to make the product of the numbers 12. Very fun, good math practice.

Multiplication

Allow me to be a little more precise. This section of the unit on multiplication is 2x2 digit multiplication, as you can see in the PDSA file. Again, instruction was planned beginning with the Unit 1.2 Two by Two Digit Multiplication Exam. We have 7 days plus 1 day for testing to teach this portion of the unit. Here are resources for this section:

• Here are links to two sections on the great Worksheet Works worksheet building tool (see my post on this tool HERE). First there is a nice page with many options for teachers called Multi-Digit Multiplication Skills. I LOVE the variety of options available here. For your students who may be struggling with the standard algorithm, they also have Lattice and Grid worksheets. And before I forget, they have 2x2 digit multiplication word problems as well. 
• My school uses FASTT Math (a computer tool purchased from Scholastic, kids enjoy learning multiplication facts by playing the games and earning different things). It's not cheap, but fear not, there are free alternatives out there with free teacher tracking. At Math Facts Pro, you can create an account and track student progress as they play simple math games, at Math Trainer, kids can play a neat challenging game with annoying music (that you can turn off), and finally Multiplication.com has some really fun and visually cool games that kids are sure to love. 
• If you need more information on the lattice and grid methods, check out these videos:

LATTICE METHOD

GRID METHOD

Division

To be more specific, we're talking about 3 x 2 division problems. The PDSA will help guide instruction for this 8 days (with 1 day at the end for end of unit testing), as well as the End of Unit 1 Exam (I also have an English only copy), which includes the three by two division problems in it. For our data collection purposes, we collect data for this portion of the unit from the two division problems on the unit 1 exam for calculation in this PDSA cycle, and it also counts towards the end of unit 1 score. This "double dipping" serves us well, because we get the information we want, and do it in a timely, efficient manner. Here are the 5th grade division resources:

• Right back to Worksheet Works for their Multi-Digit Division Skills Worksheets. 
• Kids Numbers Long Division Practice Interactive: The sounds are probably the most annoying thing I've ever heard, but that's easily fixed. It does offer some good practice for kids struggling with their long division.
• Fun 4 the Brain has numerous division games, including Flying High, my favorite of the bunch.
• Finally, I'll let Khan Academy explain the process of long division, using the Divide, Multiply, Subtract, Bring Down method:

Blogger Static Pages: I Used Up My Limit, Now What?

Anybody else out there who blogs in Blogger, you've surely come upon the greatest thing ever, the static pages. I use these static pages to post my subject specific unit pages of resources and lessons (they are linked to in the right side bar). They're great because each page acts as a stand alone web page, separate from the daily postings of the blog.

When I started my blog, I was blissfully unaware that there was a limit on the amount of pages a blog could have. I just figured I'd make the 100 or so pages I need to finish my vision all right here in this blog. I found out yesterday that there is a limit, and that limit is 20 (counting the home page).

So what now? I had a few options at this point. I could just start posting these unit and lessons pages as posts, because there's no limit on those (well there is, but it's something like 10,000, so I'm not concerned). The only problem there is I like having them separate from the blog itself.

I'm sure there are many work around, but the most simple I found is this: Make another blog.

One Google account can have up to 100 blogs. Do the math, that's up to 2,000 static pages. I made a second blog, and am working to make it identical in appearance to this blog (same back ground, header images, ad placements, etc.), and do 20 more pages there. This is the most simple work around I have found, and I should be publishing my first static page from there sometime tomorrow, and I'm confident it will have the same look as the static pages here, minus a few things. First, I won't have the same ability to move viewers through to the rest of my blog, so I'll need to make sure they have a way to reach "home" (the main page of this blog). Once I have that going, I'm sure it will work out fine.

If anybody has found something else that works better, I would love to hear about it!

Zoom Maps: A Very Simple, Very Effective Tool For Teaching Small to Large Geography or Science Relationships

I am currently working on a unit resources page about geography. In 5th grade I teach United States geography, states and capitals, and map skills, but also briefly touch on world geography. I've noticed a disturbing trend over my career. Students in the 5th grade don't often know the difference between countries, states, and continents. They have no concept of distance (they think China is next to Mexico, etc.), and think that major cities are states (countless students have called Los Angeles a state, or California a city, or thought that Los Angeles was California). I like to include this very simple activity I call Zoom Maps. All you need for this activity is a sheet of paper, and something to write with. This is obviously an activity that can be done with much younger students, but I've found success with it in both social studies and science. I do this same foldable to "zoom in" to an atom.

Check out this example I drew up. It's very crude, but it is easy to follow. I hope to upload some student examples once school starts (August 15th here in Las Cruces). CLICK HERE FOR THE PDF DOCUMENT. Enjoy!

Also, here is an animated gif of my very simple and crude example. I made this at Picasion.

World at War (World War I and World War II) Classroom Project

When I teach my 5th grade unit on the World Wars, we discuss World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II. As with each unit I teach in Social Studies, I always end with a project. In this case, it is a two part project. Students first complete a 3 dimensional display with research paper about an event from either World War I or the Great Depression, and then the entire class makes a hallway display World War II timeline. Each student is responsible for one event to place on that timeline.

I have completed and placed in my Google Drive the student information sheet for this entire project, with scoring rubrics.

Access the World at War project information sheet:

• docx format
• pdf format

Teaching 5th Graders About the Holocaust Through Literature

The Holocaust is one of the most difficult subjects to teach about with students who are in elementary or middle school. In fact, it could be argued that up until 5th or 6th grade, students aren't ready to begin learning about the Holocaust at all. By 5th grade, I do feel that students are mature enough to approach the subject and give it the respect it deserves, if that expectation is set from the start.

Of course, it's not really appropriate to show a class Schindler's List (you'd be fired most likely due to the R rating), so where to begin? The best place is through literature. There are many great books out there for students to read, or for the teacher to read in read aloud. In my old literacy blog, I made a posting that is very similar to this one titled Teaching the Holocaust. I will summarize a few of my favorites here:

• The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak: This book is on my top five of all time favorite books, and was previously reviewed by me four years ago. It's listed as an 8th grade level book, but I've had some really bright 5th graders sit down and read it. It's a little long (at around 900 pages) for a read aloud, but the story is simply amazing. It's a great book to have in a classroom library. There is also a free teacher resource guide (among others) available in pdf format HERE. 

• The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, by John Boyne: This story hits hard with most children. It's from the perspective of a child, it has a shocking and sad ending, and really seems to touch on the emotions of the whole thing with most kids. The movie is also quite good. Here is a link to the entire text of the book in pdf format (if you'd rather print it than buy it), and here is a teacher guide.

• The Devil's Artihmetic, by Jane Yolen: This book was written in 1968, and is about a contemporary girl magically transported back to the concentration camps of Nazi Germany, and is forced to survive. It's a great story with a great movie.

• The Diary of Anne Frank, by Anne Frank: One of the all-time best selling books, it needs no introduction. The material in this book and Anne Frank's story are right on for this age group. I have a post titled Teaching About Anne Frank: Classroom Resources that outlines many websites and resources to use in teaching about Anne Frank.

• I Am David, by Anne Holm: Another book written in the 1960's, this one about a boy who escapes from a concentration camp in Bulgaria. For years it was titled North to Freedom, but is now published under its current name. The book is a little slow for use as a teacher read aloud, but the character development is good, and the movie is right there with the story line of the book.

• Maus I & II, by Art Spiegelman: I'll admit it is a stretch to present this graphic novel to 5th graders and have them grasp the subtlety and metaphor that lies within its pages. This book is also very stark and somewhat graphic. I'm not going to argue that it's inappropriate, if I was I wouldn't mention it here, but you might want to limit it to some highly advanced students as a book study. I previously reviewed part I in a post titled Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History, by Art Spiegelman.

My Latest Unit of Resources: World Wars (World War I, Great Depression, World War II)

My most recent update to my units is Social Studies Unit 6: World Wars. This unit includes World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II.

My resources for World War II are much more in depth. You can access that unit by clicking the link or the picture.

Normally, for convenience, I would post the entire text of the unit here so that you don't have to go clicking through my blog. My unit pages were organized the way they are for my own purposes more than anything else. However, in the case of this unit, there are many links, and a few Youtube clips embedded, so it's faster in terms of loading time to just click over to that page.

How to Send Text Messages to Parents All At Once On Your Android Phone

I've been sending daily (for the most part) text messages to my parents for going on four years now. I've found that it has done a lot for me, parents feel like they're in the loop day by day, I have to make and answer far fewer phone calls from parents during my at home time, and the vast majority of my students hand in homework, bring back important slips, and know that they're accountable. I use the texting with parents to let them know about classroom issues, set up meetings, or even answer questions.

I'm very up front with parents from the beginning. I tell them that I love text messaging, ask for their phone numbers, and the past two years, I've been sending texts to every single parent of every single student.

There are some services out there that you can use if you're worried about sharing your cell phone number with parents, or would like to send text messages from your computer. If that is more what you're looking for, I will refer you to a post Richard Byrne made on his Free Technology for Teachers blog titled 7 Services for Sending Group Texts to Parents and Students.

Now, I currently use an Android smartphone, and send my texts directly from it. Before my Droid, I had a Blackberry. The primary difference I noticed right from the start is that I could text all 52 parents (moms and dads, remember!) in one text on my Blackberry, but on my Droid, I'm limited to groups of 10 people. It is a little more of a pain, but what I did was I placed everyone into groups of 10, and when I sent a text, I would first send it to the first group, then forward it to the next group, etc. It would take about 45 seconds in all to get the text out to all groups.

What I like about the Android is that you can control your groups and your phones address book right from your web browser. When signed into Google, usually for me I get to the menu from Gmail, you do the following:

1. Click MORE
2. Click CONTACTS

3. In the page that opens up, on the left hand column, click NEW GROUP

4. Name your group (when I'm starting the groups for my class, I usually do something like CLASS 1, CLASS 2, etc.).
5. Once you have your parents all in your normal contact list, which you can either do from your phone or also in your web browser (it's faster) once you've collected phone numbers, just click the box next to their name, click the add to group button, and add them to your group.
6. Repeat over and over again. Remember that you'll only be able to add 10 per group.

Now, the next time you send a text, when you search for a recipient, the Android system will give you the option of finding your groups.

It works for me, because I prefer to send my texts from my phone. If you have a smart phone, it's pretty much a given that you have unlimited texting (if you don't get it, you're being ripped off big time). I send a daily text letting parents know of important dates, homework, etc. I also send texts as needed to parents to let them know of behaviors, to praise students, etc.

My favorite part of all this is that I utilize a free app called Sms Backup + that will backup your call log and all of your text messages to your Gmail account as often as you would like. So what this means for the teacher is you have a record of parent communication, which is great.

Area and Perimeter Teacher Resources: Worksheets, Games, and Activities

In 5th grade, we teach a unit on geometry, that mainly discusses 3-dimensional geometry. We do spend a lesson on perimeter & area. I find that this lesson normally is easy to grasp, and the vast majority of students move through it quite easily. I have a page of resources (games, activities, and worksheets) that could be of service to the classroom or homeschool teacher. These resources would be great in mainly a 4th-6th grade classroom, or maybe to challenge the very bright 3rd grader. Again, with this concept being fairly straight forward, it can be picked up pretty quickly. The unit is listed under my Math 9 Week Plans, and is titled Area & Perimeter Classroom Resources. I'm getting in the habit of re-posting these lesson and unit pages here within blog postings, I've gotten positive feedback from this, it's more user friendly than having people click all over the place. Here is the exact posting that you would find if you clicked the above link:



My school district adopted Math Investigations for use at the beginning of the 2007-2008 school year, and are still in that adoption. My school saw that our math scores were stagnant, and decided last year to try our hand at only utilizing the Investigations materials as a resource. We planned each unit out together, came up with our own materials (and compiled the resources we had and could find), and taught like that. The unit order that we came up with is the same one you'll see on the Math 9 Week Plans page. The reason I mention this is that we no longer have a curriculum to use. So as I go through these math units and lessons, I am going to list activities, games, ideas, and worksheets, because this will be my own resource as well. So that's where I'm coming from. Now let's get started:

BEGIN THE UNIT WITH AN EXPLANATION:

• Perimeter and Area Visual Explanation: An Adobe Shockwave presentation that introduces the unit. Smartboard friendly.

ACTIVITIES:

• Interactive Shape Explorer: A nice interactive where students find the perimeter and area of various, randomly generated regular and non-regular polygons on a grid. Optionally, the teacher can ask students to copy the shapes on graph paper and solve there.
• The most simple classroom activity is to have students measure the dimensions of the classroom, a chalkboard, the hallways, their desk, etc. Then use those dimensions to find perimeter and area (and later on, volume). 
• Everything You Wanted to Know About Perimeter and Area: Go to pretty much any resource listing on perimeter and area activities, and you'll probably find a link to this one. There's a reason for it, it's simple and effective. It's Smartboard/projector friendly for whole class, and teaches as it goes.

GAMES:

• Cyberchase Airline Builder: An online game where students must use the given amount of sticks to create different polygons. 
• Zoo Designer: I wasn't impressed with this game at first glance, but played it for a few minutes and actually see some value in using this in class. This one is also web based.
• Real Estate and Perimeter Game: I found that at the blog Homeschool Parent. It's a good idea for a very effective in class perimeter or area game. I'll be using this, my students always enjoy the partner games.

WORKSHEETS:

• A to Z Teacher Stuff Area & Perimeter Worksheets and Printables: Decent, but not very difficult, worksheets to use in class. A good starting point.
• The Grid Game: This is a 4 page printable, I will be using the last page (the grid game), and possibly the page before it (perimeter patterns).
• Worksheet Works.com Worksheet Designer: A nice, easy to use tool that gives you worksheets in pdf format based on your needs.
• Large Worksheet Packet: What I like about this packet is it has a table at the beginning that names many types of triangles and quadrilaterals. If anything, I'll be using that first page.
• Free Math Worksheets: A decent page with some good worksheets in a lot of different skills. 
• Measuring Perimeter & Area: An adapted worksheet packet that has some good skill building activities within a pdf document.
• Math-Aids Perimeter and Area Worksheets: A good site with various worksheets, fully customizable before printing.
• Illuminations site: There is a worksheet about finding perimeter and area, and an online geoboard.
• A full supplement pdf from Bridges for Mathematics. There's good information here if you have no curriculum to start with.

Perimeter and Area are usually one of the more simple concepts that come up in 5th grade. This listing of resources should help anyone get started. I'll be utilizing these and sharing them with my grade level team during this unit. As always, it's just a start. There are literally thousands of sites and worksheets out there. If you have anything else that you swear by, please share it here so I can get it up on the page.

Worksheet Works: A Great Worksheet Maker For Teachers (and it's Free)

I am constantly on the lookout for good printables. As much as I like to use technology in my classroom, and as bad of a rap as worksheets seem to get these days, they are still the backbone of many a lesson, and, if done right and used right, are a valuable resource unlike any other. I definitely am an advocate of mixing traditional, tried and true teaching practices with the newer tools.

But where do you find these worksheets? Sometimes you get lucky and have awesome curriculum, and over the years, almost all teachers collect resource books, which are shared and passed around under they literally fall to pieces. If you're looking online, there are a few guidelines. First of all, you never should have to pay for anything. There are thousands upon thousands of worksheets and resources out there in any subject, for any grade you can imagine. The best place is Google, obviously. But it can be daunting. No matter what you search for, you're bound to get tens or even hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of search results.

I came across Worksheet Works this morning while writing up some resources for a math unit. I like this site because it gives the teacher many options before building a worksheet that comes in pdf format and can be printed. I have been making worksheets and saving them in my Google Drive for the past few minutes, and they're good. I like the options, and will be showing this tool to colleagues and using it during the school year. I hope you find it helpful.

Teaching About Anne Frank: Classroom Resources

I love to teach about Anne Frank every year during my unit on World War II. I just completed a list of teacher resources that I hand picked out of the many that are out there. This page is listed within my Social Studies Unit on World War II, and is titled Anne Frank Classroom Resources. To make it easier and save from all the link clicking, I will also make that unit available in this post. You can click the above link to be taken to that page, but here it is again:

When doing my unit on the World Wars, I like to discuss the Holocaust, but it's a touchy subject with elementary students. My opinion is that a 5th grader is old enough to begin learning about the Holocaust, and showing respect and concern over those events. At this age, one of the best ways to convey the gravity of the events while still making it relate able is by talking about Anne Frank. I don't have the time to read the Diary of Anne Frank in its entirety, so I have to approach it a little differently.

I begin with the reading of Who Was Anne Frank? by Ann Abramson. This book is available in my schools teacher library. I don't normally endorse things you have to pay for on this blog, but if you want to teach about Anne Frank, and don't have tons of time, this book is a good way to go.

• The definitive Anne Frank website comes courtesy of Anne Frank .org. The Secret Annex Online is a fantastic site with a great virtual tour of the secret annex. This is one of the highest quality virtual tours I've ever seen. (trust me, there's a ton of stuff there). The site even comes with a teachers guide with information for elementary, middle, and high school teachers as to how to incorporate the site into lessons.
• The next resource is a teacher guide that is meant to accompany the 2009 mini-series The Diary of Anne Frank. I selected this resource because of its high quality and the usefulness of many pages out of it (even without viewing the movie).
• Up next we have the Teacher Created Resources pdf document meant to supplement Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl. These are a mainstay in many teachers classrooms, and can be found in teacher supply stores all over. This one includes activities, worksheets, vocabulary, and quizzes. Oh and it's free, you can't beat that price tag!
• This next pdf is a study guide provided by Park Square Theater. It contains a good timeline, some high quality activities, and good pictures, and it's print ready. 
• Here is a short reading with questions and an answer key in pdf format.
• Scholastic has a teachers guide website with links to some activities and photo snapshots as well.
• If you're looking for a quick webquest, Scholastic has this one.

Anne Frank is a very popular person for and students across the world learn about her. There are thousands of sites out there, so I could go on all day. I tried to limit this to some resources that will be helpful to me and anyone else looking to teach about Anne Frank. 

VIDEOS:

There are a number of very high quality mini-series, movies, and documentaries about Anne Frank. There obviously won't be time to watch them all, but here are some links to the ones you can view freely on Youtube (they're all big and come in multiple clips).

• Anne Frank: The Whole Story: This 2001 mini-series closely resembles the book I mentioned above, "Who Was Anne Frank?" It stars Ben Kingsley, and is definitely classroom friendly and hits hard. If you wish to view it on Youtube, it comes in 19 parts. I'll start by embedding part one here, the easiest way to continue is to find "Anne Frank: The Whole Story Part 2 on the right sidebar, and continue on from there:

• The Diary of Anne Frank is a 2009 mini-series, and is also very good. The approach is a little different than the above mentioned film. This one was created by the BBC, and is equally as good. I recommend watching them both, and deciding which is right for your class. It's in 8 parts, approach it the same as the one above, I have embedded part 1 here:

• This final clip is a personal favorite, and can hardly be called a clip. The below embedded video is the entire 2 hours, 43 minutes, and 20 seconds of the 1959 classic The Diary of Anne Frank. I show this one to my class every year, and they love it. The music and black and white presentation give it an older feel, but it's very effective for fifth graders. I LOVE this movie. It's also one clip, not a bunch of different parts:

Facebook in the Classroom? Yeah, Didn't Think So

To anyone who has ever attempted to use Facebook in their classroom, you've probably been met with a block from the school district web filter. I say this is a good thing. I like Facebook as much as the next person, but it doesn't have a place in the classroom. There are so many classroom friendly alternatives out there (that's another post for another day). But what I do like is the Facebook format, and how it can be utilized in class.

Last year, I introduced a lesson that's hardly original, but somehow made it more difficult than necessary. I gave my students some cut outs of the parts of a Facebook home page (I guess it could be the timeline now), and had students construct the Facebook page of a character from the book we were reading. This year, I found a better way, using a pre-made template. I could give links to dozens of these templates, there are even entire websites dedicated to this concept, but I'm going to keep it simple. I'm just going to share the template that I'll be using, a printable pdf, I hope you like it:

Facebook Printable Template pdf

Election Day Teacher Resources

The 2012 Presidential Elections are right around the corner. It seems like not long ago millions of Americans watched Barack Obama's historic inauguration. I watched that moment with my 5th grade class, and to this day, those kids remember witnessing history.

Of course, each Presidential Election is a major historical moment, and this upcoming one will be no exception. I came across a great online learning game a few days ago while doing one of my resource searching sessions, and it got me thinking about how I'm going to teach the election in my class this fall. 

In 2008, my school participated in the National Mock Election. I have contacted them to see when they will begin the 2012 Mock Election, their website currently isn't showing anything. I will certainly update my blog when I hear back from them or they start accepting school coordinator names again. Let me know if you've heard something I haven't!

**UPDATE**
I heard back from the people at the National Mock Election. I received this email on July 24th:

We are delighted to announce that the 2012 National Student/Parent Mock Election will be run in partnership with the Pearson Foundation.  There are some very exciting plans for moving the Mock Election into the interactive digital world of the 21st century.  We will be updating our website and trying to keep you posted as all this develops.  Please go forward with your own plans and keep us informed if you can.  We will get back to you very soon with more detailed information.  We are waiting for word from the New Mexico Secretary of State re:  continuing as the New Mexico state coordinator.

We are grateful, indeed, for your help in keeping the nation’s largest civic education project and the world’s largest national mock election alive.

We look forward with great pleasure to working with you in 2012 and to having the assistance of the foundation created by the world’s largest educational publisher.

Our website will be reorganized for 2012 next week. Hope you can start with the curriculum already up.  More soon on the exciting ways we will be expanding for 2012.

The Road to the Capitol is a flash based game that is on the National Mock Election website. It's fun, informative, and completely learning based. It can skew a little to the difficult side for your average 5th grade, but there's no reason they can't rise to the challenge. The site also includes a short 3 page teacher/parent guide in pdf format with some suggestions for mixing up the game play or enriching it.

iCivics offers a downloadable pdf activity that is a mock election classroom activity. I'm considering using this in the weeks leading up to the election, or incorporating parts of it into my schools student council elections that usually take place around the beginning of September (we'll already be in our third week of school by then). 

I came across a page of downloadable resources at Teacher Planet that all relate to the election, or could provide assistance to a school mock election.

Education World has a comprehensive word wall list of election related vocabulary. 

Finally, over at Pearson Publishing, there is a great listing of classroom ready resources that students can utilize right from their site. I will be using a few of these to guide us in research and learning about the candidates. 

Time to Start Another Year Again

My first contract day back at work is only 16 days away, and yes, I'm counting. Every summer seems to go by faster than the one before, and this one has been no exception. The excitement of starting another year is slightly dampened by the end of a lazy, carefree time, a much needed time.

As I re-enter my classroom, which I did this past week, I started to get a feel for the small changes I would make. There are two ways that, as a teacher, you'll start a year. You'll either be in a new room, or the same room. Staying in the same room is much preferred for me. I'm in the room that I love the most, it's off on the corner, it has carpet (not all the rooms in my school do), and I student taught in that very room eight years ago, so it has a sense of nostalgia and coming full circle to it. I've been in that room for going on three years, and have worked to make it my own space.

It's nice getting to be in the same room, because my walls and bulletin boards need less work. I already know where I want my furniture to go, and I've already set up my technology (including tossing some wires up in the false ceiling to extend the reach of the internet for my computers).

It looks like I'll have six computers this year, and have gained an extra group table space. I'm very excited for the changes that come with a new school year, but at the same time I mourn the end of summer, the extra time with my wife and kids, the extra time to do what I want, when I want. But, that's the job. You get your breaks, then you go back to work. It's almost time!

Print Huge Wall Sized Maps For Your Classroom

I was doing some browsing earlier, and came across a very simple website with a very awesome idea. At yourchildlearns.com, there is a page called Mega Maps, and let me tell you, these maps can be huge. Any state, country, or continent, from 1 page up to 8 pages by 8 pages (64 total pages),  you can make maps as big as you want. I highly recommend this for your map printing.

A Quick Tip for Teachers Wanting to Use More Technology in the Classroom

In the short history of this blog, I've already posted dozens of web based resources. There are blogs out there that quite literally have thousands of links to some great web tools. It can be a little overwhelming, because you come across these neat concepts and want to use them in the classroom. But where to start, and how to manage it all?

Today's post isn't about a web service or tool, it's about how to manage the overload that eventually ensues. I have signed up for many sites and services that I ended up not using in class. Sometimes it's as simple as the fact that the service ended up not being as free as advertised, other times I just can't make it fit a lesson, and the final (and most used) reason that I don't use some things I sign up for is I forget that I signed up for them.

I've found that it's much more useful in elementary school to not just throw a different internet based web 2.0 tool at students each day. They need time to master what's been given to them. If I'm going to teach my students how to Prezi, I'm going to give them time to learn, and I'm going to come back to it multiple times. Don't have students start a blog, then use it twice and never go back (I've done that too). In my daily internet browsing, I've come across some tools that are amazing, and immediately signed up. There's no harm in signing up and bookmarking the pages you come across. Sometimes they fit the classroom, and other times they don't.

You have to give yourself permission to still be a traditional teacher. Don't get so caught up in the technology that you go to it all the time, especially if you're not ready for that. I've been a big user of technology in the classroom since day 1, but I still teach at the whiteboard, or from books, and worksheets, when I feel it's appropriate. Trust your instincts, it's ok. Remember, kids these days aren't impressed if you use a lot of computer based technology, it's just part of daily life for them. Yes, they'll love getting to learn in new and exciting ways, but too much of it can over saturate the classroom and you'll start losing control of their learning.

My biggest recommendation is to have a balance. Find a few tools that truly work for you, and go from there. For me, it looks like this:

• During the first week of school, I get each student set up on their own blog. I use kidblog.org for this. What I like about kidblog is the total control the teacher has.
  
  You can control content, commenting, and networking all within the classroom. It's secure, and comes with 500 mb of classroom space. I spend the first days giving tutorials on how to set up the blogs and customize them. I show students how to hotlink pictures and other things they wish to post (this saves tons of space, last year, by hotlinking, by the end of the year each of my 25 students had about 20 posts (over 500 total posts) and we only used 48 mb of our storage space). I'll be posting some kidblog tutorials on my blog soon to get ready for the upcoming year.

• Next, it's time for students to learn a few web tools and how to use them, embed them into blog posts, and log in if needed. It's important to me that I revisit these tools for assignments throughout the year. Students notice if you use something twice then forget about it after you told them you wouldn't. Here are the tools that I will be introducing at the beginning of the year:
• Prezi: In computer lab, the students at my school have been taught PowerPoint since they were in kindergarten. This is great, because PowerPoint is a great presentation tool, it's interactive, customizable, and is something kids take pride in making. By the upper grades, kids can grow a little tired of it, and frankly, I'm sick of looking at PowerPoints.
  
  In comes Prezi, a fantastic web based presentation tool that I have previously posted about in a post titled Prezi for Presentations: Goodbye PowerPoint! Prezi lets educators who can verify their school email address have a free educator account, but even the basic account would be sufficient for homeschooling parents. My Prezi account is set up so that my students may log in to my account and create their work there. The advantage of this is that it saves under my profile so I can view it later. Prezi comes with the option to embed as well. I'll go through a tutorial on how to make a Prezi, then have the class practice on their own.
• Voki: I always introduce Voki early on in the school year.
  
  If you're unfamiliar with Voki, check out my post titled Make a Voki. Voki is great in that a single "voki" can be made without an account, and can be embedded into the students blog. They love making these fun little interactive baseball cards as I call them. 
• PicMonkey: PicMonkey is a great tool for organizing and showing images. I did a post about this tool titled PicMonkey: Awesome Image Collage Tool.
  
  There is no account required to use the service, and the images you construct there are savable as jpegs, so you can take the images with you without embedding them. I use this tool all year, so I like to teach it from the start.
• Now that students have some tools under their belt, they can practice getting more content into their blogs, commenting, etc. From there, I can grow my list of resources, and teach them more. But it is important that they have time to mess around with a new tool, to practice and master each one at their own pace. It takes time, so be patient with them, and yourself.

5th Grade Science Unit on Atoms & Molecules

Underneath my subject static pages here on my blog, I have just completed a science unit on atoms & molecules.

I've been focusing on making sure that these unit pages are full of information that I can use to assist in my own planning, and making sure that it's a service to other teachers. There are links to the content, some activities, many pdf documents that are freely available for printing, and some great videos that I use in this unit. Let me know if you have any other suggestions.

SCIENCE UNIT: ATOMS & MOLECULES

How to Determine the Reading Level of a Book at a Glance: Always Relevant Information

My old blog, a literacy education focused blog called LiteraBuss, has some posts that still draw many viewers, even though I haven't posted in two years to it. I've noticed in my discussions on reddit and other forums that there are many people out there still looking for ways to determine the reading level of a book if they can't find it easily online. There was a popular post I made in 2008 that is just as relevant today. I am re-posting it here, and have updated the dead links contained in that page. So without further delay, here is the text of How to Determine the Reading Level of a Book at a Glance.



I've done some posts in the past about determining the reading level of children/adolescent/young adult books, but they usually involve referring to some type of chart, or searching around on Amazon.com or another book site to find the reading level according to a formula.

This post is about how to quickly determine if the book is appropriate for a student (or your own child, whatever the case may be for you) just by using information you gathered from the book itself. Many children's books very obviously list this information right on the front cover. DK Readers for example have the level as a number, as well as who it is appropriate for. Scholastic books sometimes have the appropriate reader level listed near the bar code, many of the short leveled reader books that are used in elementary classrooms list the level, along with the skills that the book works on, right on the front or back cover.

So, beyond books that list the level somewhere, which is a trend we're seeing more recently, how can you find the level of a book that doesn't have this information anywhere on it? The skill of finding the level of a book on your own takes some practice, but once you have rated enough books on your own, the better you get (that's right, it's the ol' "practice makes perfect" thing).

There are many methods that teachers have been using in their own classroom to determine if a book is an appropriate book for that certain child. Leveling a book on the spot is usually done to see if it fits a certain child.

The "five finger rule" is a mainstay that you'll hear about anywhere you go. Basically, open the book up to a random page, and have the student read that page. Every time they miscue (pass a word or miss it), hold up a finger. If they miss five on that page, it's not a good book for them. This method has served many teachers well for a very long time.

The reason the methods like the "5 finger rule" have been around and continue to be used is because they apply book leveling to the individual child, which only makes sense. All the book levels in the world won't do you any good if that child can't pick up the book and read it.

Variations of the five finger rule include:

• Vocabulary picking: Go through one chapter of the book (roughly 5 pages) and see if you can find more than 20 words that could be given for vocabulary. That is, 20 words that the student won't know. If you can do it, this isn't a good book for that child to read.
• Check back: Go ahead and give the child this book. After two chapters (depending on the length), check their understanding of the book. This should be fairly obvious, but will only work if you have an understanding of the book.

There's millions of different ways to check, at a glance, if a child should read a certain book. The examples I have given so far mainly gravitate around fluency. But comprehension should not be ignored, because, ultimately, it is what matters most.

Now, the school district I work for has always been interested in fluency. How fast can a child read versus how many mistakes they make over time, that's the basic formula for fluency. So, just because a child can read 160 words per minute (which is excellent for any child under the age of 14), does that make them a good reader? Of course not. With the focus on fluency, many students have learned to become what we call "word callers." They know the words and can read them quickly. The main problem, however, is a disconnect between fluency and comprehension. I've also had students who read 65 words per minute (considered slow or deficient in intermediate grades), but comprehends on an advanced level. So speed isn't the best way to go.

When I sit down to determine if a child should be reading a certain book, I want to know if they can handle the structure and words of the story, but I also want to know if they understand the content. Take me for example. I'm working on a doctorate, so in theory, I am one of the highest educated people on the planet. This means that I should be able to pick up any book written in my language and read it for comprehension. Yes, I could pick up any book and read it, but understand it? That's a different story. If I read a book on bio-chemistry, I'd probably actually comprehend less than half, and this is a cultural/situational comprehension issue with reading.

Students who don't know a thing about the Holocaust are going to struggle reading about it, because the background knowledge isn't there. Take this into account as well. Comprehension checks done on the fly only work if you, the instructor, have a rudimentary understanding of the book you're trying to scrutinize. If it's a classroom read aloud, you can lay some background for the students, but if it's an individual reader, you probably don't have the time to do this, so make sure it's appropriate in terms of fluency, comprehension, content, and will hold the interest of the child.

Wow, that's a lot to take in. But this is what good literacy instruction involves, good, appropriate, individualized literacy instruction. Many issues must be taken into account when determining the level of a book for a child. Is the child fluent without comprehension, or vice versa? Is there an English Language Learner (ELL) issue in play that must be addressed? Is there a lack of background knowledge on the topic? These are just a few questions you need to ask yourself.

Now this is all well and good, but what if you came here searching for how to level books because you want to level an entire library for later use? This isn't hard, because you obviously have the internet (or you wouldn't be reading this). Scholastic has a Teacher Book Wizard that lists levels of many books out there. I did a post back in April titled How They Determine the Reading Level of A Book, and it offers some resources, including some comparison charts to interpret book levels done through different leveling systems and/or formulas.

Finally, if you are on your own, you can involve a little intuitive guesswork. I've done this before. If you can't find any information about the book online through some Google detective work, then read a few pages of the book, compare it to other books of similar levels, and guess at it.

Some basic formulas (along with their link to Wikipedia) that are used to determine the reading level of a book include:

• Fry Readability Formula
• Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test
• Dale-Chall Readability Index (pdf document)
• SMOG Readability Formula also The SMOG Interactive Calculator, also available HERE

I hope that this information can be of service to you. Please let me know if it was, or if there are things you're trying to find out or understand that I didn't touch on here.

Online Book Collection: Scholastic Listen and Read

In some searching for online book resources, I came across Scholastic Listen & Read, a collection of 54 stories in high quality, online format.

What makes these books great is the simplicity. Some of the content is appropriate for 4th and 5th graders (the Constitution, Presidents, Ecology, etc.), but the reading is more on level for a 2nd or 3rd grader, especially at Level B. The text can also be spoken aloud within the web browser. This is a great tool for younger students, and possibly the struggling readers in the upper Elementary grades. I recommend giving it a quick look.

Google Drive: All the Storage You'll Ever Need

Over the course of my teaching career (seven years), I've gone from using blank cd's, jump drives, a laptop, my own email account, Dropbox and other cloud services, to Google Drive. I still use services like Dropbox on my phone to store photos and such, but for my work files, Google Drive is all I need.

From the start, Google Drive gives you 5 gigabytes of storage. Only stored files that are not in Google Doc format count against your 5 gigs. I have tons of files in pdf format, jpegs, docs, etc, and haven't even put a 1% dent in my 5 gigs. I love that I can use my Drive on my phone, I can drop files into it on my computer and they immediately sync, and I can control the sharing and search-ability of individual files.

Most files translate over to the Google Doc format without too much trouble. Occasionally I'll find a file that gets messed up a little in Google Docs, so those files I keep in their original format, and they count against my storage.

If you don't have a Google account, GET ONE! I use Google for my document storage and editing (when I'm away from home or work), I use Google + to store my photos (this doesn't count against my Drive), and Google offers so many services, not to mention how great Gmail is. I highly recommend Google Drive, the 5 GB for free is a great deal, and the deals on upgraded storage are awesome (25 GB for $2.50 a month is awesome).

Scholastic Simulations

Most of the posts I make showcase freely available products. There is one product out there that isn't free, and I have yet to find anything online that even comes close. These are the Scholastic Teaching Resources Simulations. There are simulations for the Civil War, Revolutionary War, and Westward Expansion just to name a few. If you're interested in teaching about any of these topics, these simulations are as good as it gets. I bought a few with some colleagues, which we share each year.

Free Online Service For Editing PDF Documents: PDFescape

If you're at all like me, you're constantly coming across pdf documents that contain great resources you want to use in your classroom. The problem is, the rest of the information isn't always great.

Now, I'm not advocating taking someone else's work and editing it, then passing it off as your own. But sometimes, I want to isolate the good pages in a pdf document, and for that, I came across a great web service called PDFescape. It's completely free, and will let you delete pages from a pdf, erase portions of pages, make annotations, highlights, etc. You can then download the pdf you created. You can do all of this without an account, for free. I've used it dozens of times and am constantly going back. It's a great service for the teacher who uses pdf documents.

My 5th Grade Unit on Westward Expansion

In my subject specific static pages within this blog, I have posted resources and plans for teaching a unit on Westward Expansion (the frontier, California Gold Rush, the many trails that brought pioneers out West, etc.).

You can access that unit on my blog, it's titled Unit 5: Westward Expansion. It is my hope that there are links here that are useful to other teachers, most of this stuff is appropriate for grades 2-7 with adaptations. There are many links for kids, and teachers, including lots of print ready pdf documents. Everything is free, so that's always a plus!

I have also taken the exact page and removed all teacher resources from it. When my students begin research in this unit, they will use the page Social Studies Unit 5: Westward Expansion Student Links Only.

My 5th Grade Unit on The American Revolution

In my subject pages, I have completed a page with resources for the unit I teach on The American Revolution.

This unit includes information on life under British rule for the colonists, the growing tensions between the colonists and England, the war itself, and some bits on the reconstruction afterwards. The page is titled Social Studies Unit 3: Revolution. There are dozens of links to sites, documents, lessons, and videos.

Make Your Images Interactive: Thinglink

If you hover over the logo for my blog, you'll see some different colored dots pop up. If you click a dot, it will take you to the page for the subject that the dot is next to. This was done thanks to Thinglink. Thinglink is a web tool that makes your images interactive.

If your understanding of coding is limited like mine, you might not be able to map images correctly. This tool makes it very simple to make your images interactive with links. I made this example with the city map of my hometown, Las Cruces. It's very simple. I uploaded my picture, created dots where I wanted them, and connected links to those dots.



Thinglink has a free account option, and so far it's been everything I've needed.

On a more personal note, I had some issues getting Thinglink to work in my blog. It was a technical issue due to the way the coding in Blogger works. I used technical support, and within 24 hours had a very detailed answer. The technician went through the steps to recreate my issue, and then fix it. He then sent me the code to fix the issue. It was awesome. I highly recommend Thinglink, it's a great service.

Mission US: An Interactive Game About the American Revolution and Underground Railroad

I am currently going through my subject specific pages, trying to add material for units that will be taught this upcoming year. Tonight I've been thinking about my Social Studies plan for the year, working on my Unit 3 Social Studies page. While planning this out, I found and chose a fantastic website with an interactive game that teaches two lessons, one about the American Revolution, and one about the Underground Railroad. Mission US is free and highly engaging. Here is an excerpt from Mission US about the two missions that are available:

Mission 1: “For Crown or Colony?” puts players in the shoes of Nat Wheeler, a printer’s apprentice in 1770 Boston. They encounter both Patriots and Loyalists, and when rising tensions result in the Boston Massacre, they must choose where their loyalties lie.  

In Mission 2: “Flight to Freedom,” players take on the role of Lucy, a 14-year-old slave in Kentucky.  As they navigate her escape and journey  to Ohio, they discover that life in the “free” North is dangerous and difficult. In 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act brings disaster. Will Lucy ever truly be free?

 I tried out the games, and they are impressive. I will be utilizing this game in my class this year, having students play through both when we are studying each. I think that this interactive experience will deeply engage students in the content, much more than reading about it in the Social Studies book. 


The site even has educator guides available with good classroom ideas, vocabulary, etc. 


You can also view a post made by Richard Byrne on his blog Free Technology for Teachers about Mission US. I didn't find this site there, but in trying to find other resources for the American Revolution, I came across his post and he has good information.

Teaching the Tiny World of Atoms and Molecules Using Zoom, the Picture Book

Zoom, by Istvan Banyai, is a great picture book that teaches students the concept of zooming. Many reading teachers use it as a simple activity in which students look at the concept of moving into a picture, and it induces some neat discussions, even in smaller kids. I use this book in science, when teaching about atoms and molecules. I normally use it during my initial lesson, as it shows simply the concept of objects within objects. I have my students view the book, then make their own "zoom book" afterwards, using a simple flip book made out of three sheets of construction paper folded into fourths, cut, and stapled together.

If you don't have access to the book, you're in luck, because you can view the entire book HERE on Slideshare or at the bottom of this post. Trust me, it's great stuff. Take a look!

Zoom

View more presentations from profman

Subject Specific Pages / Units / Lessons on my blog

My overall vision for this blog has been to create a resource file that I can use in my daily classroom, but done in a format that will be useful to other teachers. So in addition to the regular blog posts, I have created subject specific pages (you can see the links on the right sidebar). Each subject specific page will itself contain links to unit specific pages, with more specifics on lessons. I hope this will be useful to teachers out there viewing this blog. Here are the links to those subject specific pages:

• Math
• Reading
• Writing
• Science
• Social Studies

A Great, Free, Online Alternative to Photoshop

In the past, I used Photoshop for all my photo editing needs. The drawback to this was it was only available on my computer. This past year, I ran across a great online photo editing service that, for my needs, does everything that Photoshop does. What makes it great is that students can utilize the tool as well.

This service is called Pixlr, and if you need to do some photo editing, I recommend you give it a try, it's simple, and best of all, doesn't cost a cent.

Learn Zillion: In Class Math Tutoring Online

This year my class will be using Learn Zillion, a website that presents students with mini math lessons similar to the Khan Academy videos, and lets the teacher assign practice work and quizzes for students to do online. The teacher can also view student progress.

Last year I used Khan Academy with advanced students during our RtI time (RtI stands for Response to Intervention, it's a mandated tutoring time, in my grade level, we primarily use it for targeted math tutoring). The issue I had with Khan Academy was the students never fully got the hang of it, and my lower level students didn't get a lot from the instruction. I'm not knocking Khan Academy, it's definitely revolutionary and my advanced students will still be utilizing it from time to time.

What I like about Learn Zillion is that its lessons work well across the board for all students. I'm going to try assigning harder work for students who need it, and if I find that it's not meeting there needs, I'll start moving those students over to Khan Academy.

Learn Zillion is very simple to use. First, the teacher signs up for a free account, then starts building a class. The first time each student logs in, they'll need the classroom code (you can print this out for them with a list of instructions). From there, the teacher can assign lessons across a broad area of math topics.

It's something I hope to find success with this upcoming year. Here's hoping!

The Giver, by Lois Lowry: Some Great Ideas for Teachers

The Giver, by Lois Lowry, is truly one of my all time favorite books. I have read this book aloud to my class every year that I have taught, and will continue to do so. I wrote a review of The Giver in 2008 on my old literacy blog The Literabuss, so I won't get into my thoughts on the book, but I'll keep this post about how to teach with this book, and some ideas to utilize in the classroom with it.

I want to quickly point teachers into the right direction in terms of freely available materials online, so here's some links to those first:

• The Giver Unit Plan - A nice unit plan put together on Eileen Midure's Homepage. There are vocabulary words, activities, worksheets, quizzes, objectives, and more. A good starting place.
• The Giver Navigator - Available on Mr. R a (probably not anymore since this was posted in 2003) pre-service teacher from Northern Illinois University.This reads like it was part of a project for a college course, but there are some decent resources here for both teachers and students.
• The Giver Flashcards - I love Quizlet, so I linked to some great vocabulary flashcards.
• Scholastic Reading Guide to The Giver - A very nice printable pdf document that includes an author interview with Lois Lowry, questions to guide the reading, laid out by chapter (pages 18-22, if you use one part of this guide, it'll be this part), and guides to theme, settings, characters, etc. 

Next up is a great Youtube video made by a teacher and class. This is an idea I have taken and used as my own. It's a movie preview trailer made by the class, and it's a great long term project. The way I do this is I introduce the idea at the beginning of the book, start up an ideas board, and have students post possible ideas for inclusion in the preview video, which we make as a whole class project at the end of the book. Check out this video (it's not mine by the way):

Finally there's a project that I do each year, called "The Giver in black and white." It's a good project for 5th graders, because it gets them thinking about what it would be like to live in that world. I have each student go  somewhere on the school grounds, and take a picture of something they think is colorful. I then print out their photo in black and white. I wait a few days, then present students with their black and white photo, and ask them to first describe the colors they originally saw. Next, I ask them to describe how it feels to view the photo in black and white, and finally, I ask them to create an abstract drawing (they may need a crash course as to what that is) using the colors that are now absent from their photo.

The Giver is a fantastic book, one that is loved by my students each year. I hope you've either read it, or will give it a shot, you won't be disappointed.

Working With Frequency Diagrams

Every classroom I've ever seen asks students to collect data in raw form, and then analyze that data in one form or another. The raw collection seems easy enough. But the reality is, while most students can collect their data, many don't know how to analyze it or interpret data already placed in a pie chart, pictograph, frequency diagram, or bar graph (just to name a few).

So, it's off to BBC we go to play a game called Frequency Diagrams with Dick and Dom. This is an interesting game that will ask the player to figure out some totals based on given data. 

Next up, staying at the KS2 Bitesize (BBC) website, take this quiz on frequency diagrams.

For teachers, I came across this great site called Math Worksheets 4 Kids. Specifically I have attached a link to a page that has worksheets for Statistics. Check out the tally worksheets they have there, it's simple but will give you a quick view as to whether or not your students understand. 

Make A Voki

The website Voki offers students the chance to make a talking card of sorts. I have students use this website numerous times during the school year to analyze literary characters, major historical figures, etc. Making a Voki is simple, just head on over to the website, and click the "create" button, and you're on your way.

Once the creation page comes up, click the buttons to change your character, customize the background, voice, even the dimensions of their features. Watch your spelling when typing in the text they'll read aloud.

Just remember, you need to embed the code into your blog, website, or even a document to ensure it's saved before you close the web browser when you're finished, or you'll lose your work! If you have a user account, your Vokis will save there. Check out my Voki. It took me about two minutes to make this. 

Learning About the Seven Continents Quickly and Easily

Here's a simple post with a simple premise, the seven continents. You'd be surprised how many fifth graders (pretty much most of them) don't know the seven continents, or think that Texas and California are both continents.

I'm going to keep this nice and easy. I don't really have a lot of extra time to teach the continents, but I like for that content to get taught. So, I'll have my students practice by playing the Continent Names game over at PlayKidsGames.com. Next up, I will have them listen to this rap called "The Continents Song." It's a little infectious, easy to pick up, and within a week, the kids know the names of the seven continents. That was easy!