5th Grade Common Core Cumulative Assessment and Practice Packet

My students are currently gearing up for some end of the year assessments, and these assessments are rather important to 5th graders, because their scores influence their placement in middle school classes. Obviously, my students see the value in doing their best, so they asked for a cumulative review to get them ready.

Now, even though we're not technically "on" the Common Core (CCSS) until next year, our districts formative assessment, the Discovery test, is CCSS based. So for that reason, and to fill in any gaps, I searched far and wide for a cumulative review, and boy did I find some good stuff!

But, instead of listing a ton of resources, I wanted to focus on one in particular that my students are using, and are thankful that they have.

Off at the Bridges Math Learning Center website, I found this fantastic pdf file titled:

FIFTH GRADE ASSESSMENTS AND SCORING CHECKLISTS, COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS

This document is 41 pages in length. I was able to narrow it down to 22 pages of things my students are going to review. So I edited down this pdf file. I want to stress that all credit for this document goes to the Bridges Math Learning Center.

My edited version of this pdf (the 22 page version) can be accessed HERE from my Google Drive.

The Lightning Thief End of Book Project and Teacher Resources

The Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan, has become a mainstay in my reading class (my book review, located on my now defunct literacy blog, can be found HERE). For five years now, my students have been enjoying this fantastic book, and a thematic unit on Greek Mythology alongside the reading of the book. You can view my post titled Some 5th Grade Greek Mythology Resources for some great websites and information about teaching Greek Myth.

When reading The Lightning Thief, I call upon the following pages for some great resources:

• An overview of Lightning Thief resources at Rick Riordan's website: A table of contents page with tons of great resources.
• A chapter by chapter teachers guide from Rick Riordan's website: It's the first link from the above table of contents. It's an awesome resources, it's huge, comprehensive, and it's HUGE.
• A complete unit by chapters with questions and vocabulary: Again, from Rick Riordan's website (it's a great site).

Now, when you're done and you're ready to do an end of book project, I have everything you'll need right here:

• First, head off again to Rick Riordan's website for some awesome project ideas on the page titled School Project Ideas.
• Finally (this is why most of you came): The Lightning Thief end of book project (.doc format).
• If you need more explanation on the book brochure portion, seek help at my post titled Book Report Project Idea: Book Brochures.

5th Grade Science Fair Projects

Now that we're approaching the end of the school year, it's time to get the 5th graders working on their science fair projects.

I think it's a great end of year project to do, because it gives students a chance to show off the knowledge and skills they've acquired during the school year. We will be presenting these projects to families and community members in about 3 weeks time.

I look forward to showing off some of the exemplary (and even not so exemplary) projects here on the blog, but for now, I'm going to list some resources for anyone out there who is thinking about doing science fair projects. So here you go:

• Elementary School Science Fair Project Ideas
• Science Fair Projects by Scientific Discipline
• 200 Science Fair Projects: A neat little pdf document that I'm using today in class.
• Science Fair Project Ideas: Another pdf full of ideas

HERE ARE THE TWO MAIN RESOURCES I AM UTILIZING:

• Elementary Science Fair Planning Guide: I consider this to be the best resource I came across online. In fact, the document I created for my 5th grade is based on pages from this pdf document.
• My Science Fair Document: I made some changes to the document listed above, and added my own things to it. This is what we're using for our science fair.

Some Great Guides on How To Effectively use iPads in Your Classroom

For those of you who utilize the iPad or iPod Touch in your classroom, you likely know the power that these small tools can have when used effectively. I've always used technology in my classroom instruction, and have always attempted to integrate it seamlessly into what I do. I feel that I've found a great balance over the years of using computers in the classroom.

The problem with computers is they take up space. I have 8 computers in the room, and they are used constantly. Luckily I also now have a handful of iPads (with more coming) to use in the classroom, and boy are we using them!

So before I start posting on my own uses for iPad, I'll start by passing on some great ideas and resources for using iPads in the classroom:

• iPad Apps For School: This blog, by Richard Byrne (author of Free Technology for Teachers) offers some great ideas and focuses on great apps you can use with your iPads.
• Top 7 Guides On How To Use iPads in the Classroom: A resources that takes you to 7 great resources. 
• 62 Ideas for Using the iPad in the Classroom: A presentation with some fantastic ideas.
• 100 Way to Use iPads in Your Classroom: It has a lot of similar ideas to the others, plus a few inventive ones I'd never considered.

Measuring Capacity Resource: Gallon Man and Capacity Visual

First off, I apologize for the long delay in posts. It's been a busy last month or so. We had our state No Child Left Behind testing a few weeks ago, then we had Spring Break, and finally I'm back. It was a whirlwind, but it's done, and now we can get back to business.

Currently my 5th graders are studying measuring, including measuring tools, one step conversions, and the various categories of measurement. I'll be posting unit plans for the Measurement unit soon (in New Mexico Standards and Benchmarks format, Common Core units will be coming over the summer).

For today, I wanted to share a resource that has served me well when my students are learning about capacity, and this little pdf document includes two visuals for working with US unit capacity (volume), including the relationship between gallons, quarts, pints, and cups.

The document includes this little visual:

It also includes this one:

They're both ready for printing and use in the classroom.

This document comes thanks to The Teacher Website, and is hosted there:

MR. GALLON MAN PDF