Teaching with Jennifer Findley
Upper Elementary Teaching Blog
Interactive notebooks—some teachers love them, while others either haven’t figured out how to use them effectively or are unsure if they’re worth the effort. If you find yourself in either camp, this blog post will help you make or solidify your decision and give you tips on how to make interactive notebooks work in your classroom.First, let's start with the two stories … [Read more...] about Why Interactive Notebooks Are Worth the Commitment: Two Stories That Prove It
Solving multi-part math constructed response tasks is such a tricky skill for my students. Not only is the actual solving of the problems tricky, but students often struggle with organizing their responses and their work. This post will share some tips to help students solve multi-part word problems strategically AND ways to scaffold their responses and … [Read more...] about Solving Multi-Part Word Problems {Freebie Printable Chart}
Long Division is every teachers' (and students') worst nightmare, it seems! Every year, my students come to me with very little number sense. This makes dividing with two digit divisors so difficult. In response to this, I started teaching my students "Easy Breezy" division, a spin off of partial quotients that provides that much needed support for struggling … [Read more...] about Partial Quotients: Easy Breezy Division {Lots of Freebies}
Grading, grading, and more grading! Honestly, that may be the thing I like the least about teaching. Which is odd because that is what I did the most when I played school as a child. I am not missing the irony there! Last year, I created a CCSS aligned grade book in an attempt to simplify the process of recording and accessing grades. After using it all year and … [Read more...] about Common Core Gradebook {Free!}
Word problems and math constructed response tasks were always a struggle for my students. It was like pulling teeth to get them to write more than just the answer. Almost three years ago, I created a new acronym to help my students think through, represent problems, and show all of the work when they are solving word problems and math constructed response tasks. Keep … [Read more...] about Solving Word Problems & Math Constructed Response Tasks with LOVE
Today I am back with another post about the book "Good Questions for Math Teaching"! See my first post about measurement with examples and activities by clicking here. This chapter focuses on data and chance. I loved the questions in this chapter because they really instill in the students that there is not just one answer all of the time. Here are my favorite … [Read more...] about Good Questions for Math Teaching {Data and Chance}
I am a huge fan of using real life math in the classroom. If you follow my blog, you know that I share several freebies that feature real life math. For this post, I want to share a fun carnival math freebie with you that was inspired by my real life experience. This past weekend, my family and I went to the a small carnival set up in our town. I wanted to share a set of … [Read more...] about Carnival Math Freebie { Real Life Math }
My break is over, and I officially return to school Monday...sadsville! Other than having to set your alarm, and losing the extra time with family and friends, the other part about going back to work that I dread is the fact that I know some of my kids will have forgotten what we learned or just need a quick review. Last year, I decided to not fight this inevitable fact, … [Read more...] about How to Review After a Long Break from School
I jumped headfirst into using interactive notebooks this year, and I am loving it! My class is doing a great job of using their notes, keeping them neat and organized, and taking pride in them. I teach in a school with no textbooks so our interactive notebooks are becoming our textbooks. But, I did run into one snag using interactive notebooks. I had NOTHING to hang … [Read more...] about Interactive Hall Displays
Happy Weekend! Tomorrow my sweet Brody turns 10. Yikes! He is getting so old! I wanted to pop in real fast to share some new resources that I created over the summer for reading and math. I don't know about your kids, but my kids LOVE choice! Even if it is all still the same kind of work and still the same skill, just something about being able to choose is so awesome to … [Read more...] about Give Them Choice with Reading Choice Boards
Happy Wednesday! I recently read Chapter 4 of the book, What's your Math Problem? and this was my favorite chapter so far. This chapter is all about the students using math problem solving strategies to get themselves organized before or while they are solving a problem. The math problem solving strategies discussed in this chapter are: Look for a Pattern … [Read more...] about Math Problem Solving Strategies
Well, I don't know about your students, but every year, it seems that interpreting remainders is a struggle for my students. It is really a struggle for students who have difficulty understanding word problems or that have no conceptual understanding of what division is. This post will share some of the activities we did and a free anchor chart with sample word problems … [Read more...] about Interpreting Remainders {Anchor Charts, Ideas, and Activities}
