Stepping up my Math Game

What we've been learning: Last year I struggled a lot teaching math.  It is not my favorite subject, and I felt like I was drowning trying to figure out projects and activities and standards for the rest of the classes.  Spring semester the boys were using Teaching Textbooks.  It is a great computer program for learning math.  I only had them doing the program.  We never took notes or did any projects.  It was a challenge because I was trying to fit in a whole year into 4 months.  We covered two years of math content in one.

This year I knew I wanted to make some changes to math.  I wanted to incorporate games, projects, and a math notebook.

MILLION DOLLAR PROJECT

We started off the year talking about adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing whole numbers.  This was a good review for the boys.  I wanted to connect this to the real world.  I gave them each a million dollars.  I wish I had million dollar bills to give them, but I wasn't thinking that far ahead this summer to buy some.  :)  I created my own rubric and guide, but pulled ideas from here.

They had to figure out how to spend the money.  They needed to buy a house, car, college tutition, etc.  They realized the expensive cost of college, they got to think about what kind of house and transportation they would like to have, and they thought about a charity to donate.  It was very interesting to see how much of their million dollars they would give to others.

They also got to splurge and use the rest of their money to buy whatever they wanted.  They realized it is challenging to spend money sometimes.  Isaac bought a wild tiger, Joseph bought an indoor pool, and Andrew splurged on a four-wheeler.

DECIMAL MENU PROJECT

I wanted the boys to see connections between money and decimals.  I had them each come up with their own restaurant.  They each went with a pizza place, but with different themes.  Isaac's restaurant was called Zapped!  He used a clever lightning theme that carried into the names of his options.  Andrew's restaurant was all about the video games.

I had them do some math with eachother's menus.  They had to calculate by hand how much their ideal meal from the restaurant would cost.  They had to calculate how much it would cost if their friend also bought the same meal.  They also needed to figure out how much it would cost if they bought everything from the place.  If I were to redo this project, I would cut that part because it is a challenge to add all those numbers.  I wish the boys would have done a better job slowing down and adding correctly, though.

PERCENT PROJECT

This was the most recent project the boys completed.  I loved it because it got them out of the classroom, and it got them to interact with adults.  I had them think of a question to ask people, a survey of sorts.  Isaac asked "Who is your favorite superhero?"  Joseph asked people what their favorite Dominican food item is, and Andrew asked about their favorite sport.  The boys struggled with talking to strangers and grown ups, which  is part of the reason I created the project.  They need to be stretched outside of their comfort zones.  We walked around the neighborhood, polling people.  We talked to 15 people as a group, and they needed to ask 15 more over the evening.

Here were some of their final products.  They learned how to create a pie chart in Microsoft Excel, which was a good computer/technology task.  These projects looked a bit better than their menus from the decimal project.

MATH NOTEBOOKS

I've been trying to create a math interactive notebook.  I searched quite a bit online for ideas.  I am hoping that taking notes is helping the boys remember the information.  The more times the hear it, the more ways they use it, the more it will stick in their math brains.

MATH GAMES

We were learning about prime and composite numbers.  We also were learning about equivalent fractions.  We had a game day.  One of the games I found online, the equivalent fraction race.  The boys liked that one because it involved dice.

The other game I created myself.  I used a Guess Who game board that I purchased last year.  I put a bunch of numbers on it, and we played Guess Who with numbers.  Ex: Is your number a composite number?  Is your number a multiple of 3?  Is your number a product of 4?  Is your number prime?  It was super fun, and even included a chocolate bar prize for the winner.

FRACTION FOOD

I found this PowerPoint on Teachers Pay Teachers that uses chocolate bars with fractions.  I took her idea and modified it for the specific standards and ideas I wanted the boys to practice.  It took all their willpower to wait until the end of the class period to eat their candy.

What are your favorite math games and activities?

Cookie Monster

What we've been eating/doing:  My mom's friend Mrs. Davis sent us some cookies in the care package from my mom.  Mrs. Davis makes these incredible cookies.  If you want to see some of her other creations, check out her Facebook page here.

The first ones we ate were a special treat while we were watching the last Spanish movie for the film unit.  They were Dominican Republic shaped cookies with a heart over Santiago!  The kids loved them.

She also made me US shaped cookies.  We are studying US History so I knew I could incorporate them somehow.  The week after I received the package, we were going to start a book called Bound for Oregon.  It is a novel about the Oregon trail and a family's adventures.  I had the boys map out the Oregon trail on the cookie using the special pens.  They had to label 6 places along the trail, and they had to do some research on those places.  I wish they would have wrote more about the places, but overall it was a fun way to use food and the cookies to visualize the Oregon trail.

Joseph's quote from the day:

"There's nothing cooler than writing on a cookie!"

Other ways to use edible pens/cookies in the classroom:

• Use the food pens on a slice of bread to draw or illustrate a concept from math or science or history
• Creating a timeline on food of some sort. 
• Create picture frame cookies like these ones.  Get mini easles from Michaels craft store and study different artists.  For a final they could use the food pen and the cookie to create a piece of artwork in the style of their artist. 
• Make a cake to represent a character or theme or novel that was read during English class. We could use the pens to write on the cake (character traits, events, quotes/text evidence). 

How are you using food in the classroom?  

The dirt on dirt

What we've been doing in science: We started the year learning about dirt.  I thought it would be an awful unit.  I am not very passionate about dirt.  Surprising, right?  This year we do not have a science textbook.  The A Beka textbook about earth science has a sample of their table of contents.  I used this as inspiration for what topics we should study.  The rest I have been coming up with myself, with some help from Google and Pinterest.

I started out with a pretest for the boys to see what they knew about dirt.  They didn't know very much, which made me optimistic that we could only get better.  :)  Here are some of the activities we did while studying soil science.

Apple soil demonstration:  This model did not work super well, since I have a tiny cutting board and the apple peeler does not work the best.  Although I dropped a slice or two on the floor, it did show well the relation of the whole earth and the amount of usable soil we have for farming.  I got this activity from THIS amazing website.  It has lots of creative, engaging ideas for teaching earth science.  

Layers of dirt with food:  The boys love doing anything with food.  I saw several different examples of layers of dirt food things online.  I took those ideas and made it my own.  We used solid cookies at the bottom of the cups to represent bedrock.  Then I used chocolate kisses for parent material.  Pudding represented the subsoil.  Crushed Oreos were used for topsoil filled with gummy worms.  Crushed Chips Ahoy were used for the very top layer.  The following day I had the boys label the layers on a giant cup.  It was a yummy day.

Mason jar soil test:  I had the boys bring some dirt from their yards so we can see if it is "good" dirt.  We did this mason jar soil test.  It was SO cool to see the layers of silt, sand, and clay in the dirt.  We talked about loam and how dirt needs to have the right composition in order to grow plants.

Real world connection: Africa and Haiti are two places in the world who greatly struggle with soil.  Since we live in the Dominican Republic I wanted to make sure they understood the importance of dirt and how we need it to survive.  Without healthy dirt we can't grow food that we need in order to survive.  We also talked about how to make the dirt healthier, like using fertilizer and poop to increase the health of the soil.  Here is the article we read about Haiti.  Here is the article we read about Africa.

Dirt final tic-tac-toe board: I was pretty impressed with my final that I created.  I pulled elements from what we did to create a tic-tac-toe board.  The boys had to pick three in a row to complete.  My favorite were the poems the boys composed.  They did an amazing job writing them!

The second unit that I just finished was about earthquakes and the layers of the earth.  This next week we are starting rocks and minerals.  I love that I am pushing myself more with teaching science.  I think I have been doing a decent job, especially since I never in a million years thought I would be teaching this subject!

Y.U.M.

What I've been eating:  I am loving this year because my roommate Christin and I eat many of our meals together.  We have been creating new recipes and trying out different concoctions.

Tostones: These are a typical Dominican staple at meals.  They are kind of like large french fries, but they are made from plantains.  Christin taught me how to make them.  They are not the healthiest things to eat, but boy do they taste good.

Oreo Truffle Balls from here:  I made these for a tea party I had with the boys while we were learning about the Boston Tea Party.  The only problem is the balls did not stay together.  With the humidity and heat of this country, they just melted apart.

I made them again for a sleepover with the church youth group.  This time I spooned the batter into cupcake holders to make it easier to eat.  They turned out much better, even though they definitely weren't truffle balls anymore.

Overnight Oatmeal from here: I love the peanut butter and jelly combination.  My favorite one that Christin and I made was one of our own creation.  We used chinola juice and milk for our liquid.  We added shredded coconut and crushed almonds.  It was so delicious.

Hot Italian Sandwiches from here:  These were probably fairly unhealthy, but man did they taste yummy.  Lots of meat layered with cheese.  The herb butter was the icing on the cake.  I never thought of mixing butter with herbs before.

Anything with rice: We have been using lots of rice this year, learning to be Dominican.  We typically mix it with corn, beans, peppers, cheese, etc.  We throw whatever we have in our pantry and fridge in together.  Christin has a rice maker, which makes it much easier to prepare it.  The next day for lunch we will throw it on a pan (since we don't have a microwave) and throw it in a tortilla, or on top of tortilla chips.  Super easy, simple, and yummy.

2 Ingredient Banana Muffins from here:  These are my favorite thing in the world to make.  You only need two ingredients, and bananas are super cheap here.  1 for 5 pesos, or 3 for 10 pesos.  10 pesos is approximately 20 cents in US currency.  I added chocolate chips to the recipe when I made these for Bible study.  It made them taste even better.

Chicken Salad from here : This recipe called for some improvising.  Dried cranberries are rather expensive, so we had to leave those out of the creation.  We ate these on pita chips, or on tortillas.  I love that it is super filling dinner or lunch.

Chicken Bacon Ranch Chicken from here:  This recipe did not work out as well as I would have liked.  The bacon was not crispy.  Next time we need to cook the bacon beforehand so that it tastes better.  Also, the whole recipe was rather watery.  I am not sure why it did that, but maybe next time I would try it with less ranch sauce.  It was not my favorite meal that we made.

Stuffed Bell Peppers from here .  These were incredibly delicious when we first made them.  It was harder to eat them once they were cold.  Since we don't have a microwave, we could not really heat them up.  They tasted okay cold.

Lucky Charm Treats from here:  These were really tasty.  I made these for our Readathon day in September.  We ordered pizza and I made these for dessert.  They were incredible.  It would be fun to try different cereals mixed in, or on their own with the marshmallows.

Baked Parmesan Zucchini Rounds from here:  I had never tried zucchini before, but when I saw the picture of these little sides, I knew I had to try them.  It took us awhile to find zucchini in this country.  Our oven has no top heat; the heat only comes from the bottom.  It was harder to melt the cheese.  These definitely need to be eaten right away.  They don't taste very good cold, but they were a great way to get another vegetable into our diet when they are warm.

What I want to make next: 

Ritz Cracker Chicken from here  Or I could substitute the crackers with pretzels.  This summer I tried pretzel chicken from the Cheesecake Factory.  It was so delicious, and I thought I could modify the Doritos chicken recipe I've used before.

Bloomin' Baked Apples from here :  These seem like the perfect fall treat.  I saw the caramel squares last  year in stores, but I have not seen any this year.  Fingers crossed they will appear so we can try these amazing-looking apples.

I bought a can of pumpkin last year and I still have not used it yet.  My friend makes really yummy pumpkin bars that I could try copying.  Christin and I also found an overnight oats recipe that calls for a can of pumpkin that would be fun to try.  

What are you eating right now?  Do you have any yummy recipes to share?

Con mucho amor.

#bannedbookweek

What we've been doing: Last week was Banned Book Week.  I did not do anything last year to celebrate this week, but this year I saw Tracee Orman pinning lots of interesting ideas on Pinterest for the week.  I decided to join her and celebrate it with my students.

Day 1: We started off banned book week with a series of Youtube videos.  The first one we watched was a cute stop animation of what happens at a book store at night.  You can find it here.  Then we watched this man explain the history of banned books.  Lastly, we watched this video that showed many banned or challenged books and why they were challenged.

Day 2: These 11 quotes from authors on banned books provided a great discussion about the reasons behind banning books.  Next time I would use these quotes as a starting point for a class discussion where they would be graded.

Day 3: On Wednesday we went through a PowerPoint of these crazy reasons why 12 picture books have been banned.  Reading and discussing the reasons behind banning children's books really put things in perspective on the crazy reasons people don't want books shared.

Day 4:  The students took a "how scandalous is your reading history" quiz.  Then we looked at these images of banned book character's mug shots.  We spent the next hour drawing our own.  I drew Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird, but it's not good enough to post on the blog.  :)  Here were the final products of the rest of the kids.  We had Captain Underpants, Little Red Ridinghood, and even Gatsby!

Day 5:  We have never done a debate before as a class, so we decided to take on the challenge to end Banned Book Week.  Before starting, we talked about debates, what they look like and how you should talk and react.  My coteacher found a video of one woman doing a mini debate, representing both sides of the issue.  She tackled school uniforms.  We had the kids draw from a hat which side they would represent.  We gave them only five minutes to prepare for the debate.  Overall, it went well.  The side agreeing with banning books had much stronger arguments, but the side disagreeing with banned books had a better rebuttal.  It was a decent attempt at a first debate.

Next year I would love to create book covers with reasons why the book was banned.  It would be neat to have an interactive bulletin board, or bookshelf display.  It is a little more challenging to do in my tiny classroom.  I love dreaming and thinking about how I will change these lessons in the future.

Why every classroom needs a chalkboard wall

What we've been doing: Last spring I covered a whole wall in my classroom with blackboard paint.  Well, in the DR it is really just plain black paint that you cover in chalk.  It took me forever to cover the whole wall with chalk, but it has been my favorite part of the classroom this year.  Here was me celebrating finishing covering the wall last May.

Inspirational messages above the door: This sign has been up there since the spring, but this week I want to change it to "You are loved."  I could change it weekly or monthly.  I want it to be the last thing they see and remember when the leave the classroom; something positive and encouraging.

Venn diagrams: The boys are working on writing a compare/contrast paper right now.  It is a combination between US History and English.  We just finished reading a book about Sacajawea.  The boys were comparing European and Native American women.

Conjugating verbs in Spanish: I have been teaching two 11-year-old twins Spanish after school twice a week.  It has been so fun to watch them grow and learn Spanish.  We used the chalk wall the other week for

Timelines: We have been studying US History this year.  I had the boys race to see who could put the beginning events in order the fastest.  They loved the action and game-like way of learning.

Photo booth wall: The first day of school we used the wall to draw angel wings, and speech bubbles.  We also used the wall for Dot Day photos.

Brainstorming: Before the first day of school, Christin and I had a giant brainstorming day.  We threw everything up on the wall that we thought we might do the first day/week.  It made it easy to circle things and cross out the ideas we wanted to save for another day.

Labeling science diagrams: When we were learning about the layers of dirt in science, we did a food activity where each layer of dirt was represented by cookies, pudding, or Hershey's kisses.  The next day as a warm up, I had the boys make a huge representation and label the layers.

Other ideas I want to try...

• Giant KWL chart
• Fill in the blanks for verbs, vocabulary
• Matching images to quotes
• Art gallery style wall 
• Holiday decorations (pumpkin patch along the bottom for Halloween, Christmas trees along the sides during December)
• Speech bubbles for famous people - could be presidents, MLK Jr., famous scientists.  The students could either dress up and pose as the person, or draw the famous person. 

What are your ideas for using a chalk wall?  How do you use it in your home or classroom? 

International Dot Day

What we've been creating/doing: September 15th is one of my favorite days of the year.  DOT DAY.  Here is how we spent Dot Day last year.  This year I wanted the kids to be able to share the experience with others.  My friend teaches 2nd grade at a nearby private school that my kids used to go to.  We spent an afternoon sharing with them.

A few weeks early the kids created their own dots and spent time practicing reading aloud.  We displayed their dots on our clipboard wall display that I love.

The kids started by introducing themselves and reading the story to the second graders.  They did a great job projecting their voices and speaking up.  That was the main goal academically for this adventure.

Then, we split into small groups and my students asked questions about the message of the book.  They talked about what you can do to help and serve others.  Our main question was, "How can you make your mark on the world?"  Their ideas were adorable.

The last activity we did with them was helping the students create their own dot.  We had paint, magazines, markers, colored pencils, and more for them to use.  There were a few spills, but mostly laughter and creativity flying around the classroom.

It was a wonderful day, and my teacher friend even said we should come back again to do something with her class.

I also got to create Dot Day for two other groups of people.  Each Tuesday I go to a girl's home in Santiago.  Back in September we celebrated Dot Day there.  The girls loved the story and sticking their post its on the giant orange dot.  They did an amazing job creating their dots.

I also went to New Hope in La Vega and did Dot Day with the girls there yesterday.  It was a late Dot Day because I couldn't figure out how to get there.  :)  The girls struggled with the theme.  Some of them said their dots were ugly, or they got frustrated in the creating process.  But overall, the girls enjoyed doing something different on the weekend.  My favorite dot was one that said, "Jesus died for you, for me, and for the world."  It touched my heart.  There's a way to make a mark on the world.

Con mucho amor.