Friday the 13th and Freebie February

Triskaidekaphobia is fear of the number 13. It's been referred to as a phobia since the ancient Babylonians, at least 1000 years B.C. When 13 falls on Friday, it is believed to be a double whammy called paraskevidekatriaphobia.  But there's nothing unlucky about Friday the 13th during Freebie February.  In fact, it's your lucky day because today's offering is Be a Math Magician.

This unit is packed full of fun, but challenging, magician's math tricks. 

It's only free for today, so don't hesitate.

Have a great weekend.  You've earned it.

Other critical and creative thinking products:

It's About Time, Teachers, for 2015

It's about time, teachers, for 2015.  Are you ready?

Every new year, I make a teaching resolution to work smarter, not harder.  To that end, I have some suggestions that may help YOU work smarter, rather than harder.  

*Before you leave your classroom for the last time in 2014, remove all traces of the holidays. Upon your return in Jan., such leftovers will be about as welcomed as the proverbial fruitcake.  If you can rustle up enough energy, change your bulletin boards now.  You've earned a break. You need a break.  Don't go into school during your break!

*After decades in the classroom, the thrill of changing bulletin boards has long passed. To that end, I like to get as much mileage out of my bulletin boards as possible. So, I have created boards that work as learning centers, anchor activities, and/or enrichment experiences. Moreover, I like boards that last the whole month long.  

This one is from How Many Ways? -- Jan. Edition. Similar to Boggle(TM), the challenge in this activity is to arrive at a given number in many different ways. It readily provides differentiation by allowing the teacher to choose between 2 questions: one asks students to count to the target number; one requires students to use basic operations to arrive at the target.

Reproduce the mitten icons and place them on a bulletin board along with the How Many Ways? question of your choice. When using the basic operations challenge, select the math operation(s) appropriate for your students and post them, as well. Then invite your students to determine how many ways they can reach the target number. Enough target numbers are included to allow you to change the target each day, if you so desire.

This activity is CCSS aligned. It requires students to think critically while practicing math skills. What could be better than an activity that challenges your students in multiple ways?  

*Prepare all the materials you will need for the 1st week back.  If you employ thematic units, you may be interested in starting the new year off with Hats! Hats! Hooray for Hats! in preparation for National Hat Day on Jan. 15. This unit integrates ELA, math, HOTS, and creativity. The resources include:

Language arts

· Book links

· Compound words 

· Idioms 

· Vocabulary

· Comprehension

· Poetry

· Riddles 

· Handwriting practice

· Alphabetical order

· Writing

· Verbal fluency

Math 

· Counting

· Computation

· Graphing

· Patterns

· Venn Diagrams

· Math Journal prompts

· Sorting

· Measurement

· Money

Higher Order Thinking Skills

· Analysis

· Evaluation

· Creation

Art

· Arts & crafts project

Materials for literacy and math centers are included, as well as homework assignments. A perennial favorite of my students are the hat riddles we use for critical thinking, morning message, and handwriting practice.  Here's an example:

          His hat is striped in white and red.

          He put a pink stain on mother’s bed.

          Who is he?

My kiddoes can hardly wait for our morning meeting to share the answer to the riddle. (The Cat in the Hat)

*Another teaching resolution I make is to stretch my teaching repertoire into a new area.  So 1 year I resolved to incorporate more creative thinking opportunities.  The result was Destination: Imagination via Creative Thinking (Vol. I). (Vol. II will be launched soon.) 

This is an eclectic collection of activities originally developed for use with my gifted and talented classes. The goal of these activities is to promote the 4 traits of gifted children: fluency, flexibility, elaboration and originality. But really, what child wouldn't benefit from working on those aspects? I have found the project works very well with heterogeneous groups and have successfully used it with 1st - 5th graders.

These activities are structured to be used in 1 week intervals: assignment sheets go home with a due date; products are shared one week later. This product includes copy ready assignment sheets in color and black line, notes to the teacher, and participation certificates. Some are designed to be used seasonally; others are appropriate to any time of the year.

To ensure that you enjoy your winter break, plan for January NOW! It's about time -- your time!

You may be interested in:

The ABCs of Architecture

It's about time, teachers, for the ABCs of Architecture.   As an enrichment specialist for my district, I work with students in 2nd - 5th grades. The focus is not limited to academics. My fourth graders endowed with artistic talent embarked on an architectural adventure that resulted in a published book. It was an awesome experience for all involved.

Two local groups, the Preservation and Conservation Association (PACA) and the Historic Preservation Commission (HPC), asked me to conduct a project in which elementary students would learn about local, historic buildings.  In the process, they hoped to impress upon the students the value of preservation. They offered to subsidize a field trip for my 4th graders, complete with chaperons from their groups! How could I possibly say, "No?" 

My students began with a study of basic architectural elements, such as lines, shapes, textures, and form. Inspired by Diane Maddex's book, Architects Make Zigzags, Looking at Architecture from A to Z,  we made it our goal to produce an alphabet book about architecture found on historic buildings in our hometown.  

The next step entailed finding an architectural term or terms for each letter of the alphabet.  What followed was a flurry of old fashioned research as my charges constructed an impressive list.  We only had to stretch to find a term for X, settling on railroad crossing.  You may have just done an eye roll, but I was quite proud of my students' reasoning. They learned that our community grew around a railroad crossing for the Illinois Central railroad.

Armed with their alphabetical lists and sketchpads, we embarked on a bus and walking tour of the downtown region.  Can there be anything sweeter to a teacher's ears than the zealous exclamations of 9 & 10 year olds as they recognize a cupola, gargoyle, or keystone?  While our hosts gave us facts and fascinating stories about the buildings on our tour, my students sketched.

Back at school, the 4th grade crew drew pen and ink illustrations of the elements they sketched.  They composed the text explaining their terms and identifying the buildings upon which they were found.  PACA and HPC provided enough funds to allow us to professionally bind several copies of our books.  Those copies can now be found at the city library, our school library, in the offices of PACA and HPC, and in the city building. Each student received a copy fresh off the school's copy machine.  

Following are some excerpts from our book:

And finally, here are some of the comments my students had at the end of this project:

In my opinion, this project was the embodiment of enrichment.  

Until next time...

If you love enrichment, you may be interested in these units:

Critical Thinking & CCSS -- Are They Compatible?

Way back in 1983, the National Commission of Excellence in Education described the U.S. as a “nation at risk.”  That report fostered an opinion that American students, and by extension, American education, were deficient.  The NCEE findings further explained that the demise could be attributed to a failure of education to foster critical thinking.  Predictably, critical thinking became a buzzword in education.

Picture the one room schoolhouse a century ago, presided over by a ruler wielding marm who imparted information and content.  That wisdom was returned by rote.  Students were passive receptacles who dutifully practiced their times tables on slates.

Fast forward to the 1980s when that NCEE report shocked a nation.   There was an immediate focus on providing critical thinking skills to active learners.  The shift to knowing how to think versus rote recall was dramatic.  Starting in kindergarten, teachers began asking open ended questions, encouraging collaborative problem solving, and allowing children to make decisions.  

 

Now, in the 21^st century we have a new buzzword: CCSS.  Over and over, I have heard elementary teachers complain that strict adherence to the Common Core State Standards has supplanted the creativity that was a hallmark of early education and limits the opportunities to teach children how to think.  I wonder if the sense of urgency the CCSS imparts precludes the chances to encourage students to be problem solvers.  Is strict adherence to timelines robbing our students of time to learn critical thinking?  Are they mutually exclusive?  What do you think?

You may be interested in these critical thinking products in my TPT Store:

 

Back to School Time Savers -- Sponge Activities

No matter how carefully you plan your teaching day, there will inevitably be an awkward minute or two that needs filling.  It could be when you are waiting outside the music room for your "special," having arrived early because your class made it through the halls without having to stop for traffic or behavior control.  Maybe you find yourself with a few idle moments while waiting for all the classes to file into the auditorium for an assembly. Perhaps you lined up for lunch 2 minutes early.  For whatever reason and whenever it happens, do you have a plan for filling those moments?

Maximize those intervals with "sponge activities." You know, something that absorbs the time while doing what you have dedicated your life to -- exercising young brains.   

If you have been working on rhyming words, ask individuals to name a word that rhymes with ----. Give your class extra practice with counting and cardinality (per the CCSS) by asking them to count on or count backwards from an arbitrary number.  Reinforce whichever operation you are studying in math by tossing out some equations.  

Reinforcing concepts and facts is wonderful and worthwhile. But have you considered trying brain exercises?  

If you teach young children, a popular sponge activity is to clap and/or snap a pattern for your students to copy. Coincidentally, your charges have to be careful listeners to replicate your pattern. That's always a desirable goal.  

20 Questions and I Spy work well, especially if you are not in your classroom.  In our never ending pursuit of sight word recognition, you could institute "Spotlight Words."  To do this, turn out the lights, hand a large flashlight to one child, and ask him to shine the spotlight on a specific word wall word.  

If he spotlights the correct word, then he hands the flashlight to another student and directs her to find a different word wall word.  Play can continue as long as you wish.  This is my flashlight of choice.

Another sponge activity involves categories.  This can be related to content area subjects. For example, ask your students to name animals native to a rain forest, a desert, etc.  Other category ideas are foods you can eat raw, foods that start with "k," clothes you should NOT wear this time of year, a noun that names a place, verbs that describe what you are doing in P.E., a word with a suffix, an adjective, a 2 syllable word, a compound word, a country that starts with B, etc.  The longer you work with categories, the more fluent you become in flinging them at your students.  Simultaneously, your students will become more fluent in their thinking.

If you are a neophyte or simply trying to brush away the cobwebs from the summer, you may want to have some teaching aids handy.  My favorites and, more importantly, my students' favorites, are Hink Pinks, et al. and Triads.  Both of these word play activities can be made on cards that are handy to grab and/or carry in a pocket.  [BTW, I'm a big proponent of teacher tool belts for this.]  

Teacher tool belt

Imagine just pulling a card from your tool belt and instantly engaging your students' critical thinking.  

These are samples of Hink Pinks, Hinky Pinkies, and Hinkity Pinkities.  Currently, there are 23 Hink Pink products in my TPT Store that are ready to print and cut apart.  Place a stack in your tool belt and you are well armed for any fallow moment.  If you are not familiar with Hink Pinks, you can read about them here.

These are Triads cards.

Again, they are print ready to make life easier for you.  There are 8 triads units in my TPT Store.  If you are not familiar with Triads, read about them here.  Either of these activities will cause the cogs to start turning in your kiddos' brains and that should be your goal every day.
   

What are your favorite sponge activities?  Please leave some comments and/or links below.













Until next time...