It's that pumpkin time of year...

Like so many of you, I'm relishing this special time.  So armed with my pumpkin spice latte, I'd like to share some pumpkin ideas for your classroom.

First up is a FREEBIE! Create a pumpkin bulletin board with How Many Ways? Math Challenge - Fall Edition.  This is a fun, open ended, critical thinking math challenge that covers a bulletin board for a month or more. Use it as an anchor activity, math center, sponge activity, or a challenge for fast finishers.  Similar to Boggle(TM), your learners seek to arrive at a target number in many different ways.  It may be easily adapted to any elementary grade level and provides differentiation within a single classroom.

Another pumpkin activity is Pumpkinoes, a math center that is differentiated to use in any elementary classroom.  This domino style activity exercises counting & cardinality, composing & decomposing numbers, even & odd numbers, greater than & less than, basic operations, and Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS).

Pumpkin Squares is another differentiated, critical thinking activity that can be used in any elementary classroom.  The tasks progress in difficulty while honing the deductive reasoning necessary to eventually solve a Sudoku puzzle. 

Jazzy Jack-o'-Lanterns is another FREEBIE.  It challenges your students' creativity and is intended to be used as an enrichment activity that is completed at home.

I hope you enjoy your pumpkin time.

It's Pumpkin Time!

It's the pumpkin time of year!

So I decided to get in on the fun!  This weekend, 9/29 - 10/1/17, I'm offering my pumpkin resources for FREE!

All of these resources include differentiation so that they are appropriate for all elementary grades.  

I hope you enjoy them.  Please take a moment to leave feedback on TpT.  Thank you.

April Math Center

It's about time, teachers, for ...

And a new month means new math centers and bulletin boards. Combine both in How Many Ways? - April Edition.

This is a fun, open ended, critical thinking, math challenge. It works well as: 

• an anchor activity
• a math center
• a sponge activity 
• a challenge for fast finishers 

Similar to Boggle, the challenge in this activity is to arrive at a target 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 math operations to arrive at the target. It may be easily adapted to any elementary grade level and provides differentiation within a single grade.

Reproduce the raincloud icons and place them on a bulletin board along with the How Many Ways? question of your choice. These icons come in color and black line; with and without counting dots. Choose 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. Students may use each icon only once, however, they need not use every icon. Add an extra challenge by requiring that the numbers used must touch each other.

This activity is CCSS aligned. 

My students use Post It notes. They write their equation(s) on a Post It and stick it up along the side of the display. At the end of each day, we calculate How Many Ways we found the target number.  Then I put up a new target number and we are ready to go for the next day.

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5 Things to Do With Your Class While You Test Individuals

It's a common problem: what can I do with the other students while I test individuals, especially the first few weeks of school? You are still creating your class atmosphere; still figuring out the range of abilities; still learning their names! So what in the world can you do to keep them busy without using copious amounts of coloring sheets? Here are some suggestions --

1. Challenge their critical thinking with Autumn Square Puzzlers. There are 3 levels of difficulty; even the brightest students can be occupied for a very, long time.  No reading is required.

And if your students love square puzzlers as much as mine do, you can satisfy them with LOTS of the puzzles available here.

2. Give them Latin Squares. Like the square puzzlers, these challenges will take time and stamina to complete, but do not require reading. Monkey Squares are also differentiated, giving you lots of options.

3.  Provide tangram puzzles. They are great brain exercise, even for non-readers. My tangrams have multiple puzzle pages that students can share and swap.  And, they are differentiated.

4.  For students who can read, provide Triads. You will need to spend a little time introducing these critical thinking challenges. Then get back to testing as your students take off with Triads. Kiddos LOVE them. These critical thinking cards can be used in small groups for cooperative learning or given to individuals.

5. Combine word work with computation, individual effort with competition, when you engage your students with Scrattle. This FREE product initially challenges students to create words with a specific set of letters. Then they calculate the value of their words using Scrabble™ letter values and linear equations.  Finally, they engage a friend in a battle to see whose words are the most valuable. [Scrattle = Scrabble + Battle] This activity, too, is differentiated, providing recording sheets with equations that require only addition, to complex, multiple operations.

Time is more valuable than money.  You can get more money, but you cannot get more time.

--Jim Rohn

It's About Time for Summer Centers

It's also about time for summer school, not to mention year round schools. And, thus, it's about time for summer centers. Check out these:

Picnic ANTonyms literacy center focuses on antonyms. It includes 2 versions; 1 for grades 1-2, another for grades 3-5.

Watermelon Words challenges primary students to match the 2 parts of a watermelon slice to make a compound word. All of the words follow a summer theme.

Summer Square Puzzlers are great for all ages as they provide 3 levels of difficulty. These puzzles exercise critical thinking and HOTS.

The Patriotic Edition of Scrattle is perfect for all grade levels and combines math and word work. Students use a set of letters to create words, then calculate their value using Scrabble(TM) values. Finally, they compare their word values to another student's in a friendly competition. The recording sheets present increasing levels of computation difficulty. Best yet, this center is FREE!

Also known as Latin Squares, Patriotic Squares exercise HOTS. The challenge is to fill these square arrays so that no item is used more than once in each row and column. (Think Sudoku.) This center, too, is differentiated; providing 4 increasingly difficult arrays.

 
I host 10 Pinterest boards for teachers. I would love for you to join these boards as a collaborator. 

Patriots' Day - April 20

Patriots' Day commemorates the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the first battles of the Revolutionary War. Those battles were fought on April 19, 1775. Interestingly, April 19 also marks the 1st bloodshed of the Civil War in the Baltimore Riot of 1861. Since 1969, this holiday has been celebrated on the 3rd Monday of April. Do not confuse the day with that which remembers 9/11/2001. That day is Patriot Day.  

It seems that Patriots' Day is most celebrated in Mass. and Maine. However, across the U.S., teachers and students are encouraged to recognize the day. To that end, you may enjoy these activities . . .

Patriotic Squares Critical Thinking (a.k.a. Latin Squares) are square arrays in which items fill the cells in such a way that no item is used more than once in each row and column.  (Think Sudoku)

Use these squares to exercise deductive reasoning while disguising it as fun. It includes 4 levels of difficulty ranging from a 3x3 array to a 6x6 array. The 3x3 array has 12 possible solutions; the 4x4 array has 576 permutations! Thus, this activity will challenge even the most gifted and talented students, allows for differentiation with ease, and works perfectly in centers and for fast finishers.  It is appropriate for all elementary grade levels. I've even had reports of adults becoming entranced by the puzzles.

Scrattle: Patriotic Edition is a FREE resource that combines word work with computation; individual effort with competition. This SCRAbble baTTLE also provides 3 levels of difficulty, thereby facilitating differentiation. It, too, spans the abilities of students in K-5 classrooms. Use it in a math or literacy center, as an anchor activity, and/or for fast finishers. Students use a set of letters to create as many words as they can, then compute the worth of their words using Scrabble (TM) values. The battle portion invites them to compare their words' worth to a friends' using simple addition, multiplication, or complex equations with mixed operations.  

Inasmuch as every president is a patriot, you may also be interested in Presidential Trivia Task Cards. These 20 task cards will exercise your students' research skills, both digitally and traditionally.  Use them in a research center, as an anchor activity, for enrichment, and/or as a challenge for fast finishers.

Enjoy Patriots' Day!

It's About Time to Grow Your Spring Centers!

It's about time, teachers, for spring centers.

Here are some spring centers that may add some beauties to your spring bouquet of classroom activities...

Spring Showers Syllable Sorts challenges your students to determine the number of syllables in each word/picture card. The pictures provide support for young readers. This center is low prep and holiday neutral.

How Many Ways - April Edition combines computation with critical thinking.  This center is open ended, providing a great challenge for fast finishers, and/or differentiated instruction.

Spring Square Puzzlers are excellent for exercising your students' problem solving skills.  The challenge is to reconstruct the square array so that all the images match on every interior side.  3 puzzles are included, making differentiation easy and providing a challenge for every grade level.  

The other 2 puzzles are progressively harder as they are a 3x3 array and a 4x4 array. There is a secret clue in each puzzle that can be provided if your students get too frustrated.  

Be forewarned!  Your students will not want to put these puzzles away.

There are more centers to come so check back soon.

You may also like these spring resources: