Fraction Activities Fun

One of my favorite units in my math curriculum to teach is fractions.

It's easy to apply the concepts to the real world and show students it is a important life long skill.

Students come into 3rd grade with a basic understanding of what a fraction is: part of a whole.

From there I can jump right into teaching fraction equivalency.

With spring in the air, I have the perfect project to drive home fraction equivalency in a concrete, visual way. Equivalent Fraction Kites , as seen below, model fractions that equal the same: 4/16 is equivalent to 1/4 and 8/16 is equivalent to 1/2. Students have so much fun designing them and in the process own the meaning of equivalency. This project is available in my TPT store.

I also have some other valuable resources to share with you that I incorporate into my fraction unit study.

This video helps build background needed on equivalent fractions.

Another handy tool is this manipulative fraction bar number line model from the site Math is Fun
It visually shows fractions with the same value.

I have a set of fraction task cards that my class uses with the fraction bar interactive model.

You can get them in my TPT store

In addition, I have my class do a creative fraction writing project titled, Fractions of Me,  to show the parts of themselves that make up the whole of them.

 

I do have a Fraction Bundle with all three products together, at a discount, if that interests you.

The Illuminations site has an interactive tool that allows students to create equivalent fractions by dividing and shading either squares or circles and to see the position on a number line.

Happy teaching ~Denise

 

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Name Tag Magic

I've been back to school for just over a week. If you are one of the lucky ones still enjoying summer vacation I envy you. But I'm popping in with a neat nametag trick. This year I printed my name tags on the printer with a cursive font since I teach third grade. They turned out so neat, clean and uniform looking. Once you get the line up the way it looks best on your particular name tag design it easy to print up your whole class set. Give it a try!

 

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Solar System Research

My science focus in my classroom right now is learning about the solar system.

My class used the picture dictionary tool on Enchanted Learning to practice research skills.

The picture dictionary is set up in alphabetical order and for larger categories of letters , like "S", have subheadings similar to guide words to narrow ones search options.

My students had search questions to research like you see below:

 Here's a sample screen for looking up the answer to Question 1, which is the solar system.

First, students would click on the letter S and then on the subcategory So to search for the answer of solar system.

Each heading is also clickable to read and research further about a topic

This is the expanded information for solar system

This tools hit science, technology, research skills and dictionary practice all in one.

Hope you might find it useful too!

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Edible Landforms Activity and Landforms Definitions Lesson

Have food = Will Learn

My class does this edible model of landforms every year.

We start with a graham cracker base.

Cover 3/4 with brown icing and 1/4 with blue icing.

Use various food items to represent landforms:

Brown M&M for an island

Blue M&M for a lake

SnowCap candies for mountains

Fudge Graham cookies split into pieces to form a canyon. Then use blue sprinkles to show a river between the canyon

Wafter type cookie for a plateau

Coconut colored green with food coloring for showing the plains

We also complete a Landforms Definition Booklet. Students learn five facts about hills, mountains, canyons, valleys, plateaus, plains, cliffs, islands, volcanoes, and deserts and then illustrate a picture of each geographical feature.

I also mix in some landform videos and songs I've found online

Find more great ideas on my Pinterest page or TPT store

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Learning from History Lincoln and Washington

I'm using this virtual tour of the Lincoln Memorial to bring history to life.

For Washington this interactive timeline is a treasure.

And combine both presidents in this catchy song

On another note, I shared a neat resource for a thesaurus study over at All Things Upper Grade.

Find more great ideas on my Pinterest page or TPT store

Volume...Pump It Up and a SALE

Friday math was pumped up with volume literally.

I introduced the concept of volume with this song and lesson combo by Have Fun Teaching

Click picture for link

This game reinforces cube perspective and accounting for all hidden cubes

And..are you ready for a good sale?

Stop on by my TPT store on Sunday and use the code SUPER for an extra 10% off my already discounted prices. My sale will extend into Monday as well.

My newest product posted is my Test Tip Poster Set

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Terrific Triangles

It's time for triangles in my geometry unit.

I'm using a couple of resources from the Math is Fun site.

Interactive Triangle and Angle makers

You can drag and pull into different  angles and triangles.

Songs are a must too. My students love when I teach concepts through music.

Triangle Brothers Song

I love when I hear my students (yes, third graders), singing learning songs on their way out to recess or lunch. It shows they were certainly paying attention.

~Enjoy

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Pizazz up your Polygon Study

I'm in the midst of my geometry unit and use these resources to introduce polygons.

A very cute skit by students in Mrs. Yollis' class

Brainpop Jr. video

And my favorite..a catchy Polygon jingle

One more- The Polygon Song

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MLK Virtual Tour

Here are some more Martin Luther King finds for the classroom.

A Virtual Tour of MLK Childhood home and Ebenezer Baptist Church

Online coloring portrait

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Snow Globe Winter Activity for the Classroom

Snow Globes are MAGICAL! I love this video of a snow globe tree through the seasons.

So peaceful.

Click picture to view

And if you've not seen my Snowglobe Pack, it's one of my top hits for the holidays!

Click to view

Happy happy winter to YOU!

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Fun Word Generator

I wanted  to share with you a fun word generator from Game Gal that you can 

use for quick game time fillers, indoor PE, or rainy day activities. I plan to bookmark this to have quick access to fun games like Charades or Pictionary. It does the "thinking" of the word for you. So cool!

I can also see how you could use this for vocabulary games or writing topics. Display it on your projector and have students brainstorm about the word shown, in this case, picnics. You could ask the class, "What would you take with you on a picnic?" or brainstorm as many picnic foods as you can.

The possibilities are endless. Give it a try.

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Muggie Maggie Read Aloud

A great read aloud for third graders is Muggie Maggie, as she is the main character who refuses to learn to write cursive. By the end of the story Maggie has a change of heart and comes to like writing in cursive. Now, I've never had any students who did not itch at the chance to learn cursive. In fact, I use these wonderful animated cursive links as a learning tool for cursive.

Following my Muggie Maggie read aloud I do this reading response

Grab it {HERE}

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Puppy Cam Paradise

I've been having so much fun watching this service puppy cam.

Holly's Half Dozen is part of the Warrior Canine Connection.

These Golden Retriever pups will eventually be service dogs to verterans with mobility difficulties.

I'm in puppy love

This litter was born on June 24th

Click on the picture to go to the live camera

Speaking of dogs, you can have some writing fun with my Dog Writing Pack

Skee Ball School Style

One of my favorite childhood games was Skee Ball.

I could spend hours upon hours playing it at the beach arcades during summer to collect as many tickets as I possibly could manage.

So I made a school style Skee Ball for PE.
I made 3 sets, as I plan to use them relay team style. Each student on the team will toss a tennis ball into the marked buckets. At the end of each round teams will total their point value using white boards.

This would also be a great summer party game too.

The red, white, and blue tubs came from Dollar Tree.

I laminated the numbered labels to then hot glue onto painted clothespins.

Wala! Just clip the pins to the tubs and play SkeeBall to your heart's content!

Here's an online SkeeBall version too!

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Listening Skills in the Classroom

Here are some ways I support listening skills in my class.

I Have/Who Has or Follow Me activities are such a hit with my students and you target content area learning while you are at it.

The basic guidelines involve giving one prompt card to each student. One student begins by stating "I Have ________ Who has ___________?  Whoever has the answer to that prompt shares their card until you've looped around to all the cards.

Here's a site that lets you generate your own cards

My Zoom Around the Room game is a favorite too. Students race to answer a category type question. I use it for a quick time filler and always leave it in my sub plans for an additional resource as needed.

I posted about it {HERE}

What ideas do you have for listening?

~Enjoy

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Collaboration, Communication, Critical Thinking and Creativity

With common core standards and 21st century learning comes the necessity for the 4 C's

Collaboration, Communication, Critical Thinking, and Creativity.

This wonderful video by Fablevision Studios encompasses these skills.

How are you planning to help your students go Above and Beyond?

On a personal note, my niece had to complete some service hours for her government class and I kept her busy with teacher stuff.  She came over one Saturday and laminated, cut, cut , cut, laminated, cut, cut, cut.  We practiced the 4 C's together. We had a little trouble on the communication part, as she tuned me out by either watching I Love Lucy on TV, or CONSTANTLY checking her Iphone. I told her I should not have given her my guest Wifi password, LOL. She did share with me this way COOL video of one of my fav tunes. The original song is by Goyte "Somebody That I Used to Know" But this Cover Band, Walk Off the Earth,  took the song to a whole new level, AND uses the 4'Cs of collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and creativity. They share ONE guitar to perform the song.  What do you think? 

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Solar System Goodies

I ended my school year with a science focus on the solar system.

Take a peek at some of the great songs, videos and media I used in my lessons.

Planets on Prezi


The final wrap up of my unit was provided by a student of mine. He brought in this cutest video. It's a musical journey to the planets called My Fantastic Journey to the Planets. You can watch a trailer for it {HERE}

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