Read Around the Room Activity For Your Genius Graphers

Hello to all of our favorite follower readers! Hope you are having a splendid Monday so far!

Did you have a chance to check out the FREE graphing activity from my Graphing Activities post? If you haven't had a chance, check it out. My kiddos are loving completing this activity during our RTI time.

Since we are focusing on graphs during math, I have noticed that some of my kiddos STILL struggle with reading graphs (even after reading graphs for the past week) and answering questions to graphs. I decided to do this "Read Around the Room Activity" with my students.

 

I don't know about you but I try to get my students up and moving around every chance I can get. Therefore, I cut the different graph questions apart and taped them around the room (I laminated them as well so they would keep for later use). I try to get this done before the students come into the classroom in the morning so it's like a scavenger hunt and a surprise. However, sometimes time doesn't allow that to happen so they sometimes watch me tape them up. This keeps it from being a true "scavenger hunt activity". But a teacher has to do what she has to do.

Anyways, I have my students work on this independently without talking first. I like to put a timer on and make a challenge for them to try to get it done within 15 minutes. Some of my stragglers will try to take as long as they can to get this done, so this helps with time management. Once the timer goes off or they finish, they meet back at the floor (that is where I give instructions or is my "teaching area"). Then they get with a partner and go over the answers with each other. If they don't have the same answers, then they circle the answers they don't have the same on.

After checking, they have to move around the room together and redo the problems they didn't get done correctly. This helps to reinforce peer help and gets the students communicating. I like to challenge my students to work with someone new that they haven't worked with recently.

I like to either go over the problems with them after they are done with the whole activity so I can answer any questions they had.

You can grab the above FREE Genius Graphers activity by clicking on the link. (I would love any ratings you may have on my TpT store by clicking here.)

Some other ways to incorporate this activity into your classroom would be to use it as a scoot or you could also use it like Amy's snowball fight activity (Click here for more information on this idea). I thought about also putting this in my RTI centers later on in the year as well as a review of graphs before we take the wonderful MAP test.

Hope you and your students enjoy the graphing activities! What are some suggestions you have on how to incorporate graphing into a classroom? I would love any suggestions you may have!

Happy Monday!







P.S. Don't forget to check out my Luck'y Literacy Centers just in time for St. Patrick's Day. Grab it now before time runs out!

St. Patrick's Day Centers Giveaway & Sale

Hello all you Lucky Leprechauns! Are you getting ready for St. Patrick's Day? It is just around the corner and will be here before you know it!

We are slowly creeping up to MAP testing time (sorry...you will be hearing about the MAP test a lot since we are nearing the start dates) and I have started reviewing a lot of Communication Arts concepts to help prepare my students to do their best on the test. What better way to review than to complete some literacy centers! I plan on including these centers during my RTI time where students complete centers during this time. You could also use these centers around the room and have your students move after a timer goes off.

My Lucky's Literacy Centers are packed with a lot of literacy review, such as proper nouns, friendly letter, verbs, context clues, etc.

Lucky's Names

 

Within this center, your students will separate the names that are written correctly (put under the Pot of Gold) and incorrectly (put under the Fools Gold). Then they will record only the words that are written correctly.

 



 

Lucky's Nouns

 

Students determine if the nouns are singular and plural by sorting through the clover leaves. They record their findings on the recording sheet provided.

 

Lucky's Synonyms

 

Students sort through the clover leaves and match up the synonyms within the pile. Then they have to determine an antonym for the synonyms. They record their findings on the recording sheet included.

 

Lucky's Verbs

 

Students sort through and determine which verbs are past, present, and future. This skill really helps students to pay attention to the verb endings. They record the sorted verbs on the recording sheet provided.

 

Lucky's Clues

 

Using context clues, students will determine the meaning of the underlined words within the sentences. On the recording sheet provided, they will write the meaning of the words and the words that were helpful to them.

 

Lucky's Letter

 

This is a skill that I still see students struggle with, even though they have been completing friendly letters since Kindergarten. Students determine where each part of the friendly letter goes on their recording sheet. They have to rewrite the letter correctly, which helps with editing skills as well, writing complete sentences, and using the parts of a friendly letter correctly.

 

Enjoy these centers by clicking here! These centers will be 20% off from March 7-10!

 

Also, one lucky responder will receive these centers for FREE! Leave a comment, along with your email, and I will choose one lucky winner by March 7th!! You could be the one! :)

 

What do you do for St. Patrick's Day with your students? Do you have any fun activities or ideas to do within your classroom?

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

 

 

 

 



Huge TPT Sale!

Hello darlings!  It's happening!  I hope you have heard about the TeachersPayTeachers sale that starts tomorrow! 

My whole store will be 20% off on those two days and TpT will be kicking in an additional 10% savings. So exciting!

In order to get the extra savings, don't forget to use the Promo Code TPT3when you check out!

Here are some previews of my best sellers!

There are so many good things out there!  I know I will be buying some more melonheadz clipart for sure!

Make sure to check out Jamie's Store too!  She has some amazing Test Prep Centers that I am using next week!

Graphing Activities & Ideas...Plus a FREEBIE!!

Hello lovely ladies and gentlemen! It has been a few weeks since I last posted. It's amazing how quickly time can slip out from under you, especially when you are teaching and trying to have a personal life as well. My husband and I have been going through a roller coaster with some medical things so my focus has been there more than anywhere else, which is my excuse for me being MIA for a few weeks now.

Speaking of time slipping away...all of these snow days have made it more difficult to get the necessities taught before the wonderful MAP test begins in late April. My team and I met on Wednesday this past week (we had a full release day) and started stressing over the little amount of time we have to cover so much "stuff".

On a side note...it's a wonderful thing when you work with a group of people who you can joke around with, be serious with at the necessary times, who you support through tough times, or who you can be crabby with and STILL get along and like each other. The best part...we don't take it personally, hold grudges, or get mad at each other. I am VERY fortunate to work with a fabulous team as just described.

Anyways, we talked about the remaining part of our academic calendar and planned out how many weeks we are going to hit on the major concepts that we need to cover before the wonderful MAP test begins. Graphing is one of the concepts we are getting ready to cover, after we finish up with our measurement unit later this week.

As we collaborated, we started talking about different ways we could incorporate graphs within the classroom. We find that students still struggle with answering questions from graphs that are given, especially if they are pictographs where they have to determine the value of each object. After much collaboration, we decided that we will incorporate a graphing activity in the centers that we do during RTI (Response to Intervention/Instruction) time.
   
Groovy Graphs is a FREE activity where your students can create their own graphs and can be used universally. In addition there are graphing questions that your students can answer based on the graphs that they create.

Students create either a bar or pictograph by developing a theme and variables that are associated with that theme. They roll 2 dice to determine how many votes are given for each variable and then graph the total amount rolled. After all variables have been graphed, the students then answer the questions (included on a separate page) under their graphs. They can work individually or with a partner to create their graphs. Click here to download Groovy Graphs for FREE!!!






In addition to the Groovy Graphs activity, I also have a graphing game within my Major League Math centers that is similar to Groovy Graphs but is within a baseball theme. (Check out the other concepts that are included within the Major League Math centers by clicking on the link above.)

Some other graphing ideas that I wanted to share with you include the following:

• Math-Aids-A coworker of mine told me about this awesome website where you can quickly create worksheets for various math concepts. I use this website especially for my lower students. Click on the link to look at the various graphing options this website has to provide.
• Math Data Game For Kids-This is a great technology resource, especially for your lower level learners or for introducing graphs. Students get to determine the amount of tallies made and then create a bar graph that shows the amount of tallies. Upon completion of the bar graph, your students then get to create a pictograph (which even includes the key where each one is worth more than 1). Great resource for a center or to put on your student computer(s) for your students to work on.
• You could also have your students determine a theme that they would like to survey a group of people on. Have them survey the people (students and teachers within your school or can survey people at home) and then create a graph to determine their findings.
• Hand out candy to your students and they have to graph the candy (they determine how they are going to graph the candy). Then have them share with the class the strategy they used to graph their candy.
• Basic Skill Practice Games-a plethora of math graphing ideas and links to click on.

Thanks for stopping by today! Don't forget to follow us on

How do you incorporate graphs within your classroom? What other suggestions or resources do you have for graphing?

Happy Sunday!

Family Science Night Freebies

Hello darlings! We just recently had our annual Art and Science Explosion at our school.  I am the Science Fair Coordinator, so I am in charge of running all the science stuff.  My cohort, Pam, is in charge of all the Art Displays and she does an amazing job!  I really just have to deal with all the Science Fair Projects, but a few years ago, I decided to add in a hands-on experiments element to the night.  I thought it would be fun for families to complete experiments together, instead of just coming to check out the Science Fair Projects and the awesome art.   It turned out to be a big hit!

Here are some pics of the night.  Even if your school doesn't do a Family Science Night, you can still use these experiments in your own classroom.  I am including all of my science and question stem cards for free since I like you so much!

Crime Scene Investigation

Materials: hot chocolate powder, large makeup brushes (dollar store), CLEAR plastic cups, non-latex gloves, ink pad, magnifying glasses

My third grade teamies ran this booth.  We each fingerprinted a cup and then a sheet of paper, and kiddos had to use magnifying glasses to match our fingerprints to our cups. They had to wear non-latex gloves to hold the cups so they wouldn't "corrupt the evidence".    We also had another section where kiddos touched their own cup and then used a make-up brush and hot chocolate powder to find their fingerprints.  It really does work!  I was amazed too!

 Marshmallow Towers

Materials: mini marshmallows, thick spaghetti noodles, plates

Students had to construct the highest tower possible using just two materials, spaghetti and marshmallows.  We even had parents creating towers!

Piloting Paper

Materials: paper, paperclips,  paper airplane books

Kiddos used paper airplane books from the library to try to create an airplane that would fly the farthest. They used paperclips to experiment with weight.

Moon Craters

Materials: flour, large trays with ridges, different size and shape balls, chair for standing on, table cloth or butcher paper for clean up

Students were testing how the size of a meteorite effects the size of the crater.  They also experimented with the distance that they meter traveled.

Money Magic

Materials: assorted coins, droppers, water, cups for water, paper towels for clean up

Families investigated surface tension.  They tried to see how many drops of water could be dropped on a penny before the bubble of water burst.  They did this with other coins as well and compared their results.

Here is just a sampling of our Science Fair Projects!  We had almost 100 projects this year!

Here are the table signs and the question stems.  Enjoy and please pin and rate!

Please be sure you are following us on Bloglovin!

Blessings!

Snowy Days & Winter Centers

Hello darlings!  Another cold, snowy day here in the Show Me State!  Watching kids outside throwing snowballs at each other, reminded me to post about my Winter Math Games.  One game my kiddos loved last week was the Snowball Fight.  Yes, we threw paper around the classroom and acted crazy, but you know what?  Those kids were learning!  They absolutely loved it!

So what did we do?  Each kiddo got a snowball card with a three digit by one digit multiplication problem on it.  Before they even solved it, they crumpled it up into a ball and when I yelled "Snowball Fight!"  they threw the ball across the room.  (I can see you are panicking...)    Next, they grabbed a snowball, opened it, and had to solve it as quickly as they could on their recording sheet before I yelled "Snowball Fight!" again.  We kept repeating this.  (It is okay, hang in there!)  To make it a little more exciting, there are yellow snowballs mixed in.  If a kiddo grabs a yellow snowball, they have to sit out for one round.  I didn't tell my kiddos what the yellow snowballs represented.  I told them to make an inference.  They got it.  Yuck!

Needless to say, EVERY single kiddo was working hard to solve his/her math problem.  Even my kiddos who like to melt down or refuse to work, were working, smiling, and giggling!  It was fun even for me.  I didn't think to take pictures since we were having a blast!

Click here to download this free game and while you are at it, check out the rest of my highly engaging Winter Math Centers here.

Here are the rest of my Winter Math Centers.  In third grade, I use them during RTI time when my kiddos go to Math Wizard Station.  To check out all my info and freebies about RTI, click here.

Is it a snow day for you?   Tomorrow I will choose a random person to grab these centers for free.  Leave your email in the comments if you would like a shot! Please be sure you are following us on Bloglovin!

Blessings,