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Word Problems

Recently we have been working on solving word problems and fractions. This week the students have been annotating those word problems and working in groups. Here is an example of an alternative assessment. The students used a small hand-held camera and recorded their thoughts. Bravo students!   GEDV0020 from Lisa Nowakowski on Vimeo.

Awesome Explanation

I LOVE math! I really do. To me it makes so much sense. So for years I have asked my students to explain how they arrived at a certain answer in math. I know, totally doing Common Core before my time. Anyway, I was impressed by the use of academic language and the ease in […]

Class Rules By Ms. N.

Well, today was Day 2 (178 more to go). Yesterday we began writing down our class rules. I began typing them into Google Docs and in the end shared the document with all the students. One rule the students came up with was No Hats In The Class. Now normally, I’m not too fussy if […]

First Day By Ms. N.

So normally a person wouldn’t pair Angry Birds, a sign that reads F.A.I.L (First Attempt in Learning), and school philosophy in a lesson to 5th graders; let alone 5th graders on the 1st day of school. But I did, and I’d say that I’m pretty darn brilliant. F irst A ttempt I n L earning […]

Earth recycles

Earth recycles.   A PSA by Amy

What Would You Do?

Here is a problem for you: Let’s say that you know your friend took money from someone in your classroom. We’re not talking a dollar or two (although that’s not right either), we’re talking like $20. I know, that’s a lot! Maybe that friend is telling you that you better not tell. Maybe your friend […]

Go Animate

Go Animate

Recently, I have been singing the praises of Go Animate. My students and I love the format. They choose characters add dialog. We have incorporated this into our math. We have started our very own website on fractions. Many students have chosen to explain these concepts via Go Animate. They are so into it. Well, […]

Marble Roll

Marble Roll

For the past few weeks, students have been working on building ramps for a ‘Marble Roll’. Each ramp had to be 61cm. When the students completed their task, they then conducted an experiment. Each group did time trials, 10 times for each variable. They then averaged out the results to see which variable gave them […]

Mystery Hangout

Mystery Hangout

So last week we had our very first Mystery Hangout. A Mystery Skype/Hangout is where 2 classrooms ‘meet’ online and try to figure out where the other one lives. So for this one, we ‘met’ our class on a Wednesday morning. We each took turns asking yes/no questions. We began by asking very broad questions […]

Theme

So this week we have been discussing THEME in literature, and how it is different from TOPIC. For example, we read a story from Afghanistan about a village that was afraid of a melon because they thought it was a terrible animal. A boy told them that it was just a delicious melon. We discovered that the […]

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