Cheez-It's Awesome: Area & Perimeter!

   

    Do you want to get your students excited about Area & Perimeter? Grab a box of Cheez-Its and get going! I've used these cheesy crackers as square unit manipulatives for a couple of years, but this year I added a little technology.
   The first thing you'll need is several boxes of crackers. A week or two in advance of the activity, send home a nice request for Cheez-Its. Generic crackers work just as well as name brand, which I am sure to tell parents in the note I send home. You'll also want to copy some Cheez-It grid paper (click on the photo below to download) for your students to use.

   On the day of the activity, prep crackers by placing one scoop of crackers per student in a sandwich baggie, or on a paper towel (I give my more advanced students a little bit larger scoop to allow them the opportunity to make larger shapes).

BE SURE TO TELL STUDENTS NOT TO EAT THEIR CRACKERS 

BEFORE YOU PASS THEM OUT!!!

After we pass out all crackers and graph paper, I model making the Cheez-It shapes and drawing them on the graph paper...

We also discuss the students goals for the activity. I always write the directions on the board to give my students a little visual support. 

During the activity, my students have to: 

• Create at least 8 Cheez-It figures with their crackers and draw them on their graph paper
• Find the AREA and PERIMETER of each shape
• (This year) I also asked my students to extend with technology... keep reading!

This activity was always fun, but adding technology made it AWESOME!

We use the Geoboard app (it's free!) on the ipad to recreate our Cheez-It shapes.

This app provides a screen that looks just like a traditional geoboard, and an extended board with extra "pegs". Students drag and drop virtual rubberbands on pegs to make geoboard shapes.  

After they've created at least three shapes on the Geoboard app, then my students take a screen shot of their work. Then they create a post with their photo on our class Edmodo page. 

In the comments section, the students write the area and perimeter of each shape that they created.

It was so much fun to watch my kiddos get engaged and excited about math!

Here are a couple of handy links for Area & Perimeter video tutorials you can use as needed:

• Khan Academy
• EduCreations

THANKS FOR STOPPING BY!

Dojo Does More!

    

     Class Dojo just got even better! Now you can also message parents straight from the app. If you already use this app, make sure you download the newest update to access this fantastic feature.  

                                                                                                        

    What I love most about this add-on is that it streamlines some of my classroom management. Instead of using a separate messaging app/system (like Remind 101-which I also like), you can utilize the same tool with the management system you already use. Yeah!!! Anything that makes my day simpler is a winner in my book! Get started with the Class Dojo Messaging Guide:

                                                

                                                 

There are a couple of options with this new tool:

Send a whole class broadcast...

or send a message to a single student.

Thanks for stopping by!

Reading Reflections

  Last summer I was inspired to take a different approach to reading instruction after I read "The Book Whisperer" by Donalyn Miller. If you've never read this, I would highly recommend it to any educator!
  I began phasing out the reading program that our school had always traditionally used... You know the one. The students are required to read a specific range of text and then take a comprehension test for everything they read. Books were selected based on the number of points a student could achieve, and not by how interested they were in the text. You could see the dread in their eyes when reading time came. It was heart-breaking to see the joy of reading slowly leeched away from my kids, one text at a time.
   Instead, we started reading for... FUN. Shh! I know. It's a revolutionary idea in our test crazed educational system. I let my students bring small pillows to school so they could read around the room. There was a rug and floor cushions in my THIRD GRADE room! I'll admit that I felt kind of like an oddball stepping away from the tried and true system. And, I had more than one moment of doubt and fear about my students' success in this slightly less structured environment. 
   But, after a short time I noticed that my kids were actually looking forward to reading. They were more engaged in the texts they were reading. In fact, they were constantly trying to discuss their books. In order to make sure that students were managing their time effectively, I created a quick reflection tool for my kids to use.
   After my students finish reading, they complete a daily book note. This is just a short summary of what they've read for the day. After they finish their book note, the students reflect on the reading time for the day.  I printed these little mini-posters and hung them up in my room for students to use. 

    The students earn one point for each question that they can answer "yes" to each day. They add their points together for their daily total. The book notes are stored in a manila folder in the group's book basket. At the end of each week, I collect the Book Notes and review them to assess my students' understanding. They're also greet discussion starters for student conferencing!

This product addresses the following Common Core Standards:
R.CCR.2, R.CCR.10, RL.3.2, RL.3.10, RI.3.2, RI.3.7, RI.3.10, RF.3.4, W.3.2d, W.3.10, SL.3.1, SL.3.2, L3.2

   I also use a variety of other reading tools in my classroom including graphic organizers,  flip books, and other printable reading tools.