Five for Fraturday

I am working on blogging more during the week, but lately I come home and just want to veg in front of the couch. Please tell me that I'm not the only one who feels like that!

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs to share some tidbits from my week. Head on over and join the party!

Well it didn't take long for me to rearrange some things around my room. You know how it goes...you think something will work out in a particular spot, but lo and behold, it doesn't. My awesome word wall that I spent SO much time making is now no longer. I needed the wall space, so now my word wall is on the cabinets. I quite like it. And since I am self-contained and teach all subjects I wanted to be able to identify which subject the words came from. So I came up with the nifty idea of drawing a colored dot in the right-hand corner of each card. The students enjoy helping me come up with vocabulary words that should be on the word wall. I just love my students!

We started a new unit in math this week....multiplication. I introduced "____ groups of ____", and I had the students come up with some pictures and write "____ groups of ____", writing in the correct numbers. We also talked about how we need to label the pictures. They did such a good job and just loved sharing them with their partners.

The next day we took it a little further, and they had to come up with the story problem, the picture, the labels, the "____ groups of ____" statements, and the multiplication sentence. I walked around the room and chose several students to go to the front of the room and share theirs with the class. The students got SO upset if I didn't pick them!

I think they did a fabulous job. How do you teach multiplication?

We had a test on Communities and Explorers on Friday. On Wednesday, I passed out a study sheet for the test and taught the students how to create questions and answers from the study sheet. I passed out little slips of paper and had them put the question on the front and the answer on the back. They did such a great job! Then I let them work with their partners to ask each other their questions. They loved it!

On Thursday, we played a review game based on some review questions that I had made. I made up this game and call it Snake Eyes, based on Bunco (which I play once a month with my Bunco group). I put the question up under the document camera and had them answer the question with their partner. They had to discuss and agree on an answer beforehand. On the count of 3, I had them hold up their boards. If they got it right, they got to roll the dice.

Each partner pair had two dice to roll. If they rolled a 3 and a 6, they added them together to make 9. Then they multiplied by 10 to make 90 and wrote 90 on their board in the points box. If they roll two 1's, then they rolled Snake Eyes and lose ALL their points. They loved, loved, loved it! I had one partner pair get Snake Eyes twice. They were laughing as it happened. It's such an easy game to set up and play, and the kids don't realize that they are learning and reviewing. It's a win-win!

I use Whole Brain Teaching in my classroom, and I absolutely love it. One of the aspects of Whole Brain Teaching is the scoreboard. The scoreboard is between the teacher and the students. Either you get a point or they get a point. How do they earn a point? Following directions quickly, everyone working quietly, everyone on task, etc.

Well, this week they beat me one day. Of course, I was very dramatic and played it up. They loved it, especially when I acted so hurt and sad that I had lost.

Because they won, they got a one-minute party. Yep, just one minute. I chose to introduce them to the Crazy Frog Song that my girls, Mina and Seora, in Korea had loved. I still remember them dancing to it this day.

Well, it was a HUGE hit. I have never seen such big smiles. I was dancing too!

And here it is....the Crazy Frog Song. Have you seen it?

How was your week? Aren't you glad it's the weekend? And am I the only one who is already looking forward to Thanksgiving?