Are you ready for game time? This football classroom transformation was perfect after the Super Bowl with my 5th graders! We reviewed adding and subtracting decimals using a concession stand menu and the scavenger hunt!

Let's be Franco

Let's Decorate!
First, to decorate the classroom for the transformation, I headed to Dollar Tree! I picked up the plates and a few little footballs to decorate. The green paper on the tables is bulletin board paper that the school provides. I also asked the students if they had any football gear. A student brought in his helmet and another brought in a football. It was pretty neat when it all came together and I spent less than $5!

Let's be Franco

Set Up Time
I printed the scavenger hunt task cards and concession menu. I taped the task cards under the plates to add a little more challenge to the scavenger hunt. So, the students walked in and it looked like they were going to have a snack.... not so much ;). 

I copied the recording sheet and concession menu for each student. They could start with any task card letter because the scavenger hunt makes a loop. They solved the adding and subtracting decimals math problem and then looked for their answer on the top of another card. 

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There are two tracks or loops that the students could be on. I made two so the students didn't run into each other or get bottle necked at a certain question. Students have to complete 10 word problems in order to complete their track! 

Let's be Franco

If students finished early, I gave them a letter from the other track so they could get more practice! They had a lot of fun and requested more scavenger hunts!
 

Let's be Franco 

To start, they had to flip over the plates to find the task cards. By the end of class, all the plates were flipped to make the answers easier to find! 

Let's be Franco

Check out the football scavenger hunt HERE. 

Looking for more ways to transform your classroom? Check out all the scavenger hunts HERE.
 

Let's be Franco

Test Prep Boot Camp

I am gearing up for Standardized Tests already! This year we are doing a BOOT CAMP! 
Here was the problem that I was facing... I wanted to make sure students were prepared for the standardized tests but the online "released" items were no fun. The students weren't engaged and didn't put much effort into remembering all the concepts we learned throughout the year. I was at a loss. I didn't have anything in my resources that would cover the year and still engage students. So I made a Test Prep Boot Camp! 

Let's be Franco

I try to set the scene and put camouflage everywhere! I wear camouflage and a whistle and act as the Drill Sergeant! I encourage the students to wear all the camouflage they can find too. 

To Prepare:
- Print all the task cards (12 for each station)
- Print and copy a packet of recording sheets for each student
- Print the station signs. I recommend putting them on card stock so they can stand as a tent. 
- Print and copy the puzzles for the Mess Hall Station as an early finisher activity. 

Boot Camp

Each Station Includes:
- 12 task cards for each concept
- Answer Key for students to check
- Station Sign

Boot Camp

Here is how it works:
I use the 20 stations as a week long review. I assign a group of 2 or 3 students to a station. I set a timer for between 8-10 minutes and have the students work through as many problems as they can in that time period. Since this is a review and not an assignment, I don't mind if the students don't finish all 12 questions. The goal is for them to refresh their memories on ALL the previous content!  About a minute before time is up, I have the students check their answers with the answer key and review any of the questions that they missed. When the time is up, I blow the whistle and choose an exercise to complete for 30 seconds. 

Boot Camp

There are 28 exercise task cards included! Then, the students move on to the next station. If a student or group of students finish a station early, they can move to the Mess Hall Station where there are some puzzles and fun math reviews that they can complete. I leave the stations up in the morning too so any student that wants to try and finish a station or work through the Mess Hall Station, they can! 
If you could include anything else in this boot camp? What would you include?

Join my email list and get the whole Mess Hall Station FREE! Click HERE.

Boot Camp

You can get a FREE sample of the boot camp stations HERE. 

Free Boot Camp Station

Want the whole bundle Test Prep Boot Camp? Click HERE! 

Let's be Franco

Top 10 Tips for New Teachers

It can be hard to jump into the world of teaching in your first year. It can feel like you are jumping into the deep end of a pool and having to tread water to stay afloat. I wanted to put together a list of tips for you to reflect on as you begin this journey so you can start swimming! These tips are in no particular order; they are just a collection of my thoughts for you to reflect on! 

Let's be Franco

- Be yourself! You are in your position for a reason. You were hired, have done the schooling, done the paperwork, now it is time to show how awesome you really are! 

- Relationships first. Get to know your students and let them get to you know you! This was really hard for me. I was very "by the book" when I first started teaching. I didn't want to smile for the first week etc. I have since had a great team to help me learn that the relationships you have with the students make more of a difference than the decimal addition you are teaching!

- Get to know all the staff. Be friends with the secretaries and the custodians. You will need them more than you realize! 

- Ask questions! I can't tell you how many questions I asked my mentor my first year! I asked questions about curriculum, about how a lesson should look, what to wear, what the culture of the school was like, what faculty meetings look like, how to email parents... and the list goes on! I asked everything I could think of while I had the opportunity! I still ask a ton of questions to my team and it helps me be a better teacher every day. 

- Include parents. Let them know about the good things that are happening in your classroom! The more you communicate about the good things, the easier harder conversations will be. 

- Smile. Smile your way through. If you're having fun, they're having fun. 

- Chocolate is key! Have a stash of chocolate in your desk... you're going to need it. 

- Keep growing. No one expects you to be an expert your first year. Have grace and be patient with yourself. Use the end of the day or week as a time of reflection on what you taught. How did you do? What can you do better? I still do this in my 10th year of teaching! 

- Keep work at work. Try not to take work home with you everyday. Some days, it is inevitable that you will have to take work home but make sure you are also taking a break and taking care of yourself! 

- Have a thick skin. Students are not always nice, parents are not always nice, co-workers are not always nice, that doesn't mean there is anything wrong with you! You are learning! Take what they say and reflect on whether what they are saying has any merit, if it does, think about how you can improve in the future. You got this! 

- Have a back up plan. Especially the first week of school, have something you can pull out quickly if there is down time! I use my Would you Rather Task Cards as my quick activity to pull out! I can quickly ask 1 question or 5 if an activity took less time than I thought it would. 

BONUS: If you have the opportunity or have the support from your administration, observe other teachers! I was able to take a whole day to go around the school and watch other teachers teach. That was the most meaningful professional development I could have asked for that year! 

If you want more of my tips, click here to check me out on Instagram .

Or check out some of my Back to School resources here. 

5 Ways to Get to Know Your Students in the First Week

I can't believe it is almost time to go back to school! The most important thing about the first day of school is the first impression you make and how you show you are going to care about each student through the rest of the year. Here are some of the ways that I take time to get to know the students on the first week of school. 

1. Student Name Tags

One of the first ways that I get to know my students is through their names. I know, this sounds pretty self explanatory but it takes time to learn each student's name. I start the year by letting the students create their own name tag with things that they are passionate about. 

First, students write a list of all the things that they love: sports, art, music, video games, etc.

Then, they use their passions to create the letters in their names. I usually have them practice drawing in pencil before the final name tag. The students can ask each other for help so it turns in to a little bit of a collaborative activity too! I also use the time that they are working to circulate, practice their names, and share ideas with them!

2. My Number Story Math Get to Know You Activity

This activity helps me get to know more about each student while teaching rotation procedures (I love when I can get two things done at once!). I use this as my first math lesson of the year. 

I place 8 task cards around the room with directions on how to fill in each box of the "My Number Story" activity. I then review how to rotate and transition from one space in the classroom to another. The students fill in the bunting banner and I have a nice bulletin board to start the year!

My Number Story - Let's be Franco

My Number Story - Let's be Franco

3. Hand Self Portrait 

I use this activity to review adjectives and nouns as well as collect ideas for future writing assignments! Here is how it works:

First, students trace their hands. 

Then, I give the a list of adjectives (included in the product). They write adjectives that describe them on the trace of their hand.

Next, they write all the nouns around or inside their hand that they love or are passionate about. I have the students draw little emojis to show pictures of all the things they love. This also makes a great bulletin board! Click here for the student packet!

Unique Hand Self Portrait - Let's be Franco

4. Find Someone Who: "Back to School"

This a simple but effective way for students to get to know each other and get all the excitement of summer out! Click here for this one or you can easily make one that works for your classroom! 

Find Someone Who - Let's be Franco

5. Would you Rather Card Task Cards

I use these cards anytime there is down time in the first week. I use the cards as a whole class activity. I will have the students go to the back of the room if they like the first option and head to the front if they prefer the second option. It helps get the students up and moving as a transition between activities or as a filler of time before lunch or special time. There are 200 Would you Rather questions included here. 

Would you Rather - Let's be Franco

Would you Rather - Let's be Franco

These are some of my favorite ways to get to know my students, what are yours? Let me know in the comments! 

Math Reference Bulletin Board

Let's talk math bulletin boards! As a math teacher, I wanted a bulletin board that was easy for the students to reference during math workshop. I tried to think of the references that I needed to start the year and created this bulletin board! 

Let's be Franco Math Bulletin Board

Teacher HACK: 

I simply printed out all the reference material on colored paper so I didn't waste too much ink! 

Keep Reading... FREEBIE at the end! 

Place Value:

No matter how many times students see and learn the value of each place, I feel like I still have to reteach it multiple times throughout the year. Well, now I can just point to the board and they can decipher what the value is of the number. Decimals are especially tricky in 5th grade so it helps to see how each decimal fits into the place value system. 

Let's be Franco Math Bulletin Board

Math Workshop: 

I like to put a problem solving station in my math workshop close to the bulletin board because it has so many helpful tips like key words and how to break down a word problem. 

Let's be Franco Problem Solving

Problem Solving: 

The CUBES problem solving method has been a game changer for my students. Students struggle so much to slow down and actually READ the word problem. I teach them to read each problem once for an overview and then start annotating the problem by using the CUBES problem solving method. 

I also love having the KEY WORDS handy for students to reference. It gives students a hint as to which operation is needed in a word problem using the key words. I include a smaller version of these posters to include in interactive notebooks as well. 

Let's be Franco FREE PEMDAS posters

Finally, order of operations! PEMDAS is a fun acronym for students to use when they are solving expressions with multiple operations. I tried to make it even more clear that multiplication & division are done in order from left to right as well as addition and subtraction. Check out this part of the bulletin board for FREE HERE.

Also included in the bundle:

- A Math Get to Know You activity

- Math Talk Bulletin Board

Are there any more reference materials that you would like added to the bundle? Let me know in the comments! 

5th Grade Math Review

This week, I did a math spiral review with my students to review the material we learned this year. Let me tell you... it was enlightening! I realized we have a lot more review to do before the end of the year! Here is my game plan: an escape review, a coloring review, and lots of flashbacks! 

Let's be Franco Math Activities

We are going to start with flashbacks. These flashbacks are 10 questions that spiral review the 5th grade standards. The students complete all 10 questions and write their answers on the page. Then, to make my life easier and provide instant feedback, the students can type their answers into a Google Form (provided). The students get their score right away and can determine which problems they missed. 

I am going to have the students use their notes and revise all the answers that they missed. I love that it provides instant feedback for the students and also helps me keep up on my grading! Check it out for FREE here :) 

Free Math Flashback

Then, we are going to pep it up! My game plan is to have a "Summer Party" and all the students are going to wear sunglasses and summer clothes. I am going to put all the escape clues around the room for the students to find - like a scavenger hunt! Then they will solve the math problems, decipher the codes, and see if they can escape the school! You can find it here. 

Escape to Summer 

 I have found a lot of success with coloring in my math classroom. We are going to review for our final test with this craftivity. Students solve 20 word problems to review all that was taught in the school year. Then, they will use their answers to determine how to color the summer picture! You can find it here. 

5th Grade Summer Math Review

Check out how cute the picture turns out! And BONUS it makes a great end of the year bulletin board! 

Summer Coloring 5th Grade Math Review

What is your favorite way to review for testing at the end of the school year? Let me know in the comments!

5th Grade Science Review

It is that time of year again! Standardized testing and end of the year tests are on the horizon. It can be a challenge to keep students engaged in what might seem like endless test preparation days. I decided this year I was not going to dread test prep days and neither were my students! Here is my game plan to review for the NGSS science test. 

Escape the Cave and Science Spiral Review Task Cards. 

Science End of the year Escape

I wanted to refresh the students' memories on all that I taught them throughout the year (hopefully!). So, I tried to think of the most engaging way to prepare for the standardized test and came up with an escape! I divided the escape into 4 sections: Space, Matter, Earth's Spheres, and Ecosystems. To make it even more fun, I put all the questions around the room - under tables, hanging from the ceiling, and on the wall. The students had a packet with the codes to help them unlock the clues. Check out the escape here. 

Escape the Cave

They worked in partnerships to not only find the clues but also answer the questions and decode the locks. Finally, when they reviewed and solved all the questions, they typed their answers in to a Google Form to determine whether the locks were all unlocked! I actually had students ask, "when are we going to do another escape; this one was so much fun!" That was incredible to hear that the effort put in to creating the questions was well worth my time! 

Escape the Cave

We spent another 2 days reviewing using station work and NGSS Spiral Review Task Cards. I divided the task cards into 8 stations and gave the students 10-15 minutes at each station. The students completed the spiral review task cards on each of the different Next Generation Science standards. I liked using these task cards in addition to the escape because the questions are more open ended and helps the students review in a different way! 

NGSS Spiral Review

What is your favorite way to review for standardized tests? I would love some more new and fresh ideas! Let me know in the comments below.