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. 

Escape to Space Science Review

Class transformation meets NGSS space escape review. I was looking for a way to review before our space unit test and just wanted the lesson to be more engaging than a boring flashcard review. So, I created the space escape! 

Escape to Space

Let me tell you about my goal. I wanted to do a classroom transformation like the ones I have seen on Instagram and Pinterest. When I started hanging the bulletin board paper from the ceiling in order to create a black wall, I realized I was trying to be someone that I am not. I am simple. When I create a lesson, I want it to be easy to prep with a ton of engagement. 

Fast forward...

I took down the bulletin board paper and decided to make a scavenger hunt with my space escape resource! Check it out here. I taped the question on tables, on the wall, and under desks. It took 2 minutes! Next, I turned out the lights and cranked up the Star Wars theme song. I was ready!

Escape to Space

I paired the students up and gave them their decoding packet (part of the escape) to decipher the codes. I handed out 1 flashlight per pair and I was set! Students were running around the room, shining the flashlight to find the questions and were completely engaged in the lesson! This was my kind of classroom transformation: simple and fun! 

Do you have any other ideas for a transformation for me?

ABC End of the Year Bulletin Board

The end of the year is near! It may not feel like it but the end of the school year is closer than it seems. As one of my closure activities for the year, I like to make an ABCs of 5th Grade Bulletin board (but it can be adapted for any grade). Let me show you how it works... 

ABC Bulletin Board

Each student gets a letter and they design and color their letter based on something specific that happens in our classroom. I am lucky and in my classroom this year I have less than 26 students. With the leftover letters, I hand them out to whoever finishes first or a student that wants to make more than one letter. 

ABC Bulletin Board

With each of the letters, I make a bulletin board for this year's class to enjoy and reflect on all the events and fun of 5th grade! The best part is, I leave it up all summer and have a nice welcoming bulletin board for the new 5th graders! The new students love to see what is in store for them this year and the parents love it on Back to School Night! 

ABC Bulletin Board

My favorite part of this bulletin board is that it is so different every year and it really shows the class' personality and creativity. Also, that it saves me time during classroom setup time in the summer - one less bulletin board to set up! 

I included numbers 1-10 for those classes that might have more than 26 students! (1 is for) There is also a bunting banner for every grade! You could make your own or CLICK HERE to check out the one that I have created! 

Happy end of the year! 

What is something unique to your classroom that would be included on your alphabet?

Math Review Baseball Game

Are you looking for a math review game that will engage ALL of your students? Try math baseball! I like to use this game for math because I can come up with countless questions on the same topic. Below I will show you my rules for the game but they can be adapted based on how you would like to play! 

Multiply Decimals Baseball Review

How to play

Preparation:

1. You will need to collect many questions for each of the 3 levels of questions. When I collect my questions, I usually have at least 20 questions per level. Check out my Multiplying Decimal Review if you don't have time to come up with your own questions. 

2. You will designate the bases around the classroom. 

3. You will split the class into teams and create a batting order (if desired). 

4. Have paper or whiteboards for the students to work out the questions. 

5. Teams can choose a team captain that will be the spokesperson for their team. 

Multiply Decimals Baseball Review

Rules: 

1. All students must attempt each problem for review. 

2. Only the student who is batting will get a chance to answer. 

3. The fielding team can work collaboratively to see if the answer is correct. 

4. Good sportsmanship is required! 

Game Play: 

1. One team is up to bat and the other team is playing the field. 

2. The team that is up to bat will roll a dice to determine what type of problem they are attempting. 

• Single - if they roll a 1 or a 4
• Double - if they roll a 2 or a 5
• Triple - if they roll a 3 or a 6

3. The player that is up to bat will answer the question. 

4. The team that is fielding will determine if the answer is correct (only the team captain will speak). 

• If the batter is correct, they go to the base that they rolled. If there is anyone already on base, they force them to go to the next base. 
• If the batter is incorrect, they are out. 

5. Once the batting team has 3 outs, the fielding team will be up to bat. 

6. The game ends when both teams have been up the same amount of times. 

7. The winning team will be the team with the most runs into home plate. 

This is one of my favorite ways to review because all students can get involved in the game regardless of whether they are "up to bat" or not. Students love the change of pace from a boring test review too! This would also make a great classroom transformation which may be in my future... 

I also have a 4th grade review that I use at the beginning of the year. Click here to see more! 

What other questions do you have about Math Baseball? Let me know in the comments!