Mindfulness in Math? Why Not!?

Some students LOVE math and some students just do not. For the students who don't love math, it can be a very stressful subject! The anxiety of coming in to class and feeling overwhelmed by another day of content driven instruction can just be too much for them. I wanted to create a way for students to feel successful while reducing their stress so I created math color by code craftivities!

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Fraction Division

The last unit the students were working on was fraction division. Instead of doing another worksheet or book review, I wanted the students to practice word problems and end the lesson less stressed than they came in to class!

First, students worked through problem solving task cards and recorded them on their recording sheets.

Bakery Divide Fractions

Then, they used their answers to determine how to color that portion of the picture.

Bakery Divide Fractions 

Last, the students were to color and relax before test day! Sometimes students don’t finish the coloring in one day and then it is a bonus for them to relax and color after a test. The students were so proud of their finished products!

Bakery Divide Fractions

BONUS: The coloring activity ends up in a bulletin board for you! I love a multipurpose product :)

Try a coloring set for each of your math units! Click here to see them all!

Football Conversions

Treasure Adding and Subtracting Fractions

These could also make great additions to a room transformation! What coloring picture would you like to see next?

Let's be Franco Classroom Tour

One of my favorite times of year is classroom set up time! All the materials are set up and organized, ready to start the year. Bulletin board are up and don't have that "I have been stapled too many times" faded look that they get as student work gets put up and down each month (well some months...). 

Here is a glimpse into my classroom! 

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Let's talk bulletin boards. I love setting up bulletin boards inside the classroom that can stay up for all or most of the year. This year I decided to set up reference bulletin boards for math and science.

Engineering Bulletin Board

We follow the NGSS science standards and started off the year with an engineering design unit. As the year continues, I will be changing this bulletin board based on the 4 other units we study. 

Math Talk Posters

I want to remind my students that talking about math and understanding the why is just as important as finding the correct answer. I use this Math Talk display as a reminder!

Project Morning Menus and Posters

Project Morning Bulletin Board

Project Morning may be my favorite part about the morning. This is a time designated for the students to enjoy their passions and start the day on a positive note. The students have their choice of 11 different menus including Math, Engineering, Mindfulness, and more. The bulletin board displays the sign up sheets for the week. The students choose the menu they will be working on for the week and sign up on the bulletin board papers. If you want more information on this morning work, click here.

My Number Story

Ok, I confess, I did this activity after the school year started. This was my first math lesson of the year and the way I like to get to know my students. My Number Story tells the story of each student using numbers! They go around to different stations and write the answers on this banner. It makes a great bulletin board for Back to School Night.

Math Bulletin Board Display

My math reference bulletin board is a new addition this year! I love having all math reference information in one place. It is like a permanent anchor chart! 

Inspirational Posters

Inspirational Posters

Here are a few of my inspirational quotes that I have around the room. I just love the growth mindset reminders. I put them in a simple dollar store frame to make them stand out. 

I love walking in to my classroom and loving the decor. I feel like it immediately brightens my day. I was surrounded by flowers my whole life and I wanted to bring the floral inside with my decor this year. If you want a closer look at any of the items displayed in my classroom, click the pictures or check out my TpT store. 

What is your favorite part of your classroom? What is one thing you would change in your classroom for next year?

A Day in the Life of a 5th Grade Valentine

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What do you celebrate Valentine's Day in your classroom? 

Here is a glimpse into my Valentine's Day! 

Class Meeting: 

In my class, around this time of year, the tensions tend to rise. The students have been with each other for months and their personalities start to get on each other's nerves. I don't know if this happens in any other classroom but mine... 

To refocus the students' attention on being positive towards one another, we focus on what we love about each other! Out of construction paper, I cut out enough hearts for each student and put their name on top. Before we start the activity, I remind the students that we are all different and that is what makes us special! I ask them to think about what makes each person in the class special! We leave our hearts on our desk and I turn on some classical music to set the mood. The students and I go around to every desk and write something unique that they love about each other. I ask them to try to think of something original. For example: "Yes, we know Anthony is funny so that would be something we might want to write, but that is not all we love about Anthony, we also love..... Try to think of something different then all the other comments!"

When the students get to read their own at the end of class, their faces light up! I really think it makes a huge difference in their self-esteem, even if just for a moment. 

Math: 

How can I have fun on a day where the students are full of sugar and excitement? Well, I came up with an escape for Valentine's Day! The students will apply their problem solving skills and a little bit of logic to help Cupid escape before the students come to school and see him! I am one-to-one with Chromebooks so I made the escape easily accessible for Google Classroom users (and to save ink and copying time, because let's be real, who has time for that?). The students will complete a series of problems involving multiplying and dividing fractions all relating to Valentine's Day! I love these activities because the students can be very independent and leave me free to work with students that need reinforcement or extra help. 

Cupid's Candy Mystery

Reading/Class Meeting: 

Ok, maybe this doesn't have to do with reading necessarily BUT I think it is worth it to Spread the Love. We took 52 Kindness task cards that are focused on spreading love around the school. I gave the students the challenge at the start of February to finish by Valentine's Day! Each day, in our class meeting, we talked about what task cards they finished and how it made them feel! 

Share the Love

Writing: 

Poems! I mean who doesn't want to write a poem for Valentine's Day, right? I teach similes and metaphors and then have the students write a poem using them! They can focus on all the things they love! "Love is the steaming hot coffee that welcomes me into the day" (well that would be my first line at least ;) )

Share the Love

 The students get to decorate the cover for their poem to add to our "Share the Love" bulletin board! 

Share the Love Poem

Share the Love Poem

Grab all of these in 1 bundle! 

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What fun things can I add to my day? What are your go-to Valentine's Day activities?

Problem Solving made easy with Google Forms

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Have you ever felt like you are trying to be in 22 (or more) places at once when you are teaching math? I walk around the room with my thoughts interrupted every 5 seconds with, "Mrs. Franco, is this right?" This year, I started to search for a solution and I found it with Google Forms! 

Here is how it works- 

1. I create a Google Form by opening my Google drive and clicking "New" then "Google Forms"

2. I type in the title and the name of the problem solving lesson that I am working on. 

3. The first question I add is "Name" and make it a required question.

4. The next question, I will start to type in my first problem. There are a few steps here that you will repeat for every question that you create. 

• Type in the question or upload a picture with the question on it! 
• Make it a short answer question using the list on the side.This is what your screen would look like at this point. 
  

• Make the question a "Required Question" at the bottom right of the question's box.
• Use the 3 dots that are on top of each other next to the "Required Question" and click "Response Validation.

• After that, I click "text"  instead of "number" and then I put my answer in the"text" space. In the "custom error text," I type "try again!" and it should look something like this... 
  
• You can make a new question and repeat the steps! 

After you finish typing in all the questions you want the students to answer, you can press, "Send" and then click the "link" option. I copy the link and paste into my Google Classroom. 

The benefits of using Google Forms for problem solving lessons are:

1. The students are independently checking their problem solving by typing in the correct answer. 
2. The teacher is free to help those students that have tried multiple times to answer a question and needs a little assistance. 

Although, I admit it is a little more prep work, it makes problem solving lessons very easy to manage! Also, the students are excited to use a computer to check their answers! 

Check this out! I made you a freebie to show what a finished lesson looks like! 

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Whole Class Reward System

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Inching Your Way to a Class Reward

One of my students asked, "when will we have a class reward?" 

I paused... I did not have a whole class reward system in place. I had their check sheets on their desks if they didn't follow the classroom rules. I was holding individual students responsible for their behavior but did not have anything in place for the whole class. The whole class wanted to work towards earning a reward. 

I finally said, "You are right, how do you think we should track our behavior?"

I sometimes can't believe how creative students can be! They collectively came up with "inching our way to a class reward." Honestly, I could not have been more creative! The students felt responsible for the idea and I thought it was adorable! 

Here is how it works...

Earn an inch when... all students are ready for the next subject on time, when the classroom is left clean, when everyone is on task, etc.

Lose an inch when... students are off task, students do not clean the materials when they are finished using them, teacher is prevented from teaching because of off task behavior, etc. 

I can't even take credit for the inch tracker! One of my students volunteered to figure out a way to track our inches. She took a spool of thread and threaded a piece of yarn through it so it could move back and forth. The flower was for decoration because it matched my classroom :) 

When we make it the whole yard, we will get extra recess, movie day, p.j. day, extra Chromebook time, or some other creative reward that I am sure my students will help come up with!

Just for fun, I put it next to our classroom rules :)

Check out my TpT store for more of my creative classroom ideas! 

I'd love to hear from you! What are your whole class reward systems? 

Growth Mindset Class Meetings

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One of my goals this year has been to incorporate more meaningful class meetings into my day. After 6 years, I have learned the importance of teaching students more than just the curriculum!

Growth Mindset has been a buzz word for a while now. My school counselor would come in and teach a lesson once a year on Growth Mindset. I loved hearing the lesson but I did not think one lesson was enough! My students heard the importance of a Growth Mindset but didn't put it to practice. 

This year was the year that all that would change! I started the year by introducing a Growth Mindset with the students and continued weekly reminders for 10 weeks! 

Everything you need to foster a growth mindset in your class is in these short class meeting lesson plans! The students will see the Growth Mindset in action, practice identifying a growth mindset, and change their own mindset!

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Download Includes:

• 10 Growth Mindset lessons
• Slideshow for lessons
• Posters and worksheets related to lessons
• Videos relating to the lessons

Here is a sample of one of the lesson plans that can be found in the Growth Mindset Class Meetings!

Objective: Students will determine in a given situation whether the student has a fixed or growth mindset.  

Supplies: growth mindset slideshow, fixed or growth mindset task cards.

Procedures:

1. Start discussion with: Does anyone know what a fixed or growth mindset is?
2. Define Fixed and Growth Mindset.
1. Fixed Mindset - Believing that you only have a certain amount of talent or brain power.
2. Growth Mindset - Knowing that you can learn and have the ability to improve!
3. Have students turn and talk to tell their partner in their own words what fixed and growth mindsets are.
4. Group students into 2-4 students. Give each group a set of task cards.
5. Have the students separate the task cards into 2 piles: Fixed Mindset and Growth Mindset.

Closure: Review which cards went into each pile and have the students redefine what a fixed mindset and a growth mindset is.

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What do you think? How do you foster a growth mindset in your classroom? 

6 Word Memoirs

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teaching, learning, laughing; fueled by coffee

My life in 6 words :)  This was how I introduced the 6 word memoir lesson to my class!

Goal: This activity is for students to be introspective and practice the brainstorming process. It can also be used as a get to know you back to school activity. (Make your own as another example!) The timing is about 1 class period (between 30 minutes to an hour).

Procedures:

1. First, students will brainstorm all the nouns and things that make them who they are!
2. Then they free write about 3 of words that most represent who they are.
3. Finally, students will synthesize all their brainstorming into 6 words that represent who they are!
4. Share with the class their 6 Word Memoirs.
1. Options for sharing:
1. Share on an anchor chart.
2. Have the students create their own inspirational poster with their 6 Word Memoir.
3. Create a Google Slides where each student gets a slide where they can choose a picture background and write their 6 Word Memoir.

Examples:

1. teaching, learning, laughing; fueled by coffee
2. distant places, cookie dough, soccer mom
3. be a pineapple, feel the waves
4. believe in me, buy the shoes
5. don’t look back, run for life

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