Preptoon.com Giveaway!

Last week I did a review of preptoon.com. Click here to read the review!  This week we are giving away 2- 1 year subscriptions to preptoon, which includes 1 teacher license and 20 student licenses worth $99!!!! AWESOME!! Check out the giveaway below! Giveaway will run until Sunday, August 16 at midnight EST and winner will be chosen Monday, August 17th! Good luck!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review of Preptoon

Hey guys! Today, I have the opportunity to review a new math program called Preptoon! I am very excited to share this website with you! Next week, we will be doing a giveaway for 1 FREE year subscription to Preptoon, so make sure you come back to enter! Let's get started...

Preptoon is an online math resource for 4th, 5th, and 6th grade. The website uses engaging videos to help students better understand math concepts. Below you will find some of the features that I really enjoyed!

• Everything is very organized. You can easily find a video that goes with what you are teaching. You can search by grade and by topic, for example, 5th grade Measurement. You can even search for a specific standard under the Common Core Standards tab. Being organized is highly important to me! I don't want to spend a ton of time trying to find one video to use with my students. Preptoon quickly allows me to find a video that is relevant to what I am currently teaching. 

 

 In this picture you can see tabs at the top, which allows for easy searching. 

This is a video I found after searching 5th grade measurement. I love that the standard is clear! 

 

• The videos are animated and I think my students would enjoy them. My only complaint is I wish the narrator had a little more inflection in her voice. This is very nit picky coming from an overly animated reader! (I tend to have 20 different voices and all kinds of hand motions while reading.) The videos are based on real life situations. This is great for helping students to understand how they will use math in the real world!

 

Here is the beginning of a video, you can see the standard is easily visible again!  

• The video pauses every so often to ask questions. Sometimes these questions will be multiple choice and sometimes they will be fill in the blank. It then gives students instant feedback as to what the correct answer is!  I love that it asks both kinds of questions and I love that it gives instant feedback! I think feedback is vital to students making and correcting mistakes!

 

Here is an example of a question the video's would ask. 

• After a video is completed they can be asked additional questions to help make the math concept more concrete in their mind! 

 

Over all I was highly pleased with the program. You could use this whole class and discuss the questions together, or you can create individual student accounts and have them do the videos independently. If you create student accounts you can see student responses to questions! This program is interactive with students, engaging to watch, and is highly aligned to common core standards. I can't wait to use this in my classroom this year! 

For more information you can watch this quick 2 minute video! 

 

I hope you have enjoyed! Don't forget to check back next week because we will be giving away 1 free year membership to Preptoon!

Whats the News?

Hey Guys! I have been MIA for a couple months and have FINALLY sat down to write a blog post! One of the biggest reasons I have been absent is because I found out I was pregnant! We are extremely excited for this new chapter in our lives! I did however spend the first trimester snoozing on the couch as soon as I got home from school everyday because I was SO tired! However, I am officially in my second trimester and it's summer break so I am starting to feel much more energized!

I have recently posted a new product on Teacherspayteachers.com that I hope you will check out!
                                                    Decimal Illustration Matching Game

I have also started a twitter account so follow me! https://twitter.com/mcdonaldgrade4

Here is my most recent "belly picture" because I know you really wanted to see! 

New Products and a Freebie!

I have recently added several new scoot games to my Teachers Pay Teachers store. If your following my store you may already be aware of the new items, but if you aren't here is what you may have missed. 

Multiplication Comparison Scoot Game

2-Digit by 2-Digit Multiplication Scoot Game

4-digit by 1-digit Scoot Game

Addition & Subtraction Scoot Game

And last but not least don't forget to grab this cute free bookmark! 

Fall Into a Good Book bookmark FREEBIE!

Mathematical Practices Common Core Posters

Hey guys! This summer I have been doing lots of work to prepare for the upcoming Common Core implementation for our county. I found these cute mathematical practices posters that correlate with the 8 mathematical practices of common core. There are posters for K-1, 2-3, and 4-5 that are written in kid-friendly terms. I've included the links below so you can check them out! These would be great to help explain to the students what test graders are looking for on their constructed response assessments!

K-1 Posters Click Here

2-3 Posters Click Here

4-5 Posters Click Here

Free IPad Apps for the 4th Grade Classroom

Hey guys! This week I was lucky enough to get an ipad to be able to use in my classroom. I knew I was getting one 2 weeks ago, and I could barely wait to get my hands on it! My kids are also super excited! One way that I plan on using the ipad is for sponge activities. You may be interested in reading this blogpost about sponges here. I wanted to share with you a few free apps that I will be using! I hope you enjoy!

Math- 
Meteor Math - Game that includes addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
Oh No Fractions - Simple game to compare fractions. It also asks students to prove their answer by  using fraction models
Splash Math- There is a free version and a paid version of this app. I currently have the free version. Students can do practice problems in math that is aligned to 4th grade standards. Includes decimals, geometry, fractions, measurement, etc.
Pearl Diver- Practices number lines. Starts easy (0-10), but increases in difficulty.
Motion Math: Wings- Multiplication and estimation

Science- 
Planets - Students can explore our solar system with this app. Gives 3-D images of all the planets and information. Students can also look at constellations.
Science 360 - Science videos students can watch. You may want to view these videos, because some may be inappropriate for some age groups.

Social Studies- 
Stack the States - There is a paid and free version on this app. Trivia game for students to learn information about the states.

Comparing Fractions Video

Hey guys! I have just discovered this new free app called educreation. It is basically an interactive white board on your iPad. You can use the app to also record things you say and write. It is a really cool app and I have a lot of fun ideas I can't wait to try! Below is my first lesson on comparing fractions using cross multiplication! I hope you enjoy!
You can also click on this link.

Adding and Subtracting Fractions

Hey guys! This week we have been learning how to add and subtract fractions with like and unlike denominators. I wrote this song to help my students remember what to do! It's free so I hope you enjoy!

You can get a copy of the words at my TeachersPayTeachers store. 

Introducing Equivalent Fractions

Hey guys! Last week I began introducing fractions to my 4th graders. I wanted to share with you how I introduce equivalent fractions to my students. When I first began teaching, I felt that I did not have enough time in the day to deal with using manipulatives in math. There were too many standards and it just took too long to deal with getting them out. I have come to realize that this was a grave mistake! Although using manipulatives does take extra time, it is worth it. Once the students can understand the concrete version of an idea, they tend to grasp the abstract version a little quicker. Saying that, I try to use manipulatives whenever I can.

Whenever I introduce equivalent fractions to my students I pull out the fraction bars. The fraction bar sets I have go from 1 whole to a denominator of 12. I have my fraction bars  in individual baggies, so that I can give each group a bag of fraction bars. (I try to pull these out the day before and have them sitting out ready to be used. This saves time during the lesson.) First, I pass out the bags of fraction bars and ask the students to sort them by color. Next, I  begin with the 1/2 fraction bar and model with the students how to find an equivalent fraction. I then let them use trial and error to find the remaining fractions. After this, I write all the fractions we found on the board. Next, I repeat this process with 1/3 & 1/4 bars. Many times the student will realize that there is a pattern happening. I will then talk about the pattern with the class and then announce that we are going to learn how to find equivalent fractions using math.

This process only takes about 15-25 minutes from passing out the bars to picking the bars back up. I hope that if you don't already use manipulatives in your classroom, that you will pull them out and try them. In my classroom, the reward outweighs the "trouble" of getting them out!

Place Value Roll the Dice Worksheet

Last week in 4th grade we were working on Place Value. As a review after teaching standard form, word form, and expanded form we used dice to create a number and then with a partner the students had to write those numbers in all 3 forms. Here is the worksheet I used with them! I hope you enjoy!

ABCya.com

Hey guys! Here is a really neat website I just discovered! It's abcya.com. I'm still browsing through the site to see what all it offers, but so far I have been really impressed. When you go to the website it looks like this...

You can choose the grade that you want to look at and it gives you language, numeral, extra, holiday, and fun games to play appropriate to that grade. I already have a website that my students use to play Math, Science, and S.S. games on if they finish an assignment early (learninginfourth.blogspot.com), but I am definitely adding this to the list! Another thing I use this site for is low students. I have some students who are still trying to master second grade skills and so I can have them practice a skill like place value on their level. I hope you enjoy! 

Telling Time

Telling time is probably one of the hardest things to get my students to understand. Specifically elapsed time and understanding how to tell time using the phrases "Quarter Till, Quarter Past, and Half Past." With standards changing again for us this year I don't think elapsed time is a specific standard in 4th grade anymore; however, I know my students can't really understand the concept of time so as any good teacher would I want to help them grasp this vital concept. Here are some great Resources I have found or Created that you can use to help teach this tough concept.

Videos
Brain Pop on Elapsed Time - Must be a paying member to view.
Brain Pop- Time to the Quarter and Half Minute -Must be a paying member to view.
Brain Pop on Time to the Minute -Must be a paying member to view.
Telling Time to the Hour Hip Hop- geared to early learners

Online Games
Telling Time Interactive Movie
Several Games on Time
More Games on Time

Worksheets
Telling Time Worksheets - Free
More Free Time Worksheets
Time Worksheets from Super Teacher- Some are free, but several require a membership
Free Time Activities from Teachers Pay Teachers website

My Time Items
Telling Time Matching Game
Units of Time Matching Game
I have... Who has... Telling Time

Place Value

As the beginning of the year quickly approaches for me I am already thinking about what fun things I can do with my students. One of the first math concepts we talk about in 4th grade is place value. This includes learning the name of the places, the value of each number, writing the numbers in standard, expanded, and word from, and comparing numbers. Here are a few things I have found to help teach place value! I hope you enjoy!

Videos

BrainPopJr. - Place Value through the Hundreds

BrainPopJr. - Comparing Numbers

Online Games

Learning in Fourth Math Games

Worksheets
Super Teacher Worksheets: Some are free, most require membership
Free Place Value Worksheets 
More free place value worksheets

Products I made for my TPT Store
Place Value Matching Game $1.50
Comapring #'s 1-50 War $2.00
Comparing #'s 100-1000 War $2.00
I have Who has Place Value $2.25

Other
Blog Post on Place Value- Uno Ideas
Blog Post on Place Value Charts
Place Value Teaching Tips
Place Value Posters


I would love if you would share your place value finds in the comments!

Relating Fraction to Decimals

With TCAP drawing near I have been reviewing some key concepts with my students to make sure that they will be successful on this important test. (TCAP is Tennessee's end of year standardized test.) One of the things I really wanted to review with my students was fractions and decimals. In 4th grade the students need to know how to convert fractions to decimals and decimals to fractions. After reviewing concepts I love for the students to play some type of game with partners to help reinforce what was just reviewed or taught. Here is the matching game that my students played.

You can get this cute game here. It is $1.50 in my TPT store. 

I also ask my students to have 3 fraction to decimal conversions memorized: 1/4 = 0.25, 1/2 = 0.50, and 3/4 = 0.75. When teaching these I tell my students to think of these decimals like money. There are 4 quarters in a dollar. If I have 1 of the 4 quarters how much money do I have? 25 cents... etc. To also help them memorize it I have it hanging in the bathroom over the sink. (It gives them some reading material.) Lastly, I  made these super cute bookmarks for them to use. The book marks are free and you can get them here.

I hope you enjoy! 

New Products

This week I have been a busy bee! Tons of great products to share with you! Enjoy!

First up is a Math Center game: Improper Fractions & Mixed Numbers

This is great to use after teaching your students how to convert improper fractions to mixed numbers and vice versa! It has super cute pirate ship theme that your students will love! 

The last new product is a Units of Time Matching Games. This product includes two matching games. The first is converting standard time units such as 60 seconds = 1 minute. The second game has abbreviations for units of time. 

Additional Resources & Differentiating Instructional Worksheets!

When I graduated from college and started my teaching career I remember feeling like I knew everything and was going to change the world! I quickly realized how much I didn't know and started trying to absorb as much information from my fellow teachers as I could! I can say that I am still growing and changing, and I truly hope I never stop! One thing I have learned recently came from the teacher next door! She teaches Reading, L.A., Spelling, & Writing. She was telling me about how she taught Language Arts and I realized that her method would also be perfect for my math class! What she does is for every topic such as plural nouns she has three varying levels of worksheets; easy, moderate, difficult. She begins with the easy worksheets and works her way to the harder worksheet last. This gives the student several opportunities and varying levels of difficulty practicing this skill.  This works well for several reasons. 1) you always want to build on something in teaching. When they begin with something easy they can take that information and apply it to the moderate and difficult worksheets as well. 2) Our state test has varying difficulty questions on the test. Thus when we practice with all difficulty levels nothing is a "surprise" on TCAP.

Okay so back to math. As I said I thought this would be a great idea to use in Math as well! I want to expose my students to as many types of questions as possible to prepare them for the "final exam." For example this week we are studying about graphs. I have found or made worksheets that are an easy example first and then we work our way towards harder levels. It's been working great! HOWEVER, the book series only gives 1 Reteaching page & 1 Practice page per day. I wanted more and honestly I can't go home and make 3 worksheets for every lesson every day as much as I would like to! Finding GOOD resources was my only real choice! I wanted to share my resources with you in hopes that if you find this leveling a lesson a good idea then you don't have to go searching to much for good worksheets! Even if you don't want to use three different worksheets then these resources can also help you differentiate for your lower or higher students.

http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/ - I love super teacher! It has been one of my new best friends! It does require a memberships to see all worksheets, but it gives MANY FREE worksheets that are good! I'll admit I'm not a member yet and have only used the free worksheets, but I have been so impressed I may actually join next year!

www.teacherspayteachers.com - Teachers Pay Teachers is fantastic! The products on this site are made by other teachers so their things I are usually on point. They also have tons of free items! I have been very impressed with the quality of work from this site!

http://www.math-aids.com/ - Good website for math worksheets! You can choose options so that your worksheets are exactly what you need.

Do you have websites that you love for additional resources? I'd love to hear about it!

New Products & Free Stuff!

Hello Again! It's that time to tell you about my newest items and to share some great free items I have found! I hope you enjoy!

First up is FRACTION WAR! Your students are going to love this! Teaching comparing fractions can be difficult for students so this came helps reinforce cross multiplying! The students play the game just like they would regular war with a deck of cards, except they are wanting the biggest fraction! Check it out Here!

We recently learned about customary and metric units of measurement! This is a matching game I made to help my students memorize the conversion of measurements and the abbreviations. The game actually has 2 games in it. Take a look here!

Now for the free stuff! I have tons of free items to share with you this week! Don't miss out because they are all great items to use in your classroom! Many of these cover all grade levels not just intermediate! Enjoy! 

Graphic Organizers - by Best Practices 4 Teaching 

Not Contractions- Spring Themed Center - by Fern Smith 

Reward Bookmarks - by Mixminder.com 

Picture Prompts - by Teach123

St. Patrick's Day Writing Prompts! - by HoJo's Teaching Adventures 

Skip Counting by 2's - by PreK Paradise 

March Positive Behavior Note - by Brian Hopkins

Iditarod Learning Games-  by Arlene Sandberg  

New Products & Free Stuff!

Here are the newest items in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store. I will be throwing a sale Sunday - Tuesday in honor of Valentine's Day! I hope you feel the love! :-)

In our class we just finished learning about 3-D shapes and practicing finding the edges, faces, & vertices of those shapes. The students had lots of fun doing a scavenger hunt around the school looking for shapes in the real world! The scavenger hunt page is included in the Solids Printables Pack. Also included are 2 matching games. One that matches the solid shape with it's name and the other matches the solid shape with the amount of faces, edges, and vertices it has... Check it out here.

You can get just the matching game  here. 

We also recently worked on finding area and perimeter and one way we practiced is by playing Area War! You can find it here! Your students will love practicing Area with their friends in this game.

And now for the Free Item of the Week! This one comes from Fern Smith who has fantastic products to offer in her Teachers Pay Teachers Store page. This is a super cute Valentine's Day Math Center idea! Check it out here! 

New Products & Free Stuff!

Here is this weeks new products and free item! Hope you enjoy!

Decimal War
If you ever played war with a deck of cards then you know the game. This is the same game concept except you are trying to find the biggest decimal! The game has places to the tenths, hundredths, & thousandths. Would be very easy to turn into a folder game.
Click here to view Decimal War




Comparing Numbers War (100-1,000)
Again the same war concept except you are trying to find the biggest whole number. Covers numbers 100-1,000.
Check it out here! 






OR if you are have younger students and 100- 1,000 is too hard try the 1-50 Game here!


And the featured Free Product of the day comes from Brooke Beverly. She has made a super cute graph book for students to work on with candy!
Check it out here!

New Products & Free Stuff!

If you're anything like me you LOVE free stuff... here are some great free items you can download.

Here is a FREE polygon matching game. I use it as a sponge activity for students who finish early!
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Polygon-Matching-Game

Here is a FREE Moon Phases matching game. Used again as a sponge activity, but I also use it to help reinforce recognition of the picture of the phase with the correct name. These are a bit tricky for the students to memorize and practice makes perfect!
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Moon-Phases-Matching-Game

Here is my newest item for sale on my TeachersPayTeachers Store. It's Adding & Subtracting Decimals using models. The kids loved coloring in the grid to represent adding and subtracting the decimals.
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Adding-Subtracting-Decimals-using-Models

And last but not least here is a FREE item from a fellow TeachersPayTeachers seller who has a great way of helping students remember 7x8.
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/How-to-Teach-7-X-8-56-So-All-Students-Can-Succeed

I hope you enjoy all these free items!