Fun & Free for St. Patty's Day

There are a lot of reasons why I love celebrating St. Patrick's Day in my classroom. I love seeing the excitement in the eyes of students when they come in and the room is all disheveled because a naughty leprechaun visited.  Even better are the smiles and laughter when we drink 7-Up and Lime Sherbet Punch while playing St. Patrick's Day Spoon Time.  Lastly, it doesn't hurt that my favorite color is green and gives me an excuse to deck the room in shades of green!

My students really love when we have themed days and St. Patrick's Day is no exception! I love to make themed math centers and language arts activities for the day.  I know how busy you are, so I thought I would share a free addition activity that will help lighten your planning load.  Your students will have so much fun they will forget they are practicing math!

Free Shamrock Addition Roll & Cover Game

Over the years, I have created other resources to make your day fun! These are free as well! You can check them out by clicking below!

Free St. Patrick's Day Writing Prompts  - Use this freebie to get your students to do some creative writing about what they would do if they found a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow or what would they do if they caught a leprechaun? The papers make a great hallway display as well!

Lucky Letters Freebie - These cute little notes are for you to give to your students to offer encouragement and let them know you are so lucky to have them in class.  The notes feature either a boy or girl leprechaun and will be sure to lift spirits in your classroom!

Free St. Patrick's Day Bookmarks - These sweet little St. Patrick's Day owl bookmarks are dual purpose! Print, cut and hand them out to your students so they can mark their page and keep track of what books are next on their reading list.

What is your favorite activity to do in the classroom on St. Paddy's Day?  Leave a comment below! I'd love to hear your ideas!

Making Change Freebie

Well, the weather here is frightful! It is April 4th, and we are home because of another snowstorm! We already have 10-12 inches and it is still coming down hard! Since the weather won't change to Spring, I thought I would give you a different kind of making change FREEBIE.

This math center practices making change from different bills. It comes with two different menus for differentiation and 8 practice problems. The practice problems can be done with both menus for a total of 16 different problems.  

If you would like a copy, click on the picture below.  (Be sure to be logged into your Google account.)  If you don't have a Google account, you can download it from my Teachers Pay Teachers store. 

I am linked up this week at

Hopefully we see a change in the weather soon!

 What kind of change are you hoping for?

Square Root Clock Cards

A few years ago I came across this great idea on Pinterest to put square root cards around the outside of a clock.  Click here to see my inspiration. I noticed that during STAR Math testing, quite a few students were asking me what the square root symbol was.  I, of course, told them that I couldn't help them, but quickly made a mental note to give them a quick lesson on square root.  Teaching square root is not a fourth grade standard, but many of my students are able to grasp the concept easily with one short lesson using the clock and the square root cards.

I made some cute little cards, laminated them, and then used velcro to attach them to the outside of my clock.  On occasion, my students and I review what square roots are and we use the clock to help us!

 

If you would like your own set of square root clock cards, just click on the picture above! (Remember to be logged into your Google account.) 

If you don't have a Google account, you can download them from my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

This week I am linked up at 

How do you teach square roots?

Fraction Action

I just introduced fractions to my math R.T.I. group and thought it would be a good idea to review some vocabulary with them.  I dug out this Forever Freebie and put it in my plans for next week.

It is a super fun game that you play using your smartboard.  You divide the students into two teams.  Have one student from each team come up and give them each a flyswatter.  Display one of the slides of the PowerPoint and have the students should swat the word that matches the picture.  The person who swats it first, earns a point for their team.  Then have two new students come up and the game continues.

The students have such a blast playing this! I can't wait until Thursday when my students get to play!

You can download your copy by clicking on the picture below! Make sure you are logged into your Google account.

If you don't have a Google account, you can download
Word Attack Fractions from my 

Teachers Pay Teachers Store.

I am linked up this week at:

What strategies do you have for introducing fractions?

 

Equal or Not?

In math class yesterday we studied equalities and inequalities.  I used the analogy of a balance to show them that equalities must be equal on each side. We drew pictures of balance scales, like the one below, and practiced equations that were equal and not equal. 

When I felt like they had a good understanding, we played a game. I made this game using using super cute dog clip art from Ashley Hughes.   I gave each student a piece of paper that had equal and not equal signs on it. (see photo below)  The symbols were made out of dog bones and the students thought it was the best!

Next, I displayed a problem on the SmartBoard using the document camera.  The students would do the work on their whiteboards. On my count, they would hold up either their equal or not equal sign.   Then one of them would come up and use smaller versions of the dog bones to make the equations equal or not equal.

To really test their knowledge and understanding, we ended the lesson with a fun craftivity.  The students were each given a large dog bone to cut out. They were asked to write an equality and an inquality on the inside of the dog bone.  (see photo below)  They used dog bones in bowls like the photo above to show whether their equations were equal or not.  

When they were all finished, I put together a super cute bulletin board to display their excellent work!

If you would like to do this game and craftivity in your classroom, it is available in my  

 Teachers Pay Teachers Store!

What strategies do you use to teach equalities and inequalities?