Back to School Math Centers (4th Grade Review)

Good morning ya'll! The clock is ticking, and I just finished a math bundle that I have been working on to get done before the school year! This bundle is specifically for 4th grade review! I wanted to make some fun math activities for students to get back in the swing of school, and to dust off those cobwebs from the summer! I am going to break down each activity included and explain to you how they can be used in your classroom!

Adding & Subtracting Fractions BINGO

This game is perfect for practicing adding and subtracting fractions with like denominators. It is a simple, student led math center. Students place all of the problem cards face down, then flip one over at a time where everyone in the group solves it, and looks for the sum or difference on their bingo sheet. The goal is to be the first one to get a bingo! (Click the image below to grab this product.)

Comparing Fractions & Decimals Sort

This activity is wonderful for practicing that dreaded skill of comparing decimals and fractions. There are 2 sets of number cards, decimals and fractions. The students pick out 2 of one type of card and lay the cards out in front of them, then they complete the comparison sentence by putting the numbers under the greater than, less than, or equal to apple. For example, if I pulled a 6.78 and 9.01 I would slide the numbers under the less than apple because 6.78 is less than 9.01. (Click the image below to grab this product.)

Mixed Number Match-Up

This activity is great for practicing changing between mixed numbers and improper fractions, and being able to recognize the picture that represents the mixed number and improper fraction. Students must complete the 3 piece puzzles matching the picture representation, improper fraction, and mixed numbers. (Click the image below to grab this product.)

Whole Number Multiplication Mystery Message 

I love mystery messages! They are such a fun way to have students practice a skill. This activity covers 2x1 digit and 2x2 multiplication where the students have to solve the problems on the task cards to get the answer that corresponds to the letter that will help them figure out the message! This message is a very inspirational message for the beginning of the year! (Click the image below to grab this product.)

Rounding Whole Numbers Roll

Rounding. I am hoping I am not the only teacher who feels like rounding is a hard concept for some students. I made this product to hopefully help students practice this skill. There are numbers on the pencils, so students will pick a pencil and then they have to roll the place value dice and round their number to that place value. The place values go from ones to millions. (Click the image below to grab this product.)

Multiplication Math Fact Spoons Game

Who doesn't love the classic card game spoons? I wanted to make this game come to life in my classroom. I wanted to make a versatile activity that can be used in more way than one. This activity is math fact cards from 2-12 facts. They use all the cards and play spoons. There are so many ways you can use this product. Students can practice multiples, prime and composite, even and odd, all four the same product, and many more. The possibilities are endless! (Click the image below to grab this product.)

If these activities would work in your classroom for your students, you can grab the BUNDLE here! All the activities above are included in the bundle!

Happy Back to School friends,

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Workin' on Wednesday

Welcome to week 2 of my new series I am trying out this summer! The purpose of this series is to let you all know what I am currently working on (hence the name) and what products or posts maybe coming down the pipe line for you!

This week I am currently working on making my Secret Agent activity a TPT product. Many people have emailed me asking if and when it is going to be up, so know I am working on it!

This tricky thing about making it a TPT product is when I did this activity it was specific to my school, so I have to think of a way to make it more generic so other teachers can use it! I created this activity on my car ride home from RCA and I cannot wait to share it so other students have the opportunity to be secret agents!

Be on the lookout for this in my TPT store very soon! :)

Happy Wednesday!

Workin' on Wednesdays (New Blog Series)

Happy Hump Day everyone! I hope you are enjoying the warm weather and being able to relax! If you are anything like me, you are still working, whether it be on blog posts, TPT products, or any of the other teacherpreneur things that need to be done. 

I want to introduce a new series I am going to have on my blog. It is going to be weekly or bi-weekly (haven't decided yet), and it is going to give you a sneak peek into what I am currently working on! It might be TPT products or upcoming blog posts. I am keeping it pretty open-ended! My long term goal for this series is to make it a linky party where other teacherpreneurs can join and share what they are currently trying to tackle! 

What I am currently trying to tackle is the largest product I have made to date for my TeachersPayTeachers store. 

I am finishing up the final steps of revising my 5th Grade Quick Checks for Math! I have reached out on Instagram and asked teachers what they would want to see, and I have incorporated those needs with my own! This beast has 74 different quick checks.

My math standards have been my guide when creating this product! I cannot wait to use them to quickly assess my students on standard based topics.

(Grey's Anatomy has been the background noise during the creation of this product!)

Above is an example of what the Quick Checks will look like. They vary in points, based off of what is being asked to solve for! They will be quick and easy to grade!

This is a list of all of the topics/skills that will be covered in the Quick Checks! 

I think I will benefit from this series because if I have it where people can see my end date, I will feel more pressure to get it done! You all are going to hold me accountable because procrastination is one of my best friends. I am hoping to have this product done and posted by next week! 

I hope you all will enjoy this series, I am very excited to get it up and started. If you would be interested in linking up your blog in the future, comment below or email me at crazinessinfifth@gmail.com!

Happy Wednesday! :)

Marshmallow Toothpick Bridges & FREEBIE!

End of the year craziness is in full force! Field trips here, convocations there, y'all know the drill. I wanted to come up with something that would keep my kids engaged for longer than most convocations with fifth graders do, if you know what I am sayin'. 

So, I made my own twist on the classic marshmallow toothpick bridge. Students were going to build a bridge to go across two kleenex boxes using only toothpicks and marshmallows. Set up was easy-peasy. All I bought was four bags of mini marshmallows and toothpicks, all from my favorite store, TARGET! :)

I broke my class up into 8 teams and they worked together to build a suspension bridge. They had to first discuss and decide on a design for their bridge. 

Once they drew up their plans, they were handed their marshmallows and toothpicks and begin engineering and building their bridges. Each group was different and unique. Hearing them talk while they built their bridges was the best part. They were able to go over and make sure their bridge was long enough to rest on each kleenex box. I did not allow them to test their bridges with the coins. 

Once we cleaned up the stickiness that the marshmallows became, which was a MESS, it was time to test out these very creative bridges. 

My literacy specialist popped in and actually got a picture of me in the middle of our bridge testing! (Weird seeing myself on my phone without it being a selfie!)

Of course, this couldn't be a successful activity without the content. Students definitely used their STEM brains, but I also used this activity to review some of the math skills we learned this year! After we recorded all of the data on the board, it was time for the students to analyze the data by finding the mean, median, mode of the number of pennies held by each bridge. 

This was such a fun activity for the end of the year! If you want to give it a try in your classroom, click HERE to get the student book I used for this activity in my TPT store!

Lego Racecars!

The end of the year is upon us, and what a crazy, fun time of the year it is! Being a fifth grade teacher can be really tough, knowing I won't be able to see my students the next school year. I am soaking up every minute with them! I was inspired (once again) by Hope King. I wanted to have my students engaged in a multi-day math activity that reviewed a lot of the skills we learned this year. Being form Indianapolis, the Indy 500 is right around the corner, so why not have our own mini Indy 500!

The set up was overall pretty simple. I based my track on the one Hope posted on her Instagram (thank you for the tips on how to make it!). I went to Lowes and got all the materials I needed to make the track, it cost all of about $25 for it. Super easy, it was foam insulation board and pipe wrap! Other than the board, I needed to get Legos, and decorations which all came from Party City!

Day #1 is where the fun began! I welcomed my students to the Nora International Speedway and explained how the next 3 days would work. I wanted a quick way to partner them up, so I created cards with the numbers 1-12 on them and when they drew their number they found their partners for the activity. Easy peasy! 

Once they were partnered off, they were handed a bag of Legos with no other instructions and needed to make a lego car they would use for time trials on Tuesday. Other than Legos, they could use balloons and pipe cleaners. They were given no instructions on how to make it, this is where the magic happened.  We had a lot of different cars being built with a lot of teamwork. The entire first day was building and rebuilding their cars.

Day #2, TIME TRIALS DAY! The pit crew was busy making their final tweaks to their cars before they raced them on the track for the first time. On this day, each of the 12 teams raced their cars 4 times and in between each trial, they were able to make changes to help their cars go faster. I called them up team by team to race once then go back and make changes, while the time trials were happening, everyone else was working on their cars. Once they were done with their time trials, they were to analyze their teams data by finding the mean, median, mode, and range. 

Day #3, it's RACE DAY! With the sounds of the Indy 500 race cars welcoming them into the classroom Speedway! 

Two different things happened on Race Day:

1. Each team had 3 runs, each timed, for data collecting.
2. Race time! We had 3 heats to get our final four, then the checkered flag waved!

For the data collecting piece, students recorded every team's time for the data analyzing they would be asked to do after the race.

When all of the times had been recorded, the timer was put away and the races began! I had predicted on the heats and what teams would be in each. The winner of each heat would compete in the finals! My room was loud and the cheers and chants made multiple people stop into my room to see what was going on! The winner won by a landslide.

I wish I could show the faces of my students! The one at the top pretty much says it all!

As soon as the checkered flag waved, students began analyzing the data by answering three questions I had prepared for the students. This part required them to use many skills we learned in fifth grade,

-mean, median, mode, range
-adding and subtracting decimals
-ordering decimals
-graphing

This was a wonderful three days full of STEM thinking and creativity!