Test Prep

Teaching Is A Gift is having a Linky party for test prep.

This is my life right now. We are TEN school days away from the state test and  honestly, I am freaking out!

The next two weeks are all review. I am trying to review everything, which is impossible, I know. I am also trying to keep away from worksheets and boring myself and my students to death.

I created two activities for this week. One is comparing and ordering rational numbers on a number line. I am hoping my students will really practice changing fractions and remembering all the different things we have done with them all year.

The other is a equivalent fractions activity. I made it like a card game. There is so much math I want to recall in it. I am hoping to "trick" my students into enjoying converting fractions.

Be sure to check out all the great links, there are a lot and for every subject!

Link Party- All things Upper Elementary

I am linking up with All things Upper Elementary for a FREE 4 ALL.

We all love free things!

Mine is for ratios and proportions. Students create proportions with given details and formulate which is greater, less, or equal?

My 6th grade math lab kids did this and it was a GREAT activity.

Hope you can use it!

Click here or on the picture for the freebie!

Here a Link, There a Link, Everywhere a Link, Link and a FREEBIE!

I love linky parties because it exposes me to a lot more blogs I wouldn't find on my own. Plus, it gets people checking out my blog too. (just being real here)

So, I am joining a few today.

This is my freebie. It's an activity for elapsed time. Hope you can use it. It's definitely upper grades. Enjoy! Click on the picture to download.

1st link:  It's All Things Upper Elementary. It's a freebie Linky Party. I love Freebie Fridays on TBA, but it almost always lower elementary. I am thrilled for this one for the "big kids". And, its going to be a monthly feature, even better!

2nd: Teaching High School Math is having a Linky for Middle and High School Math teachers to showcase their TPT stores. I don't have one yet. I am seriously considering making that jump. But until then, I wanted to share my freebie.

3rd and lastly, I am linking with Tessa over at Tales Outside the Classroom. She is linking all about LOVE!

Here's what I love:

These are the five most important man and boys in my life!

This site keeps my creativity going and also makes me feel inadequate at the same time. I am completely addicted though.

I LOVE teaching Math. I love using Interactive Math Notebooks and foldables.

I love, love, love these women. They make work so enjoyable!!! (I'm in the middle)

And lastly, I love Zumba, my fitness pal app, and running. It's all keeping me on track!

Hope you will link up with any or all of these parties and share!

Anchor Charts

Miss Klohn over at Adventures of a 6th Grade Teacher is having a Link Party about Anchor Charts.

I wrote about this before here. Those charts were computer made and blown up into poster size.

Since then, I have been reteaching Factors to my math lab kids. These aren't fancy, but they do the trick. The students refer to them during their independent practice time.

 I had some of my students complete the bottom portion and they LOVED that. The power of a marker is huge!

Plus my regular Math classes have noticed them and mentioned them.
My classroom is plastered with charts. I want students to visualize everything.

Also, if you haven't read about our Brain Dump, click here. This is the biggest Anchor Chart I use and the most effective. Students end up memorizing this and before starting their state test, write this from memory.

How about you? How do you use Anchor Charts? Link up and share here.

100th day of school - Middle School

I am linking up with TBA for some 100th Day of School planning.

                                                             



Since it's Friday, I am also linking to Friday Freebies!

As an elementary teacher the 100th day of school was one of my most favorite days. We did all things 100... We did 100 day rotations, it was just plain fun.

Well, middle school is MUCH different. We are in full "get ready for the state test mode". But, I really want to do something fun this year. So, I decided to make it a project. Plus, I decided to make it a review. I created 100 problems for them to complete and use as a review of all topics we have taught up to this point.

This is an independent project and students will completely at home. They have four weeks to complete and it is due on the 100th day of school!

Time will tell how we'll they do and how this will turn out. I will keep you posted!

For now, maybe you can use it, or make your own 100 problem project. Enjoy!

This is PDF file. I created it in Publisher and couldn't attach it to Scribd. Please leave me your email and I will gladly send it to you.

First 12 in the Last of '12

I'm linking with  Fabulous 4th Grade Froggies to revisit my first 12 blogs of 2012.

I didn't start my blog until July, but this was a nice way to look back.

7/13/12 Jumping In Feet First: I sarted my blog by sharing my most favorite new buy for my classroom. A time timer. IT IS BY FAR THE BEST THING IN MY CLASSROOM!



7/18/12 Math Humor: Shared some math funnies

7/19/12 Classroom Managment: Shared what I worked a lot on during the summer. My 4 P's.

7/20/12 Promethean Planet: Great website for you Promethean users

7/23/12 DIY Classoomroom Clock: My first Monday Made It and a favorite post.

7/23/12 My Teacher Story: apparently, a two post day... A linky party where we shared about ourselves

7/24/12 Fractions, Decimals and Percents Game My most viewed post of the year. A fun game with water bottle lids.

7/25/12 A Newbie Blog Hop A great way to meet new bloggers, like me!

7/26/12 Preparing for School Linky Party 

7/27/12 Free Rewards for your students and YOU!: My first Friday Freebie with TBA.

7/28/12 First Day Jitters: Another Linky party

7/30/12 A "Hodgepodge" of DIY: Another Monday Made it, where I went a little nuts!

That's my first 12. A lot of linky parties and back to back posts. Oh, the lazy days of not working.

Enjoyed looking back. Hope you enjoyed as well!

Anchors Away Linky Party

I found another SUPER blog and a GREAT Linky Party.

Sharing "Anchor Charts" from Adventures of a 6th Grade Teacher

Earlier this year I sent my teachers an email and used the phrase "Anchor charts". I received several emails back asking what those were. I was kind of shocked and a little scared. But then thought, maybe its an elementary thing. I taught lower grades for 17 years, they speak a different language. :)

But they are ALL over my room! The difference I notice now is I don't make them with my students. If that was the case, I'd have 6 of the same chart since I teach the same thing six times a day.

What I do is note taking in their math journals and then I make posters and hang them. I also make PDFs of these and post them to my website for parents. This helps my students and parents have reference notes at home for homework and studying for major test.

The next most important I do is refer to my anchor charts DAILY!!!! The largest one I have is my brain dump. I have posted about this before. Click on here or on the picture for that post.

I made these for my website and then had posters made of them in my room.

We use this quarter anchor chart ALL THE TIME. My kids love money and they can relate to it well.

I do have the "handmade" charts as well in my room, but no pictures. Guess I need to get those taken when I get back from break.
I see the benefits of these types of charts in classrooms and I wish I saw more in middle schools. Students will use them and they will visualize them during testing times. They are meaningful. I am a firm believer in this.

Do you use Anchor Charts? How? I'd love to have more ideas.

Best of 2012

Bunting, Books and Bainbridge is having an end of the year linky party to reflect on 2012.

Here I go!

My best blogging moment: That I actually started this blog. I started in July after stalking reading, so many blogs for about six months. I was inspired by them, that I just knew I wanted to share. I knew I'd find a lot of elementary blogs, but honestly, it has been refreshing to read from other middle school people as well. I follow all levels of blogs, I certainly do not discriminate. It has helped my teaching though to have teachers "like me" to get ideas from to use in my classroom instruction.

Hodges Herald was created so I could speak my mind about teaching. Thanks to those who read it, even bits of it.

My favorite freebie: I don't have my own TpT store (maybe that will be new in 2013). So, for now, all my collaborations are FREE. But, I have had a few that I think are better than others. My very first Friday Freebie was my reward coupons and they are such a hit with students! Click here for the free coupons.

My most viewed post: Fractions, Decimals and Percents game was a huge hit with readers. Like my personal  inspirations from Pinterest (of course), I think this game inspired people to create a game. As a matter of fact, a reader did create one, very similarly and I used that one in my classroom as well. Both games were very successful with the kids. When pieces have gotten lost, I haven't gotten upset because those lids are so easily accessible. Click on the picture for the freebie.

 

My favorite linky parties: I love linky parties, sometimes they are overwhelming, but I do participate a lot. Tara over at 4th Grade Frolics truly inspired a lot of us to not just "pin" great ideas, but actually make things with her Made it Mondays. And TBA, Friday Freebies completely rock because I love FREE!

     

Most inspiring blogs:

I Speak Math has been great to keep me blogging with her Middle School Sunday Fundays  and For the Love of Teaching Math inspires to me do what I know kids love, games, games, games! She is sooooo awesome and has the best products EVER! I truly could list a bunch more, but I have to keep the list small.

Finally, the best thing about blogging for me has been enjoying my job again. I had a really rough transition into middle school teaching after 17 years in elementary. I didn't think I'd stay with this age group, but this year has been completely different and I truly am enjoying teaching again.

I'm really looking forward to continuing my blog in 2013 and can't wait to see what is in store for the upcoming year!

Student Work- Math About Me

I am sooo busy, and I want to link up to everything, but its impossible.

But, I am linking with TBA Open House for bulletin boards.

I have decided to post about what I am most proud of from the first week of school.

 I have posted about the Math About Me Silhouettes I was going to do this year before. Well, they turned out FABULOUS!!! I shared mine with my kids and they learned so much about me in a fun way.

They were excited to do their own. It was a homework assignment because we just didn't have time to do it in class.
I have over 100 kids that were given this assignment.

I received over 100 of them!!! Seriously, that has never happened. They were even out for our open house.

The quality was pretty good. I did notice I have some things to teach my kids about correct equation writing, but this was a good informal assessment as well.

I also learned my kids have a lot of roosters and animals in general. I have a lot of ESL students too and this was a very telling assignment.
Here's just a few!

I loved that they used Roman Numerals!

 I will definitely do this assignment again!

TBA- Open House Link Party

TBA is having an Open House week. I am linking up.

My name is Elizabeth Hodges and I teach 6th grade Math. I teach in a small town Elgin, Texas. We are  East of Austin. I also live in this small town with my husband and four boys. They are 21, 15, 6 and 2. We have three elementary schools, one middle and one high school. We are the Wildcats and bleed purple. ALL five schools!

I began my 19th year last week. I have taught Kinder, first, 2nd-5th Math and now 6th grade Math. I love teaching math. It is so fun. Middle school on the other hand has been the hardest thing I have ever done.

I am happy to be doing it again after flopping last year. Well, it wasn't a total flop. I teach in a low-socio economic school/district and we are considered a stage 5 campus with TEA. To explain that in layman terms, we are in serious trouble. Well, last year (my first with the district) we made HUGE gains in Math and passed AYP standards. We are still stage 5 though. You have to pass 2 years in a row to get out. So, I can say it was a successful year, but it was H-A-R-D.

This year, I am department head and mentoring two new teachers at my school. Things are very different at school and it all for the better! I am loving teaching this year and working with my new co workers and even enjoying the kids. I'd say the biggest change is my attitude.

My teaching style is hands on for sure. I love stations and interactive notebooks. I am also incorporating tons of things I did elementary into the middle school world because I know it works!

How about you? Can't wait to read about you too!