Scantron and Griddable Practice- FREEBIE

Happy Friday! 

First of all, you did you know today is #LoveMySchoolDay? We received an email from our Superintendent today informing us of that. She encouraged us to shout out about our school and be proud of who we are! 

So here's my shout out! 

We are the ELGIN WILDCATS!!!! 

I truly am proud of my school. It's my third year here and it has been the hardest thing I have ever done. Middle School is tough. 

But, I am proud to be a teacher here and I am proud of my students here! 

This is our community and WE ROCK!!! 

Today I am including a FREEBIE for those of you who still take scantron test. 

We still have students that make errors on their scantrons by leaving bubbles blank, using pen or marker (this only happened when I was absent!), and then making mistakes on griddables because they won't pay attention to the place value. 

These are examples of real mistakes my students made. 

It drives me insane when they write WHOLE numbers behind the decimals!!! 

This is a place value issue!!! 

How do you forget to color in FOUR questions!!! 

This student made a 67 because of this. His grade would have been a 93 if he had just colored in the answers he had in his test booklet! 

This is common. Students forget to color in one answer choice. 

This student would have had a 100 on his test. 

This is what happens when you don't follow directions and use a pen instead of a pencil, you can't erase your mistakes!!!

If you can't tell, this student used PURPLE marker on his test. I had a sub that day, this would never have happened if I had been in class. But, that student KNEW better!!!! 

So, before our state test, we dedicated an entire day to error analysis of scantrons and griddables. 

This is how my two other sixth grade teachers did this activity. They placed them in the hallway and students worked together to solve. 

Students had to recognize that they can not wrinkle or fold their scantrons. These type will not be graded! 

The students have actually had a lot of fun with it. I keep hearing, "Who would forget this? or "Who does this?" I am just laughing, because they are ALL guilty at some point! 

Hopefully,  this will help with them pay a little closer attention when they take their test. 

I know some of you have gone digital and don't have this problem, but I hope those of you who still use scantrons, can use this over the next several weeks. 

It's the newest FREEBIE in my store. 

ENJOY! 

Tried It Tuesday- Review Activities

Time to link up with Holly for Tried it Tuesday! 

I am so excited to share TWO activities I tried  this week for our review. It's all about low stress reviewing for me and my students. 

These two activities were quick to prepare and my students had fun completing them. 

Review Activity One: 

Bingo 

Students had a blank bingo board. 

I put all the answers on the white board for students to write on their board in any order they chose. 

This was actually harder than it should have been. It is actually quite a skill to copy from the "board" in random order. I'm not being mean, I am serious. I had so many students get confused because of the randomness of writing these fractions. 

After the boards were made, I showed an index card on the white board with a problem. 

Students solved it. I walked around and monitored. I wanted to make it clear from the beginning that the expectation was for every student to solve the problem. 

Then, I flipped the index card over with the answer and the "how", so students could check their work. 

This really led to some good questioning about finding common denominators, subtracting from whole numbers, etc. Just processes that they need reminders about since we haven't been focusing on this concept lately. 

We continued to play for the class period, until a student had 5 in a row for Bingo. 

Each class had at least one winner. 

I had a sub in the afternoon and because it was completely laid out and easy, it was pretty successful in those classes as well. 

Review Activity Number 2

Inside/Outside or Speed Dating 

I called this Inside/Outside because with this "Spring Season", my sixth graders can not handle me calling this Speed Dating. 

First, my desk are set up with an inside set and an outside set. Students face each other. 

Teacher Note: I placed students in the inside that I know cannot handle much moment. I needed this activity to move quickly and managing movement was my biggest challenge. 

Students were given review questions. I am using cards made by Live. Love. Math. These are STAAR review questions, perfect for what we need right now. 

Students are given 2 minutes to work with a partner on a problem. Then we go over it for 1 minute. 

I used a FREE online timer. This really helps them stay focused on the problems they are working.  

The outside students moved to the left and they worked the next problem with a new partner. 

We repeated this process over and over again. 

All students were on the same problem. 

The difference was being able to work with different people for each problem. 

What we didn't finish in class was assigned homework. 

So far, I would say, I will use both activities again. For me, that spells SUCCESS! 

Mathematical Monday- Review Time

We have TEN school days until state testing, T-E-N! 

We have officially covered all material for sixth grade Math. 

We have spent a lot of time spiraling throughout the year with warm ups and various activities. 

Now, I have TEN days to review everything!!!! 

Last year at this time I was scouring blogs for ideas. I became overwhelmed. I had so many great ideas, but time to get it all together and stuff made, etc... well, that wasn't happening. I know it all worked out, but I remember stressing way too much. 

My life outside of school is stressful enough, I cannot add school stress right now. They don't make enough wine for that! 

So, as my team and I were planning, I have done two things. 

1) I stopped being so bossy and let my partners do some things. I am not a good delegator, I end up just saying, "Ill do it, "I'll make those copies, "I'll make that game", I'll do that power point this weekend", etc.  

This week, I did a little better. I am still doing a lot, but not everything. 

2) I am making use of the AWESOME resources I have purchased this past year on TpT! Sometimes I find great stuff on blogs and TpT and forget about them. Not this time. 

I am making another Jeopardy game from the template I purchased from Kendra Passarelli earlier. It is so easy to edit!!! 

I am using the STAAR review Task Cards I have gotten from Live. Love. Math. Remember, I bought her whole store!!!! My laminator and her products have been my life line this year!!!! 

I love task cards. We are incorporating them in different ways though. 

FYI: She has an 8th Grade Bundle of activities and 7th Grade as well!  

You should just check her store out, she has a ton of GREAT resources!!!  

We are including them in different games and activities. We are using them as warm ups, I am including them in my Jeopardy, and I am using a set for a whole class activity called "Inside/Outside". (I'll write about that after we do it and I have some pictures.)

It has been really easy planning, mostly stress free and that is my goal for the rest of the year. 

What do you do to review a whole year of standards? I'd love to know. 

Be sure to link up with I Heart Recess to share what you are doing in Math. 

Saturday Motivation- After School School

We are two weeks from our state test. It is crunch time! 

Each year we hold after school or Saturday camps for extra tutoring before the test. We call it STAAR CAMP. (the Texas state test is called STAAR, State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness)

This year we are having two after school sessions, almost two hours each. Students will attend two hours after their regular school day. 3:45-5:30. That's a LONG day, for all of us. 

The big push is to get them here! 

We have to motivate them to actually attend. 

We give them personal invitations: 

The day of the camp, we feed them. They WILL come for food. 

Second, we offer another food reward! 

Third, I offer an independent award. 

My students get to choose from four rewards. 

As a twist, I am making it a random pick from a bag! 

I am making chips for them to choose from. 

I am also trying to increase their interest in the camp. 

So, on Monday, I started with a countdown. I didn't say anything about it. 

Several students asked what it was. 

The next day, I added the name and more students asked what is STAAR CAMP? 

This led to the discussion and they learned about the rewards., They seemed interested. 

The countdown will continue through next week. 

Be sure to link up with Joanne over at Head Over Heels for Teaching! 

Tried It Tuesday-Unit Table of Contents

It's April 1st and foolishly, the state of Texas has our kids testing!!! 

NO JOKE!!! 

My kids aren't, but our 7th and 8th graders are. It's actually pretty quiet. The kids are being pretty sensitive to the fact that testing is going on all around us. 

It's also time for: 

I wish I had tried this earlier in the year. But my stubbornness got the better of me. 

I saw this idea on Math = Love. I liked it a lot and I even shared it with a Science teacher who uses interactive notebooks almost as much as I do. She loved it and like a smart teacher, used it right away. 

I finally tried it and LOVE LOVE LOVE it. My students LOVE it too and I am definitely doing this from the beginning next year. 

What am I talking about?  

Making a table of content for each unit, instead of a table of contents for our entire math notebook. 

My table of contents looks like this: 

I have been determined to keep it up to date. 

My students' on the other hand

So, for our last new unit, we did this: 

This is what my students' looks like: 

The same!!! Yes, that is the point!!! 

It is perfect because it's current. It also signifies the end of one and the beginning of another unit. 

We also added a tab which has been helpful to get to the pages they needed this past week when I was gone.  

Sarah, from Math=Love has also posted about she keeps lots of these on hand so whenever she needs them, they are ready. I did the same. I made lots of copies and on different colors. I do the color thing just for fun. My students respond to colored paper better than white paper. I haven't quite figured out why, but I am glad that it does. 

We will get to use this later this year as well. We are getting new standards for the 2014-2015 school year. We have some prep work to do before we send them to the next grade level due to the changes. 

Now, I just wish I had "tried" it sooner. Live and learn, right? 

Now, go link up with Holly at Fourth Grade Flipper and see all the other "tried its".