A Trick to Get Your Students to Line Up Quietly
I have personally witnessed two teachers use this in their classes and it works exceptionally well. The novelty will wear off after time, but it works well for students at this point in the year when summer break and friends are all that is on children’s minds.
- Buy a feather boa.
- Tell your students to put their heads down on their desks and close their eyes.
- Tell them when you pass by and touch them with the feather boa they can line up.
This seems to have a magical effect because feathers are quiet and those who are in line are in suspense waiting to see who will be feathered next.
Flip Flops…Spring Bulletin Board Idea
I happened across this bulletin board when I visited another school for professional development. I couldn’t resist snapping a picture of it because of the clever flip flops that the children made. They wrote simple sentences on them, however they would make nice places to write a published piece of short poetry about summer or spring time.
Too Many Papers Collecting On Your Desk? Try This
In the busy school day, papers can easily be placed haphazardly on your desk and other surfaces. To help keep papers organized, make files for each topic you teach. If you run off extra copies instead of throwing them away, keep the extras in your files. You will be able to use them for students who need extra practice, to lend to another teacher, and to use next year. Making a file for each month when the year starts will allow you to place seasonal worksheets, ideas, or bulletin board supplies in an easy to find location. If you happen to find a Valentine’s Day activity in November, you can file it in your February file and easily find it when the occasion approaches. Also, create a binder for professional development handouts, newsletters, and memos so you may easily refer to them when needed. Keep student work separated in paper trays by subject or class and immediately clip them together or put them in a folder before removing them to keep them from getting mixed up. In order to maintain organization of paper flow, make sure to set up your file system before the school year begins so that each paper will have a place. If the school year begins without a filing system, you are most likely not going to take the time to create one in the midst of the flurry of school activities, and your paper piles will rival Mt. Everest.
Do You Need a Creative Idea for a February Bulletin Board?
- This is a picture of a bulletin board used for displaying student work of a volume activity. The candy box has brown snap cubes in it which were used to represent chocolate pieces. Students built their own “candy box” with grid paper and measured its volume with snap cubes. The nets below the red heart display are “candy boxes” students built. They measured the volume using snap cubes. They wrote the answer in cubic units on the back of their box. While students are passing by, they can look at the nets and figure out the volume. There is an answer key beside the boxes so students can check their work.
Valentine Volume - Interactive
- Bulletin Board
Three Ways to Incorporate Valentine’s Day Fun with Math
On Valentine’s Day it is difficult to engage students in instruction which rivals anticipation of Valentine parties. Here are a few ways to incorporate fun with math instruction.
1. Give students a cotton swab with a dab of Vaseline. Tell them to smear their lips with the Vaseline. Have them kiss colored cm squared grid paper. The colored paper helps the Vaseline to show up better. Then tell them to choose their favorite lip print and find its area in square cm. Have students find the length and width of their kisses. Students can also measure their kisses in inches with a ruler. Arrange kisses on the wall in order from least to greatest area so all can see for added fun.
2. Give each student a box of candy hearts, and have students find the fractional amounts of each color. Students can build a bar graph, pictograph, circle graph, etc to represent the colors in the box. Further, you could incorporate probability by having students predict which colors of candy are most likely to be drawn from the box. Then have students do a probability experiment in which they pull a candy from a bag without looking. Have them record their results on a frequency table.
3. Cut out different sized paper hearts and use candy hearts to find the area of the paper heart. Which student had the heart with the largest area? The smallest area.
