Hands On Moffatt Math Practice Success

Philippians 4:9 Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

This year my goal was to add some new 'hands on' math practice to my resource math class. I have many of the same students for math and English several years in a row since I teach grades 4-6 at a small school.  I am always trying to find new products to keep them engaged.  

Over the summer I read a lot of reviews about THE MOFFATT GIRLS Teachers Pay Teacher products. She is a homeschooling mom who makes resources to use in any classroom. I purchased the multiplication, division, addition and subtraction packets.  I also bought some colorful tubs (Dollar Tree) so the students can grab their binder and a tub full of supplies as they walk in the door. They are LOVING The Moffatt Girls math practice pages! SUCCESS! 

Everything is Packed Up But the Kids Keep Coming- Quick Picture Book Study

 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. Romans 15:13

It gets to be the end of the year and most of your belongings are packed up. You still want an engaging lesson to keep those students busy. The perfect solution-a picture book study! 

Everything had been returned to their homeroom teachers so I grabbed an OLD picture book off my shelf. I chose it because it caught my eye and I love to have the experience of a new book right along with the kids. Thankfully in our school teachers often remember the resource room when they retire or clean off their shelves and I get a lot of unique books that way.

This little gem was called, NO BOYS ALLOWED, by Ursula Moray Williams, 1972. The kids thought it was pretty cool that it was published before I was even born.  We did the normal book study stuff-analyzed the cover, predicted the genre, and dove right into this amazing little book. I projected the pages onto the big screen as I read it to the class. 

What made it even more fun was that it had several unfamiliar words that I had never heard before (archaic words were used a lot in this story about a group of cousins sailing on a ship in the 1800's). I had a great opportunity to model using context clues and then going on line to see if I was correct.  

The kids were engaged and really enjoyed the lesson. After completing a story map, I dug out some island themed paper and they illustrated what they predicted happened after the story ended.    

Virtual island on YouTube - projected so we could hear the waves crashing as they worked. This is a camera on a beach in real time. 

Happy Happy Happy New Year

They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. Lamentations 3:23-24

The new year is here and we start back at school tomorrow. The year ended with some challenging behaviors that I continue to reflect on and plan for daily. I am blessed to have a new morning presented to me each day. I can leave my worries behind and start fresh. Great is thy faithfulness. I will hope in HIM.

A fun literacy center (I split the students into pairs or "centers" for this activity) I use each year is called Happy Happy Happy Camo Literacy Center for Big Kids by Melissa Dalton on Teachers Pay Teachers.  

A friend of mine made this cute Christmas tree for my classroom out of a pallet. I let my students paint and decorate it. 

We made BFF ornaments on the day before our holiday with pictures of the kiddos and their friends together for them to take home and put on their own trees. Some of my kiddos don't really have a BFF so we did BFF for the day-pick someone to be your BFF today and I will take your picture together for an ornament. This worked great and everybody was a good sport about it. Everybody "played along" and nobody felt left out.