FREEBIE! Rounding to 5c MathCenters

It has been a while since I posted a FREEBIE, so here it is!!!

Rounding to the nearest 5cents just in time for Easter!

This FREEBIE contains:

12 x Rounding to 5c domino cards

2 x Rounding to 5c Matching Worksheets

with instructions and answer keys.

This FREEBIE gives a snippet of my much larger 88 page Rounding to 5c Unit I created in Easter and Regular Theme.

I have 28 Year 8 homework books to mark now! I managed to mark my Year 8s spelling test during lunch on Friday after they sat it, and some outstanding results.

Over and out for now (and a few days too) because this is my week! AAAARRRrrgggghhhhh

Monday: Staff meeting 3-4pm

Tuesday: School PD 3-5pm

Wednesday: 3-4pm School Math tutoring

Thursday: 1-4pm PVM PD, 5-7 Griffith Tutorials

Friday: 6-8:30 Max's Swimming Club Night

Stationary rewards and rraaiinnn raaaiinnn go away!

Rain rain go away,

come again on a non-school day!!

It has been TERRIBLE

miserable

depressing

WET

cold

humid

MUDDY

weather for the entire last WEEK!

The ONE positive! I managed to mow the lawn on Sunday during a small window of sunlight!

THANKFULLY, because its not stopped raining since!

Now, here is a photo of my new stationary rewards container!

 Everything inside of it either erases or sharpens something that can be used in the classroom!

It also has those GORGEOUS mini erasers I used keep as a child and put on display on my bookshelves. My year 8 and 9's LOVED these last year :)

 

Work 'Uniform' and BARGAIN Award Ticket Cards

I am a full time Mathematics teacher, but I also take Year 8 girls Softball for Tuesday afternoon sport! Such a stunning group of girls who have done EVERYTHING they can to ensure I am comfortable with all the rules and calls! :)

The last three years I've always had 'recreational sport' which is for students who don't want to play a team sport, don't make it into a team or don't like sport! This is ssssooooo different!

All HPE teachers and afternoon sport teachers were offered a school 'work shirt'. I must say I LOVE wearing a consistant uniform every Tuesday that students recognise but also other schools can easily recognise!

In addition to this, I found these 'ticket awards' at K-Mart where they had discounted them from $2.50 down to $1! Needless to say I have 15 packets now! :)

I'm looking forward to using them along with my new container of stationary rewards! :) I will put a photo of this up soon! :)

Valentines Day in Maths - PHOTOS

After yesterdays blog post about the Valentines Day Math Activities I was going to do with my years 9s, I thought I would upload some photos of their work!

They really enjoyed being given the opportunity to not only work in pairs, but to be a part of the Year 9 Math wall and demonstrating ownership and pride in their understanding and work!

There were so many students helping others who had missed some lessons and needed some guidance, along with two students who managed to create two seperate hands rather than attached hands with a heart in the middle! lol

Valentines Day in Maths! Middle and High School



At my High School, apart from selling and having roses delivered to students (fake ones!), we don't seem to cover Valentines Day like its covered in Primary School.

SsssoooOooOoooOooooooo... I'm going to change that!

I saw this AMAZING idea somewhere where you fold a piece of A4 paper in half, place your hand so that your thumb and index finger touch the creased side and trace!

I made the mistake on my first one below to place my thumb straight which means your heart looks a little sad! You will have to get your little ones to bend their thumb a bit to make more of a heart shape!

I am using these with both my Year 9s tomorrow. They are going to work in pairs to complete a table, graph and determine the rule based on a rate I give them.

I created this example for students and I will put them up on their Year 9 Bulletin Board when they finish!

I know I will hear from them "I heart Maths",but that is what I'm hoping for!

DIY Bulletin Board Borders & Template



Template traced and cut out!

Since it's three weeks into the first term, and typical HIGH SCHOOL CLASSROOMS are COMPLETELY, UTTERLY, TERRIBLY, bland... boring... mind numbing... PLAIN!

I didn't think of buying any bulletin board borders over the break and wanted to brighten up the room sooner rather than later! :)

I created a template and used some of our 80cm wide coloured cardboard (we only had pink!!!!) but this is the finished product!

This looks very peach coloured, but it's pink! Much better though :)

If you CLICK on either of the template images below (Or HERE and HERE) you can download them as two seperate images from google docs, print them onto an A4 page and trace them onto your own cardboard! A great item to laminate and re-use year after year!



 

Bookwork, Expectations & Integers in use with Year 8!

I've just realised that this photo makes the day look muuuuccchhh more sunny than it actually was!

It was a miserable morning full of heavy rain, a sunny first break where I had to run trials for the Year 8 Girls Softball team, and then a rainy lunch time!

I'm very lucky to have some Year 9 girls who play club softball helping me out! :)

It's always so hard for the kids in their undercover area when some don't actually stay that dry in wet weather! :(

I thought I'd show you all this BIG blue ERASER/ RUBBER that I bought for my step-son Max as he's always misplacing his normal sized rubbers! Seriously, it's 15cm long and hhhuuuggeee! I love it :)

I know the one mistake a LOT of teachers make in high school, is not showing students bookwork expectations! How do I know this? I end up with students in year 9 with terribbblleee book work with no heading, margin or date!!

Students come from primary school and spending the whole day with one teacher and specialist teachers with all their books in the one room, to having four or more different teachers EVERY day with different books and expectations for EVERY teacher for each subject! How confusing for them!

My Year 8 Math Homework Books

I spend my first lesson with all my Math students (no matter the year level) focusing on my expectations of their book work. We use three books:

• Summary/ Theory - Which is the main note taking book that contains teacher examples.
• Exercise - Which is where students complete their textbook or worksheet work.
• Homework - Where students complete any homework task.

I always make sure that homework sheets are copied in colour! Why you ask? Doesn't it look more engaging and bright being in a colour? I know I'd rather do my homework if my book looked appealing! Some little ones even coloured each question or each letter to add additional colour! I love it!

A colourful HW book neatly in 'invisible' columns.

I've shown my students how to communicate what they're thinking rather than just give an answer. For a simple question like:

-6+9

=3

Doesn't require any 'thinking' or communication because it can just be solved. Whereas:

-5+-10

= -5-10

= -15

The signs I've coloured red is what students circle, then in the second step, re-write it so its more clear and organised, then the third step to solve! One example of this is below.



Circle, show how the signs change, re-write it and solve!

 I LOVE when they make a mistake, because their middle step is often correct (which means they can recieve some marks for it) but they made an error in the final step! Much more clear to see their 'thinking/ communication'!!

 

If your little ones are looking at integers, now or in the future, these Integer question cards are FREE, go over five levels and contain ANSWERS! :)

TpT Sunday SUPER Sale up to 28% off!!!!

THIS Sunday TpT is having a HUUUGGEE Super Sunday SALE!

My WHOLE store will be discounted by 20%, PLUS when you enter TpT's promo code 'SUPER' at checkout, you will recieve an additional 8%!

A great excuse to stock up on some great items you have on your wishlist or one you've been keeping your eye on! 

*Promo Code "SUPER" Expires 02/03/13 Midnight Hawaii-time*