Rounding Numbers to the Nearest 10 and 100 for Mastery and Fun

Rounding to the Nearest 10 and 100  is one of the most basic skills presented to students-honestly, kinda boring too!  What if I presented to you the idea that it can be a lot of fun and kids can master it too!  No, really, it can be FUN and mastery can be done in just one week!  

How to Make it FUN!  

Find a good theme and go with it!  Seriously, rounding to the nearest 10 and 100 needs a theme!  That's how you make it FUN!  Luckily, a theme has been made!  May I present to you...Knights of the Rounding Table!

This fun rounding unit is set to the idea that the King needs help-and the queen steps in to save the day with an idea-an idea that defeats the Digits Dragon!!  So fun, right!  

How to Make it MORE Fun!

When I do this Rounding to the Nearest 10 and 100 unit, I accompany it with some fun information about knights and dragons!  Read a great book about Medieval times (I have an oldie but a goodie that is so old, I can't even find it on Amazon to show you the book!)  Or, even better, about King Arthur!  Or Saint George and the Dragon which is an amazing knight story!  (Grab this freebie from Scholastic!) 

This literature tie in makes it even more fun because students can dive into the topic in a different way-tying in this new information to apply to the math concept!  It builds a fun new experience all around!  Plus, you could even have them create a fun Digits Dragon on their own!  This adorable craft would make a great tie in to this unit!  

What about the Rounding?

Students get the opportunity to learn rounding to the nearest 10 and 100 from simple steps to the practice of mental math!  Students start with learning the Rounding Poem.  This poem helps them to remember the concept of rounding down for under 4 and rounding up for 5 and over.  Plus, the posters have clues to help them remember too!

Students will first practice rounding to the nearest 10 and 100 by identifying the ten or hundred before and after the original number.  Then, students must decide, based on the rounding rules, which number it is rounding to.  This allows students to build the foundations of the mental math to come.  Next, student step into the mental math realm to round to the nearest number.  Both rounding to the nearest 10 and 100 is taught on separate pages.  

Once the skills are mastered individually, then students are presented with rounding to the nearest 10 OR 100 on one page!  This way, students can practice this skill in tandem with one another, switching their brains back and forth!  Plus, they can play a fun game! 

 This super fun game presents the students with the opportunity to defeat the Digits Dragon!  And, then, students can prove their mastery with a quiz!  

Best of all, then they are KNIGHTED!  Imagine their excitement to receive their official Knighthood after learning both rounding to the nearest 10 and 100 AND Medieval Knights!  It is just so exciting to them!  

So, as you can see, rounding to the nearest 10 and 100 can be both a learning opportunity and fun!  And, everything you need can be found in this product!  Your students will love it and so will you!  I'd love to hear what you have to say or your ideas about rounding to the nearest 10 and 100! And, if you would like to learn more about what I do in my classroom, I'd love for you to join me on my Instagram journey and over at Facebook too!  


Pin for Later!

How to have a TWEET First Day of School! And Beyond!

Tweet, tweet!  The school year is about to start and you are wondering what to do to 1. Teach your students about your classroom and 2. Not bore them to death doing it!  Why not TWEET Your First Day of School!  Let's take a look! 

Teach Your Classroom

Students love getting up and moving the first day of school.  Plus, to be honest, they are just tired and need to move!  So, this fun little booklet gets the job done!  

There is some prep for you with this First Day of School activity.  Of course, printing the materials before the first day and assembling the booklets is key!  

You also need to have students access some materials around your classroom.  For instance, I always have them "discover" the dictionaries, as these are going to be key in our learning.  Another great thing about this activity is that your students dive into the classroom library! During this time, I ask the kids to pick out four great books they find that they would like to read.  This preps the possibility of students being able to read later in the day when everyone needs a break! 

Another thing this booklet does is gives the students an opportunity to talk to each other!  We tend to want to avoid this on the first day, BUT isn't that how we create community!  They need to get to know each other, even if some of them have been friends for years.  They still need to know what it is like in our classrooms.  Parameters can be established within this simple activity.  An example of this is how we talk to each other and how long within the classroom setting.  This activity will do that!  

Plus, it gives you the chance to expose other areas of your classroom to the students.  I always have the students find the clipboards, because this is a key tool in our classroom.  I list the clipboard rules out and have them available for students to view when this activity is going on.   This way, students are able to know their location and know the rules that go with them.  

The Secret is in the Tweets!  

You may have been reading this wondering how students know where to go!  Well, the secret to getting the students to the right location on the first day of school is to TWEET them!  

Simply by putting up these cute tweet signs, students have a marker for where they are to go.  They also move around to find these tweets at different rates, so you won't have kids gathering in huge groups.  If you do, this is your opportunity to step in and express the need for them to move about and not be social, but to concentrate on completing the activity.  To be honest, this is the first step in developing your expectations in a way that is facilitative and allows them the opportunity to grow in success through redirection!  

What Else is There?

Every year I have tried to accomplish this entire product on the first day of school, but, well, I've failed!  So, there is MORE that can be done, even past the first day of school!  Here's what you get!  

Tweet Tweet our Class is so Sweet Little Book helps your students understand rules and procedures!  Students get to reflect on what they are learning by writing it in their own words!  This can also double as a direction following activity, giving you an idea of what students are capable of doing with directions.  

My Tweet Friend allows students the chance to work with a friend discovering things about each other by using letters in their names!  The kids LOVE this activity because it gives them a chance to interact with a friend and discover similarities about themselves!  For you, it can guide you in understanding how well kids can use and interpret Venn Diagrams from their past experiences and how their handwriting is in an open ended activity.  

As you can see, there is so much packed into these first day of school activities that you can fill your lesson plans with them so quickly and easily!  Students just love them, and so will you!  Let me know what you think!  I'd love for a comment below about your first day of school activities!  Or, follow me on Facebook or Instagram to keep up with all the action!  

Pin for Later! 

Love the Bird Theme? Check out My Watercolor Bird Theme Decor and More!  

5 Patriotic Products to Make Any Elementary Student Celebrate!

As we approach any American Patriotic holiday, we want to bring that celebration into our classroom!  Whether it is during President's Day, Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, or even Labor Day, we are proud of our American Heritage!  Here are 5 Patriotic Products that will make any elementary student celebrate-or teacher too!  

Patriotic Product #1: Patriotic Scoot - Addition and Subtraction with Regrouping

This product has kids up and moving while checking out patriotic pictures!  Kids just LOVE to play SCOOT!  There is a pre-made work page, so students can SCOOT with ease!  And, this is 3 digit by 3 digit problems, so late 2nd graders all the way up to 5th graders can benefit from this continued practice!  That's one way to make kids happy on a holiday and still get a skill practiced in math!  

Patriotic Product #2:  Primary and Secondary Source Superstars

Students will just LOVE this exploration of George Washington through Primary and Secondary Sources!  Students will take a virtual field trip and discover what Primary and Secondary Sources are through infographics! There is a leveled reading passage as well!  This is just a great way to celebrate America and learn at the same time! 

Patriotic Product #3:  Parade of States Project

Read more about this activity here!  

Who doesn't LOVE a parade!  Especially when the floats are created by your students!  This project is a great way for students to gain knowledge about our great 50 states and have a fun parade to teach others too!  Students research a state, create a float and research project, and, then, parade their state for all to see in a school-wide parade!  And, if states aren't your thing, you can always be patriotic with the National Park Float Parade!  

Patriotic Product #4:  Colonial STEM

View this post on Instagram

Our Colonial STEM projects came out awesome. Adapted tag to find a corn husk, Teepee Knock Down, an extremely interesting corn husk/ marble/ block a rock/ playing card game, a corn husk doll, and an interesting four corner / block with a rock in a row game! These ideas were great!! Watch for this STEM in my TpT sometime next week!! Putting the finishing touches on it!! #iteachstem #coloniallearning #teachersofinsta #iteachsocialstudies #iteachsecond #thirdgradehallway #secondgradetribe #teachersofinsta #teachersofinstagram #teachersofthegram #teachersfollowingteachers

A post shared by Julie from The Best Days (@thebestdaysclassroom) on Nov 16, 2018 at 8:32am PST

Take a trip back to when America was just starting out!  Colonial America was an exciting time to be in America!  And, children had so many choices in toys-or, at least, to the toys that their imagination created!  And that's the basis of this STEM!  Students will use the "technology" of the time to create games or toys that students in Colonial America could play!  That means NO COPY CATS of toys of today!  Get your student's creative juices flowing with American pride through this STEM project!  

Patriotic Product #5:  Yeah and Nah Voting Sticks Freebie

Students everywhere will LOVE voting just like our legislatures do!  And, even better, they can fly their Yeah or Nah high in the air with this freebie!  Simple to print and hot glue to tongue depressors!  Then, just pass out and vote away!  So much fun and FREE too!  

There you have it!  Five Patriotic Products to make any elementary student celebrate and learn in your classroom- for a holiday or any day!  Just let me know in the comments what you think or a great patriotic holiday idea you have!  And, jump on over to Facebook and Instagram to follow along with my journey through posts and product updates!  I'd love for you to join me! 

Pin for Later

Multiplication Mall to Prove Multiplication Strategies Success!

It wasn't too long ago that multiplication was a rote memory skill-one that simply included memorizing to "know" your multiplication skills.  Now, multiplication is about understanding-and that is a huge improvement upon just knowing the facts by heart!  So, what would make it even better?  How about a project that includes proving multiplication strategies success!  That's what Multiplication Mall does!  

The purpose of Multiplication Mall is to prove multiplication strategies through designing a "store" in the mall.  Each part of the "store" provides evidence that a student understands a particular skill in multiplication.  Let's break this down!  

Starting the Project

Students need some foundation with the basic of this multiplication project. This is where brainstorming comes into play.  Work as a class to brainstorm the type of stores that are found in a mall to get their creative juices going.  You will also need to work on learning about alliterations.  Luckily, there are posters within this product to guide your students with alliterations!  

Assigning the Project Steps

Next, students will dive into the project itself.  Provide the rubric to students along with the Planning Page.  This is where students will make critical decisions about what their store will "sell".  A rough draft like this allows students to make mistakes BEFORE they get to their final design.  It is critical to allow this because it builds in success in the final product!  

Students will also work on the posters that hang outside of their store.  Both the windows and the posters are designed to prove multiplication strategies that students know.  To help guide their choices, there are also posters representing each multiplication strategy that students can choose from.  Once all of this is designed, students will then get the teacher's approval to move forward into the final design stage! 

Completing the Project

Students will need bulletin board paper and construction paper to complete this project.  You will need to cut the bulletin board paper, also known as butcher paper, to the size that students need.  This needs to be large enough to fit the piece of construction paper that will house the windows on.  You will also want to have white paper cut to design the posters also.  Once this is done, allow students the chance to create!  Step back and watch what they will do, you will be amazed!  

Final Thoughts

Projects are about proving what students know.  Allow students to self grade their projects will give you insights beyond what you can learn by grading them yourself.  It is a relatively easy process.  Give students a yellow highlighter.  Let them work through the rubric, examining their work to best judge themselves.  Then, once they turn it in, grade the project with a blue highlighter!  Anywhere the teacher and student agree, it will turn GREEN!  How cool is 
that!  

Allowing students to prove multiplication strategies for success is an easy way for you to show that students have mastered the standards of multiplication.  But, it is more than that!  It is a way to provide a creative, fun way for students to show what they know!  Grab it in my TpT store!  And, let me know what your ideas are about proving multiplication strategies in the comments!  I'd love to hear!  

Pin for Later! 

How to Use Project Based Learning to Put on a Parade!

Have you ever wondered how you could easily add a Project Based Learning activity to your classroom?  Are you wondering how to put the project on display?   Sometime it can be merged as one!  Simply put on a Project Based Learning Parade!  

Where to Start?

First, pick a theme!  Every parade has a theme, so a Project Based Parade should have a theme!  Dive into your curriculum to see what could be developed into a project with the outcome as a float-because that's the point of a parade, great floats!  Here are two ideas:  

State Park Floats:  This project explored both the state in general and the region of the US it is found in.  It is primarily to learn about the 50 States.

National Park Floats:  This project explored both the National Park's history and the ecosystems found there.  It incorporated the food chain found in the National Park.  

You see, both of these have a rich research base.  So, another piece of advice when diving into your curriculum is to look for something with a rich research base.  State flags, maps, park outlines, dates, ecosystems, tourist spots, etc. are all parts of the research base for this kind of project.   What topic are you studying that can allow for this rich base to be met?

Technology Integration

Next, you need to think about how much technology integration do you want?  Students can create research outcomes to accompany the float through the use of technology.  PowerPoints and other documentation can be help students to organize and present the information that they need beyond the actual parade float.  Consider this in your decision making process.

State Project

National Park Project

View this post on Instagram

PowerPoints are a great way for students to show what they know! This one was completed by one of my students for our #nationalparkproject Over the course of the week each child has presented! They were wonderful! Presentations are scary! That’s why I start each year with presentations as soon as I can! Even with #secondgraders This final project is the culmination of all our work! Tomorrow we celebrate with a float parade! Check back for some awesome floats tomorrow!! #iteachelementary #classroominspirations #thirdgradehallway #iteach234 #thirdgradetribe #secondgradetribe #iteachprimary #iteachgifted #teachingresources #igteachersrock #elementaryteacher #teachershare #teacherstuff #iteachsecond #secondgradeteacher #teachersfollowingteachers

A post shared by Julie from The Best Days (@thebestdaysclassroom) on May 23, 2019 at 3:13pm PDT

Research Time

Questions about Research Time include how much of a guideline do you want to provide, how much time do students need, and do you want them to complete research in class or at home?  This will also determine your lesson plans and the development of your research questions.  This last point is key to where students go.  Scaffolding them in their research will help them to feel successful throughout the process, whether completed at home or at school! 

Presentions

Next, you will want to think about how the presentations in class will be planned and what you will need for them.  Developing a rubric is SO important to this part-and the whole!  Research says that when teachers provide  a rubric, students can succeed at a greater rate.  Plus, it eliminates any negotiation for students who do not complete the task.  So, develop that rubric and get it into students hands!  

Once you are ready to present, have volunteers go first.  Students who are comfortable presenting will boost other's confidence and provide a foundation for others.  I try to pick students I know will offer great presentations so that others see and know what the expectations are.  This will often spur them into practicing more too!

The Parade

Finally, coordinate the parade beforehand!  This means you should send our emails to your staff to let them know the day and time you will be parading!  Students in other classes give the project builders the ooo's and ahh's that just make them feel successful!  Visit as many grade levels and classes as possible!  This means lots of eyes on their projects and a desire to make projects in the future!  That's a key to great project success!  



Once you have engaged in a Project Based Parade you will fall in love and want to do it every year!  Here are two projects to get you going - they provide everything you need for a great project parade!  

As always, I'd love to hear from you and what you like to do for Project Based Learning!  Drop a comment below or follow me over at Instagram or Facebook for classroom updates!  

Pin for Later:  

7 Must-Have Items to Make Your Bird Theme Classroom a Hit!

I had come to a conclusion.  I was no longer happy with my classroom theme!  I wanted my classroom to take on a different feel, one that would represent more of who I was, even as a teacher.  I LOVE superheroes and had used this theme for about 5 years, but I needed a change!  Watercolor is all the rage, but I'm not a succulent kind of girl!  So, I wanted something more "me" and, to be honest, more kid friendly. (Most kids don't know what a succulent is!) So, I dove in with an idea-Watercolor Bird Theme Classroom!  And, it was a hit, even with the boys.  So, here are 7 must have items for your Bird Theme Classroom!

1.  Table Signs

I just love being able to remember my table numbers!  Yes, because half the time I can't remember with so much going on!  These are designed to be placed back to back-so you get birds and birdhouses in this product. Simply print, laminate if you want, and staple them back-to-back.  Then, I used fishing line and paperclips to hang them.  That way, you don't even have to poke a hole!

2.  Calendar

Every great classroom needs a beautiful calendar (even if the month never gets put up!)  This is print and go ready with everything you need - days of the week are included!  I paired it with my Watercolor Bird Theme Editable Job Cards, which is make a really nice bulletin board-especially when you add the month!  Ha!!

View this post on Instagram

That’s how my May went-days posted but no month anywhere to be seen! . . . Only 1️⃣ student day left! Then this calendar gets a whole new room! . . How about you?! Link for this product is in the bio! Watercolor Bird Decor! . . #lastdayofschool #teachersfollowingteachers #teachersonbreak #teachersoninstagram #iteachelementary #classroominspirations #thirdgradehallway #iteach123 #thirdgradetribe #secondgradetribe #iteachprimary #iteachgifted #teachingprimary ##igteachersrock #elementaryteacher #teachershare #teacherstuff #iteachsecond

A post shared by Julie from The Best Days (@thebestdaysclassroom) on May 29, 2019 at 3:50pm PDT

3.  Birthday Display

This was so easy to use!  I simply printed out the months and stapled them to the wall.  Then I used my Cricut to cut out the banners.  I used KG A Little Swag Font (Free for Personal Use) to create the banner!  I then added the colors of the decor behind the banner to give it the punch of color you see here!  LOVE this!  

4.  Schedule Cards  

I didn't have my schedule up right away this year and I paid for it with my students.  I tend to play around with my schedule till I get it "just right", so I always wait till it is "just right" to put it up.  And then I paid for it for the first month.  The students constantly asked, "When is..."  Once my schedule is posted, both with the written time and the clock time, I don't answer those questions any more!  It trains the students to learn the schedule and the time.  And, isn't that the whole purpose of having it posted!  As you can see, I didn't use the editable part, but it is there for you to use!  

5.  Go-Home Banner

Our school is big on knowing how kids go home so I have embraced the Go-Home Banner!  I write the student's names on their go-home mode of transportation with a dry-erase marker so that I can change them if they change transportation.  Then, at the end of the day, this is how I also call the line-up order for going home.  I switch who goes first each week based on the chart and the students LOVE that!  Who knew something this simple would bring so much pleasure! 

View this post on Instagram

Took me a whole quarter to get my Go-Home chart laminated to hang! But it is going to look beautiful! This decor line can be found in my store on TpT!! #classroomdecor #teacherproblems #teacherlacktime #feelingbehind #teachersofig #teachersofthegram #teachersfollowteachers

A post shared by Julie from The Best Days (@thebestdaysclassroom) on Oct 26, 2018 at 8:12am PDT

6.  Word Wall

Everyone needs a Word Wall!  Student can access words they need easily and teachers can add words that students need to spell regularly if they are not already on the wall.  I use simple card stock pieces of paper under each letter that I have typed common words that 2nd graders need on them.  Then I handwrite words in as the year goes on.  Easy-Peasy!  

7.  Great Bulletin Board Paper

A great looking room many times relies on great bulletin board paper!  I grabbed this Pacon Fadeless paper from Michael's at the beginning of the 2018/19 school year!  It was the PERFECT match for this Watercolor Bird Themed Classroom!  In addition, I added white and azure blue scalloped bordette from Lakeshore Learning!  LOVE! 

Now, there are more choices you could add to your classroom!  Good thing they are easy to find in my Watercolor Bird Theme Classroom Decor Bundle!  

All of these goodies and more are found in this set!  You could add the alphabet, number cards, rules, and so much more to your awesomeness!  There are many more editable materials in here too!  And, while you are checking it out, grab this FREEBIE!  

So, drop me a comment on what you would add and any other ideas you might have about this Watercolor Bird Theme Classroom Decor!  I'd love to hear what you have to say! I'd also love for you to join me on my classroom adventures!  Follow along at Instagram and Facebook for all the latest news!  

Pin for Later