Tuesday, July 22, 2014

The One with the Long Class

I received my schedule last week for the upcoming year.  I will be teaching two sections of 5th grade math and two sections of 6th grade math.  With the current schedule no two classes are the same length of time.


Class One: 1 hour 40 minutes

Class Two: 1 hour 15 minutes

Class Three: 1 hour 20 minutes

Class Four: 1 hour 35 minutes

Because of the way students rotate I will have 6th grade during Class One and Class Four.  I will have 5th grade during Class Two and Class Three.  That will make my planning a little easier because at least my 6th grade classes are almost the same length.  Other teachers won't be so lucky.  Can you imagine having one 5th grade class for 1 hour 40 minutes and your other 5th grade class for 1 hour 15 minutes.

How do you plan for that?


Speaking of planning...1 hour 40 minutes.  That is completely overwhelming to me.  How do you plan for that much time.

I'm sure some of you would love to have that much time to teach math.

I came up with an idea this week that I'm pretty excited about it.

The 6th grade students that I will have next year have room for growth when it comes to Math.  I have gotten really excited to have them again and help them become better mathematicians.  We are going to track data and improve test scores and reach the stars.

I have pretty high expectations for this group of kiddos.

Because of that my current plan is to take the first thirty minutes of class to "play" games that will help improve their basic math skills.  I spent today looking for games online.  I found a several good ones on this site that I printed and laminated today.





And then I made one of my own and have plans for a few more.  This one is multiplication match.  It's now available in my TPT store.  The next one of my to do list is a division match.



I'm going to need a lot more games and activities to make it through the year.  What are your  favorite math games that you use in your classroom?  Any TPT sellers that have some great resources for this?


3 comments:

  1. My co-teacher teaches 5th grade math and science. We have two 5th grade classes, and each rotation is 90 minutes. He's always talking about how he runs out of time almost every day in math! I'm not exactly sure what his math schedule is, but I know he does a quick review of the day before, teaches the lesson while students take notes, does some examples with students, and has students work/peer coach each other on their assignment. He also throws in some math songs/videos. Last year, our 5th graders didn't know their multiplication facts (only 3 passed an un-timed fact test at the beginning of the year!), so they spent a lot of time on multiplication songs. They rarely have time for games/stations in math. However, when they move on to middle school, the teachers there can always tell who came from our elementary school based on their math knowledge!

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    Replies
    1. Is that 90 minutes for both math and science or just math? Would love to know more about his schedule/routine for math.

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  2. Oh goodness! I get 45 minutes per class! I think I would be overwhelmed with 1 hour and 40 minutes too! Even with the amount of love I would have for that!

    I honestly just found your blog and it is great! I am definitely your newest flower and I am humbled that you have me posted on the side!

    Let me know (as I start to put more things on my TPT) if there is something that you would like and I will give you a freebie or two!

    Thanks for following me!

    Cheers,
    Jameson
    Lessons With Coffee 

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