The One After the Break

I'm still here.  Still teaching.

I can't believe it has been almost a month since I last blogged.

Time flies!

I feel like I'm doing everything I can just to keep my head above water this year.

Adjusting to change is hard for me.  

I feel like I did a 180 turn last week.  After a long heart to heart with our math coach I began feeling much more confident.

I have felt like a first year teacher all over again this year.  I'm having to regain my confidence and remember that I am a good teacher.

I'm remembering that there are things I enjoy about teaching Math.  

When you have a student who claims to always have been bad math tell you they like it this year and they are successful... That's when you love it the most.

Lately...

My fifth graders are knee deep in division.  They spend their days solving story problems and sharing strategies.  

Sixth grade is still in the world of ratios and proportions.  They are currently practicing their conversion skills.  How many seconds are in one month and so forth.  I'm learning they do better with time conversions than distance.  

My husband and I are closing on our new home Friday and moving this weekend.

Hopefully after we get moved and settled I will be back to blogging on a regular basis.

Until then I hope you all have a fabulous week!

The One With Unit Rates

We have been working on ratios and unit rates for about a week now in 6th grade.

They are making me crazy.

If I am working a problem my students can tell me exactly what to do.

If they come to the board and work a problem, they get it right 95% of the time.

Ask them to do it on their own though and you would think I was asking them to solve a Calculus problem.

So I did what any teacher would do.  I went to Pinterest for a wonderful lesson that would make this click for my students.

I found this pin.

Click on the pic to go to the pin.

I loved the idea of having my students write out the steps.  I hoped that would clear up their confusion.

I picked up some Dollar General Sales Papers and put my students in pairs.

I asked each student to choose 2 items from the sales paper and write the steps for calculating the unit price.

Then they put their 2 items with their partner's 2 items on a poster.

I think they turned out great!!