Using T-Charts To Solve Elapsed Time Problems

My kiddos have been REALLY struggling with elapsed time, and we have finally made a breakthrough thanks to the video below:


The video shows how to use a t-chart to solve elapsed problems and my kiddos loved it! Especially the part where he sings, "Stop in the name of math!" My kids were singing that all day long!

First, we watched the video:

 

A little close-up:

 

Then I had the students solve the amount of time we spend in school. We start at 8:30 and are released at 3:15.

 

Next, I put up two sample problems, and I had the students work in pairs to solve them using t-charts.

 

 

I decided to share, because it was so successful!  After partner work, I gave them an additional problem to solve on their own and ALL of them got it right! I just wished I had found this video earlier!

 

What do you do to teach elapsed time?

 

 

Learning About Money

I always joke about my kiddos "hijacking" my lessons when they take us on a learning journey of their own, but secretly I love it, because the lessons are always richer, and they are always engaged.  It is real world learning at its best.  It happened again this week when one of my kiddos asked if he could share some foreign coins with the class that his uncle had given him. Of course, I said ok, and away we went.

We started passing the coins around and the students began making observations about where they were from and what they looked like.  One of them remarked that one of them looked like a Mexican peso.

This coin was from Uruguay.  They noticed that one of the coins was made in 1975  - I told them the coin was as old as their teacher because I too was made in 1975!  They were pretty impressed with that.  Then one of the students pulled out his ipod and I couldn't take it away because he was researching Chinese coins to see what they looked like.

Another student noticed that their was a French coin called a Franc.  He said, "Mrs. Malloy, my cousin told me that they use Euros in France, why is this a Franc?"  I told him that they did use Euros, but it was only just recently.  In Europe they decided to adopt currency that could be used in several countries because they are very close together.  I told them that it might be like having to trade money when we went from Nevada (where we live) to California (only 50 miles from here).  I couldn't remember the exact year that they started using Euros so we researched it.

As we read the article, some of them said, 1995, some said 1999, and some said 2002.  What a great tie-in with state testing coming up - let's do some close reading to figure out who is right.

We found out that the Euro was named in 1985.  It was introduced in 1999.  In 2002 it surpassed the US dollar in value.  A super fun day of learning!

We wrapped it up by playing my Missing Money Problem Solving Center.

I wish the kids would take over lesson planning sometimes! LOL!

I Wanna Iguana - Lessons in Opinion, Persuasion, and Point of View

We have been working on Common Core Standard 3.RL.6 - Distinguish their own point of view from that of the narrator or those of the characters.  While we are doing this, we are also working on writing opinion and persuasive writing pieces.  Last week we read I Wanna Iguana.

As we read the story we talked about the two characters in the story and their points of view.  Alex, the little boy, is trying to convince his mom to let him keep his friend's iguana, while mom is not sure that he is up to the responsibility of a new pet.

Afterwards I asked the students to pick a side.  Should Alex's mother let him get an iguana?

Here are a few of their responses:

We already had experience writing persuasive letters asking for a class pet, but I really wanted them to focus on using details from the text.  

Have you been working on point of view?  What resources are you using?
  

Third Grade Common Core

I had been super jealous hearing about and reading about the first and second grade common core state standards workbooks that were available.  But, luckily for me and third grade teachers everywhere, I no longer have to have common core envy because the third grade book is finally available!  YEAH! 
The book features over 840 pages full of worksheets, activities, centers, and posters with just about everything you need to teach both Math and English aligned to the Third Grade Common Core Standards.

The activities are all full color, ready to print, laminate and use.  Perfect for the busy teacher, because really we could all use anything that saves us time

You can download a small (81 pages!!!) sample to see if it will work for you in your classroom.  The book retails for $39.99 for a single use, but their are additional pricing options as well.