Monday, December 15, 2014

Daily Math Review

My Daily Math Review has been one of the most effective resources in helping my students to practice and retain all of our math standards throughout the year.





About 5 years ago our district implemented what we call "Balanced Math" guided primarily by the book 5 Steps to a Balanced Math Program by Larry Ainsworth and Jan Christenson.


One of the steps is a Daily Math Review process.  I would have to say that this has routine has probably had the biggest impact on my math instruction by far.  I love the fact that I am able to review math skills throughout the year, and that my students who struggle get repeated exposure to the material and can actually learn and retain it!



What is most different about this spiral review than other ones I have seen or purchased in the past is that it is entirely student driven, and is true review of what they have learned rather than a mish-mash of skills that you may or may not have taught yet.



The authors recommend that you give the students 5 types of math problems each day of the week.  The problems should be the same type for the whole week.  Each day they practice place value, addition and subtraction, multiplication and division, measurement and data, and geometry.  At the end of the week, the students take a quiz with 2 problems of each of the types of problems they have been studying all week.  If 85% of the students pass a particular section, you move on.  However, if less than 85% master the material, it stays on the Math Review for the next week.  You can see from the picture below a few areas that my students needed extra practice with a few weeks ago.




If a few students struggle with a concept, you simply pull them for small group instruction.



The Process:

Independent Work: When we start our math block, my students spend about 10 minutes independently completing their math review sheets for the day.  I circulate the room providing individual or small group instruction as needed.




Processing and Correcting: After the students have had some time to work independently, we come together as a class to review and correct them.  Sometimes I have students share their strategies, and other times I provide instruction.  I almost always add to the work by stretching their thinking.  For example, we might round and estimate to see if our answer is reasonable.

The Product:

When I first stared using the Daily Math Review process in my class five years ago, the hardest part for me was the time involved in preparing the questions and finding questions to ask.  Well, luckily for you, I have put together a package to make your life easier if you would like to try Daily Math Review in your class!





This set comes complete with full instructions for implementing the program in your classroom.





 It also includes fully editable sets of papers so that you can change the problems to suit the needs of your students.  How many times have you used a set of spiral review that features skills that you haven't introduced yet?  How many times have you wanted to change a problem?  Now you can!









But... I also know that us teachers can be incredibly busy and may not have time to create problems for their students.  So... I have included 36 weeks of ready to go math review and assessments for you to use as is.  I have based the problems on areas where my students have struggled in the past. PLUS - these pages are completely editable!














You can download the preview which features two free weeks to see if the program will work for you.

I have several grade levels available:




Daily Math Review  First Grade Spiral Math Review  1st Grade Daily Math Review












2nd Grade Daily Math Review  
 









3rd Grade Daily Math Review                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          










4th Grade Daily Math Review   












5th Grade Daily Math Review 








6th Grade Daily Math Review 


I also now have a Language Arts Version of this product!

Daily Language Arts Review - Daily Spiral Language Arts Review     4th Grade Daily Language Arts Review





Sunday, December 7, 2014

A Few Of Our Favorite Things Blog Hop and Giveaway!




I have gotten together with a few of my bloggy friends to share with you not only a few of our favorite things, but also 7 amazing prize packages perfect for starting your holiday season right!  We have also discounted all of our features products at our Teachers Pay Teachers stores by 50% (WoW!  Time to do a little Christmas shopping for yourself!).





As I thought about my favorite restaurant, I thought about all of the places hubby and I like to go out on date nights, but truly and honestly, my favorite restaurant is Starbucks.  I literally go every single day to get my Chai Latte which is the only one I can start my day.  It is a serious addiction!






My favorite thing to do during the holiday season (if the weather cooperates) is to go skiing.  I grew up in Lake Tahoe which is a big ski town, and we have carried that tradition on with our kiddos.







My favorite holiday tradition is hubby dressing up as Santa.  A friend of ours is a photographer, and he poses as her Santa each year.  We always get a pic of him and the younger boys.










My absolute favorite classroom item has got to be my Mr. Sketch markers!  Not only are they the best for making anchor charts, but they are a great way to motivate reluctant learners.  My favorite line, "I'll let you use the smelly markers to solve this problem!"  It even worked when I taught 7th graders! I am sharing the magic of the marker with you!  My prize donation is a set of Mr. Sketch markers!

Don't forget to enter the contest below, and to visit our stores for some amazing deals!  Head to my TpT store here.

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Because we value our followers and wanted to treat you to our favorite things Oprah style, we have put together the best giveaway of the season! My bloggy friends and I welcome you to the best, biggest, most cheerful event of the season:






7 winners for 7 prize packs!















Come and enter the giveaway and check out my bloggy friends' favorite things:



a Rafflecopter giveaway


Saturday, December 6, 2014

Win A $25 Teachers Pay Teachers Gift Card - Giveaway!



Every month I give away a $25 Teachers Pay Teachers Gift Card as a special thank you to my followers.  This month two of my friends have also donated winner's choice of an item from their TpT stores as well!

Thank you to A Plus Kids and The Apple Basket Teacher! 

A Plus Kids


The Apple Basket Teacher


And be sure to stop by tomorrow for another giveaway I am participating with several bloggers where we share some of our favorite things with you!  It is going to be epic (as my students would say!).


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Friday, December 5, 2014

Five For Friday December 5, 2014



Doodlebugs is taking a brief vacation from Five for Friday, but I decided to share my 5 things from the week anyway, because it helps me believe that I am not neglecting my blog - lol!







 We started our week back to school after Thanksgiving with a black out!  Our power was off until almost lunch time.  Let's just say it made things very interesting, but we made it work.





I also received a gift from one of my students on Monday.  My students and parents this year have been so amazingly generous!  I am truly blessed!




Luke received several awards from Cub Scouts this month.  He was super proud and excited about them!

With his buddy.



We had lots of fun practicing our math facts with this minion match game.


 Smiles during math?  Love it!


This is one of the games that is included in my Minion Multiplication Mania.  The full product has 5 multiplication games that are perfect for review in small groups, with partners, or as math centers.

Multiplication Review Games - 5 Complete Games for Masteri




Last but not least, I wanted to share a bit from our Daily 5 routine.  I have never really loved my Word Work portion, but I have modified it a bit this year and I am LOVING it so far.  I will share more in future posts, but for now, here are a few pics of our new word work routines.




And, the part of Daily 5 that I have always loved...

I love seeing them wrapped up in a good book!

Hope you have a great weekend!




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