Area Model Anchor Chart

I love anchor charts!  I try to make them for most of my concepts.  Right now, as we get ready to head into a new unit, I'm considering having my students go through a competition to make the anchor charts for me.  The best anchor chart (visually and descriptively) will be put up in the room for the unit.  I haven't tried it yet but I might as we start our fractions unit.  :)

Anyway, here's an anchor chart that I have up right now for area model multiplication.  Some of my students actually solve multiplication exclusively using this model.

Mental Division Strategies Anchor Chart

Here's an anchor chart that I recently posted for mental division strategies. This chart helps students think of ways to estimate and decompose to create easier problems.

I teach using the EngageNY curriculum for 5th grade so this poster correlates directly to what's taught there but it can be used for any classroom and curriculum. 

The T-Charts on the side help students pick correct estimations and help students divide correctly but they often forget their basic facts. 

My Superhero Themed Classroom!

I started my classroom from scratch this year. I am incredibly lucky to have such a beautiful classroom space to work with. I had a lot of fun decorating my classroom in a superhero theme. With a room of 20 boys and only 10 girls, the theme is perfect for my learners. Plus, I love superheroes. I think that it's important for teachers to feel comfortable in their classroom and love the space they're in because we spend so much of our lives in that room. Here are pictures of my classroom this year.

A Freebie for the New Blog!

I want to share a freebie for my everyone visiting my new blog!!  I have been working through the EngageNY curriculum this year for both English Language Arts and Math.  It has been a very daunting task but I have really started to enjoy the curriculum.  Yes, started.  I was not a huge fan of it when I started the year.  Now, after winter break and with a few months under my belt, I've really been able to figure out the patterns, pacing, and underlying pedagogy in the curriculum.  I can appreciate the direction and work with it a lot easier now!

I love creating PowerPoint presentations for the 5th grade ELA curriculum to help me stay on track with my pacing and lesson objectives.  Without them, I find that I forget half of what I'm supposed to be teaching during the lesson (I mean really...have you read one of those lessons?!).  Here's a freebie of a PowerPoint that I created for EngageNY 5th Grade Module 2B, Unit 1, Lesson 1.  I have the full module up on my Teacher's Pay Teachers store!

Click here for the freebie.

Click here to view the full module on my store.

I hope you enjoy this lesson!

I'm finally blogging!

I feel like I've been promising myself that I'll start blogging for years now!  I just set up this blogger account and I am so excited about it!  I love visiting teaching blogs and looking at educational materials created by other teachers.  I've always wanted my own space to write about great things that I see and share ideas with other like-minded educators!

Well, here it is!

I'm really excited to start sharing my world with you.  Thanks for visiting!