End of the Year Traditions

Rituals, routines, and traditions are important! They mark special occasions in our lives. They are important in families and in classrooms as well. For the past few years I have used a ball of yarn to mark the end of our time together as fifth graders. This is based on an activity that a guidance counselor once did in my class and I have used this as a way to end the school year for several years now.

 The students all stand in a circle and toss a yarn ball to each other.   When the ball is tossed to you, you have to share a favorite memory from the year. Children smile and laugh as they recall what they remembered most about the school year.  And in case you're wondering it's not a worksheet or a test. Before tossing the ball to the next person they make sure they are still holding on to a piece of the yarn.  Once everyone has had a chance to share, we can see that we have made a web with the yarn.

That's when I take an opportunity to talk about how we are all connected to each other in a special way.  The 5th grade students at my elementary school move on to 3 different middle schools so I think it's important they know they will have a friend at their new school, and even if they are moving on to different places they still share a connections with some very special friends.

Finally I take a pair of scissors and cut each student a piece of the string.  They pick a friend to tie their piece of yarn around their wrist to make a friendship bracelet.  One year they took a piece of that string and each student made a page for our class book entitled "Our Fifth Grade Memories".  They glued the string on paper and wrote about the memory they shared.

This year I added a new element to our farewell tradition.  I read Dr. Seuss' "Oh, the Places You'll Go". If you haven't read that book, you should. Some of our parents get all of their child's teachers to write a special message in their own personal copy.  I always wish I had done that for my boys when they were in school.  Imagine receiving a copy on your graduation day with an inspirational message from all of your teachers!

By then it's time for the entire 5th grade class to take their final walk through the school.  All the other students, teachers, support staff, administration, parents, custodians, lunch staff, basically everyone in the building lines the halls and cheers as we walk by. Flowers are passed out, silly string is sprayed, tears are shed and there are lots of hugs and "high fives" along the way. It is truly a special feeling.  Next year I will be among the ones cheering.

The rising sixth graders walk out of the building and gather together for final hugs and photographs with teachers and friends before loading the buses for home. They ride off as faculty and staff stand along the side waving good-bye.  Later our class meets for our end of the year pool party. Another chance for one last time to say our final goodbyes! Yes, it's so hard to say goodbye!

This was a great ending to a great school year! Here is a look at some other ways to celebrate the end of the school year. How do you commemorate the end of the year with your students?  Please share your ideas below.

Flipping in Fifth is Moving to Third!

I once heard that the only one who welcomes change is a wet baby.  I don't think that's necessarily true.  Change can be a good thing.  Change revitalizes us.  Change helps us grow.  At least that's true for me.

Flipping in Fifth is Moving!

Next year I will be flipping in third grade.  That's right!  I will be teaching third grade next year.  I must mention that it's the only primary grade I have not yet taught.  So, that means I will need some fresh new ideas, not to mention a new blog name.  I thought about Flip with Fish.  Friends refer to my husband and my boys simply as "Fish".  There's a Big Fish, Little Fish, Fishx2, and just Fish.  I think I will leave that for the men in my life.  Anyway, I am trying out some new names: "Flipping with Fisher", "Flip with Fisher", "Fisher Flips" or maybe even "Fisher is Flipping".  (Insert smiley face) Not quite sure yet.  The URL address is still the same (Flipping in Fifth) for now anyway. If you have a preference for my new blog name, please post it in the comments below.

I am excited about this new change in my life.   I have been watching videos on The Teaching Channel for new ideas. I will also be looking for some third grade blogs to follow for other great ideas.  And of course, there's always the awesome new team that I will be working with.  We are our greatest resource! 

See you next year!

Math Review

So what did we do today to review for our math test tomorrow?  I put out a few of our "old favorites" and the students rotated through the different stations.

Investigations, Array Cards

 Students use the array cards to play games that help develop an understanding of multiplication.  In multiplication pairs, the students select a card.  If the dimensions are shown, they give the total.  If the total is shown, they give the dimensions.  Click here to see an explanation of the different activities for array cards.

Tower of Power

 There are lots of different varieties of "Tower of Power", a game where students group cards that belong in the same category.  Here the students were playing Geometry TOP.  They needed to collect cards with the name, definition, and a picture of the geometric figure.  Once the set is complete, they keep the set of cards.  The student with the most cards wins.  Click here for "TOP Tenths".

Make Three

This is one of the many partner games I've used this year.  I can't remember where it's from, but I will add that info. when I find it.  They are practicing adding fractions with unlike denominators.  The student puts their counter on a star containing a fraction then move along the line to add another fraction.  The student who comes closest to 3 without going over wins.


I also want to share a great math site I recently found.  It has math videos for every standard.  The site says "middle grades to Algebra 2, but if you click on "common core" you will find videos for all levels (first grade to high-school). If you have time, you should really check it out.  What is it?  Glad you asked.  It's called Virtual Nerd.  By the way, there's an app for that! (One of my students found it) I wish I had found this site earlier in the year. Oh well, there's always next year!

In my last post I shared my feelings towards the test.  Here is a photo one of my students posted to the class on Edmodo. She said she spent a long time making it. :-)

No Stress Here!

Confessions of a Fifth Grade Teacher

Here goes . . . No matter how hard I try not to, about 1 month before I always seem to start stressing over the end-of-the-year test.  In Georgia it's called the CRCT (Criterion Referenced Competency Test), and for 5th grate students it determines whether or not they will be promoted to the sixth grade.

Yes, I know the final decision to promote or retain must be a committee decision, but let's face it a lot of students, parents, and I suspect teachers find this test to be a little stressful.  After all if the student passes the test, there is no need for a committee to meet or make that life changing decision. (Studies have found that "6th grade students rated being retained as the most stressful life event higher than the loss of a parent or going blind.") I can't imagine it's much different for a fifth grader, but that's a topic for another post.

Most of the year, I refuse to allow my teaching to be dictated by a test that lasts 5 days; I use the standards and what I know about how students learn to guide my instruction.  But it always seems that about a month before the test, I start to pull out multiple choice reading and math practice tests.   We spend time practicing how to "rule out 2",  "slash the trash" and all the other test taking tips.  I start to stress about "showing your work" when most of the year we valued students being able to solve math problems mentally.  We watch  motivational videos on taking the test.  Here's another one a teacher shared that is a parody of "Let it Go" from Frozen. and another called "Rock This Test. Cute, but I can't help but think that the time I spend on testing skills and review could be better spent doing science labs or investigating something . . . anything!

I have read posts from other teachers who say they do not do practice type tests with their students and their students do well on the test.  I have no doubt that the students that  are going to do well will do well regardless.  I just think about the ones that are teetering on the edge and could fall on either side of the testing fence.

Do you spend time reviewing for the test or do you trust that what you've done all year long is enough?  Testing begins in 3 days!  I guess I need to "let it go"! :-).  Ok. . . I just asked my students how many of them were stressed about the test, and only a few hands went up.  Maybe it's just me! 

Measuring Angles & Classifying Polygons

I love to use music to help cement concepts the students have to learn.  To start off our geometry unit, I used 2 songs from Dr. Pasley's  Math Party CD, "Polygons" and "Angles and Triangles".  The lyrics actually define the different types of polygons and triangles. My kids love it!  Click here to read article about Dr. Paisley-Henry.

Once we understood what a polygon was, we took a look at the characteristics of triangles.  I am such a visual learner myself, so I had to have the students actually tear off each corner of a triangle to "see" that the angles all add up to 180 degrees-a straight line.  I learned this while I was working on my Math Endorsement certification.  We also used protractors to measure the different angles so we could classify our triangles.

Flipping in Fifth

Next, we looked at quadrilaterals.  The students worked with partners to complete a Geoboard Activity.  They used geoboards to make different polygons based on the characteristics given. They had to evaluate their partner's work before they moved on to the next figure.

Flipping in Fifth

 I started to pull out my plastic geoboards for this activity and that's when the kids reminded me that we had a geoboard app.  You can also use the online version. 

Flipping in Fifth

  I also found a great Quizlet that reinforces important geometrical terms they need to know. That will be a great review before we play Ge-O!

Classrooms Should Be Places for Second Chances!

Image from "Hardik's Views"

3rd quarter report cards went home today. . . Was it a coincidence that I just happened to run across this post I had re-tweeted a while back.  I think not!

Cells and PicCollage

PicCollage is not just for posting selfies on Instagram.  It is quickly becoming one of my favorite apps for documenting student work in the classroom.  Last year my class was a BYOD (bring your own devices) classroom.  So when we made cell models, most students recorded their work on paper and a few used their own devices.  You can see that here. But this year was different.

This year we have a class set of iPads and most of my students used PicCollage (a free app) to record their work.  After they made their models using cookies and other tasty treats, they took photographs of their work,and then cropped their pictures to remove distractions like: the plate, or the table, or books on the table.  Finally, they labeled their organelles, added a title and that was it. I could quickly see whether or not my students knew which organelles are found in plant cells, animal cells, or both.  I think their models look marvelous!  What do you think?