The Three Types of Percent Problems

Hello guys!  I am back with a free percent wall chart.  Many students group percent questions into one category and do not realize that there are three different types of percent questions.

This free wall chart is a helpful tool for reminding students about the different types of percent problems.

To access task cards that teach and review percent, Click Here.  The document includes 56 task cards that teach and review percent.  Number format and word problem format problems are both included.

Grade 5 A complete Year of Daily Common Core Reading Practice

18 months and three editors later, I am finished!  This project has definitely been a labor of love.  A full year of Grade 5 Daily Common Core Reading Practice is complete. Click Here To Access It

This document contains 200 different, quick Common Core reading passages and Common Core aligned questions for each day of the school week.  This has been one of my top selling products, and now it has been combined into a complete one year bundle.

This document is quick and can be easily used as morning review when students first enter the classroom or as nightly homework.  The passages use the same types of professional writing techniques as award winning novels and cover the same types of themes and topics that are covered in fifth grade in order to provide authentic practice.

The questions are text dependent and are asked in multiple choice, short written response, and close reading formats to reflect the variety of formats of questions on the Common Core Assessments.  The questions are written at different levels of Bloom's Taxonomy to encourage students to analyze and deeply understand what they read.

The document provides an opportunity for students to review inferences, details, character analysis, text structure, theme, author's purpose and more topics in short, daily doses.  This supports brain research about providing constant review to help what students learn stick in long term memory.

All informational text passages are not made the same.  The informational text passages in the document focus on topics that really matter and are commonly taught in school such as animal adaptions, the Pony Express, moon phases, plants, and more.  Poetry, plays, realistic fiction, fantasy, and historical fiction passages are all included to assist students with learning about Common Core in multiple formats.

The checklist at the end of each week makes Common Core progress monitoring so much easier.  Students and teachers alike can keep track of the skills that students master each week.  

Click Here To Access It

Common Core Number and Operations Fractions Activities

Are you ready for Common Core?  If you are nervous, please don't be.  A variety of teaching ideas will be posted to make the transition to Common Core much easier.  

This blog post provides fun hands-on ideas to teach the Common Core Math Standards and most particularly the Common Core Number and Operations Fractions section of the standards.  CCSS.4.NF.A.1, CCSS.4.NF.A.2,

CCSS.4.NF.B.1, 5.NF.A.1, and more standards.

Many of the Common Core Standards want students to be able to understand math concepts in the visual format as well as the numerical format.  Clothespins and paint sticks are great because students can touch, hold, and see the differences between fractional amounts and improper fractions.

To recreate this, draw a number line on a paint stick.  Each paint stick can be divided into different fractional amounts.  Write different fractions on clothespins.  Include mixed numbers and improper fractions.

Students can then place the clothespin at the appropriate point on the blank number line.

Possible Ideas:

~Students can use paint sticks to add or subtract fractions.

~Use to help students visualize the meaning of mixed numbers or improper fractions.

~Determine which fractional amount is missing on the number line.

Click Here To Access It

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Teach Decimals in a Fun Way with Blocks

If you are looking for a hands-on way to review math, make it fun, and appeal to a variety of learning styles, give this idea a try.  Use this as a math station, guided math activity, preteaching tool, or as an intervention.

How Does It Help?
Some students can visualize any math concept.  But for many students, visualizing the meaning of math concepts is not so easy.  The good news is that you can make a quick math center activity for just a few dollars. I store mine in a baggie and use it for guided math. This activity makes decimals meaningful and fun.

It Reviews:

• The meanings of decimals and their representations
• Decimal order
• Adding decimals
• Subtracting decimals
• Comparing decimals

It both a great preteaching tool and a great math intervention.

Jumbo building blocks work well for this because they are large enough to write on, and the pieces are easy to find if they are dropped.

How to Create These Blocks
Many resale stores sell blocks.  After a nice cleaning, the blocks are as good as new.  For around $15, you can purchase new blocks at a local department store.

1.  Using a permanent marker, draw a long tenth rectangle.  Shade in part of the rectangle to represent 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 etc.

2.  On another side, write down the numerical equivalent.

3.  On a third side, write down the decimal in word form.

Create center task cards that have a variety of activities.  Index cards work well.

Possible Tasks:

• Place the blocks in number order.
• Using the blocks as a visual, explain why the shaded part represents the decimal on each block.
• Add the following decimal numbers.  Check your answer using the blocks.
• Subtract the following decimal numbers.  Check your answer using the blocks.
• Compare the following decimal numbers.  Using the shaded sections on each block, explain why one number is less that the other.

I love the fact that students can feel, see, and represent decimals.  It makes math lessons come alive.

Access Decimal Task Cards

How to Solve Multi-Step Word Problems

Word problems seem to be one of those types of things that some students "get" and others do not.  Even the students that can correctly solve a word problem at times seem to be unsure how they did it.

This blog post is dedicated to word problems and provides helpful strategies for helping students solve them.

Students often get lost in all of the words of a word problem and are unsure what they need to find first.

I like to begin with word problem frames. They are simple pieces of paper that show addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division.  We then start at the end of the problem to figure out what the math problem is asking a person to find out.

Example

Emma had 223 buttons for an art craft.  Kate had 75 fewer buttons than Emma.  How many buttons did they have altogether?

Explanation

Step 1

The addition frame could be used to mentally organize what the word problem is asking.  It looks like this.

_____ + _____ = ______

Kate's buttons + Emma's buttons = Total

I first take out the frames and ask students which one fits what is being asked at the end of question.  After a few math lessons, many students can identify the last operation that must be done to actually solve the problem. In this case it is addition.  

Step 2

I ask students to plug in the known information.  It looks like this.

23 + ___ = ___

The students are able to determine that we know how many buttons Emma has, but in order to solve the problem, we must determine how many buttons Kate has.

Step 3

The word problem does not directly state the exact number of buttons that Kate has. Instead, it provides clues.  The number 75 indicates how many fewer buttons Kate has than Kate.  

This is often a sticky point.  Many students will often jump in and incorrectly state that Kate has 75 buttons.  We then look at the word fewer. The context of how it is used in this sentence shows that 75 must be taken away from 223 in order to determine the amount of buttons that Kate has.  223-75= 148

Step 4

I point each student's attention again to the word problem frame.  I then ask, do we have enough information to solve the problem? The students then add Kate and Emma's buttons to answer the question.

223 + 148 = 371

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Additional Teaching Resources

These are great for RTI, Math Review, Common Core and Test Prep

Guided Math 

Click Here To Access Guided Math (Word Problems) Level 1

The document includes:

*game cards

*a progress recording form

*a printable box

*an answer key

Click Here To Access Guided Math Level 1A

This document includes:
*20 task cards
*One-step addition and subtraction word problems with smaller numbers
*A printable storage box
*A student recording sheet
*An answer key
*A progress chart

Click Here To Access Guided Reading Level 1B

This document includes:
*20 task cards
*One-step addition and subtraction word problems with larger numbers
*A printable storage box
*A student recording sheet
*An answer key
*A progress chart

Click Here To Access Guided Math Level 1C

This document includes:
*20 task cards
*Two-step addition and subtraction word problems with larger numbers
*A printable storage box
*A student recording sheet
*An answer key
*A progress chart

Fractions

 Click Here To Access Task Cards

Click Here For Decimal Word Problem Task Cards

Click Here To Access Them

 

Click Here For Identifying Fractions Task Cards

Click Here For Adding Fractions Task Cards

Click Here For Add and Subtract Fractions With Different Denominators

Click Here for Fraction Task Cards

Click Here To Access Dividing Fractions Task Cards

Guided Math (Word Problems) Level 1

Word problem instruction has just gotten easier.  I love guided reading because students get systematic practice and can watch themselves improve levels.  I really wanted to create math practice that is systematic and focuses on identifying why students have difficulties with word problems. For this reason, this guided math series was created.

Some students have difficulty identifying the operation they should perform.  This is not the fault of students.  It has to do with the nature of math word problems.  There are over 10 different ways that a math word problem could be arranged.  Even if a student understands when to multiply if a word problem is arranged one way, it does not ensure that this same student would understand one of the additional THREE ways that a multiplication word problem can be arranged.

This resource is one of the first steps when it comes to resolving word problem difficulties. Students sort game cards into categories to determine which ones require addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division.  During the process of playing, students become better able to identify different word problem patterns and learn what they must do in order to correctly solve a word problem.

Click Here To Access Guided Math (Word Problems) Level 1

The document includes:

*game cards

*a progress recording form

*a printable box

*an answer key

Click Here To Access Guided Math Level 1A

This document includes:
*20 task cards
*One-step addition and subtraction word problems with smaller numbers
*A printable storage box
*A student recording sheet
*An answer key
*A progress chart

Click Here To Access Guided Reading Level 1B

This document includes:
*20 task cards
*One-step addition and subtraction word problems with larger numbers
*A printable storage box
*A student recording sheet
*An answer key
*A progress chart

Click Here To Access Guided Math Level 1C

This document includes:
*20 task cards
*Two-step addition and subtraction word problems with larger numbers
*A printable storage box
*A student recording sheet
*An answer key
*A progress chart

Solve Math Problems in Multiple Ways

When students practice solving the same problem in multiple ways, they not only strengthen their problem solving skills, they also build mathematical reasoning skills. 

This week I have a free sheet that can be used to help students with solving the same math problem in multiple ways.  Click below to access it.

Click Here to Access It

Three Ways to Divide Fractions

Most students learn about fractions using the area model.  Understanding only this representation of fractions can pose a problem when students advance into the upper elementary grade levels as well as into middle school.  

The area model is usually represented with a circle that is divided into equal sections. Rectangles are also used for this model. When different word problems are posed, students often have difficulty with visualizing the meaning of fractions when only one representation is used.  This limited view of fractions becomes even more apparent as students move into ratios and rate.  Below is an example of a dividing fractions question. By reading it, it can be seen how challenging it would be to use the area model to visualize this problem.

Sample Problem

If 1/3 is 6 groups, how many are in one group?

Using multiple formats to represent fractions is an effective way to deepen understanding about fractions and help students understand what it means to divide fractions.  It also helps students gain context to better decipher word problems.  The Common Core Number and Operation-Fractions Standards as well as many state assessments urge students to be able to work with fractions in multiple contexts.

The chart shows three ways for students to represent and solve for 3/4 ÷ 2/3.  The following questions can be asked when teaching students about fractions:

Can you think of another way to solve this problem?

Can you draw a diagram that represents what you just did in the math algorithm?

How are each of your representations similar? How are they different?

Common Core Aligned Fraction Task Cards That Teach And Review Concepts

(Printable Storage Boxes Are Included)

Click Here For Dividing Fractions Task Cards

Click Here To Access The Task Card Bundle