The Tongue

"You did not know what you were saying because your tongue is out of control. It is always walking away on its own and leaving your head behind."
from The Full Cupboard of Life by Alexander McCall Smith

"But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the image of God...my brethren, these things ought not to be so." from James chapter 3, the Holy Bible

Multiplication Week, Days 3, 4, 5

Ok so I got a little behind. Teaching is a busy profession! And mentally exhausting. But it's worth it. I would not ever want to do anything else. Anyway, let's get caught up with the events of the rest of our multiplication week.

Day 3 - We wrote some more facts and found some fun places to recite them. We went in a "secret" hallway in the building that is one of those places that kids just love because you don't really know it's there and there's this huge gorgeous window. Anyway, the kids were in awe! Next we did a fun worksheet called a Multiplication Mosaic (Google that and you'll see the book I use). The bottom half of the worksheet has multiplication facts with one factor missing; beside each fact is the name of a color in parentheses. For example: 8 x ___ = 72 (purple). The top half of the page is a blank coordinate plane. After filling in the missing factors at the bottom, students use the two factors as coordinates, and instead of plotting a point on the grid they color the corresponding square with the color listed beside the fact. When they are finished plotting and coloring in the squares they see a special design. Our design for the day was a beautiful blue, black, and purple butterfly. The kids asked to do more! This activity is great because it gives a little different multiplication practice than the usual, plus they get practice with the coordinate plane which is something they will be using all through high school even.

Day 4 - More writing and reciting facts. We said the tens and elevens times tables to Mrs. Norman, our church secretary. Our big game was "King/Queen of the Class." I made a super fun crown for the current King or Queen to wear. Each time they beat someone the current King or Queen received a point to represent one year of their reign. No points were given for winning the crown from someone; they had to win it then beat another person to get their first "year". The kids loved this method! It added to the imagination of the game, rather than just keeping "points." Points are boring. To say that "Kara won because she reigned for seven years!" is so much more fun. =)

Day 5 - We reviewed our tricks and reminders; fun to see the progress even from Monday. Worked on one multiplication table worksheet. They spent the last half of the class doing a scavenger hunt. They were all over the building with the rules to walk, whisper, and work together. They did it great. To figure out each clue they had to answer multiplication facts then match the answer to a letter on a list I had made. The last one was to find me, where I had a new pencil for each of them as a reward for all their hard work this week. Difficult, tedious work can be made funner than fun, you just have to know how!

2nd Grade Quote of the Day

"If I win it, I'll be the Queen of Cute!"

When the second grade math class heard about the super fun game the fourth grade math class got to play, they begged to play it too. It's a simple "King/Queen of the Class" game. I made a crown out of some colorful, glittery paper I had; the winner got to keep the crown. One student wears the crown and sits on the "throne" (the stool I sit on to teach sometimes). I show a math flashcard - for second grade we did subtraction - and whoever says it first gets the crown. There's no points for winning the crown away from someone, but every time a student wins once they have the crown they get a point to represent one year of reigning as King or Queen. That point system I just thought of on the fly this morning and the kids liked it. My second graders thought if they won the crown the could be the boss of me too, so I had to remind them I was still in charge. I told them they could be King or Queen, but I was the High Supreme Ruler of the World. Can't beat that! Youngsters love to imagine, so why not incorporate it into things that can be terribly mundane...like math class?!  Imagination makes everything much more fun and we're still accomplishing our goal. True, such activities are a bit more time consuming so we can't do them every day. Whenever we can, though, it's totally worth the time and effort. Seeing the kids' gigantic smiles and hearing their laughter during math class is the best thing ever!

Multiplication Week, Day 2

Today for 4th grade multiplication week we wrote and recited our 6-9 times tables. First we wrote out the 9's then stood to recite them. We did the same, then, for the next three sets, facing a different direction each time we stood to recite. To liven things up we clapped twice after each of the 7's facts and stomped twice after each 6 fact. The last half of the class we played Go Fish, my own homemade version. A match consisted of a multiplication fact and an answer. For instance, if a student had a card that said "4x5 and 5x4" that student would ask for "20" on his or her turn. It was a super great game! The kids seemed to enjoy it. I let the winner choose out of my small-item goody box.

Multiplication Week, Day #1

Since my fourth grade math class is struggling with multiplication facts, I decided to dedicate an entire week to just that. Each day we will practice saying and writing facts, as well as doing many fun activities. Today was our first day. To start with we worked on some tricks and reminders. Here are a few: "5,6,7,8.....56 is 7x8!" and "5x5 is 25, I just saw a big bee hive; 6x6 is 36, let's go stir the cookie mix; 7x7 is 49, don't sit on a porcupine" (the kids got to create the rhymes for those doubles facts). We also use "nines hands", a cool strategy for figuring out the 9 times table with your fingers. (Yes, it's ok to use fingers!) After going over the tricks and reminders students wrote out their own flashcards to add to the ones we made last week. On one side they put the fact and its twin (4x5 and 5x4) and on the other side they wrote the answer. Finally, I called out multiplication facts and students wrote the answers with dry-erase markers on a large, round, clear plastic table protector. We did this sitting in the middle of the church foyer, simply for a change of scenery (something simple as that can make an activity a hundred times more fun!)

All-Nighter Nonsense

Kenzie and me being way too silly....and it was at the beginning of the night!

Success

"If at first you do succeed, try not to look too surprised" (anonymous)

Instant Inspiration

This is a quote from Audrey Hepburn. Not a person I usually attempt to emulate, but I thought her words were poignant. I think you can find some Scriptures similar to these words, and that's even better!

"For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone."

Pastor Muri's Suggested New Year's Resolutions for Christians

These are sort of paraphrased. As I went through them I thought of a specific area in my life to which I can apply each resolution. That was exciting! Lots of cool stuff to work on this year.

1. Spend less; give more
2. Serve and make a difference in the church
3. Do a Red Book study with someone
4. Read through the entire Bible
5. Pray with more frequency and fervor
6. Reduce the amount of frenzy in my life
7. Cultivate an attitude of gratitude
8. Master a new skill
9. Expand my circle of friends
10.Read some good books and reduce use of electronics