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Creating Multiplication Story Problems

Math January 25, 2017
After spending a few weeks on our multiplication unit and solving many multiplication story problems, I decided to let my kiddos try their hand at creating their own. They’re all very creative and come up with very interesting stories, so I thought it would be fun and good practice to let them create their own.
First, we spent time talking about what’s included in a story problem. My students said things like numbers, words, something to solve, a question, etc.  All good things and all necessary. This gave us a good opportunity to go over what is included in a word or story problem and why.
Then, I wrote down two numbers on the board (3 and 4) and had the kids help me create a multiplication story problem with those numbers. One thing I really stressed is reminding them that multiplication is dealing with equal groups. At first, many kids were coming up with problems that would require you to add so we really had to focus on what equal groups meant and how we could make it work.  See our story problem that we came up with below…
Next, it was time for them to try. I had them work on one of my pages from my Create Your Own Multiplication Story Problems packet in my TPT store.  On this page, there are a variety of number choices specifically to provide differentiation. I told students to pick numbers that weren’t too easy for them, but also weren’t too hard for them. I wanted them to choose numbers that would challenge them without stressing them out.  Most of my students did a good job picking numbers that fit their needs.  
After choosing their numbers, they created and solved their own story problems.  Check out there work below…
If you are interested in this product, check it out in my TPT store…here.  It has 6 different printables. Four of the pages have factor options provided for students.  One pages allows students to fill in their own factors.  And, the last page allows students to pick which type of problem they want to create (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, or fractions).

Five for Friday – January 20

Math, Reading, Social Studies January 20, 2017

It was a short week, but a long week all at the same time! I enjoyed having Monday off, but could’ve used one more day. I’m linking up with Kacey over at Doodle Bugs Teaching for another Five for Friday. See what we’ve been up to below….

I love the book Martin’s Big Words.  With MLK Jr Day on Monday, we studied him a bit (we’ll study him more later in our historic people PBL project) and I showed them the video of the book. It has James Earl Jones reading the text and beautiful music in the background. One of my favorites to use every year! I highly recommend you check it out on YouTube.
We’ve been working on multiplication for three weeks now and this week students started spending more time working on story problems. See how I use differentiated multiplication story problems in my classroom… here….
We started our second whole class book study – The Chocolate Touch this week! I love this book and so do the kids! They find it hilarious and I love the break from our traditional Journey’s reading series! Can’t wait to finish it next week with them.  What book studies do you do with your whole class? Write them below in the comments! I’m always looking for new ideas!
Last week, a student asked if he could clean up my Morning Message board. I said sure. He asked if he could erase it. I said sure.  He asked if he could get rid of the “posty sticks.”  I said…what??? Apparently he thought post its/sticky notes were called posty sticks.  We all got a good laugh out of that one!
I’m trying to become more active in the New Year. If you’d like to join me, check out my Instagram that I’m using to keep me accountable with my fitness journey – instagram.com/jjohnsongetsfit and also add me on FitBit! My email with the account is sunsfan328@gmail.com.  I love having new friends on there and participating in Work Week Challenges.
Have a wonderful weekend!

Differentiated Multiplication Story Problems

Math January 19, 2017
At the beginning of January, we started our multiplication unit in second grade. So far, we spent a lot of time working on the conceptual understanding of multiplication. We’ve learned various strategies (groups, arrays, repeated addition, skip counting), practiced lots on the white boards, and played some games. 
After all of that practice, it was time to focus on story problems.  Now that the kids have a grasp on multiplication they need to work on applying it to real-life problems. I created two sets of story problems for them to work on.  One set is for my students who are still working on the basic facts and focuses on factors to 12.  The second set is a challenge set for my students who are flying through the basic facts. The challenge set has two-digits by one-digit multiplication problems.  
Factors to 12 Story Problems
Great use of skip counting to solve the multiplication problem!
Challenge Problems – Dealing with multiplying two-digits and even a few three-digits by one-digit.
I love having differentiated story problems for my students to work on. I always want to challenge kids when they’re ready and love having the option to do so. I also like to keep things looking the same, so it’s not as obvious that the cards are different. This way everyone thinks they’re working on the same thing, while really they’re working on what they need.
Check out my Differentiated Multiplication Story Problems in my TPT store…here.

Five for Friday – January 13

Math, Project Based Learning January 13, 2017

Friday the 13th! We’ll see how today goes!  And a full moon… And a rainy day… And it’s been ridiculously windy! This will be interesting!
I’m linking up with Kacey over at Doodle Bugs Teaching to show what we’ve been up to this week for another Five for Friday…

Our school is celebrating our first International Week in about a week and half. Each class has a country to study and then present what they’ve learned to the other classes. I chose/my class chose Holland, which works out really well since my dad was born in Holland.  He was born there and immigrated to America when he was 8.  This week we got to interview him using Facetime. It was so cute. The kids were writing notes, asking questions, etc. And, my dad did a great job his first time using Facetime. I also created a kid friendly website for the kids to research on.  It is in the first picture above.

I love math stations. We finally got back into them this week and the kids are loving this particular one. They get to use the Dive Into Shapes Kit (from Scholastic Bonus Catalog) to make all kinds of cool 2D and 3D shapes.
We’ve continued our study of multiplication this week and learned our last two strategies (repeated addition and skip counting). To introduce skip counting (which I know the kids knew, but I wanted to make a strong connection between it and multiplication), I used the CGI strategy choral counting. The students helped me count by 4’s. We went slow enough I could write, which also gave my kiddos needing more time, time to think.  
Then, I asked them to look at what we came up with and see what they noticed. Most kids noticed that it went up by 4’s and down by 20’s. Some kid’s noticed that the pattern went 4, 8, 2, 6, 0 in the ones spot. Another student noticed that they were all even numbers. All great observations!
Next, I started writing the multiplication problems above. But, instead of just writing them I explained it like 1 group of 4 is 4, 2 groups of 4 is 8, etc and the kids joined in and helped me out. Then, one of my kiddos made the connection that skip counting is just like repeated addition, which is just like multiplication!!! HOORAY! Fireworks should’ve gone off…just kidding. But it was one of those teaching moments that you remember and I feel most have a strong understanding of the different strategies and concept of multiplication.
Here’s a little student funny for you. Our phonics sounds last week were OR and ORE.  Students had to create words with those sound spellings.  I had a very interesting one! I’m hoping she was going for pouring???

Anyone else also in full-blown organization mode? Something about the new year and gift cards and buying new organization bins made me want to clean out our pantry. Here is the after picture. The containers and organization make my OCD heart happy!
Have a lovely 3 day weekend!

Introduction to Multiplication Ideas

Math January 8, 2017
Multiplication is one of my favorite math units to teach! I remember what a big deal it was to learn multiplication when I was in school and the kids still feel the same way. When I ask them at the beginning of 2nd grade, what they are most excited to learn – multiplications tends to be one of the most popular answers.
To begin multiplication, I want to make sure my students have a solid conceptual understanding of the process. When I was a kid we just memorized the facts. And, while fact fluency is important.  In my opinion, it’s important that they first understand why and how to multiply, before they rattle off the facts from memorization.  I’ve also been trained in CGI (Cognitively Guided Instruction), which focuses on conceptual understanding and moving kids through different stages of understanding which ultimately leads to fact fluency.  These ideas below definitely fit in with CGI.
So, on day 1, I started by giving them a story problem.  
There were four spiders crawling in the sand. Each spider has 8 legs. How many legs were there total?
I wanted to see what the kids would do. I didn’t tell them this was a multiplication problem, I just read it to them, and told them to solve it the best they could.  Then, as I walked around, I picked students with different strategies who would share out with the class.  
Here are the 3 I picked to share:
Carter started by drawing the groups in the middle. He drew one group of 8, two groups of 8, so on and then added and added again.  Great visual strategy!
Odin used skip counting and also used empty number line to help him show how he was skip counting. 
Caitlin used repeated addition, which is another great multiplication strategy.
I picked all three kiddos because these are all strategies we are going to learn to help us solve multiplication problems. I love having the kids explain their thinking too because kids often learn better from each other – if they hear it in kid friendly language etc. I asked prompting questions, but the kids did the explaining.
Then, on day 1, I wanted our focus to be on grouping like Carter did in his story problem. I wanted to start with the most visual representation possible to help the kids see the equal groups.
We made an anchor chart – which I forgot to snap a picture of and then we practiced on our white boards.  
I love being able to project my iPad onto our screen. I use the app iPevo and can use it like a white board like the kids.  So, we started with visual problems. Sorry for the messy iPad demonstration – it is quite difficult to draw using your finger on there. 🙂
After practicing multiple problems as a class, students learned the game Circle in Stars or Birds in a Nest.
For this game, students need 1 or 2 dice, white board and marker and/or paper and pencil. Students roll one dice and that is the number of circles (or nests) they draw (which is really the number of groups).  Then, students roll again or roll the second dice and that is the number of stars (or eggs) that go in each circle.  Which then leads to the multiplication problem ___ groups of ___ = ___ or ___ x___ = ____.  To differentiate for my higher students, I gave them a dice with 1-6 and one with 7-12.  This takes it up a notch for students who are ready.
With dice 1-6
With two dice – 1-6 and 7-12
How do you start teaching your multiplication unit?? Leave your thoughts and ideas in the comments below…

Five for Friday – January 6

Holidays, Math, Writing January 6, 2017

The new year is finally here! I think I’ve managed to write 2017 correctly all week….which is a big deal lol.  I’m back linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday. See what I’ve been up to the past week below….

So how cute are these! Melonheadz made these adorable New Year’s Resolutions sheets and my kiddos did a great job coming up with goals.  They were detailed and made goals that fit them, their interests, and needs. I was proud of how hard they worked on it and it’ll make the perfect bulletin board for the New Year.  Check out Melonheadz freebie here….

We started multiplication this week. This is something the 2nd graders always look forward to and they are waiting and waiting for us to begin this unit.  This was Day 2 of Multiplication. We learned about arrays and the kids used Skittles to make arrays – and of course ate some :-).  
Stay tuned…Sunday I will have a post explaining how I introduce multiplication and a quick game idea.
This week we practiced finding and editing possessive nouns. The kiddos worked in groups on my Grammar Fix It – Apostrophes – Possessives cards.  Now, lazy teacher here – I really should’ve cut these out, but you can leave them together for time saving purposes.  The packet also includes larger cards (8.5×11) and this smaller option that can be cut. Check it out in my TPT store, here.

New Year’s Resolution here. Not too specific – but I need balance and I need to find time to work on me. The gym is calling my name this weekend as is some meal prep! Looking forward to making healthier choices this year (after our staff happy hour today lol).

My parents are Ohio State alum and I got to join them for the Fiesta Bowl last weekend. Even though the game didn’t go as they hoped, we still had a lot of fun and I always love a visit back to Phoenix even if it is a quick one.
Hope everyone had a great first week of 2017!

Five for Friday – December 9

Math December 9, 2016

One more week to go until Christmas Break! We can do it!  I’m linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for another week of Five for Friday. Check out what we’ve been up to below….

We started working on money this week. To start us off, we did a number talk with coin numbers – 25+25+10+10+5.  Afterwards we discussed how they could represent coins and how we can add coins using mental math.

Oh the static electricity of winter coats! We got quite a laugh this week with some of my friend’s crazy hair situations after being outside with their winter coat.  It’s the little things that make us laugh…

These cupcake tins are a brilliant idea! I saw someone do this on Pinterest and decided to give it a try. I wrote different amounts in all of the cupcake tins and then the students had to put the coins in to equal that amount! Loved it!
Oh…our elf Snowy! Check back tomorrow for my blog post about Snowy’s adventures in our room during Week 2 of Elf on the Shelf.
My students loved using code.org and completing an Hour of Code this week! I gave it a try too! Was very fun! I wish I had stuff like this when I was in school!
Have a wonderful weekend! Stay strong! Christmas break is almost here!

Teaching Elapsed Time

Math November 14, 2016

Telling time and elapsed time always seems to be a tricky concept for kiddos.  Even though it is tricky, it’s definitely a skill that they will need in the future and one we spend a lot of time on in second grade.  After reviewing telling time, we spend the bulk of our time on elapsed time.  We start by watching a Brainpop Jr on elapsed time and then make an anchor chart together.

Then, we do lots and lots of practice on the white boards. I will give students a start and end time and they have to figure out how much time has passed in between. Or I will give students a start time, how much time passes, and they have to figure out what time it ends. And, the trickiest, I give students an end time, how much time passes, and they have to figure out the beginning time.

After white board practice, I like to put it in real-life situations for them. I think when you can put math into a real life problem, it makes it easier for kids to understand. We worked on the below Elapsed Time Story Problems for two days.  The best part is it is already differentiated! There are three sets of story problems (12 cards each). A beginner, intermediate, and advanced version are included so you can differentiate and meet the needs of all of your students. The cards all have similar story problems, but the numbers are changed to differentiate.

Beginner Version
Intermediate Version
Advanced Version
Student Recording Sheet

This is now for sale in my TPT store. It’s called Elapsed Time Story Problems – Differentiated.  Hope it helps your kiddos like it helped mine!

Five for Friday – October 28

Math, Writing October 28, 2016

I cannot tell you how excited I am to have today off! We have today off for Nevada Day. We haven’t had a day off since Labor Day. This teacher…needed…a…day…off.  Especially to prepare for what will be a crazy Monday with Halloween parties and Halloween. For reals – why does Halloween have to be on a Monday.  Anyways…I’m linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday. Here’s what we’ve been up to this week….

This was the answer to my Morning Message question – Why is it important for us to know how to tell time? It cracked me up!  I don’t think I ever had a professor ask me in college if I knew how to tell time lol.

As you can tell from #1 – we’ve been working on telling time this week. Man is this concept a tricky one for some kids. To practice, we used Hope King’s Measurement Playbook – Time Match-Up game. We also used this cool app called Telling Time Quiz on the iPads.
We’ve been working nouns and as a recap/review/formative assessment, students worked on Nouns Around the Room from my TPT Store. It can be found, here.  Nouns ATR has students identifying nouns (in different ways) and making singular nouns plural.  Love using Around the Room activities to review and see where kids at.  Way better than sitting and doing a worksheet.

Our school has a Strategy Game Room and it is AWESOME! We finally checked it out and went there for our Fun Friday last week. It is so neat. It has large versions of many games – Jenga, Connect 4, Scrabble, Dominos, and more. The kids had so much fun playing and creating different things. They also worked really well together and was an opportunity to practice working with others. We’ll definitely head back there for future Fun Fridays.

This week we started our informational Writing Workshop unit called Lab Reports and Science Books.  I love it so far! We started out by doing an experiment testing to see if the little toy car would go farther from the ramp on the carpet or bare floor. The kids were so excited to test it out.  Some even tried it out at home too! As we went through the experiment process, students worked on their lab books covering topics like hypothesis, procedures, writing results, and coming up with conclusions based on the results. This is my first time teaching this informational book and I am a fan so far!
Hope everyone has a great weekend! Rest up – next week will be a long, crazy week with Halloween on Monday!

Counting Collections – Math Stations

Math, Math Stations September 7, 2016
I wanted to share with you my introduction round to Math Stations. I changed it up quite a bit this year.  I used to just put in math tools and have the kids “play” with them to get acquainted with the Math Stations procedures.  See my old way here…  While this worked well and got them used to how to work with a partner, how to clean up, etc, it wasn’t as meaty as I wanted it to be.
This year, since our school is heavily into CGI (Cognitively Guided Instruction), I decided to start out my Math Stations bins using Counting Collections.  Counting Collections are collections of just about anything.  You can use keys, popsicle sticks, stickers, cubes, markers, stamps, etc. Any item that you have a lot of in the classroom. Then, once you pick your item, you put a certain amount in a bin and let the kids count.  The goal is that the kids are counting accurately and finding quick ways to count (grouping strategies (counting by 5s, 10s, 20s)).  This also provides you a chance to see how skilled they are at grouping and provides a great formative assessment.  
To differentiate, I put different numbers in the different bins.  Some bins have larger numbers, some smaller. I wanted to provide a variety so I could see how kids count depending on how large the number appears.
I made a cheat sheet for myself so when kids are finished I can quickly tell them if they can record their results or if they need to try counting again a different way.
I got this awesome Counting Collections recording sheet from The Lettered Classroom.  

Here are some pictures of the kiddos in action….

I love how this group used a white board to help them with their documenting as they went. They grouped by colors, counted the colors, and then added it up on the white board before transferring their results to the recording sheet.

This group decided to group the little pom pom balls into groups of 5.

An additional activity I threw in for students to work on if they finished their Counting Collection station early is writing numbers from 1-1,000.  I have found kiddos are super good with 1-100 and 1-200, but as the numbers get bigger some of them get a little mixed up so I wanted to provide a chance for them to practice.  When they are finished, we’ll turn them into a special book that they can design a cover for.
Thank you for stopping by to check out my Counting Collections Math Stations! Do you use Counting Collections in your classroom?

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