It is that time of year again! State (math) testing took priority over blogging and creating. Now that it's over, I wanted to share how I prepared my fourth graders.

Instead, the Friday before the test my grade level partner
and I held our annual MCAS Review Centers, in which we combine our
classes! The last time we got our
classes together was for the 100s day competition and my class did NOT enjoy it
(because they lost, aww). On the other
hand, this time around they knew the goal was to work together. While they were working in their own
classroom, they were the "experts," expected to teach the kids in the
other class how to play the games. They
took this responsibility very seriously.
Clever girl:
"Read the directions."
Supportive boy:
"Yeah, Mrs. Thomas writes the directions on everything."
Smile.
This year we had 3 rotations, targeted to fit the kids'
strengths and weaknesses. I wanted to
make sure my advanced kids got to try something they hadn't before, my lower
kids got to teach something they were comfortable with, and of course everyone
had a chance to work on something they needed extra practice with. I think we got the balance just right.

Of course we went back to the Long Division with Money task cards (here you can read my original post on the Long Division with Money Task cards). By this point the kids were intrinsically motivated to do their best separating the bills into equal amounts as directed on the cards, so I could skip the recording sheets. They were the teachers, after all, helping the kids in the other class, so this was all the accountability we needed today! If you want a closer look at this product, here is where you can download the preview file for my Long Division with Money task cards.
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I love that the first thing S. wanted to do on her Museum Trip after paying for
admission was to go buy a burger, haha.
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Other favorites were the Candy Craze marketing scheme and
the Cookie Problem baking schedule. These
problems helped kids remember why we REALLY need math. It's not just about passing a test, and it's
not always about finding just one right answer.
Math is also about learning to make good decisions involving time and
money.





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