Just in time for the Olympics, here is a coordinate graphing activity for you to use in your classroom. After students plot points, write ordered pairs, and draw line segments, a picture of an Olympic medal will appear. Activities are in both first quadrant (positive numbers only) and also offered in all four quadrants (positive and negative numbers).
These activities are similar to those from my book, Coordinate Graphing Hidden Pictures. To see more Olympic-themed coordinate graphing pictures, check out my Teachers Pay Teachers store!
Have fun graphing!
Let’s face it. We’ve all had unorganized students. You know the ones I mean. These are the kids who never remember their homework (or the fact that they even had homework). They don’t bring their supplies to class, even a pencil. If you walk by their desk or locker, be careful not to breathe too hard or you’ll find an avalanche of papers fall to the ground. Here is a list of ideas to try with students who are lacking in organizational skills. If you have a technique that has worked for you, please leave it in the comments!
- Create calendars to keep track of assignments and due dates. You can find some free ones to print at the Mead website. Google Calendars can also be very handy when creating calendars.
- Create a daily schedule along with a list of required materials.
- Help the student color code their folders and notebooks by subject.
- Provide an agenda or assignment book for the student to record their homework assignments. For young students, it is imperative to include parent-teacher communication. Students can be required to show their assignment book to their parents each night, which helps the parents know what homework has been assigned. The parents sign or initial it and the student has to show it to the teacher the next day. After the student writes the day’s homework assignments in it, they take it to be signed by the teacher. There must be consequences at home and at school if the agenda is unsigned or not present.
- Have the student help with organization in the classroom.
- Be a model of organization in your classroom.
- Give the student a place to store their belongings.
- Reinforce the student when they are prepared and allow natural consequences when they are not.
Here are some other helpful sites on student organization:
Have a happy, organized day! Thanks so much for visiting!
Welcome to the wonderful world of algebra! At least that’s what I said to the fifth graders a few weeks ago. When I began planning for the introduction of algebra, I decided to incorporate a pretest to see where their current skills were. Boy was I surprised! Most of them couldn’t tell the difference between the greater than or less than signs! Now I know I have my work cut out for me. I was so glad to know where to begin with them, that I thought there might be other teachers who could use the pretests, also. (My little trick for keeping the symbols straight is that Less Than looks like a Lazy L!)
There are three different pretests that I made. The first one is a third of a page and asks the kids to write the symbol that corresponds with the statement. The second half-page pretest asks the students to write what each symbol stands for. The last pretest is a full page that has them match equations and inequalities with the statements that go with them. It was eye-opening for me to see what little knowledge they had of algebra. I hope you find these pretests on equations and inequalities as helpful as I have!
February 28, 2012 – 1:22 pm
I have my students write in journals several times a week. I always had a sloppy mess with a stack of journals sitting wherever I could find room. But, no more! I came up with a solution that was quick, easy, and FREE!
First I found a nice sized empty box. This one was slated for the garbage, so I feel nice and fuzzy for recycling it! 
Then, I carefully measured the width of the journals and made marks on all four sides. I first measured one side and marked on both edges and then flipped the box around to measure from the opposite end. After connecting the marks and taping up the open end, I used an Xacto knife to cut the box into two pieces.
Next, I glued and taped the two parts together to form a small set of shelves.
Now, you could just stop here. But I like to be fancy and creative. Sometimes it just feels good to get messy, right?! I used Mod Podge and some paper cut in circles (more about my new circle cutter later) to create this masterpiece:
I use the top shelf for their AR (Accelerated Reader) folders and the bottom for their journals. What fun!
February 26, 2012 – 2:58 pm
Haven’t heard of TeachersPayTeachers? It’s an online marketplace where teachers buy products created by other teachers! I have 38 products in my store that I will mark down 20% on February 29, 2012. TeachersPayTeachers is offering an online coupon (coupon code is L2P9Y) for an additional 10% off! This is a sale not to be missed! Start shopping now and create a wish list to save yourself time on Wednesday!
