Favorites for Friday: Rounding Numbers

Ever try to teach a student with poor number sense skills to round numbers?  This week's favorite for Friday is a view of the video and anchor chart that made it all possible this year.  Even my most struggling students were rounding with ease after this!

First, we used this poem:

Then we watched this video: 

(pointing out the slight differences in the poem we use and the video's poem)

We made an anchor chart like this one:

(My anchor charts never look good enough for a photo!) 

This poem works with any place value, whether using very large numbers or decimal numbers. 

(We did another example on an anchor chart with a 9 in the selected place that needed to round up. That can be tricky, too!)

 For those of you that use the Common Core State Standards, I've included the 4th and 5th grade standards that relate to this particular skill:  

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.4.NBT.A.3
Use place value understanding to round multi-digit whole numbers to any place.

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.5.NBT.A.4
Use place value understanding to round decimals to any place.

© Copyright 2010 National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.

Thanks for visiting!  Happy Friday!

New Poke Card set is up on TPT

I created a new Poke Card set for nouns that includes 2 specific noun topics.  The first topic is concrete/abstract nouns. The second is singular, plural, and collective nouns.  Answers are included (make sure you mark them on the back before you hole punch) as well as extra blank cards at the end.



Check them out at my TPT store when you get a chance.

Any requests for Poke Card topics?  Feel free to post in the comments or email me at MyCleverEndeavors2@gmail.com.

Have a great week!

New TPT resource posted

My Equivalent Fractions Poke Cards are up and ready for purchase!  Discount price available for a limited time only!  :)

Prepare the cards by circling the answer on the back lightly in pencil. I've marked the correct answer for you, but it will disappear when you use your hole punch.  Punch out all 3 holes.  Students solve the problem and poke the tip of a pencil (or other object) through the hole and then flip it over to check.  My students love these!  

Common Core? There's an app for that...

Seems like there's an app for everything these days.  I heard about these apps at a recent conference I attended.  It's common core on your mobile device.  My first thought was, "Why would I ever need that on my smart phone?"  I don't have a tablet.  In fact, when it comes to writing lesson plans, I'm a bit "old school" and prefer a printed version of the CCSS.

So, while I could see some people who use tablets or iPads in their classrooms may find this app helpful, I was a bit skeptical.  And then the network went down at school.  And I had left my printed copy of the standards at home.  I couldn't even access my documents on our school server where I had saved a copy of the standards.  Just as I was about to growl in frustration over not being able to plan during my planning period, I realized I had one more option:  the APP!  I downloaded it quickly for free and was able to easily continue my planning session, no problem.

If you're like me, though, you're thinking that it's hardly worth the bother to download this app for the rare occurrence of a total network shutdown.  You may be thinking that you'd never need this on your phone.  I get it.  I was with you.  And then I was in Hobby Lobby buying some crafting stuff and saw a pile of cool educational games and activities.  Since CCSS is new to our state this year, plus I'm back in the classroom after several years in the ESL room, I haven't yet memorized all the CCSS for each grade level.  I wanted to buy a math game that my students could play, but didn't know which ones would hit the standards for my grade level.  Out came the phone and that handy little app.

I'm sure there are other great reasons to have this app.  I'll maybe encounter them this year.  If you have any experiences where this app has been helpful, I'd love to hear about it here!

(I don't work for either app company, but just wanted to share how helpful they could be.  Please go to your usual app store and search for Common Core.  The Mastery Connect app and the Education Electric app are the two pictured above.  These are the only two I am aware of that are free apps fir CCSS.  You'll need to read their details and requirements in order to determine whether these are right for you.)