Living Number Line

This is the living number line that 3rd grade uses to be a visual representation of distance for math concepts. The first picture shows the concepts that we work with and the second picture shows the "numberline" which is a long string that goes from one end of the room to the other. The 'tents' with the numbers on them are placed on the line. The first one starts off with being the #1 then the next card is the #2. When we discuss measurement that part begins to look like a ruler when we insert all of the cm or mm between the #1 and #2. When talking about percent we look at 0%, 25%, 50% , 75% and 100%. Then it becomes a tool for fractions in the same way. Students can see that 1/2 is 2/4 and is greater than 1/4 on the numberline. The great part about this "living" is that it is constantly changing and creating conversations. Some days I hand each student "tents" to put on the number line where they believe their number would go. WOW! Some of the misconceptions they have are very apparent. When starting decimals a .5 became 0.05 in their minds and it was a great assessment of their prior knowledge when starting a new unit. If you have any questions let me know. I would be glad to answer them. (This picture was taken at the end of the yr when all the concepts had been covered and so I had all of the concepts on the line but I would not start it that way. I even color coded my tents so students would see it was a different concept with each unit.)

Centers

I use pencil boxes to contain my centers and games. I have found that file folders just do not hold up and things get lost so this is my solution. The best thing is that when I want to change a center I just change the label. I need to change the labels for this new school year as you can see. I have been able to get these boxes for as low as 5 cents and I don't pay more the 50 cents at the most. They are very durable and they stack on top of each other. The kids are great with these and the are easy to clean up.

My new adventures!

I am just starting this blog to share the activities in my classroom. I am a huge fan of pinterest.com and I want to use a lot of the ideas that I find there as well as share my own. I have been in education for 14 yrs and the last 7 have been in public schools. I am a 3rd grade teacher and I am very lucky to have two wonderful teachers to work with. It is great working with people who are not only your co-workers but also great friends that I can collaborate and vent with. This post will show a combination of all our ideas and classrooms. I hope you find something on here that sparks your interest and ideas.