21. 10 Holiday Party and Gift Ideas for Upper Elementary Students
Release Date: 12/05/2023
41. Season One is Done! Final Thoughts and Plans For the Future
Elementary Math Chat
Season One is done! I’m so grateful to each and every one of you for joining me each week to hear my favorite teaching tips and ideas around elementary math. I hope I’ve helped make your teacher life much easier, and I’m excited to reflect on what this season has meant to me in this Season One finale. In this episode, I answer a few questions that were submitted in a Q & A survey. I also share my final thoughts and reflections on Season One, my plans for the future of Elementary Math Chat, and one final Teaching Tip of the Week to help you work smarter and not harder to finish your...
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40. The Countdown is On! 5 End-of-the-Year Activities to Keep Students Engaged
Elementary Math Chat
The countdown is on...summer vacation is right around the corner! With all the special events that fall at the end of the year, the final week of school can be challenging to plan for. Every day has a different schedule, and the amount of instructional time also varies. If you need help planning activities to keep your students engaged until the end, this episode is for you! This week, I share 5 of my favorite end-of-the-year activities to help keep your students engaged during the final week of school. You’ll hear ideas to help you fill anywhere from 5-10 minutes, 20-30 minutes, or 60...
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39. Innovative Ways to Keep Kids Learning Math Over the Summer with Melanie Doppler
Elementary Math Chat
Summer is right around the corner, and so are those last-minute requests from parents wanting to know how to prevent the summer slide. This episode is chock-full of ideas to keep kids engaged with math over the summer, which means you'll have plenty of tips to share with your families! This week, Melanie Doppler from Math Coach Connection joins me to discuss simple ways to help families connect math to everyday experiences at home over the summer. She shares clever ways to connect math at mealtime, during a trip to the park, when planning a vacation, and so much more! These tips will...
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38. Creative Teaching Tips and Ideas for Area and Perimeter Part 2
Elementary Math Chat
This week, I share my favorite teaching tips and ideas for the second half of my area and perimeter unit. Those lessons covered solving for missing dimensions, problem-solving with area, and a review lesson to help students prepare for the test. You’ll hear ideas to help you teach these concepts in a visual and relatable manner, how to incorporate review skills in your small group activities, and fun ways to help students prepare for the test. Don’t miss this week’s Teaching Tip of the Week where I explain how to play one of my favorite multiplication fact games. This game is...
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37. Creative Teaching Tips and Ideas for Area and Perimeter Part 1
Elementary Math Chat
Area and perimeter was one of my favorite units to teach. I enjoyed helping students make real-world connections to what they were learning, and they enjoyed imagining that they were planting a garden or painting a bedroom wall. However, this unit came with its fair share of struggles. In my experience, area and perimeter taught in isolation were simple concepts for most students. They began to confuse the two concepts when they got to word problems, mainly because the words area and perimeter were never included in the word problems. Instead, they had to rely on context clues to determine...
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36. Simple Ways to Transform Your Geometry Unit (Part 2)
Elementary Math Chat
Why was the quadrilateral late to school? Why did the right triangle go to the beach? The answers to these fun riddles are included in this week’s episode with even more geometry tips! This week, I share my favorite teaching tips and activities for the last three lessons in my geometry unit on classifying quadrilaterals, line symmetry, and shape patterns. I share two days of whole group lesson ideas for classifying quadrilaterals, helpful tips and small group ideas for line symmetry, and how I changed my pattern lesson from one I dreaded to one I looked forward to each year. In...
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35. Simple Ways to Transform Your Geometry Unit (Part 1)
Elementary Math Chat
Geometry is one of those topics that people either love or hate. I’ll admit, as a student, Geometry wasn’t my favorite. I could work with numbers all day long. But lines, angles, and theorems? It wasn’t my thing. However, as a teacher, I enjoyed teaching Geometry. It was a nice break from all the fractions and computation we were so used to. But, I was fully aware that my students might have the same dislike for Geometry that I had when I was young. This motivated me to make my Geometry unit as interesting and as engaging as possible. In this week’s episode, I share my favorite...
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34. Tips for Building Math Fact Fluency with Danna Rodebush
Elementary Math Chat
Multiplication facts are the building blocks of upper elementary math skills. Yet many students struggle to memorize these facts and rely on counting strategies and multiplication charts instead. In this episode, Danna Rodebush from Teacher Tech Studio and the host of the Upper Elementary Simplified podcast joins me to discuss what fact fluency means, why it is so important, and how teachers can motivate their students to memorize their math facts. Danna also shares a tip for setting up a fluency program and how to involve parents in the Teaching Tip of the Week. Resources...
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33. Testing is Done! 5 Ideas to Plan for a Day of Fun
Elementary Math Chat
Test prep is no joke! You and your students have worked extremely hard to prepare for state testing. When you finish that final test, I’m sure a sense of accomplishment and relief sets in…and it should! The hard part is over! So, take a victory lap and celebrate with a day of fun. So, what can you plan for the day after testing to give everyone a much-needed break? This day can be tricky to plan for. You’ll likely have students taking makeup tests, so you don’t want to begin a new project or plan a movie day. In this week’s episode, I explain how I created a day of fun choice board...
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32. Glow Day: How to Make the Final Day of Test Prep a Memorable One!
Elementary Math Chat
You did it! You made it to the final day of test prep. What better way to celebrate than with a Glow Day? This celebration will be the highlight of your week and send your students into state testing feeling confident and ready to rock the test! In this week’s episode, I share everything you’ll need to know to plan a Glow Day for your final day of test prep. I explain how I blended review activities with games, how I held students accountable for their work, and how I set up and decorated the room for the Ultimate Glow Day experience! I also share a video to play during Glow Day that will...
info_outlineWith winter break being right around the corner, it’s time to plan for your classroom holiday party! What activities and games will you play? What gift can you give your students that is cost-effective and something they will enjoy?
In this week's holiday-themed episode, I share two easy ideas for student gifts that are practical and perfect for the math teacher. I also share ideas for games and activities to play both as a class and in groups for your holiday party.
Student Gift Ideas Include:
Dry Erase Board, Marker, and Eraser Set of 30 (Amazon Affiliate link) There is no additional cost to you, but it does help support the podcast if you choose to purchase through these links.
Class Party Ideas Include:
Make an ornament
Decorate cookies
Estimation jar
Word search or word scramble
I know not all teachers throw a holiday party, so if you fall into this category but still want to incorporate holiday-themed activities into your lessons, I share two math crafts for equivalent fractions and factors that are holiday-themed and lots of fun.
Finally, don’t miss this week’s Teaching Tip of the Week where I share an efficient yet personal way to write thank you notes.
Resources Mentioned:
To view the show notes with the full transcript, head to https://krejcicreations.com/episode21.
P.S. Has this podcast been helpful for you? If so, screenshot an episode, add it to IG, and tag me @krejci_creations. This helps spread the word to other teachers!