Five for Friday - 4/11/14

It's been longer than I intended, but I'm back, and I'm linking up with Doodlebugs Teaching to share five things from the past week.

My little guy turned two on Saturday! It's hard to believe time is flying by so fast. (This explains my absence around here...I was one busy mama working on birthday party decorations and my first homemade birthday cake...Last year, my mom came up to help, but this year, she couldn't make it, so I was on my own.)

 

Monday, we started Probability Stations. We haven't quite finished yet because our week has been broken up a little, but my kiddos are loving them! There are six stations in all, dice, playing cards, spinners, number tiles, colored cubes, and (everyone's favorite) trash can toss. My students are getting some much needed practice with thinking critically about probability! If you're interested, you can grab a copy of the stations (complete with printable manipulatives) in my TPT store.

  

 

Meanwhile, we are working on a March Madness themed research project. Students are researching the teams who played and calculating data, probability, and player statistics. Each pair will be making a Prezi presentation to present their work next week. I can't wait to see what they come up with! They have been so excited to get to use our new laptops this week with all of the projects we have going!

In Social Studies, we watched a few sections of a great mini-series from The History Channel. If you're teaching the Revolutionary War, this DVD is perfect. The majority of my students were really engaged. It definitely helped them visualize the areas we've been talking about and the lifestyle that the Colonists had. I bought the entire mini-series on DVD for $10 on Amazon. So far, it's been completely appropriate for fifth graders, but I'm watching them all before I show them in class, just in case!

I am SOOO glad to be able to say that I am OFF of Grad School for the next 6 weeks! I have been taking an accelerated master's program for a solid year now, with no breaks. This teacher and mama badly needs some time to slow down and focus on things I enjoy instead of always working on grad school! I'm hoping to blog more, work on some TPT ideas, and of course, spend some quality time with the little man!

Well, that's it for me! Pop over to Doodlebugs to see what everyone else has been up to this week!