April!

I can't believe it's April! Thankfully, my crazy month of March flew by. Glad it's over! Now, time to gear up for report cards (already?!), math & science state testing, and promotion.

Since it's April first, I'm linking up with Oh' Boy 4th Grade for the April Currently!

I didn't know what to put for advice, so I thought I'd go some good life advice. :)

Latoya at Flying into First Grade is on week 4 of her Let's get Acquainted link up. I'm loving getting to know so much about other bloggers!

The theme this week is favorites. Here are mine:
Place to Shop: The Loft. Cute clothes, and the skirts are knee length- hard to find lots of places!
Favorite Show: It's a toss up... Game of Thrones, True Blood, Boardwalk Empire? I have an HBO addiction. All time favorite show is Friends, though!
Sweet Treat: Gifford's black raspberry frozen yogurt... yum.
Food: Pasta! I could eat it every day.
Restaurant: The Green Elephant. It's a couple hours away, but it is seriously the best restaurant I have ever been to. It's hard to find a favorite restaurant when you are a vegetarian, and this one is insanely good.


Do you use math journals? I do, and I love them. I started the year using them sparingly, but I have really found a niche for them in my instruction. I use them for students to take guided notes in, copy important vocabulary, respond to prompts, write reflections, and complete practice problems. I've noticed a correlation between the amount they use the journals to write about their thinking in math and the quality of their verbal responses to questions in class. I love the fact that I can refer back to entries from early in the year to show the students where they came from, too! They can see how far they have come, which is really inspiring to struggling students. Here is an example of something we would put in our journals. I project up on the projector and create the entry along with them. I was inspired by something on pinterest for this, but it was several months ago so I've lost the creator. I changed the name and added a bit, but the shape of the PEMDAS was theirs. I'm sorry- comment if it was yours so I can give you credit!

How do you use math journals?