Math Journal Sundays

15 April 2012

Ahhhhh ... Sundays .... my favourite day of the week!  Busy day yesterday - both little girls had dancing lessons, family lunch date, shopping, and my oldest daughter's second game of her indoor soccer playoffs (they've won both games in the playoffs so far!).  I'm hoping the pace is a little slower today - one daughter is going to a birthday party, and another daughter wants to have some friends over.  I think we'll make some pretty head bands with her friends.  I'm also working on a new set of cootie catchers (money).  I'm making a set with American coins and a set with Canadian coins.

Anyhow, I digress ... today is about math journals.  I almost didn't get a math journal in this week ... almost ... but I found some time during our math block on Friday afternoon, and we spent the last 1/2 hour making a new foldable for our journals ... we were cutting it pretty close!!!

photo of multiplication journal entry @ Runde's Room
Our current math unit is all about prime and composite numbers, factors and multiples, multiplication and division strategies, and order of operations.  We've just started multiplication strategies, so I decided to make a 6-flap foldable to help students with the different strategies.  As you can see, we had a flap for:

  • the definition
  • common words related to multiplication
  • the traditional algorithm
  • picture strategy
  • array strategy
  • box and cluster strategies
We used the same multiplication question for all the strategies (32 x 21) so students could see using various strategies will still result in the same answer.  



photo of multiplication journal entry @ Runde's Room

Well, that's about it for today.  I'm excited to have my Earth Day Report Card in the TPT newsletter today!  Don't forget I have a 15% off sale at both my TPT store and my TN store - sale runs until tomorrow.  If you get a chance, stop by my sister's blog, Meet the Dubiens.  She has a FABULOUS bento box giveaway going on right now.  And ... one last thing ... tomorrow is a very special day for my blog - tomorrow is my one year blogoversary.  You've got to stop by and see what SURPRISE I've planned for you!

Happy Sunday!!!






8 comments

  1. Great use of the foldable!!! So nice to break up the examples!

    ❤ Mor Zrihen from...
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  2. Love it! I always look forward to your math journal posts!

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  3. Hi Dearest Jen:

    If I could have a "Do Over" for this year, it would be to do Math Journals.
    We did a few, but not enough to have a routine.
    The kids loved the ones we did--and, shockingly, they followed directions SO well (a bit unusual in my room...)
    Your posts have given me the inspiration to do this better next year--starting in September.
    Thanks, as always, for being my "math motivator" (Among other things!)

    Kim
    Finding JOY in 6th Grade

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  4. I have shared your math journal ideas with my fellow 3-5 teachers. Thanks for sharing!

    learnplayandhavefun.blogspot.com

    Jessica

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  5. DO YOU USE A BINDER WITH PAPER OR A NOTEBOOK FOR YOUR NOTEBOOKING? I AM GOING TO START DOING THIS NEXT YEAR, THANKS!

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    1. Thank-you! My students use a notebook for their math journals. I use binder paper when I made the models for the students, and I store them all in a binder so when a student is absent, he or she can borrow my model and complete their own.

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  6. I am addicted to Math journals. They truly make Math more meaningful to the students. Thank you for sharing and adding ideas to the mix. You are a Math guru!

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  7. I used your idea for the multiplication foldable with my fifth graders today. They had been having difficulty with the concept of multiplication . Your box model was a hit. I have never seen it done in this way and so when we went over it, the concept took. My kids did not want to stop doing multiplication! Thank you for sharing!

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