We Have a First Timer!

I'm super excited to announce that in my belt loop I can officially punch a hole for guest blogging!  WOOHOO!  Misty, over at Think, Wonder, & Teach and creator of 3-6 Free Resources, has invited me to blog on her page. If you aren't a follower of hers yet, you must head on over there and see all the great ideas she has to offer (and her guest bloggers).  Read what I said here or there:

(For the 18 of you that read the Kaboom post that I made earlier today, disregard.  I accidentally published a draft I made a long time ago and should have deleted.   Click here for the real Kaboom link.  SORRY! )

3 M Olympics, Water/Beach Day, and a Little Bonus

Hey Y'all!  It's Mimi from 5thGradeRocks, 5thGradeRules!  I am so honored and excited to be a guest blogger today here at Think, Wonder, & Teach.  Thanks so much for this awesome opportunity, Misty!  Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a first timer!  :)

I'm currently a fifth grade teacher in the good ol' Commonwealth of Virginia.  I've been teaching for a couple of years (13) and the fire is still burnin'.  :)  My kids refer to me as, "strict, but fun."  See, what they don't realize is that I was a kid too....who tried to get away with everything that they do....and talked as much as they do...and loved boys as much as they do....and wrote as many notes as they do.....and put gum under my tongue in hopes that my teacher wouldn't see, just as much as they do.  To me, this is an advantage.  To them, I'm pretty sure they see it as a disadvantage.  Muhaha!  Anyway, I make funny faces, tell jokes, make noises, jump up and down....whatever it takes to get their attention!!!  Pretty much, if they are bored, so am I!

So, how does Mimi keep from getting bored, you might ask?  (Just play along)

THE 3 M Olympics

I've recently had the most wonderful student teacher take over my class.  With her time coming to an end, I'm having to take back some responsibilities.  Having fifth graders, I knew my debut back into the class had to be a good one.  With the 2012 Summer Olympics coming up, what better way to make them happy than to take them outside and get that blood pumping...all the while, doing math!

 Mean, median, mode, and range aren't really hard for kids to understand, they are just hard to differentiate.  I teach my children that your MEAN (average) old teacher makes you add up ALL of the data and divide it by however many numbers were added.  We refer to the MEDIAN as the middle of our data, just like the middle of the road (I always show a picture of a median or two for my visual learners).  The MOde is the number that shows up the MOst.  My favorite of them all, the range.  I tell them to think of a park RANGEr.  If there is a bear in the park, the RANGEr would look HIGH and LOW for that bear so that it wouldn't hurt anyone.  Then once he found it, he would call Animal Control and TAKE AWAY the bear.  Poor bear.  But, I digress...We had five stations:  laps, situps, stair stepper, ball toss, and jump rope.  I divided the class into five teams.  Within each of those teams, the students had to pair up with a partner.  Here is the rotation that I followed:

  Each rotation was ten minutes total.   I let the laps station and ball station have all the team members go for ten straight minutes.  I split the other stations into to five minute sessions, switching partners.  They completed each station and recorded the data for themselves and their partner.  After they had rotated through every station, we came inside and got the rest of the team's data.  I passed out calculators and they found the mean, median, mode, and range of each of the their team's stations.  It was a huge success! Click here to download The 3M Olympics activity sheet.

  WATER/BEACH DAY

With Spring Break out of the way, the end of the year is just around the corner. After all the testing is done it's time to celebrate!  Every year, the last week of school, the fifth graders get to earn WATER/BEACH DAY! This takes place the last hour and a half of the day.  The kids get to wear their bathing suits to school (under their uniform of course...and no, the uniform doesn't ever come off), flip flops, and sunglasses. We send home a permission slip the same way we would if it was a field trip.  Oh, and the reason this is at the end of the day is so that we can stick them straight on the bus, soaking wet.  LOL  :)  Make sure you clear this with your principal!  

Beach Day consist of five stations:
1.  Dribble, Dribble, DRENCH- You need a large cup and a bucket of water.  Students sit in a big circle on the grass.  Fill a large cup with water.  Follow the rules of the traditional game Duck, Duck, Goose, BUT instead of tapping the student on the head when you say duck, you dribble a little water on their back. Instead of tapping the student on the head and saying goose, you empty out the remaining contents of the cup on their back and run for your life (not literally, they have to walk fast since they have on flip flops)!  lol  It is soooo much fun! 
2.  Beach Ball Hockey-You need hockey sticks, beach balls, and cones. (you of course can improvise with meter sticks, a chair, and a ball of any sort if need be)  Divide the class into relay teams.  Each team has to go from the starting point, hitting the beach ball with the hockey stick down and around the cone and then back to the starting point.  Easy?  No.  Funny?  YES!
3.  Over Under- You need one big sponge and two buckets filled with water per team.  Divide the class into two straight lines.  Have the student in the front dunk their sponge.  Explain that the first child will pass the sponge backwards over their head, the second child will take the sponge and pass it backwards through their legs, the third child will take the sponge and pass the it backwards over their head and so on.  The person at the end of the line dunks the sponge in their bucket and everyone turns around and faces the other way and repeats.  Whichever team gets the sponge all the way back first is the winner!  Hysterical.  (I'm laughing just thinking about last year!)

4.  Water Volleyball-You need two large sheets and some water balloons.  Divide into two teams of four and stand on opposite sides of the net. Each team holds one sheet (a person at each corner). Place a water balloon in the center of one team's sheet. The idea is to toss the balloon over the net, into the other team's sheet. This can be played with large beach towels and only two teams of two as well!  If you don't have a volleyball net, no worries, just do it without the net...it's still quite hard.

5. Beach Time Relay Race-You need 2 beach chairs and 2 beach bags filled with a towel, sunglasses, and a magazine.  Each team gets to go to the beach in a relay.  They carry the beach chair and bag down to the designated spot.  They put up the beach chair, lay down the towel, put on the sunglasses, and open up the magazine as if they are reading it.  Then pack everything back up and carry it back to the team.  Whichever team gets through everyone first wins!  :)  

Pinterest Inspired BONUS!

I am in love with Pinterest (I mean, who isn't???)!  I find so many cute and fun ideas there and I wanted to share one that I found that just warms my little heart. I made a couple of adjustments and have different fonts, but all you have to do is download, print, cut, glue, and tape it up! Click here. Score! 

This is the picture I found on Pinterest.  Sadly it doesn't have a link to give credit where credit is due. 

Well, that's all folks!    If you aren't already a follower, come on over to 5thGradeRocks, 5thGradeRules and check out some other great games, ideas, and freebies.  I'm not always this long-winded, I promise.  LOL  

Play on.