Division Detectives

Hi there!

Over the past few weeks we have been learning division during math class. I actually love teaching this concept because for many of my students it is the first time being exposed to division. This means that I get to see my students go from knowing very little about division to being master division detectives!
Let me start with why we are math detectives. I call my students this while learning division since it is their first time really learning division and I just want to have a cool nickname for them. We also use this name to help us remember to look for clues in our problems that will help us know if we are dividing or using a previous skill we have already learned.
After all that hard work of learning division, my detectives needed a nice warm drink to relax too. The exciting activity we did for division was making hot cocoa mugs.

I drew and printed this mug on various colors of card stock. I went with card stock since it was thicker and would hold the pom pom's glued on better. I hate when projects start to get wavy while being hung up in the hallway. I also went with with pom pom balls instead of marshmallows because I just can't get myself my hang food up in the hallways. That is just me - I do think this would be adorable with marshmallows!

To start, on a scrap piece of paper I had each student write out and solve a division problem that would not have a remainder. I checked each of these problems to make sure I didn't see any errors. Once that was done, students were allowed to pick the color of there mugs and get to work.

Once all students were finish, I had them write their names on the handle of the mugs so we knew who the owner of each mug was. :) 

Meet Mrs. Poplawski

Where do I start?! I am very excited to be starting my first blogging experience! This is something that I have been thinking about for quite some time now and I have finally decided I better just go for it! I am excited to share many things that are happening in my fourth grade classroom. I am looking forward to sharing ideas and activities the my kids are doing as well as developing new friendships in the large blog world!

Lets start with a little bit about me. I live in Pennsylvania and still live in the same town I have always lived in. I attended a college that was in a very rural area of the state, nothing like my hometown. I was often woken up by horse and buggies during the week. Talk about a culture shock! While I did love my experience there, I knew I needed to come back home to pursue my dream job as a teacher. 

On August 1st of this past summer, I was lucky enough to marry the love of my life, Scott. Our wedding was everything we ever dreamed of and so much more. It literally was better than anything we could have ever imagined. Bing surround by so many of our loving family members and friends is such an amazing way to start our life together. Scott and I are blessed to have full time jobs and families that support us at any given time. We are also fortunate to have two awesome little Yorkies named Shea and Lola. 

As I said before, I am a fourth grade teacher. At my school we have start switching classes in fourth grade so that means that I teach math and science. I love being able to teach these classes as they were my favorite when I was in grade school. I try to incorporate as much hands-on learning as possible. I have also been loving adding art in my lessons this year. We are being doing different art projects that tie into our math lessons as well as using interactive notebooks for science.

I have recently started using a great website called DonorsChoose. While it has been around for awhile now, not many teachers or schools in my area are taking advantage of this website. I have been extremely fortunate to have many projects funded since I started using a few months ago. I can't believe all the amazing resources that are other just waiting for a teacher and this is one of the best resources yet! If you want to see some of the projects that we have done in my classroom or are looking to give a donation please take a look at my page! The website to view it is www.DonorsChoose.og/Poplawski