I am excited to team up with the members of The Lesson Deli for blog hop on technology ideas to use in your classroom!  The best part of this hop is that YOU CAN ENTER A CHANCE TO WIN AN iPAD MINI!  

Do you use Google Forms in your classroom?  Today I am sharing with you a great way to use Google Forms as a way to quickly assess your students using the technology available to you.  

Step 1: Log into Google and go to your Google Drive.  Select "CREATE" and then "Form" from the drop down box.

Setp 2: Name your form based on what you are assessing your children on.  For my example I used "Multiplication".

Step 3: Write your question, equation, or statement you want your students to answer.  Your questions can be anything!  You can require the students to answer multiple choice questions, true/false, or a written response.  To ensure students answer all the questions if you select "Required Question" they cannot submit their answers without answering all required questions.

Step 4: Share your form with your students.  You can email them the form for them to complete for Homework, you can have the form already open on the iPad or computer, or if they have email accounts you can email them the link and have them practice opening their email and the link.  What ever works best for you and your students.

Step 5: Students complete the Google Form in whole group, centers, small group, for homework, etc. (NOTE: you can choose a form with a design, I chose the simple one for demonstration purposes)

Step 6: Students submit their answers once they have completed all required questions.

Step 7: Review your students' responses.  In your Google Drive you will find the form you created and then the same title with "(Responses)".  Your student responses will show in a Google Spreadsheet, very similar to an Excel document.  You can easily grade your student answers without lugging home a ton of papers!

*Here is an example of a Google form for a Reading Comprehension center/assessment.

Step 8: To make grading even easier use flubaroo!  When viewing your student responses select "Add-ons" and then select "flubaroo".

Step 9:  A pop up window will appear and you can copy and paste the link for the setup steps.

Step 10:  Set up your flubaroo account by creating your class and answer key for the specific Google Form you have created.  Flubaroo will grade your student responses!  What!?! An app that grades!

I would love to hear how you use Google Forms in your classroom or if you use flubaroo!  Now are you ready to enter for a chance to win an iPad mini for your classroom!?!

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For more technology tips and apps to use in your classroom hop on over to these ladies blogs for more ideas!

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My Grandma isn't doing well. She has stage four colon cancer and can only survive on a special food/medicine.  Thursday she decided to have her feeding tube removed, meaning she has decided to stop fighting.  They have sedated her and moving her to Hospice Monday.  Please pray for her and my family through this difficult time.

"Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.  And you know the way to where I am going."

John 14:1-4

My baby was the last one to get the back to school "crud" going around this week.  He is finally back to normal, making a mess and being Mr. Bossy pants.

I need your votes!  I finished my 60 day Get Fit or Get Fat Shape Up challenge.  I lost 12 lbs, tons of inches, and went from a 14/12 to a size 10!  I also have gotten over my fear of posting these pictures. :)

Please vote for me to be one of the winners!

VOTE HERE!

Our kids are over assessed...I know I am preaching to the choir here!  Our feeder school Reading Recovery teachers came this week to help assess our 3rd graders.  The last day I left them a little treat for helping us out. 

Thursday the DOT decided it was the perfect time to start repaving the road right at the time our buses and staff headed to school.  I sat in this spot for 10 minutes!

My middle guy turned 6 yesterday!  He could choose anywhere to go eat for dinner, he chose McDonalds of all places.  After dinner he was allowed to pick out any toy from the toy store, so a Nerf gun as tall as him is what he got.

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I'm linking up with my friend Holly for her Tried it Tuesday linky!  This weekend I started decorating for fall.  Fall is my FAVORITE season!  I love the cooler weather and the beautiful colors.  It also reminds me of home.  (Holly will have to post pictures so you know what I am talking about.)  I miss seeing all the hills full of color!  Here in NC I am surrounded by Pine trees.

I started with my front door and new I wanted to attempt a mesh wreath.  I'm not sure why, but that mesh stuff really intimidates me.  I think I am a pretty good crafter, but that is one medium I have stayed away from until now.

I found this really simple Mesh Pumpkin door decor in a book my mom bought me last Spring.  Of course I couldn't find the book (thank you boys) so I went to the next best thing...Pinterest!

You can get the step by step directions HERE.

This was the perfect project to get over my fear of the mesh. It seriously took me maybe 10-15 minutes to make!

And because I personalize EVERYTHING I found a way to add an "S" to my wreath. :)  I've also done a pretty good job at training my little guy there...as soon as I hung it up he said, "It's perfect!".  Yes, yes it is son! :)  

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Recently at my son's soccer practice I was listening to a 5th grader ask her mom for help on her place value homework.  The reason I was being nosey was because I kept hearing her mom say, "You just always have a zero before the decimal".  As a teacher this disturbed me...the child (and her mother) did not understand that zero is a part of our place value system.  We don't simply "just put a zero", we are using the digit zero to represent there is no value for that particular place value.

I personally feel this is where we, educators, fail our children when teaching place value.  Not because we don't know what the digit zero is for, but simply it is a difficult concept for children to understand.  We often use examples that do not have zeros because we are afraid of the responses we will get from our students.  It is our responsibility to teach our children the importance of zero in our number system.

I am linking an old Mentor Post I did on the book A Place for Zero  I HIGHLY recommend this book for your class library! :)

I worked, and still working on, several new products this weekend and felt I should create a FREEBIE for you!  It's an overwhelming part of the year, getting routines down, adjustments periods, beginning of the year assessments, and simply realizing that summer is officially gone! So, here is a little pick me up Freebie for you and your students!

I created  a Place Value game with a fall theme for students to practice identifying the value of the underlined digit.  Yes, I included zeros! :)

You can use this game with collaborative pairs, small groups, or in a Math center.  I have included 20 game cards for 3rd grade, 20 for 4th grade, and 20 for 5th grade.  Fifth grade friends I even included decimals for you.  I hope you and your students enjoy it!

Don't forget to link up and share what you are working on in math?

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I am linking up with The Teaching Trio for The Sunday Scoop!  

My friend from Simone's Math Resources is celebrating FIVE YEARS with TpT!  How amazing is that!  She is also one of the contributors of the collaborative blog I am a part of, The Lesson Deli.

You can enter a chance to win a $10 shopping spree from EACH of these TpT stores! There are two other Giveaway Groups so hurry over and enter ALL Three!

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The UGLY CRY!

When I started this blog I didn't know much about Google and blogs and other crazy technology things.  I now know, but in the meantime all of my post from a now deactivated Google account will no longer have images, images that have been pinned...hundreds of times.  So if you click on an old post and there isn't an image I am sorry, I am going to pray I have them saved to my computer and re-upload as many as possible...as soon as I am done throwing my fit.

This is how I feel :(

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This week I completed some walkthroughs and LOVED seeing how grade levels were teaching place value!  It is pretty amazing to visit 3rd grade classrooms and see how they are all teaching the same thing, but differently by adding their own teaching style.  The same was for our 4th and 5th grade teachers.

*Note: When I do walkthroughs I go vertically, 3, 4, 5 or 5, 4, 3.  This is to see the vertical alignment within our school and to ensure I don't see the same lesson in a 3rd grade class in a 4th or 5th grade class. 

As I was visiting classrooms I was surprised at how many teachers weren't utilizing technology. One simple way to integrate technology into your math lessons is through the use videos from Youtube.  The use of videos is a great way to "catch" your students interest, teach/review the skill, and it grabs their attention because it's not just you standing up there talking. 

I have found some great videos for you to use in your own Place Value lessons!

This video is geared toward the lower grades, but is great for your lower learners to review place value and fabulous visual representation.

This is a great Place Value Rap!  It can be very catchy!  From the comments on the video from kids it is helpful and one they can't get out of their heads....every teacher's dream!

Who doesn't love School House Rock!?!  I like this video because it demonstrates the importance of Zero in place value.  I often find kids forget that Zero is a number.

Do you have a favorite video you use in your math instruction?  Please link up a math post or a video.  Thanks!

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Now that summer is over...BOO!...it's time to start planning our math lessons!  Last night I FINALLY finished my 4.NBT.6 Lesson Plan Bundle!  {Only took me ALL SUMMER to complete my 4th Grade NBT Lessons!}  In my plans I devoted a day to teaching the Partial Quotient Method of Division, and I wanted to share with you WHY. :)

Partial Quotient Method

I honestly had never heard of this strategy until last year when one of my teammates introduced it to our team.  Not going to lie...I thought this was the craziest way to divide!  After spending a weekend study the method and trying to make sure I understood it before teaching it, I now see WHY it's effective and LOVE it!

Here is a quick video I found in Youtube.

To make it easier on the kids my teammate told us to teach the students "Benchmark" numbers to use when first introducing this strategy.  One reason this strategy is helpful is because it's easier for children to think this way, especially when they don't know their facts!

We use the benchmark numbers 100, 50, 20, 10, 5, 2, and 1.  Once they are familiar with division and know their facts better then they will be able to think in terms of "80" and other numbers, like that in the video.

Interactive Notebook pages from my 4.NBT.6 Division Lesson Plan Bundle

Once I taught this method I had more students have success with this standard than in previous years when I strictly taught the standard algorithm.  The Partial Quotient strategy goes back to place value and requires students to think in terms of expanded form.  Rather than asking "how many times does 8 go into 6 or 67?" students are thinking/asking "how many groups of 8 will total 600 or 670?"  By introducing the benchmark numbers you are helping them see the place value relationship and familiarize them (and their parents) with this "new" way of thinking. :)

I still believe in teaching the standard algorithm, but only after teaching the Partial Quotient method first.  Last year I did it the other way around, and had many more "light bulbs" go off from the PQ and realized how valuable this strategy was.

Interactive Notebook pages from my 4.NBT.6 Division Lesson Plan Bundle

If you previously purchased this bundle please make sure you re-download it.  I have added the newest lesson plan bundle to this product! :)

I know many of you have been working hard on some new products this summer! So, for this week's Mathematical Monday linky you may LINK UP ONE PRODUCT OR ONE BLOG POST.  I can't wait to see what you have all created and come up with!

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