This year we've had ten snow days. That's an awful lot more than normal and I think it might be a record for my lifetime, including when I was in school. Unfortunately, they've been scattered throughout the past two months, so we have had a very hard time getting into any sort of routine since Christmas break ended nearly two months ago. Yesterday and today were snow days and they've already announced a delay for tomorrow. The biggest problem with that is that we were slated to start our six days of reading and math testing today so now our schedule will be even stranger than before. I just keep trying to roll with the punches, but it's getting harder and harder to believe I'll have time to finish my curriculum if things keep going this way.
I'm going to see just two of my classes for 45 minutes each tomorrow (when we usually have 90 minutes), so I wanted something light and active for my poor kids who will have spent the morning taking a 99-minute math test and then have to come back to me for even more math!
Enter the Pot of Gold activity developed by KFouss. I used her completing the square version last school year and it was a hit. I made a small change by including some coloring. Is it necessary? Absolutely not. Will it help my kids have some fun and be motivated after testing? I think so. It might also breed a little competition among the groups when they see certain groups making faster progress.
The files are below. If you don't have the font KG Begin Again, go download it now. I'm pretty sure these files will be formatted terribly without that font.
First up, systems:
Next, factoring polynomials:
How do you keep kids working when it's testing season?
Mathematically yours,
Miss B
I know exactly what you mean about snow days. Tomorrow is our school's 23rd snow day this school year!
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