President's Day math fun!

While I do teach elementary school, we don't do a lot of holiday parties.  Part of the reason is due to a vareity of religious beliefs in my classroom but partially because we have so much to teach with the Common Core State Standards.  (Or as they're now referred to in my school district, the NACS.  Nevada Academic Content Standards.  Can't we just stick to one name?!)

However, when I find appropriate, holiday tasks, I like to use them.

One of my favorite math ones was made by another TpT seller, Rachael Parlett:

In this center, students analyze the task cards to determine the accuracy.  If there is an error and the card is false, they work together to figure out where the mathematician went wrong and how to revise their thinking.  This station lends itself perfectly to SMP #3 about critiquing the reasoning of others. 

(Best of all, this adorable center is a freebie!  Snag yours here and leave her feedback!)

New Sort! RL 5.7

So we read 90% of The Lightning Thief before winter break and watched the film adaptation on the last day of school for the calendar year.  In a perfect world, we would have finished the novel first but...that didn't happen.  

It was my first time seeing the movie and I must say, I wasn't too impressed. 

Yes, the film was cute but didn't really follow the book.  There were lots of differences and I'm glad my students picked up on these differences.  Comparing & contrasting a film with the text is a great, critical thinking skill to have!

(Plus it corresponds with RL 5.7 in the Common Core State Standards)

So I decided to make this into a sort where students can independently or collaboratively sort the descriptions into the following categories:

1. Just the book

2. Both the book and the film

3. Just the film adaptation

There are over sixty different task cards to sort and an answer key is included!

I'm excited to have my students try this center after winter break!  

You can download a copy here on TpT!