Classroom Scrabble! An Interactive Way to Manipulate and Learn Words and A GIVEAWAY!!

In the days leading up to Christmas break, I've been playing Classroom Scrabble with my 7th and 8th graders as they finish their work. Being a Title I teacher, I have 7th and 8th graders during their study hall time. I was looking for a way to keep them entertained after they finish their work during this time, but I wanted the entertainment to be educational. So, I created a bulletin board sized Scrabble game!

The students play against me and they LOVE it! Now, this works out great because it's all of the students against me, the teacher. So, no matter what study hall it is, if there is one person done with his or her work, that person can play a word; if it's more than one student, they can work together to play words. We've had a lot of fun with it, and I can't even count how many games we've played since school started! I think this is a fun, interactive way for my students to work with words, and a bonus: they have to do math to figure out their scores! :)

I just taped the board on top of my current whiteboard, then I printed the letters on magnetic paper, but there's a number of different ways to print and use this product. If you think this is something you can use, especially now as Christmas break nears...head on over to my TPT store and check it out:

Would you like to win a copy of my Classroom Scrabble? Just enter using the Rafflecopter below! Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Enjoy your break! :)

A Tool to Use When Classifying Quadrilaterals

What is a quadrilateral? 

Can your students easily distinguish between the hierarchy of quadrilaterals based on attributes? If so, I'm JEALOUS!! Every year I've taught math, I have a good majority of students that cannot understand this hierarchy. They think a rectangle looks exactly like the picture above and that's it! But we, as teachers, know that in math, there is a particular definition to describe a rectangle: a quadrilateral (4-sided polygon) with two pairs of parallel sides and four right angles. It's really only natural for students to struggle with this concept, since they've been told for many years that a rectangle is the blue shape you see above.

Well, last year I had an epiphany! Why can't I create a tool to help my students with this concept? There's got to be a way for them to visually assess each quadrilateral. So, I created a "foldable" (I know I'm not supposed to use that word, but what else do you call it?) to walk my students through the classifying process.

This tool works for having students list ALL names that classify the quadrilateral, but it can also work for the most specific name, as that's the last name on the list. Here's how it works: 1. Student determines if the shape is a quadrilateral, 2. Student determines if the shape is a parallelogram or trapezoid. 3. If it qualifies as a parallelogram, the student continues through rectangle, rhombus, and, finally, square. 4. Student stops writing names when the quadrilateral no longer classifies, according to the description on the flaps.

Here's some pictures of the tool in action:

As you can see, my students are going through each flap to determine the shape's properties, then writing down the specific names as it qualifies. This shape was a square (which is its most specific name), but it also can be named all of the others based on its attributes.

If you find this foldable useful, please download it in my store! There are two versions of this foldable, both included in the one product. You can print out the foldable with the notes already included, or you can bring a blank one with space for the students to write the notes. (I used the pre-printed one because I only have my students for 20 minutes at a time.)
Here's the link:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Classifying-Quadrilaterals-Foldable-1374246

Have a Happy Wednesday!