New Classroom Set-Up

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I recently changed my classroom layout! My students have been really chatty lately, so I broke up some of my table groups and now have 4 rows of 4 desks each with 2 groups of 6 in the back of the room!

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Welcome!

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Welcome 😁 Welcome to "Classroom Ideas With Mrs. C"! I am Syd (Mrs. C) and I'm so excited to enter the teacher blog world! I decided to start a blog because I've seen great resources from other brilliant teachers and want to share what's worked and hasn't in my 5th grade class.  I teach 5th grade in the Seattle, Washington area and it is my first year teaching! I graduated from UC Irvine with a MA in teaching in 2016 and now have the privilege of working in my own room.  In addition to teaching I like- spending time with my husband "K", our cat, playing Pokemon Go, watching TV, and am working on my cooking skills. Stay tuned for classroom ideas, my favorite teaching websites, and photos. Thank you for stopping by! 
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Peer Interviews & Returning To School After A Break

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We recently had a 4 day weekend - there were district wide professional development days. The kids are always so excited to be back at school & see their friends. Whenever students come back from a break they need to talk to their friends. I had the students do peer interviews. I listed the questions on the smart-board and students interviewed one peer at a time. I set a timer for 5 minutes and after the "beep" students got another partner. It was great to see students sharing their experiences, goals, and laughing with a friend. Here are the questions I posed: What did you do over the 4 day weekend? What is a goal you have for the week? How can you show kindness this week? How can you show the Woodridge Big 3 today and everyday?​
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Student Created Math Posters

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My students have been really struggling with adding and subtracting fractions with different denominators. I did a math talk with them and realized that many students lack a foundational understanding of what a fraction means and struggle with multiplication/division facts. I have been working with students in small groups and spent over 2 weeks teaching equivalent fractions, listing out multiples, etc. I was feeling defeated most of this week- I had tried lots of different teaching strategies but none seemed to be working. As a teacher its easy to feel like you've let the kids who just can't seem to get it down- I felt especially like this and tired because of back to school nights and just getting back into the 1st month of school routine. BUT THEN... On Friday- I reached out to our ITCL and admin and we talked about different strategies we could implement to support kids who lack a basic understanding of fractions. I decided to help each student create their own fraction b...
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