Friday Afternoons

Every Friday afternoon there are two special activities that happen in our classroom. The first is our weekly math tournament.  Students are divided into teams of four, which are their "home teams".  All week students practice the week's multiplication/division fact family with their home team.  (Right now we are studying x4.)  On Fridays, students compete with kids from other teams who are of similar ability as them. They take turns being the "teacher", showing the other two people flashcards. Whoever answers correctly first wins the card, and the person with the most cards at the end of the round is the winner. After three rounds, 1st place wins 60 points, 2nd place wins 40 points and 3rd place wins 20 points to take back to their home teams.  Here are some pictures of students during this week's tournament.

The second special activity on Friday afternoons is star time.  Star time is a reward for students who have done a great job during the week.  To qualify for star time in a given week, students must have:

•  gotten their planner signed every night
• completed and handed in all homework assignments on time
• followed all classroom rules

During star time, students may play an educational game, do a puzzle or use math manipulatives.  These activities provide students with opportunities to build logical thinking (e.g. chess, puzzles), vocabulary (e.g. Scrabble, Boggle, Outburst), deductive reasoning (Guess Who?, Head Bandz), and math skills (e.g. Monopoly. Yahtzee), as well as have fun!  Students who do not qualify for star time use the period to catch up on incomplete assignments.