Hey everyone! I'm happy to be participating in this fun "Swap Meet" blog hop, hosted by Mamma With a Teaching Mission and Hanging Around in Primary! In this hop I was paired with another teacher, we swapped products, and now I'm here to share with your my amazing review of the product I tested out!
I was partnered up with Erin from Mrs. Beattie's Classroom. I was excited to be paired up with her, because she has some amazing products in her TpT store and I knew that I wouldn't have any problem raving about her stuff! The best part of this whole "Swap Meet" was that *I* got to pick ANY item I wanted from her store. Talk about a kid in a candy shop! It was a super hard decision, but I finally ended up with her Guided Math: 3-Dimensional Geometry Centers. I knew this product would be a great fit my CGN readers, because it is LOADED with games!
So let's talk about math. For me, to be completely honest, I HATED teaching it. I am not great at math myself, never was, so teaching it was a bit of a nightmare. Had I had a resource like this when I was teaching in the classroom full time, it would have been more of a dream.
This format helps students to know what is expected of them AND it provides easy structure for you, the teacher. If only I could rewind and have set up my math instruction like this...sigh...
But the good news is there is still time for YOU! In this packet of centers, you will find three sections:
The "T" in math is not included here because it would look different for each classroom depending on the needs of your students. "T" stands for "teacher's choice."
I wanted to highlight for you some of the fun resources that are found within each type of activity.
First up is "Math With Someone." Among the activities were games like "Eye Spy," a partner game for identifying shapes around the room, and "Guess My Rule," where students take turns sorting different geometric solids according to a rule and their partner tries to guess what the rule is based on the objects in the group.
One of my favorite center games from this section was "Solid Swat."
Partners are given a set of cards with solid shapes on them, divide them evenly, and then flip up a card at the same time. The object of the game is to be the first player to "swat" the cards when players flip up the same solid shape.
This game is awesome for helping students to really get to know the characteristics of each shape such as the number of faces, the names, the number of edges/corners..etc.
The next section in the product, "At Work on My Own Activities," had some really great individual activities as well!
One that I really liked was the "Solids and Nets Puzzles."
To be honest, when I taught geometry in 4th grade, I never thought to have students match up the solid shape to what it would look like if you had "opened up" the shape. I love the idea of this because, again, it really helps the students to get to know the characteristics of the shape.
The next activity in this section I liked was the "Super Solids Card." A) There is very little prep, and B) It's pretty straight forward to the student. They simply look at several different cards with solid shapes on them and complete a chart for the cards.
(I'm just gonna go ahead and be honest and say that I really had to refresh my own memory about some of the names of the solid shapes. It's been a while since I taught geometry. You're never too old...)
Finally, in the 3rd section of this product were the "Hands-On Manipulative Activities." This section really encouraged students building the shapes to understand the shapes.
My favorite of this section was the "Super Skeletons" activity:
All you need are some straws (or toothpicks or pipe cleaners, whatever you have on hand) and some mini marshmallows, (and if you have a sweet tooth like me, then you ALWAYS have those on hand!)
Students use the tools to build their geometric model! One marshmallow for the model, two for my mouth :) Done and Done!
If I had to give a grade to this product, it would be an "E" for EXCELLENT :) I also love how she has MANY more "Guided Math Resources" in her TpT store for all different grade levels and topics. Definitely worth checking out!
Now for the extra fun part: The giveaway!
You have the chance to win this amazing product along with 15 other teacher-tested products in one giant prize (marshmallows not include...hehe)! Wahoo! As you go through each blog, a secret message will be revealed that you will enter into the giveaway on each blog!
Now, you must head on over to more blogs to see other fabulous products in action, I insist! :)
