Vowels in Math?

Yup!  Students need to know what vowels AND consonants are in MATH CLASS!!!!

Of course, they should know them regardless, but lets face it, some students don't.

So I'm going to share a short story about how I help my students remember their vowels and consonants.  But before I do, I'd like to tell you why they need to know this for math. 

PROBABILITY!!!

 What are the odds, right?!  

Here's an example.

Henry has a set of cards. On each card is a letter from the word "MATHEMATICS". If Henry shuffled the cards and chose one without looking, what is the probability that it would be a vowel?

TA DA!!!  

There you have it! Sometimes the question asks "NOT a vowel". Now, that would be a consonant wouldn't it? 

Then we have the lovely "sometimes Y". But in math, we have enough pressure with the other letters of the alphabet known as variables.  So, we don't view the Y as a vowel.  In math class, Y is a consonant.  Please don't ask me "Y".  See what I did there?  ;)

Any who!  Onward to my story!  So after introducing the unit on probability and after going over a few practice problems, I show my students a problem similar to the one shown above. I then ask the class, "What is a vowel?" I give wait time and look across the classroom and see some facial expressions that tell me they definitely know what a vowel is and some facial expressions that, well, are really quite cute as can be because they are thinking about it.  Then I ask for a volunteer to explain. Many students do know, but there are a few that don't remember or just don't know. These are the students I created the story for.

So, here is the story.

I ask students, "Has anyone ever been to the store and then you end up seeing someone you haven't seen in a very long time?" Many hands go up in the air. Then I ask, "Does anyone here owe anyone any money?" Not so many hands go up.  Hmmm. I wonder why. Sometimes a student will blurt, "My mom does!" or something similar.  We laugh and I move along.  So then I tell them, "Let's say you answered yes to both of those questions. I wonder what you would say."  Then I let them have it, "Aaaaay!!!!  Eeeeeee!!!!  I OWE YOU!!!"  (A, E, I, O, U)

The students that know what a vowel is get it right away and start to laugh! Yes, there are a few that give an eye roll. But the students that didn't know or weren't sure learned it right away. I then explain that the other letters are consonants, NOT vowels.

There you have it. A quick and easy way to help your students identify vowels and consonants.

After this lesson, I then have students up and down the hall during changing of classes passing by my class yelling "Aaaaay!!!!  Eeeeeee!!!!  I OWE YOU!!!" and pointing in my direction.  I love it!!!  I sometimes respond with, "Yes you do!" and give them a wink.

I hope this is a story you will tell your students and I hope it helps in some way.

Thanks for reading and have a great day!!!

Don't you just love when this happens?

I love teaching my students! I try to make it fun and memorable. Well, today it was proven that I do just that, at least with some.

Here's the story...

I love to craft during my free time. I make jewelry using mostly crystal beads and charms. I've actually turned it into a small business.  I attend craft and peddler shows when I can.  I love to create and meet different people.  I often ask my husband, "How does it feel to be married to an entrepreneur?"  I hope the expression he gives me means that he knows what that word means. Jus' sayin'!

I know! I know!  You're thinking, "What does this have to do with teaching?" Just give me a little time!  I'll get to it.  :D

Well,  I was at a Mini Peddler show that took place in my home town, which happens to be the same place I have taught throughout my entire career.  So there I was, meeting, greeting and crafting.  Then out of no where, one of my former students walks in! A really sweet girl that actually graduated just last year.  She happened to be my student when I was teaching fifth grade.  Now, that was nine years ago!

I know what you're thinking. Wow!  This teacher must be in her twenties!

Anywho, while we were chatting back and forth, two of her younger siblings, a brother and a sister, came over.  She introduced me as her former math teacher and almost immediately their eyes became as huge as saucers! The sister asked in a shocked tone, "You were her teacher?" almost as if it was impossible.  I guess my gray hairs had something to do with that.

Well, the four of us continued to chat. Some of the conversation was about the jewelry I created and some of it was about how she, my former student, was doing.  She told me that she is going to school to become a nurse.  She said she really like helping people and she also loves to bake.

Now, let me give you a little background about this sweet, young girl.  As a student, she was very quiet and a bit shy. She struggled quite a bit in math, but she NEVER gave up!  Just to she how she blossomed and how she shared her future goals with me was the highlight of my day!  I am very proud of her.

As we finished our conversation, she started to walk away but suddenly turned back to face me and with a HUGE smile on her face she said, "Miss, you remember that song? Two, three, five, seven, eleven..."

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry!  You see, sometimes our students don't understand or grasp concepts right away, so you have to be creative and give those particular students what works. So, during a prime and composite numbers lesson, I ended up creating a song that would help them remember the prime numbers up to the number fifty. It's a strange but peppy beat and I am proud to say pretty catchy.

When she stopped to tell me that one thing, well, that just made me gulp and smile. Yeah. My eyes also did water up a bit.

I've encountered many former students and our conversations often do lead to "Miss, remember when..."  I love those moments, because they remind me that everything I do in my classroom with my students will impact them in some way.  They will remember.  With that said, I'm going to be sure to give them something wonderful to remember.

:D

Here are the lyrics:

The Prime Number Song

2, 3, 5, 7, 11
Unlucky 13
17 Magazine
19, 23, Michael Jordan's number,
29, the last of the twenties.

31, 37, 41, 47,
"Don't forget about me!" says 43.

I'll try to post a recording later.  

Trouble with the Nines!

Years back, I was told a funny and memorable story about a football player. I don't recall where or exactly when I heard the story, but ever since I became a teacher, I have retold the story to my students at the beginning of every school year.  To this day, I still get some of my former students approach me and say, "Miss, remember the story about the football player and the nines?!"  Ahhhh, yes. It's the funny stories they remember the most.

It goes a little something like this....

It was a cool Friday morning and the day of one of the biggest football games of the season.  As the star player, Johnny, was walking down the school hallway wearing his letterman jacket and a huge confident grin, you could hear students yelling out comments like "Good luck at the game Johnny!" and "Score big Johnny!" Johnny just kept smiling as he waved and nodded.

As Johnny entered his math class, his perky teacher, Mrs. Perkins, happily announced that they were having a "Pop Quiz". Well, that announcement sucked the happy out of Johnny right away! He held his head with both hands as he began to freak out! So many thoughts went through Johnny's head!  "Of all days, why today?" "I'm so bad at math!" "If I fail, I won't be able to play during tonight's big game!"

As Mrs. Perkins merrily walk around the classroom distributing the Pop Quiz, Johnny began to slouch down as if to melt into his seat. She placed the quiz on his desk and he jolted right back up. "Oh no!", he yelled. "Not the nines! I still have trouble with my nines!"

Mrs. Perkins announced, "You may begin! Oh, and by the way, this is a timed quiz. You only have 5 minutes!"  Of all the gasps heard in the room, Johnny's was the loudest.

He looked at the quiz and then heard his coach's words echoing in his head, "Always try your best, no matter what! That's what a winner does!" Johnny decided to take the advice his coach gave him and he began to read the quiz carefully.

"Hmm.  This doesn't look so bad. Let me see here.  I know some of these."

"I know 9 x 0 is 0 and 9 x 1 is 9. Wow!  This isn't that bad after all!  Let's see what else I know." As he went through the list of nines, he began to get a little bummed out again, because he didn't know the rest of them. Then all of a sudden, he got to 9 x 10 and yelled "I got another one! Ninety!"

After Mrs. Perkins reminded him that this was a quiz and he was supposed to be quiet, he apologized with a huge smile. He was smiling because he knew at this point, he was NOT going to get a zero on this quiz. There was still a chance that he would pass. So he continued, a little nervous, but still optimistic.

"Coach was right! Always try your best!", he thought to himself.  "Hmmm...I know I have three correct so far. Let's see how many I've missed.", he whispered.  After counting quietly and slowly as he wrote numbers down the list he exclaimed, "What?! No way I'm gonna pass now! I'm gonna miss eight problems!"  

Mrs. Perkins chimed in again and reminded Johnny that he had to take the quiz quietly so that he wouldn't disturb the rest of the class.  "Sorry Mrs. Perkins!", he whispered.  He then proceeded to look at the quiz.  "Wait a minute!", he thought. "I'm not really good at math, so maybe I miscounted the number I've missed!" So back at it he went, but this time starting from the bottom to the top.

"Well, I guess that's that! I'm not gonna play in the big game tonight for sure.", Johnny said as he took the quiz up to Mrs. Perkins. He slowly handed it over to her as he tried to keep his hands steady, but they were shaking so bad that the paper looked like there was a a gust of wind blowing on it. 

His head hanging low and as bummed out as can be, he started to turn to walk back to his desk, when all of a sudden Mrs. Perkins excitedly told him, "Congratulations Johnny! You made a perfect score on your quiz!" Johnny was so shocked that he fainted!

The moral of the story? Johnny's coach said it best! Always try your best, no matter what!

I hope you enjoyed my story. I'm sure there are other versions of it out there somewhere. My students are always amazed and most of the time I here them say, "I never noticed that the answers were like that!"

Another thing I share with them is that when you add up the digits, they equal nine.  For example, 1 + 8 is 9, 2 + 7 is 9, and so on.

I know tricks are not always the best way to teach students math, but if this one makes students feel more comfortable or even more confident with their multiples of nine, I'm going to keep sharing it with them!

If your students need practice on multiplication, here are some activities in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store that make great stations and are quick and easy to prepare.

Match 'Em Up! - Multiplication of Decimals and Whole Numbers

Multiplication of Decimals up to 3 digit by 2 digit

Multiplication of Decimals Loop Game - up to 3 digit by 3 digit

Thanks so much for reading and have a great day!!!