Tried It Tuesday...Chocolate Covered Bacon and Cheese Burgers...

Today I'm linkin' up with my buddy Holly from Fourth Grade Flipper for Tried It Tuesday.  I'm just goin' to warn you now...this post might make you hungry!

Tried It #1:

My buddy, Miss Nelson, went on a day trip to Tallahassee on Sunday to go shoppin'.  I asked her to bring me back a surprise and she did.  Guess what though...she had already TRIED MY surprise before she gave it to me.  Yep, it happened, but I really don't blame her because I would have done the same thing. Technically, I only have half a "Tried It" for this.

Notice that opened package?

This is how much she left me with.  It was interestin' to say the least.  The bacon inside tasted more like bacon bits than actual strips of bacon.  I appreciate Miss Nelson thinkin' of me though...she's sweet like chocolate covered bacon!

Tried It #2:

This is where we always start out our Math lessons each day.  My kids are sprawled out in front of the SMARTboard.  This is where I do my whole group instruction before breakin' into small groups.  I have found that allowin' the kids to sit, lay, etc. provides a level of comfort for them when we are workin' on somethin' difficult.  As long as they are engaged, I learned long ago to give up that control of "eyes forward, sit up straight, etc." because they all learn differently.  Just because a child is not lookin' at me doesn't mean they aren't listenin' to what I have to say.   I can quickly look down and glance to see if they are with me.  I can also ask them to quickly turn to a partner to check their work or to help explain to someone in a different view if they are not graspin' what I am sayin' right away.  This might not work for everyone, but it works for myself and my lil' rockstars.

The kids then move into five small(flexible) groups.  Here the students are workin' on extra practice with long division.  One student at the group is an expert and will answer any questions the students might have if I'm busy with another student.  The students volunteer for this position, so as to not interfere with their own group or individual work.  These roles change often.

Knee to knee partners checkin' over each other's completed work usin' my tried it...CHEESE BURGERS!

This summer, I ran across Kaylynn's posts from A Teacher Without a Class about "Does McDonald's Serve Cheese Burgers?" cards.  Kaylynn designed these cards to help with long division.  You can check out the pin on Pinterest.  By the time I got to Target's Dollar bins, all the cute little cheeseburger containers were gone, so Kaylynn designed one for you to make out of paper.  I must say the cheese burger cards really help my kids to go through the steps of long division.  I'll take anything that will make division a little easier on them.  

I hope y'all are havin' a happy Tuesday.  Be sure to head over to Holly's blog to check out the other Tried Its.