A Go Figure Debut for A Texan Who Isn't New (to Teaching 5th Grade)

 Meet Ben Reincke. He is heading into his 16th year of teaching 5th grade. He spent his first six years teaching year-round school in Raleigh, NC before moving to Austin, Texas where he has been teaching for the last nine years. He has taught all subjects, but this year, he will focus on science and social studies. For him, it doesn't matter what subject or subjects he teaches; it's about providing the students with an environment that promotes learning and collaboration.

Ben’s favorite part of teaching is the growth he sees in his students throughout the school year. At the beginning of the school, he always worries about how he’s going to get them to where they need to be because it seems almost impossible, However, every year, by March or April, he observes a tremendous amount of growth, maturity, and hard work in his students. It makes the long hours of teaching and the constant stress worth it.

Ben loves teaching the various ability levels as well as seeing struggling students begin to master concepts. The moment when the light bulb goes off in a student’s head, and the student grasps a concept they've struggled with is priceless.

Ben’s classroom is a place where students feel safe and empowered to be creative and free to make mistakes. His students love to complete hands-on activities, interactive games, and have fun while learning. He encourages and rewards hard work and collaboration. Ben is passionate about giving every student the opportunity to grow and learn as they progress through the school year.

Outside of school, he enjoys spending time with his fiancé (a 6th grade science teacher). They love wake surfing, taking their dog, Tech, out for a walk and to swim, traveling, reading, playing in addition to watching sports, and running. Last summer, they did a big European trip to France, Switzerland, the Netherlands and England. This summer, they spent time in Vail, Colorado and Tillamook, Oregon along the coast. Ben loves spending as much time outdoors as he can, even in the 100+ degree Austin heat.

Reincke's Education Store features 1,165 products (1,145 paid and 20 free). There is a heavy emphasis on math and science content. The science content has a large amount of material specific to the Texas science curriculum. The math content has a growing number of products outside of the fifth grade content. These math resources range from grades 3-7. Ben’s favorite things to create are digital escape rooms and digital review games that are based on his dog called Tech Time. (Look carefully at his resource covers, and you’ll spot this very photogenic dog!)

FREE

Ben’s featured FREE resource is Decimal Place Value Tech Time. Looking for a new, exciting, and engaging product to review decimal place value? This can be used for test prep (STAAR), small-groups, extra practice, sub plans, review, math centers, etc. Enrich your decimal place value unit/lesson with an exciting game called Tech Time base4d on his dog named "Tech".

This PowerPoint (which can be uploaded and used in Google Slides) will motivate your students by allowing them to compete with each other to earn points and win the game! Tech Time will leave your students wanting to play more!

$3.50

Ben’s Paid resource is an escape room called Comparing and Ordering Decimals Escape Room. Escape rooms are a fun way to review math standards while encouraging collaboration, problem solving and critical thinking. Students can work together or alone to escape being locked in the school. This escape room contains eight stations (4 comparing and 4 ordering). Students must answer the questions and follow the directions to decipher the code. They type the codes into a Google Form to move onto the next station. The final page gives them a verification code to complete their escape.

Ben also has a Shopify Store where you can find his resources. Shop there or go to his TPT store. With over 1,000 products, you are sure to find one that you can use in your classroom.