Tuesday, July 3, 2012

More Math Daily 5

One of the Daily 5 Math Rounds that will be included is Problem Solving...

Problem Solving can be difficult for students because the language can often be difficult to get around. It is important that they understand the questions and have strategies to solve them.  My plan is to create "problem solving rings' that students can pick up, and take their math journals with them to solve the problems in the ring. The down side: it means lots of pre-planning...

You can pick up 12 problem solving questions for free in my new store! Just by clicking here.



I think that once students are used to the vocabulary of problem solving I will encourage them to add their own problems and we will create our own problems during "Write about math."

Enjoy!!!

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Empowering Writers

Have you heard of Barbara Mariconda's Empowering Writers program? If not you should search up some of her modelling techniques on Youtube. She does such a great job of teaching writing step by step. I just created a checklist themed poster about interesting beginnings:
Click on the image to get the PDF file!

Owls, Owls, Owls

Check Out My Cute Owl Signs!





You can get them from my TPT store by clicking on the picture! I will be teaching handwriting next year so I did the CAFE signs in cursive to keep continuity and expose kids to more handwriting in the classroom. Let me know your thoughts by commenting below! I will always be looking for feedback and new ideas.

P.S. Check out all these awesome OWL themed products for free on Blackboard and Beyond, they are great!

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Daily 5

Hello and Happy Summer (in one week for us Canadians)!

I have been using the Daily 5 structure and Cafe in my classroom this year and have seen first hand all the great things it does for kids.Next year my plan is to run a Math Daily 5 type of structure for Math. I also plan to incorporate Barbara Mariconda's writing framework from Empowering Writers into work on writing and to hit on during mini lessons. Stay tuned for plans and more ideas!

I think that our Math Daily 5 Structure would look something like this (Based off of a similar structure from the 2sisters.com):

 Based on a 40 minute period
5 Minute Mini-Lesson
  • Focus could be on introducing a new concept or idea
  • Could be introducing a new buddy game
  • Review from previous days learning
  • Then students will check-in and move to their first round
    • My goal is to have all of our outcomes in Alberta posted as "targets" in the form of an I can statement... for example: I can skip count by 100 from any number between 0 and 1000. 
    • Students will let me know what the target is they are working on before they move to their round. The dialogue in our classroom hopefully will sound like this:
      • I am going to Math by Myself and will be working with Cups. My target will be, "I can explain what expanded form means for numbers from 0-1000." Then they will take their name label and move it to the target that they are planning on working with.
    • My reasoning for this is so that students are aware of what they need to accomplish. It follows the same ideas of CAFE from Daily 5, and will hopefully support students metacognitive thinking.
15 Minutes of First Round
  • Here students will be able to choose from these options (or they may be conferencing). I am still adding/renaming/revising these options but this is what I have so far:
    • Math with Someone: Buddy Games
    • Math by Myself: Working with Voice Thread App to describe images about math? Using paper practice sheets...
    • Write about Math: Create math problems and math stories? Could also be a description of how a student solved a particular problem.
    • Problem Solving: My goal will be to have a ring for each unit comprised of different open ended math problems.
    • Tools with the Teacher (where I am able to introduce new concepts in smaller groups)
 5 Minute Mini-Lesson

15 Minutes of Second Round

5 Minute Mini-Lesson
  • Review New Concepts that were covered
5 Minute Math Journal
  • Write about what was accomplished today/what you learned
The one thing that I am wondering about is how to best incorporate performance assessments into Math. Perhaps Math Daily 5 is not "Daily", but will be used to support concepts learned and become more fluent and literate in the new concepts taught? Still thinks to ponder on and much more to come!

Also check out this extra cute clip art from Etsy... you can purchase the Owl Friends Pack from Pixel Paper Prints on Etsy.
From Pixel Paper Prints. Not for use without purchase.



I am creating Owl Cafe Signs... coming soon to my TPT Store (which is also coming soon)!