Friday, January 6, 2017

human fraction numberline



Oh-My-Lanta! I just love this group of kids and how they are growing by leaps and bounds while we do our fraction number line activities.  Students at the beginning of the year were struggling to express what the fraction 1/2 even means.  I mean they could draw it but they couldn't verbalize what it really meant. Now they are saying things like "Well I know that 5/6 is bigger than 3/4 because they both only need one more part to get to one whole but sixths are smaller pieces so it has a smaller distance to get to one whole."  Bam! No butterfly needed.  I may have shed a tear when some of my ELL babies are expressing themselves this way. They have build such a good understanding of what fractions mean with this simple activity.
So first I have a sheet or two of the large labels. Then I start going crazy thinking of the hardest fractions I can think of (well at least at the end because they were getting a little cocky). Then I usally let the whole numbers go up first so we have a baseline of where all the other fractions will fall between.  Then I give a student a label and they become that fraction.  They have to quietly find their spot on the "number line".  After they find their place I call on a couple of student and they have to say "I agree because..."  or "I disagree because..."   I also let the student justify their position to the class and they can change if others prove to them why they are not in the correct spot.   I just know I'm going to have a future politician or lawyer because they love to defend their stance.  If they are an equivalent to a fraction that is already on the number line then then stand behind them or sit in front of them.  Some days we only do seven or eight other days we go bananas and the whole class is in the number line!

Saturday, December 3, 2016

Show me the teaching!

So I have found a new great app.  It's called show me.  Here are a few things I have used it for.
  • stations
  • recording teaching
  • reading directions
  • homework help
  • remediation
  • whole and small group lessons
Here my students are taking a test with an oral administration.  I used to have this huge group to have to read to and some would be at different spots and I would reread the questions multiple times.  Then the rest of the class would get distracted or I even had one fall asleep because I couldn't monitor.  Now I record once and they can all login and hear my recording and rewind as many times as their little hear desires.  

Here is what our math interventionist made for us.  I felt like it was Christmas morning!  She made videos for each of our heavily tested skills.  Then based on my kids tracking sheet they know they need to watch any of these that they didn't do so hot on on the last assessment.   I have been working on making videos also.  My plan is to put a qr code at the top of review sheets the kids are working on and then they can work along with me on 1/2  and do the other half on their own.  

Monday, January 25, 2016

Plickers

   Don't you just love all the new advances in technology? I do most days until our printer stops working or I can't figure out a program.  Plickers is one of those things that changed exit tickets for me.  If  you haven't seen it take a look here.  I used to use those classroom clickers but we only had one set for our school and inevitably when ever my turn came around I would forget how to use them and then have to relearn the whole program.  They also have neat apps that students can input answers, but I would need a devise for ever kid which I am far from having.
      Enter Plickers.  I copied and pasted a list of my classes.  Then I printed off the student cards. On Pinterest I've seen many neat ways to keep these cards, but for my class I glued them into their math journal.  This way they always had it with them in class (I'm religious about them keeping their math journals at school and not loosing it).  When I was in the classroom I would do lesson planning and have my Plickers app open and type in any questions  under library I want to incorporate into my lessons or exit tickets. Then during class when I am ready to give the question I write the question with the answer choices on the board,  (you can also open the app on your smartboard).  Then the amazing part (at least to me) you then open the app on your phone or tablet and scan the room while the students hold up their answer choice. On their card one side up is A another is B and so on.  It uses your camera and viola.
     I love that I can alter it to what I need.  I can add pictures into the question for my geometry units, I can do true/false, or do a question with no right answer to survey my students.  I also received an e-mail that under reports they will soon have a "score sheet" where you can group questions together and it will give an average.  "Wait you mean it will grade and score it for me?"  Yes and it's ready for the grade book!
My kids love it because it's different and no one really knows what anyone else picked so I know this is what the student knows and not just their neighbor. I think this ones a keeper.  Ba da ba da da I'm loving it!

Thursday, January 21, 2016

data tracking

   We have been hard at work taking benchmarks and looking at data.  I kind of have this love hate relationship with data, though probably more love than hate.  I love getting to see exactly which part of math that they are struggling to target for interventions with and getting to celebrate what they have already mastered.  I love developing plans for how they are going to reach their goals. The only thing I hate to see is when kids get discouraged and think that they aren't smart or  so below they are working on their data tracking plan.  We track the TEKS (Texas standards) from each test.  I try to do all of our unit tests and benchmarks but I confess with 4 grade levels and 14 classes we are doing good to get the benchmarks and a handful of unit test.  When I was in the classroom it was a little easier but sometimes I have more data than time!  Based on skill that the student still needs I form my groups.  
   My current plan during grouping is to have a mini lesson and short activity with me or the homeroom teacher. I also am in the works of videoing a mini lesson for the TEKS so they can watch it for extra practice or at home.  Then each student gets a practice page for that skill and completes it independently.  If they can get an 80% or better they "graduate" that skill.  in my tub (you know how much I love my tubs) I have one of our resource printed on green, yellow and pink.  The green sheets are their first attempt, yellow second and pink third.  This helps me and know who still is struggling and who is trucking along. I can also let students play a game based on a particular TEK from my tub . My students love not having to work on skills they have mastered and take so much more ownership of their learning this way.  I also reward them when they graduate all of their skills!


Friday, August 7, 2015

More games ideas for my math tub

Ok so technically these are not different than my math tub I showed in a previous post, but I am working on un-getto-fying  my tub.  Since I will no longer have a classroom (picture me laugh crying at this point)  I gave away my old tub to my fifth grade math teacher and am in the works to make my fourth and third grade teachers these tubs too.  So after making a million qr codes for the candy land games one of my teacher friends said she just uses a generic code for a,b,c, and d and then just copies and uses them over and over again.  Light-bulb!  So now my fourth and third grade tubs will have these handy qr codes on the back of their multiple choice questions well at least when I get though making them. Right now they are taking over my living room!  I just need 100 more hours of Fixer Upper to finish.  Aren't Jojo and Chip adorable! So here is a copy of the generic codes I use.  Have fun with them!

Saturday, June 13, 2015

Graphing coordinates in the shower

This past year some of my students struggled to really understand how graphing looked and even though they are 5th graders some could tell me the coordinates and even how to get there but would not plot their coordinates correctly.  So because I wanted them to have a more hands on way to practice and because I hate doing worksheets I came up with this activity.  I used a large shower curtain.  I drew a grid on it but did not label it so that I could change up the scale on them if need be.   I would then give them a word problem that they would have to create a function table and label the rule.  Then they got to the fun part.  I usually gave two x and y coordinates on stickies and would make them fill in the rest.  Then they placed happy meal toys on the coordinates and yard sticks to make the line segments. 




When I was in first we used lots of shower curtains for games like splat, hundreds number charts, and graphing.  Really the possibilities are endless! 

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Create with math

So this started out as more of a project for my G.T. kids but others saw what they were doing and begged me to let them do it too.  Some of them even asked if they could take it home and do it for fun.  Math for fun!  Be still my beating heart.  So I started putting it into our math café. 
So these are the tasks I let them do.

  1. Poster Create an anchor chart type poster include any necessary steps, vocabulary, and any picture that would help connect aid to the concept.
  2. Song write the words down and have a tune with some motions. I will record you singing the song.  You can use props if you want.
  3. Story- Create a story that would help connect the key steps or main ideas of the mathematical skill.
  4. Graph Create a question about the mathematical skill we are working on (it can’t be a yes or no question) then create a graph based on the information.  It can be a bar graph, pie graph, scatter plot, or stem and leaf graph.
  5. Comic strip Include main parts or steps needed to solve the mathematical skill.  Bonus point if it is funny :).
  6. Test Write five questions to match our skill.  One computation, two open ended questions and two word problems.
  7. Real life example sketch or picture of an example of a skill we have been working on in real life.   
  8. Paragraph explanation of how and why this skill would be used. 
  9. Blog Write a brief summary of what we are working on in class and tell why it is important.  After you write it out we will edit and publish it.

I keep a copy of this and a grading rubric so they know how I will be grading along with a box of craft supplies and this project board so they will have some idea of what I want.


Click on the link below to get the full description and rubric.