Tuesday, September 30, 2014

What Are the Other Kids Doing? Wednesday Linky ~ Anything Goes!

Good day to you! What are the other kids doing?  It's a linky dedicated to sharing independent practice activities that you use with your students that make it possible for you to meet with small guided math groups.  Many teachers call them math centers or workstations--whatever you call them, these activities are designed to engage students in meaningful practice away from the teacher. For details about linking up, click here! We'd love for you to join in the sharing!


Today's Topic---Anything Goes!!

How do kids know where they are going?

My adventure with guided math has been a very loooooong one! I never liked teaching math whole group and frankly, didn't care for teaching math at all. I was an "Reading / Writing" kind of teacher, and this went on for several years.  I blame the math program my district was doing, I was NOT a fan (and I think everyone in our district knew it), and I just couldn't find my "niche" as they say.

Then Common Core came along and I want to know why I never learned math this way!!!  I have retaught myself math and retrained myself to problem solve the way I am now teaching my students. Ask my students now what my favorite subject is and they will say "math"...true story, it actually happened today when we have some high school kids come read to our class. One high school student said his favorite subject was math and all my little pumpkins said, "That's Mrs. Stenger's favorite too!"

One thing I struggled with was time. When I had kids in groups, I would take too much time and then not meet with all the kids. I thought, "Well my high kids don't need me everyday", but that is just not true! Of course they do!!

So I created a PowerPoint (my favorite program...I use it for everything:) in which I meet with all my students everyday! I also set the slide timers so that I meet with each groups for 12 minutes (wanted 15 but it just didn't work out), and then a slide in between rotations for clean up that is 1 minute and 30 seconds.


It is working out so well for my class and for me. It keeps me on track and my students know where they are going. It's a win-win!
I put up instructions on what they are to do at each rotation/station so I am not interrupted in my guided math groups. That time is precious, right!

Please adapt or modify it as you need....I hope it helps! Download the PowerPoint here!



Wednesday, September 24, 2014

What are the other kids doing? Wednesday Linky -- Task Cards

Welcome! What are the other kids doing?  It's a linky dedicated to sharing independent practice activities that you use with your students that make it possible for you to meet with small guided math groups.  Many teachers call them math centers or workstations--whatever you call them, these activities are designed to engage students in meaningful practice away from the teacher. For details about linking up, click here! We'd love for you to join in the sharing!


Today's topic--Task Cards!

Sorry for the quick post today--just want to share some freebies, a giveaway, and some new task cards I have added to my collection to use this year.

When I think about the abundance of independent activities I have for kids to do during guided math rotations, task cards make up quite a small portion.  I have created some to meet my student's needs that are differentiated, but I have not been able to find a lot out there that "fit" my needs--even though there are oodles of them.  I have plans to create more, but as we teachers know--so many things and so little time...

With this being said, when I do use task cards I always provide an activity sheet and a self-checking answer sheet.  If one is not provided with task cards purchased, I create one.  I also organize all task cards on binding rings for ease of access/to keep them together, and they are placed in workstation drawers according to student need.

My Show Me the Money! task cards are some of the kids' favorites, and they are differentiated.  You can check them out in my TpT store, but you can also enter below to win one of two copies!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Money-Task-Cards-Show-Me-the-Money-Differentiated-Math-Center-Cards-522227

a Rafflecopter giveaway
You may also like the following freebies listed under Workstations & Games on our navigation bar...

AND Addition with Models & Numbers Task Cards. They are FREE, too!


https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_1w1VapXOL_dC1SaTBHUnpXSUk/edit?usp=sharing

Finally, here are a few task cards created by others that I have purchased and plan to use this year.



Please feel free to share your task card ideas in a comment or link up!

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

What are the other kids doing? Wednesday Linky - Reading & Writing About Math

Coming to you a little late in the day for our linky, What are the other kids doing?  It's a linky dedicated to sharing independent practice activities that you use with your students that make it possible for you to meet with small guided math groups.  Many teachers call them math centers or workstations--whatever you call them, these activities are designed to engage students in meaningful practice away from the teacher. For details about linking up, click here! We'd love for you to join in the sharing!

Today's topic---reading and writing about math!

We would like to share some things we already do and some plans for the future. :0)

 
Class Math Books

This summer, Sarah and I participated in a reading/writing professional development workshop. The speaker was fabulous, and we got a lot of great ideas from her. One thing that she discussed was creating class books. Now this is something I have done many, many times throughout my teaching life, but what stuck out was she mentioned writing math books.....WHAT?!?!   How simple, but yet how difficult for me. When I've done class written books before they typically were by month and each book had a theme with a prompt the students wrote about. They also focused on English/Language Arts.

So my thoughts are this could easily be done during small guided math groups (in which each group writes their own books, or parts of a whole class book), or it could be done as a rotation/station.

Now, I am admitting that I have not done this yet, but wanted to put it out there for anyone to help me out with, or brainstorm with me:) so I have no pictures to share.  If anyone out in the wonderful world of teaching would like to share how they have created math class, I would love to hear your ideas and how they worked in your classroom.  I plan to come back and let you know how they worked in mine....once I get it all figured out!


Over the years, I have tried to engage my students in writing about math in different ways.  Here are some questions/prompts that I have used with third and fifth grade during independent work time while working with small guided math groups. I have tried to organize some of the most effective prompts/ideas I have used into categories in list form.

Reflecting
  • Explain what you learned today.
  • How can what you learned today be used in your life outside of school?
  • What "I wonders" do you still have about what you have learned?
  • Create an illustration showing what ______________ means.  Then write a caption to go with your illustration. (various vocabulary terms/concepts)
  • Make a list of the steps you learned today.
  • Describe the attributes of ___________________. (geometry)
  • Describe something you learned from a classmate today.
  • Why is it important to know how to ___________________? (many possibilities)

Problem Solving
  • Explain the strategy you chose.
  • How is this problem like another you have solved?
  • How did you and your partner's strategy differ? (partner problems)
  • What was easy for you? Difficult?
  • Would you choose to solve this problem or a similar one the same way? Explain.
  • How does this problem relate to real-life? 
  • Write a similar problem.  Take this problem and make it your own.
  • What worked well? Did not work well?
**I have also used many of the questions on my problem solving discussion fans as prompts for written reflection.  Check them out here--the download is free!

Vocabulary (insert words/concepts of choice)
  • What is the meaning of _______________?
  • Define _________________.
  • Describe _________________.
  • How are ________________ and _______________ different? Similar?
  • What is ____________________?
  • Illustrate __________________. Then write a caption to accompany your illustration.
  • _____________ is to ______________ as ______________ is to _______________ (analogies--used this with older students)
  • Create and label a model to show the meaning of __________________.
**For more vocabulary ideas--you might be interested in our previous post.  Another freebie is included!

Some additional writing activities that my students have enjoyed--some quick and others done over time.
  • writing math riddles
  • creating math comic strips
  • creating "teaching" mini-books (My fifth graders created mini-books to teach concepts to someone else younger than them.  They had to use language they would understand--could not make any assumptions.  This was a great project--challenging for some.)
  • math PowerPoints to illustrate concepts/key vocabulary (I am sure there are many other formats for creating these today--it was quite a few years ago that my fifth graders did this.)
  • writing math poetry or songs (Multiplication is... {two-word poetry}, Sing a song of ___________. {use familiar tunes as basis}, acrostics, shape poems)

Something I have especially like to use with ALL grade levels is list making.  Here are some examples...
  • Make a list of ways to make 20.
  • How many different things could you buy with $5?
  • Find at least 6 items in the room that are about one foot long.  Write them in a numbered list.
  • How many ways can you show/represent 100?
  • Make a list of real-life times when you need to add.
  • Look around the room.  Make a list of as many object as you see that are arrays. (love to do this one with my second graders--you would be surprised at the number of arrays in your classroom)
  • List all of the math words you know. (This is quite telling!--do at various times throughout the year.  I let my kids use the resources around the room.  They must know what each word means.)
  • Write some examples of how you can use measurement (of length) in your life outside of school.
  • List the skills you need to figure the area of a garden.

Math Picture Books

Using picture books during rotations/independent work time is something I have started doing more of in the past few years.  Most of the texts I use are those that I have used as mentor texts, so students have knowledge of the texts before exploring them during independent work time.  You can click here to see some of the texts I have used.  I have just started adding to this page of our blog, so additional texts and reflection sheets will be include in the future.  One of the texts my students liked most last year was The Big Buck Adventure by  Shelley Gill.  You can read more about how I used the text in a post on our Hoots N' Hollers blog.  This particular text was actually used during guided reading rotations.  You will also be able to download the free reflection sheet!


Please feel free to link up your reading and writing ideas for independent work time.  We love it when you share!  Don't have a blog--please share in a comment!

All the best for the rest or your week!

Saturday, September 13, 2014

Dr. Nicki Newton Q & A #2 -- Guided Math in Middle School

At the beginning of August, we finished a wonderful book study of Dr. Nicki Newton's Guided Math in Action.  Over the course of the study, Dr. Nicki contacted us and offered to help in any way she could--SO we asked followers to send us their burning questions.  You can click here to read Dr. Nicki's first Q & A, and today we share her second Q & A.


We received various questions related to using guided math in middle school, so we compiled a few questions to sum them all up and sent them on to Dr. Nicki. Below are her responses.

Have you used guide math with middle school students (6-8), and how might the structure and procedures compare with K-5?

I have used guided math with middle school students.  The framework is the same.  There should be a fluency workstation, a digital workstation, a writing workstation (try using interactive math notebooks --- another notebook resource), and then a workstation that addresses the current unit of study.

How might guided math look in a middle school classroom with a schedule that allows for meeting with students during 40-45 minute blocks daily?  

The flow should be:

  • 5 min. Routines (Number Talks, Number of the Day, Fraction of the Day, Decimal of the Day {alternating these})
  • 10 min. Whole Group Mini Lesson
  • 20 min. Student Activity Period (Guided Math {10 min. each group: 2 groups a day} and Workstations)
  • 5 min. Debrief  

What specific suggestions do you have for using guided math with older students (6th grade and up)?

I think it is really important for middle school students to be working with manipulatives.  They should be using the decimal squares, base ten blocks, decimal wheels, fraction bars, etc.  I will be doing a post on my blog about Tool Kits for upper elementary and middle school in a few days.

Can you recommend some guided math resources for middle school teachers?

Here are a few middle school resources:

Thanks again to Dr. Nicki for taking the time to do two great Q & As with our followers!

If you haven't already, check out our What are the other kids doing? Wednesday Linky basic facts post for some great freebies and a chance to WIN a fabulous resource for teaching basic facts!  Click here to read more!

http://www.guided-math-adventures.com/2014/09/what-are-other-kids-doing-wednesday_10.html

Until next time! All the best for a wonderful weekend!

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

What are the other kids doing? Wednesday Linky -- Basic Facts

Welcome back to our Wednesday linky--What are the other kids doing?  It's a linky dedicated to sharing independent practice activities that you use with your students that make it possible for you to meet with small guided math groups.  Many teachers call them math centers or workstations--whatever you call them, these activities are designed to engage students in meaningful practice away from the teacher. For details about linking up, click here! We'd love for you to join in the sharing!

Today's topic-----basic facts!

There are oodles and oodles of ways to independently practice basic facts, and we have probably used an oodle of them. :0)  We would like to share a PHENOMENAL basic facts resource for teachers, some free stuff, and a couple of apps/websites.

First up is a resource that is a MUST-HAVE for anyone teaching basic addition and subtraction facts---Mastering the Basic Math Facts in Addition and Subtraction: Strategies, Activities, and Interventions to Move Students Beyond Memorization by Susan O'Connell and John SanGiovanni. It is worth money--TENFOLD!! Not to mention, a multiplication and division version is available as well.


Each year, I pretest students, as their knowledge of basic addition and subtraction facts is wide-spread--this never changes.  Once I have formed groups based on student's needs, it's time to begin meeting with guided math groups and providing independent practice opportunities for students that are differentiated.  O'Connell and SanGiovanni's book helps a teacher accomplish all of these goals.

A CD is included that contains assessments, tools (from dot cards to ten frames and number lines), parent letters, activity sheets to accompany literature suggestions, reflection sheets, and tons of games and activities.  AND its editable!!  I edited all of the games to include a list of materials, changed the font, and changed up some of the directions to meet my kids' needs.  EASY!

Here are just a few of the games provided on the CD that I have edited for my students...


Woohoo! You can enter to win a copy of Mastering Basic Addition and Subtraction Facts OR Mastering Basic Multiplication and Division Facts!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Organizing independent practice workstations/games for easy student access is a must.  To learn how I organize workstations, click here!



 Enjoy a few of my basic fact freebies, too! Download here!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_1w1VapXOL_c0Y4akZGT3A2R1E/edit?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_1w1VapXOL_YUl1YUFwTlctcDQ/view?usp=sharing

Courntney and I both use apps on the iPad and some great websites for practicing basic facts as well.  Here are a couple Courtney's kids like:


I use a wonderful number bond program that I purchased on CD years ago, but it is also available as an app. Both addition/subtraction and multiplication/division versions are available at Crystal Springs Books.  

http://www.crystalspringsbooks.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=number+bonds


Another great resource is gregtangmath.com! He is the author of Grapes of Math and many more math picture books for kids.  My kids love Math Limbo!

http://gregtangmath.com/games

We would love for you to link up or share your basic fact independent practice ideas in a comment!

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

What are the other kids doing? Wednesday Linky Rescheduled

Unfortunately, we will need to reschedule today's What are the other kids doing? linky that was to post today.  We will discuss basic facts next Wednesday and have revamped the schedule of remaining linkies a bit.  We apologize for any inconvenience and hope, if you were planning to link up today, that you will return to link up next week.

http://www.guided-math-adventures.com/p/what-are-other-kids-doing-wednesday.html

Please see the revised schedule below:

September 10th -- Basic Facts
September 17th -- Reading & Writing About Math
September 24th - Task Cards
October 1st - Anything Goes

We hope to see you back here next Wednesday!