Today I am getting all my journals ready for my kiddos that are coming to me in two weeks!?!?! I found this pretty impressive product for 4th grade math prompts last year and never ended up using it. Well this year I'm going to give it a shot!
It's pretty great! This product comes with 90 different math prompts that cover the different standards for the Common Core, a table of contents so you know which standard is covered in which standard, a rubric, ideas for ways to incorporate these into your class and much more! Totally worth $9.95! And no, I was in no way paid or asked to review this product, I'm just that excited about it ;o)
Thanks to my hubby who cut these composition notebooks in half with his table saw, I was able to get these perfect sized notebooks to use! This product comes with two different rubrics and both rubrics are given in a one page format (to put in a journal) and large enough to put as posters on your wall. Neither really worked for my half composition notebooks so I just retyped it into a smaller format.
I printed both the rubric and the journal cover that I created on a Post-It Full Label Sheet. You can easily print this on normal paper and have your students, or yourself, tape it into the journal. The truth is, I ran out of Scotch tape and have loads of the full label sheets, lol. They are pretty cheap at our local office supplies store with my teacher discount. All I have to do is cut, peel, and stick and they are ready for my students!
I placed the rubric on the inside cover so that students can always go back and refer to everything they need to get the best possible score.
Finally, place the covers on and TA-DA! All done! Once I meet with my team and we discuss lesson plans, I will print out the prompts/labels based on which standards we are teaching.
One of the things I am most looking forward to with these journals is that not only do my students get a chance to show how THEY like to solve the problem but they also have to EXPLAIN how they solved the problem.
Well my husband had the honor of picking ten random numbers out of everyone who commented on the giveaway for my Problem Solving Strategies Flip Chart! I made him hide in another room and call out numbers so he couldn't see who he was picking (that's as fair and legit as we get in this house, lol). Here are the winners and you can expect an email with your goodies today! If you would like your own copy you can click on the photo above and find it in my TPT store :o)
Katie (the very first comment)
Amanda Yoshida
Overachiever
Ursula
Kellard
Katie (signs her name Kat)
Mandy
Monica R.
Jill Hatcher
Rachel Yates
I will be sending these through email, so if you are a non-reply comment blogger, please change it!!! If you see your name here and still have not received your Flip Chart by tomorrow that is because you are a non-reply blogger. Email me through the blog so I can send it your way!
This is my second Guided Math book study (two summers in a row) and I am L.O.V.I.N.G. them! This year's book study is all about Guided Math Conferences. I can't begin to tell you what an impact guided math groups had on my kids last year. Now to be fair, it was my first year teaching math so I have nothing to compare it to but... 93% of my math kids made gains on "the big test." That's huge!!! And to be honest, I think the way I formed my math block had a lot to do with it. So I knew when this book study came along to enhance my guided math groups, I had to jump on it!
Today's chapter is all about the different types of conferences! Now, be fair warned: it is a long post but there might or might not be some goodies for you if you hang in there ;o). The whole point of having conferences with your kiddos is that through these conversations you are helping build your student's confidence while also getting the information you need to help get them to the next step. Here is the definition of each type of conference along with some of the things I thought were important from the chapter!
1. Compliment Conferences: teachers use these conferences to motivate young mathematicians or to lift the spirits of discouraged learners.
beneficial in the beginning of the year
focus your attention on what they are doing well to reinforce their strengths as mathematicians
build relationships, confidence, and trust
lift their spirits and increase engagement
we usually focus on what students are doing wrong in the problem and try to fix it - SWAP IT! Focus on what they are doing right!
motivate students to make mathematical connections and use previously mastered skills to help with current learning
2. Comprehension Conferences: the focus of these conferences is on assessing and then extending the degree of student comprehension of mathematical concepts.
can be used to verify learners' understanding of new or previously taught math concepts
serve as a formative assessment to shape upcoming instruction
lead students to think more deeply and critically about the math they are working on
3. Skill Conferences: the aim of these conferences is assessing and then extending the skills of students, including both process and computation skills.
similar to comprehension conferences but these check what the student can do, not what they are learning about (may overlap though)
used to assess prerequisite skills
good formative assessment
4. Problem-Solving Conferences: these conferences are used to explore the problem-solving strategies being applied by students and then to strengthen their toolbox of strategies, if needed.
Problem-Solving Process
Understanding the Problem
Devising a Plan
Carrying Out the Plan
Looking Back
Problem-Solving Strategies:
Guess, Check, Revise
Create an Organized List
Create a Table or a Chart
Draw a picture, use manipulatives, or act it out
Look for a Pattern
Simplify the Problem
Write an equation
Work backward
This website has "math stories" for most of the strategies to show kids examples on how to use each strategy!
5. Student Self-Assessment and Goal Setting Conferences: together, students and teachers review progress toward meeting learning targets and establish learning goals.
LOVED this quote!: "Students who set goals, make flexible plans to meet them, and monitor their progress tend to learn more and do better in school than students who do not." This part always seems like such a time suckage but it really is SO important! The kids actually understand what they are work towards and are now working smarter not harder.
encourage students to review and clarify learning goals, their progress, and set their "next steps"
students are essentially answering these three questions
"Where am I going?"
"Where am I now?"
"How can I close the gap?"
students set specific learning goals! The goal should be difficult but achievable with effort.
identify the goal
include a plan of action
time frame (how long till they accomplish their goal)
evidence of accomplishment (how can they prove that they've accomplished their goal?)
6. Recheck Conferences: Teachers use these conferences when they want to see if students are using what they learned during earlier conferences.
follow-up on progress
can be through a variety of methods: observations, written assessments, etc.
an effective and comprehensive way of verifying students' mathematical progress
Whew! You made it! That really wasn't sooo bad, was it? As I was reading this chapter I kept thinking to myself how I do some of this anyway, just maybe not in a formal conference setting (and it doesn't always have to be that way), but I also realized I need to make a point to do more of these conferences in general, especially the student self-assessments.
I loved how throughout the chapter the example teacher kept referring to their anchor chart of problem solving strategies to use. Well I do not have one of those in my room (shame on me!) but I wanted every students to be able to access it quickly and have one of their own to take home as well. So what does a teacher do when she can't find what she wants or needs... She creates it! I have made my own Problem Solving Strategies Flip Chart to create with the students.
Inside you will find steps on how to solve a problem for that particular strategy and an example word problem along with space to solve! Now I fair warn you, I teach intermediate and so the problems and wording might be a little more than your kiddos can handle. That's okay though!!! Want to know why??? Because I made it editable! The steps and word problem areas are both editable for you to fit it with your own class. Even if you teach intermediate, you might want them to write the steps themselves. Go hog wild!? All I ask is that if you do edit it in any way and/or post on it later, please give credit where credit is due.
You can win your own copy of this flip chart if you pin it and leave the pin address where I can find it in the comments section, along with a nice little note! I love to read notes :o) The giveaway will only last until tonight, July 20, 2014, at 10:00 PM EST (that's when I turn into a pumpkin and have to go to bed). After that it will be for sale in my TPT store! I will be picking multiple amounts of people to win! I'm thinking 10... but let's see how many comments there are. If there way more than I expect then I will pick even more winners! Yea it'll be like Oprah, "You get a flip chart, you get a flip, you all get a flip chart!!!!!!" Well maybe not all, but who knows!? You'll have to wait and find out ;o)
Check out all the other fabulous blog posts about this chapter as well! Happy Sunday y'all!
Hey y'all! Today's post is another Sunshine State Book review for the book 8 Class Pets + 1 Squirrel Divided by 1 Dog = Chaos by Vivian Vande Velde.
Here is the summary from Amazon:
Twitch, the school yard squirrel, has really gotten himself into a bind this time. While trying to escape from a hungry owl, he roused the principal's dog and got chased into the school. Now he's locked in for a dangerous and disastrous night. Can Green Eggs and Hamster, Sweetie the library rat, and the other school pets save Twitch from the crazed dog, Cuddles? In this uproarious chapter book, a group of small animals manages to turn an elementary school into a real zoo.
I loved this book! It was SO cute! It's essentially a comedy of errors as this squirrel is running through the school, classroom to classroom, looking for help trying to escape an angry dog. As he visits each classroom he also finally meets the class pets he has only seen through the windows. Each chapter is a new class pet and these characters are hysterical! I think my favorite is Miss Lucy Cottontail (the bunny rabbit in second grade). She is very smart, almost too smart for her own good, and doesn't really understand how others are not as smart as her. Needless to say we've all had a kid like this in our class and I just love them! They might drive some people batty and others might think they have bad manners but I don't know what it is, I just like them! So of course, I love Lucy - which is also my favorite TV show ;) Fancy that!
Now, this SSS list is for third through fifth grade but I think this book falls into a much broader category. It is a very short read and a very easy read. Here are it's stats:
You look at that and say, "Besides the small amount of page numbers, what's the big deal?" I think the only reason it got such a high Lexile level is because at the beginning of each chapter it tells some background information about that particular animal: what it eats, where it lives/comes from, habits, sometimes it even goes into their Latin names, etc. I really do think that some second graders could read this independently or it could even be a first grade read aloud. Some of the scientific information and sarcasm might go over their head but they will still understand the story. Now, this in no way diminishes the book in my eyes! This will be perfect for some of my lower readers and might entice them to read more of the SSS books after they finish this one. I did want to give you a heads up that this is not the normal size/readability that we have seen from the SSS list in the past ;o)
Possible ways to use this in your classroom:
Compare and contrast two of the class pets in the book.
Research one of the class pets. You can come up with your own criteria on what you want them to find and how you want them to present it to the class.
Come up with your own class pet! What would their name be? What is their personality?
Divide your class up into roles and reenact the story.
Create a book trailer.
I hope y'all enjoy this book as much as I did! Very quick read but it will bring a smile to your face :o) Next up on the review list, thanks to my friend Alison over at Rockin' and Lovin' Learnin' for the recommendation, Elvis and the Underdogs by Jenny Lee!
It's another year and another set of Sunshine State books! I'm actually pretty excited about this year's line-up. There seem to be a good mix of genres and I think my kids will really enjoy them.
I've joined up with a couple other teacher's from my county and we're meeting weekly for a Sunshine State Book Club to discuss the different books and ways to incorporate them into our classroom. The first book I read was King of the Mound: My Summer with Satchel Paige by Wes Tooke.
Description from Amazon:
When Nick is released from the hospital after suffering from polio, he is sure that his father will never look at him in the same way again. Once the best pitcher in youth league, Nick now walks with a limp and is dependent on a heavy leg brace. He isn’t sure he will ever return to the mound, never mind be the star he once was.
When Nick starts working for Mr. Churchill, the owner of the semiprofessional team Nick’s dad plays for, he meets Satchel Paige, arguably the best pitcher in the world. Not allowed in the major leagues because of his skin color, Satchel teaches Nick that some things can be overcome with hard work and dedication, and that just because you’re down, you are most certainly not out.
As Satchel and his unique teammates barnstorm toward a national baseball tournament, Nick wonders if he can really overcome what seems like the impossible and pitch again.
I really liked this book! It showed what life was like during this time period, not only the injustice against African Americans in the United States and baseball, but also how the American people were effected by the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. It doesn't come right out and mention these historical moments, so they are something you will probably want to discuss with your class. I also love that the chapter titles are innings, a wonderful metaphor for Nick's life: top of the eighth, bottom of the ninth, etc.
I would recommend this book for 4th and 5th graders for multiple reasons! I will read it to my 4th graders aloud because there is just SO much to discuss but your fifth graders can probably understand most of it on their own. There is tons of fabulous vocabulary, both robust and historical. There is also an ABUNDANCE of figurative language! That Satchel Paige is just full of colorful similes and metaphors! This would be an excellent read aloud during Black History month as well :o)
Genre: Historical Fiction Grades: 4th - 5th Lexile: 900 Length: 155 pgs. Food: Ice Cream, Coke (glass bottle), Sunflower Seeds, Baseball foods (although none of these were actually ever mentioned in the book)
You might or might not remember, but we usually do a Sunshine State Feast at the end of the year for our kids who read all 15 of the books. Included in the feast are games, scavenger hunts, and a food item from every book. Hence the food choices above (just in case you want to do the same)!
Supplemental Resources:
This is a short (four minute) video about Satchel Paige and his baseball career. I love that this video talks about his "mysterious age" and you will hear Satch himself say some of his famous quotes that your kids will find in the book as well!
A great companion picture book is Something to Prove: The Great Satchel Paige vs. Rookie Joe DiMaggio by Robert Skead. They mention this moment, when Satch plays against Joe, a couple of times in King of the Mound but this picture book tells the actual story of what happened at that fateful meeting.
My kids always love the little side stories and want to know more! This would be a perfect book to introduce the Great Depression, Segregation, and the Dust Bowl. Again, the author never comes out and mentions these events by name (except for segregation) but the things that are happening to the main and secondary characters are because of these events. Here are a few resources if your kids would like to know more about them.
BrainPop Great Depression - The Great Depression was a tough time for everyone. Find out just how tough in this BrainPOP movie, as Tim and Moby introduce you to life during the Great Depression! You’ll learn exactly how many Americans were out of work, as well as some of the ways that people tried to make money and survive. You’ll also find out why the Depression was actually good for unions — and why it was especially bad for farmers in the Great Plains. Plus, you’ll see how people tried to keep up hope, and why things eventually started to get a little better. Even the worst of times pass on eventually!
PBS Interactive Dust Bowl - Students will be able to make their own choices one whether they want to stay and risk it all or move away. They will experience the ups and downs of farming in the 1930's and how the market was at this time.
I hope you enjoy this book as much as I do and stay tuned for the next Sunshine State Book... 8 Class Pets + 1 Squirrel / 1 Dog = CHAOS by Steve Bjorkman.
This whole month my friend Beth from Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah Designs (you might recognize her cute stuff from EVERYWHERE, including my products) is having a birthday celebration and giving away TONS of amazing prizes! This week I am featured along with some other 3rd-6th bloggers in the prize bundles. If you would like a chance to win one of these bundles check out all her details below!
Click on the image to take you to her Facebook page
"Up for grabs this week is almost $400 worth of goodies from 40 fabulous individuals! I'm trying my best to group grade levels in bundles and this week will be 3rd-6th. This giveaway will be held by Rafflecopter. There is be a total of FOUR WINNERS this ...week; 1 Winner Per Bundle. The winners will be randomly selected by Rafflecopter. All giveaways will end on Thursdays at 8:30PM. GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!"
Many have entered but there could only be one winner!
And the winner of the GeoModel Everday Folding Shapes is.....
Congratulations Rachel and thank you everyone for entering!
All week long my girl Leigh over at The Applicious Teacher has been doing an A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. teacher appreciation week giveaway. And by amazing I mean TONS of new goodies each day. Click on the button below to take you to her blog and work your way backwards all the way to the giveaways on Monday. There is still time to enter all the different giveaways and keep your teacher appreciation week going a little bit longer!
I hope you all had an amazing week and a Happy Mother's Day tomorrow!
