Monday, June 18, 2012

Monday Made It: Math Stretches

Yay! It's Monday! Tara has made Mondays fun by hosting her awesome Monday Made It linky party. If you haven't seen it yet, there are tons of great ideas from the bloggy world:
As many of you know, I've also been participating in the Guided Math book study. This book, as well as a flipchart I found on Promethean Planet inspired me to create a Morning Math Stretch flipchart. I actually created it last summer when I read the book for the first time, but I've made some adjustments you'll see later in the post.
    
My Inspiration (You'll need to be logged in to Promethean Planet  to see).

My flipchart can be downloaded in a .zip format by clicking on this text or picture.

It is very interactive and includes all of the math stretches mentioned in the book:
  • Number of the Day
  • How my family used math last night
  • ____ makes me think of....
  • What's next?
  • Data Collection
Now, for the changes. I tried to use this on my Promethean board last year, but with 26 4th graders it was very difficult and time consuming to let everyone have their turn with the pen. It was taking entirely too long to complete this quick activity, so I eventually put it aside. I tried to brainstorm a way that I could have the activity open on more than one computer at once, but allow the students' edits to be visible in real time (like with Google Docs). Unfortunately, that is not possible currently with ActivInspire, sooooooo I slightly modified the activities.

I created them in a PowerPoint format and uploaded it to Google Docs. You can get your copy here. It has lost some of it's interactivity by doing this, but it might save some of my sanity in the mornings! Students could access the document at different stations. Refreshing the page will show the edits students make. They can type answers into a text box or use the drawing tools. Did you know that if you choose "scribble" on the line tool, you can draw letters and numbers? And it auto corrects!

*Note: If you like it, please download it and upload into your own Google Docs, so that we're not all making edits on the same doc across the country. On the other hand...that might be a cool collaboration project if anyone is interested...?


8 comments:

  1. That is such a neat idea. I really need to start investigating Google Docs. I've seen a lot of people use it, but I know NOTHING about it.

    Katie
    Dirty Hands and Lesson Plans

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  2. Love this and you're too sweet to share:)) I am joining the Guided Math book study as soon as my book comes in the mail:) Better late than never:) I'll be picking your brain for help:)) Thanks for linking up:))

    4th Grade Frolics

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  3. I'm also waiting for my book to arrive... can't wait to get reading!

    Haley
    Following Optimism in 2nd Grade

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  4. LOVE this! You are brilliant! I'm getting a Smartboard this year...this is perfect!

    To those of you waiting for your book: The book's a quick read...you'll have no problem catching up!

    Primary Inspired

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  5. Thank you so much, everyone! I hope you enjoy them!

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  6. Hi Farrah! I'm your new follower. I love the plaid. I'm jealous of your smart board. (: Come visit me sometime!
    Ann
    The Caffeinated Classroom

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  7. Your power point is amazing! Thanks for sharing. It's great to see how this would look in a classroom and the range of questions I could ask my students.
    Love it!!
    Beth
    Thinking of Teaching

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  8. Thank you so much! I just found your blog through your comment on the Guided Math book study.
    -Lisa
    Grade 4 Buzz

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