Geometry Galore!

I was so excited to finally make it to the geometry section in our math book a few weeks ago. That is, until my kiddos gave me that worried look at the beginning of the chapter. I could tell they were nervous about these concepts and knew I needed to get busy! Enter these awesome resources that I made/found:

Looking for apps? Geometry Quest is a HUGE hit in my classroom! My kids absolutely adore this game, and I love that they're getting a constant review of lines, angles, shapes, etc...There is a lite version, which is what we started with, but my kids were so engaged that I bought the app. WELL worth $1.99! 

Source: teacherspayteachers.com via Farrah on Pinterest

We constantly play Guess My Number, a game in which the teacher thinks of a number and the students ask questions with yes/no answers to try and figure out the number. So when I found this free Guess Who? game about shapes, I knew my kiddos would love it!

We love "I have, who has" games! In my class we race to see how quickly we can complete the game and if we can beat the previous score. This game is a quick, fun review that encourages students to read geometry terms correctly. You can find it in my store here.

I created these task cards for a center. The students follow the directions on the front, then turn them over to check. You can find them in my store here.

This is another center activity I created to help familiarize students with the correct ways to name lines, line segments, and angles. They read what is on the card and choose the correct answer. Scanning the QR code tells students whether or not the choose correctly. You can get it here. 

We've been having a great time learning about geometry now. Hopefully you can use some of them, too!

My First Crack at QR Codes

I've finally done it! One of my goals this school year is to integrate more technology into my math instruction, and I think I made a small step today. This morning I woke up and said to myself, "I want to create something that has to do with QR codes and renaming fractions in lowest terms. Here's the result:

Use your device to try out one of the codes!

The idea is that students rename each fraction using lowest terms, then scan the QR code to check their answers. If you're interested, you can check it out in my TN store.

So, how did I do it? It was so simple! First I designed my task cards and added everything except for the QR codes. Then I used two tools:

To make the code:
QR Stuff is a free, simple site to use for making codes. Since I started small, I decided to use my QR codes to give a text answer. On the site, simply choose the button beside 'plain text' and type the text that you want to appear in the content box. The QR code is generated automatically. You can change the color if you'd like or leave it black and white. Download it and insert it as an image.

To scan the code:

i-nigma is my favorite QR code scanner. It's free, and super fast. You can download it on your Apple device here, or from the Google Play store here. This is a screen shot of me using it just now. Sorry its a little tilted.  I literally had to snap it in less than a second because it read the code so quickly!

And that is it! I can't wait to try this game out on the kiddos in January. It will be my first use of QR codes in my fourth grade class. Hopefully, this has given you some ideas for getting started with QR codes as well. I'd love to hear your ideas for getting started, or how you're already using QR codes. 

You can also see this post on Technology Tailgate:

A Game, A Song, and an Epic Fail

What a roller coaster of a day! That's one of the things that is so great about teaching. It's different every day, and you have multiple opportunities to do fabulous (and sometimes not-so-fabulous) things. So it was today...
The GAME:

If you've not tried this equivalent fraction race, you have got to go right now and download it (Freebie from Holly Olberding). I was really nervous about this skill (naming equivalent fractions) until we took a review day today and played this awesome game. My kiddos can all name equivalent fractions now and we had a blast practicing!

The SONG:

We were actually using a different song for reviewing the continents and oceans, when we came across a group of students singing this one. So we thought, "Hey, why not us?" It wasn't on the lesson plan (Shhh) but aren't the best things sometimes impromptu? Check it out:

And finally, the EPIC FAIL:
I *thought* I had the most fabulous lesson ready to review setting with my kiddos during our literature circles today. I had the really cool graphic organizer. I had a high interest book (our read aloud). I modeled what I wanted them to do. One group at a time, they set out to read their books and apply what I'd just taught them. What a bummer. I quickly realized my little darlings were lost as geese! It was clear that I needed to back up and regroup and offer lots more support. Knowing there was no way to salvage this failure of a lesson in our allotted time, I decided to just let them read and discuss their stories with them. And re-plan this lesson for tomorrow. I've got some more tricks up my sleeve and tomorrow or Friday I'll be sharing a hopefully much more successful lesson with you.

What a day :)

Go Math! Implementation: Month 4

We're in our fourth month of implementing our new math program, and I must say that my kiddos and I are really making some great strides. We've learned a lot through these last few months, and are able to complete a lesson in a day's time. There are still many things I know that can be better, but we're all on the right track. Here are my top 53 "Aha!" moments:

1. Do math first. "I do better in math when we have it first thing in the morning." This statement was echoed over and over by my kiddos after I did some schedule swapping one week. I suspected this, but wanted to hear it straight from the horses' mouths before I made the permanent change in our schedule. Our original schedule called for math in the afternoon, but we much prefer to have a read aloud and time to read to self at the end of the day. It's a better ending to a rigorous school day.
2. Focus on the Essential Question: I sort of skipped over this until I was part of a demonstration lesson in which the trainer focused on the essential question. I realized that the question helps focus students' minds on what they are supposed to be learning. Now, I always begin by reading it and explaining what they will be able to do by the end of the lesson. "Today, we will be exploring how to use a model to find factors of a given number..." We revisit the question during the lesson, "Are we using models to find factors of numbers? How?" and at the end of the lesson as a review, "How did we use models to find factors of a number?" Sometimes they answer orally and sometimes in their journals. 
3. Anticipate issues with manipulatives: Upper grades have never had sets of manipulatives to use with their students until this year, so our students simply weren't used to using them. Many of my students had never even touched a base ten block before this year! As a result, I had to let them build houses with the base ten blocks, make patterns with tiles, and build towers with counters before they could be really utilized. Because it was all so new, sometimes the manipulatives were more of a hindrance than a help. For example, when using counters to model division with remainders, many of my kiddos didn't count out the correct number---multiple times! I've learned to think carefully about how to anticipate issues and solve problems before they can happen. 

Overall, I'm really excited to be teaching the new Common Core standards, and I love learning new ways to solve problems and new strategies to teach my kiddos.

Calendar Math Routine Freebies

After participating in the Guided Math book study this summer, I set a goal for myself to implement a successful calendar math routine in my fourth grade classroom. This was something I was a little nervous about, because I've only used Saxon math's calendar routines in 3rd grade and I just wasn't too sure what to do in 4th. Well, I did it! I think I've finally struck gold! I've waited a while to post this because I wanted to make sure it actually worked for me and my students. 

I decided to include these daily/weekly routines to begin with:

• counting large numbers
• number line (using multiple markers based on Every Day Counts)
• date/day calendar questions
• daily depositor and coin counter (based on Every Day Counts)
• decomposing numbers
• rounding and place value
• elapsed time
• facts practice

My daily routine: I spend no more than 15 minutes total on this, so I don't always do every part every single day. We start with facts practice. Sometimes this is a timed drill sheet, or I use the links I put on the flipchart (file below). Then I pretty much follow the pages in my flipchart. Although we do the same activities every day, I like to keep it interesting by varying the way we do them. There are basically three formats I use on different days of the week:

1. Whole group using the the IWB. Any student who is not at the white board writes the answers on their individual dry erase boards.  
2. Small group: I used poster board to make 5 calendar math posters. The posters have the same things on them that we do on the IWB (file included below). I just laminated the posters, and groups of about 4 work together to compete each section. The first group to complete every part correctly wins a treat. 
3. Individual: I created a worksheet that looks like what we do on the IWB, and students write in their answers on their sheets independently, then we check together.

Every 2-3 weeks I test the students using a sheet similar to the independent practice worksheet. I'm so glad I've implemented this! It's a lot of math in a short amount of time, and a great way to review those skills that need to stay fresh. 

Now for the files. I've created a highly interactive Promethean flipchart that can be used on your whiteboard. There are also copies of the tests, worksheets, a PowerPoint version of the lesson (though not as interactive), and black and white printables to make your own small group calendar posters. Just click the link under the picture to download the zipped file. If you decide to download, please leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

Calendar Math Files

Multiplication Math Journal Goodness

This year I am learning so much about teaching math (thanks to our new math program). For the first time, I finally feel like I can scaffold students' learning appropriately and know what to do to help them when they don't understand. There have been some growing pains as we learn the new strategies, but I'm loving it!

We started a chapter on multiplication last week, and according to my pre-tests, students needed help with arrays, so I decided to take two days to front-load content as we worked in our math journals. Using this poster as inspiration, I introduced multiplication models. We modeled each one, spending a great deal of time modeling arrays with base ten blocks, then drawing them. I knew that they didn't quite understand that "3x5=15" means "three ROWS OF five equals fifteen" (which is why they kept getting arrays wrong. So I focused on teaching them the language. I think the color coding really helped. They drew the picture of the boat rowing across the lake as a reminder that rows go across. The smaller picture of the arrays is stapled to the back of the Multiplication page.

These activities gave the students the foundation they needed to understand the wording and expectations of our new math program, which requires deeper thinking. Plus, it gave them a deeper understanding about multiplication. I'm so glad I took the time to front load this knowledge and fill in some of the gaps they had!

Go Math: The Adventure Begins!

With this year's Common Core implementation as well as our new Go Math program, the first two weeks of math have definitely been an adventure, to say the least. There have been ups and downs, just as with any new implementation, but I'm still excited to be learning and teaching something new. Here are a few of the things I've noticed/learned:

• In general, my fourth graders do not have the number sense to really grasp the concepts in the new common core standards. This is not their fault, nor the fault of their teachers or parents. Many of my darlings had never even held a base ten block before the first week of 4th grade. It was not a part of the previous program, and most of the teachers didn't have those manipulatives. I'm playing catch up by trying to pre-teach, re-teach, and build number sense through games and yes, by putting the base-ten blocks in their hands. (The first few minutes after I passed them out, I just let them build things to become familiar with them). The chart shows the concept we worked on in lesson 1. They would build a number, then trade in flats for longs and count how many longs (tens) they had.
• I'm moving at a very slow pace through the lessons. While I realize there is a test looming in early May, I also don't want to rush through and leave my kiddos in the dark. Once we all learn how the new program works, and get used to the wording and format we'll be able to move more quickly. I really believe that the extra time I'm taking now to build number sense and learn how everything fits together will benefit us in the long run. 
• We can't do everything at first. This seems like a no-brainer, but with a new program sometimes it is difficult to determine what you MUST include and what can wait until you and the kids are more comfortable. I have 70 minutes for math each day. So far, I'm including:
• fact practice daily (not part of the program, but a necessity).
• calendar routines almost daily (trying here, but its new and sometimes I forget).
• whole group lesson
• small groups and independent games and practice-not every day yet, but a few times.
• Collaborating with my coworkers has been super helpful! I'm blessed to be a part of a fabulous faculty, and have good friends at other schools in my system as well. We've had several planned and unplanned cross-grade level meetings to just discuss what's working or not working in our classrooms.  It's such an eye-opener to see what the other teachers are doing, what their students are expected to learn, and how things build each year. Plus, its been a great bonding experience for our faculty!

I'm hoping to post very soon about some of the specific strategies I'm using and how I'm using math journals along with our new program. And if you're starting a new math program like me, you might want to check out Penny's post at Teach the Math. She has some really great advice!

Scoot! Renaming Numbers

I just stumbled on the game Scoot the other day and can't believe I'd never heard of such a quick, easy, and fun review game! Apparently, it's been all over the Internet for ages. How did I miss it? Oh well, I know now! It's very easy to play, and I've created a version for you to use to review or preview place value relationships below.

If you've never heard of Scoot, here's how you play:

1. Give each child a recording sheet. They will keep their sheet and pencil with them during the game.
2. Place a task card face down at each person's seat. 
3. When you say "Go." students turn over the card at their seat and write the answer on the appropriate square of their recording sheet.
4. When you say "Scoot!" students move to the next seat (cards stay--kids move) and do the next problem.
5. At the end of the game, review answers.

Since I know we have a tough lesson Monday (renaming thousands as hundreds) I wanted to build my students' number sense and sort of preview the concept, so I made this game:

Click here for a copy.

My kids really enjoyed playing this game today and it seemed to help them understand renaming numbers a little more than they did before. That should really help next week when we do numerical representations and larger numbers. I hope you enjoy it!

This game correlates with Common Core standards 4.NBT.1, 5.NBT.1 and 2.NBT.1. You can find this game and other great Common Core lessons on these blogs:

  

Race to 100 Place Value Game

Looking for a great way to practice regrouping ones, tens, and hundreds? Here's a fun and easy game that only requires a die and some base ten blocks. If you've read some of my math posts you know that my district has adopted a new math series this year. I think its going to be really great once the students (and we teachers) become accustomed to the program and learn how it all works, but for now I'm having to really back up and teach some prerequisite skills so that my kiddos can be successful in our new program. Enter the Race to 100 game:

Click here for your free copy. 

Friendly reminder-Go to File and Download your copy.

All you need is a die and some base ten blocks. Players take turns rolling the die and collecting the number of cubes represented on the die. As soon as a player is able, he exchanges 10 cubes for a long. The first one to exchange 10 longs for a flat is the winner!
If you want a variation, I've also included instructions for Race to 1000! For an additional level of difficulty, add a die and have students collect two-digit values. For example, if they roll a 4 and a 5, they'd collect 4 longs and 5 cubes...or 5 longs and 4 cubes if they're thinking strategically. 
I don't think this is a "new" game. I read something similar in a book I borrowed, and adapted it to fit my needs. I hope you enjoy it! ~Farrah
Parts of this post are also featured on these blogs:   

Guided Math: Putting it Into Practice

Better late than never, I guess! I'm finally posting on Chapter 9 of the book study (12 days late). Why so late, you ask? Well...our system recently purchased a new math curriculum and we just had our training today. I didn't realistically think I could make any plans for putting GM into practice until I had an idea of how our program would run. All through this book study I've been *hoping* I'd be able to implement some of the things I've been learning with our new curriculum, and I'm happy to say I will!

We've adopted Go Math! and the structure of the program pretty much follows the GM format using whole group and small group. Here's a rough outline of what I'd like to implement next year:

Pre-Lesson:

• Calendar Math (not included in GM, but I'm hoping to pull something together from all the great resources I've stalked found this summer!)
• Fact Practice: (Using sheets and manips/games I've accumulated) I've just really seen in my experience that about 5 minutes of practice each day is a must, especially multiplication and division in fourth grade.
• Check last night's homework: My grade level coworker and I plan to do this differently every day. Some days we'll check the whole paper and give kids a treat for getting x% correct. Some days we'll just check a few problems. With this program they'll all be the same skill as opposed to Saxon's 30 different skills in each lesson, so we can get away with it. Some days, we'll just check to see whether it's done...Kiddos won't ever know which day is which. We like to change things up like that to keep it interesting and keep them on their toes.

During Lesson: 

• Short Whole group minilesson: Go Math is designed for this, but I'm really going to have to practice to make it "mini." We'll see :) After the mini-lesson comes independent practice and formative assessment. There are two problems in each day's lesson already built in for formative assessment.While students work I'll go around and check those two problems. And here's an awesome tip I got from our presenter today:
• Carry a purple, green, and orange pen or highlighter with you when checking. If a kid gets both problems correct, give a purple check. If he misses only one, give a green check. If he misses both, give an orange check--now your groups are made! How awesome is that?! 
• At this point I'll pull small groups and follow the lesson plans prescribed in the program (at least until I know a little more about what I'm doing). I LOVE that the groups are truly fluid and flexible! 
• I also plan to conference with individuals during this time. 
• While I'm meeting with groups and/or conferencing, the other kids are: finishing independent problems or beginning homework page, doing center activities, reading math readers, playing math games, or doing something on the computer related to the lesson.

After Lesson:

• Journals: I plan on incorporating our math journal here. There's a prompt at the end of each lesson and I may use it until I build a database of other prompts. 
• Whole group meeting: I envision this as the time for students to share what they've learned or what they have questions about and what strategies they've used that day. 

Well, that's the plan anyway. I know that when I dig in and get my hands dirty I'll have to adjust, especially once I get the curriculum under my belt. Sorry this post was so late! If you'd like to read more about implementing Guided Math, check out some of these great posts and the bloggers who linked up:

Chapter 1: Primary Inspired

Chapter 2: Third Grade Gridiron

Chapter 3: Making It as a Middle School Teacher

Chapter 4: Once Upon a Teaching Blog and Sweet Seconds

Chapter 5: Toad-ally Exceptional Learners and Pitner's Potpourri

Chapter 6: Barrow's Hodgepodge and Reaching for the Top!

Chapter 7: Mrs. Patton's Patch and Thinking of Teaching

Chapter 8: Primary Inspired

Chapter 9: The Creative Apple and Second Grade Math Maniac

Bunches of Monday Made Its!

This week I've been a busy bee...Here are a few of the things I've made:

This lollipop tree--isn't it so stinking cute?! I literally did this in less than 15 minutes. I found the pail and white foam sphere from Hobby Lobby, and used 2 packs of dum-dums. I hot glued the foam to the bucket so it wouldn't fall off and stuck the suckers in...Tada! Now I'll always know when the treat bucket's running low, and I'll actually remember to use it some :)

Poke Games:
I found out about these on Tara's Monday Made It post last week. You can grab yours free at FlapJack Educational Resources TN Shop. These are great self-checking games. I downloaded their multiplication and factor games, then used the template to make a set of division cards using ActivInspire.

Polka dot numbers for my book boxes: I love polka dots and this are perfect for my theme this year. AND I'm sharing a copy with you! Just print, trim, and punch using your 3.5 inch scallop punch. 

For your own copy click here.

Can't get enough? Check out the linky party at 4th Grade Frolics:

I'm also linking up with:

Guided Math Chapter 8

I once had a college professor tell a story about a particular language in which the word for "teaching" and the word for "learning" were in fact the same word. She went on to discuss the cyclical and interwoven nature of teaching and learning, and posed a curious question: If there is no evidence of learning, can we say that there has been teaching?" I've gone back to that lecture in my mind often and pondered her question, especially as I read this chapter about assessment.

A knee-jerk reaction some teachers may have when students don't learn material is "Well, I taught it!" but the fact is that we must use formative assessment to ensure that students are actually learning.

In this chapter Sammons says, "Assessment in Guided Math classrooms is ongoing and informs instructional decisions. The strong links between teaching, learning, and assessment are evident." I would venture to generalize the same is true for all the subjects we teach. Ongoing assessment is crucial for helping guide students to leaning outcomes.

As I read this chapter several key points kept recurring in my mind:

• Feedback should be specific: Students need to know what they are doing right, as well as what the next steps are to further learning. I couldn't agree more! This was one of the key points I learned and practiced as a Reading Recovery teacher, so the connection with math made perfect sense. 
• Feedback should be timely: We've all done it, right? That stack of papers that need to be graded but doesn't get finished until 4 or 5 days later? I do try very hard to grade things right away and hand them back immediately because quite frankly, by the time the Tuesday folder goes home, the feedback is not so important anymore. Not just in math, but in every subject, I've found that when I can get the papers back to the students very quickly, they become a teaching tool!  
• Provide examples of what success looks like: This one has been a no-brainer for me in writing instruction, but is a little hard to wrap my brain around in math. I'm having trouble figuring out exactly what sorts of samples or exemplars I'll need...Are they like the example problems I complete for students when modeling? Are they the finished graphs I make to show students how to make their own? 
• Involve students in their own assessment: I do this some, but feel like I could improve in this area. I do a lot of formative assessment in which I ask students to rate how well they understand the concept, or maybe text in something they've learned or are wondering about with our ActivExpressions, but I feel like I could tackle this aspect of assessment better during conferences and small groups. 

Want to read more about Guided Math? Check out our book study hosts:

Chapter 1: Primary Inspired

Chapter 2: Third Grade Gridiron

Chapter 3: Making It as a Middle School Teacher

Chapter 4: Once Upon a Teaching Blog and Sweet Seconds

Chapter 5: Toad-ally Exceptional Learners and Pitner's Potpourri

Chapter 6: Barrow's Hodgepodge and Reaching for the Top!

Chapter 7: Mrs. Patton's Patch and Thinking of Teaching

Chapter 8: Primary Inspired

Guided Math Chapter 7

My text connections were working on overdrive as I read this chapter! I was a trained Reading Recovery teacher and taught Reading Recovery for three years a while back, and there were so many things that I could relate to as I read this chapter.

The structure of the math conference is similar to the one on one Reading Recovery lessons. You may have a goal for students or a specific teaching point in mind, but you're basically teaching on the fly. The conference follows this procedure:

• Research Student Understanding
• Decide What is Needed
• Teach to Student Needs
• Link to the Future

Some things that really stood out to me as I read:

• Twice in the chapter Sammons mentions that there is no one correct teaching point for any particular conference. I've seen this so many times in Reading Recovery, as well as reading and writing conferences. For me, this lessens the pressure of making sure I taught "the right thing." As long as I'm teaching to students' needs based on evidence I gather, its okay!Which brings me to my next point:
• Like Reading Recovery, in a math conference you are teaching to a specific child's needs. Start with what the child knows and build on that foundation. 
• Start with an authentic praise about something the child is doing well. Sammons mentions that students may feel apprehensive when the teacher stops by for a conference. They may automatically wonder what it is they're doing wrong. Encouraging students by telling them what they're doing RIGHT will help ease their anxiety, build their confidence, and help solidify the knowledge they do have. Which brings me to my wish:

Does anyone out there have a list of stems to use during a math conference? I have one for reading broken down by skills from my Reading Recovery days, but it would really help my on the fly teaching if I had the same thing for math. My reading one is formatted like this:

Reading Conference Example Stems

Does anyone have something like this? If not maybe I can make one.

Thanks to all of our hosts so far:

Chapter 1: Primary Inspired

Chapter 2: Third Grade Gridiron

Chapter 3: Making It as a Middle School Teacher

Chapter 4: Once Upon a Teaching Blog and Sweet Seconds

Chapter 5: Toad-ally Exceptional Learners and Pitner's Potpourri

Chapter 6: Barrow's Hodgepodge and Reaching for the Top!

Chapter 7: Mrs. Patton's Patch and Thinking of Teaching

Guided Math Chapter 6

I loved the "big picture" of Math Workshop provided in Chapter 6. I tend to think "whole to part" rather than "part to whole" so this was really beneficial to me. The components are:

• Review of Previously Mastered Concepts
• Math Fact Automaticity
• Math Games
• Problem-Solving Practice
• Investigations
• Math Journals
• Computer Use
• Math Related to Other Subject Areas

From what I understand, these are the things that students are doing independently. This section of the Guided Math block takes place after your calendar time and minilesson, while you are meeting with small groups or conferencing one on one. 

A few things I found interesting:

1. Sammons states "For teachers who are implementing Math Workshop for the first time, it is often initially wise to limit the range of activities and find out what works well for them." (186) I couldn't agree more!!! Just like with introducing choices for Daily 5, I envision using the same process with Guided Math. I plan to introduce one thing at a time using the 10 Steps to Independence. 
2. It's important to help students develop endurance and work with independence. I can't focus on a small group or one student if I'm constantly interrupted. I think using the 10 Steps to Independence will be an easy transition in math for me and the students since it is something we'll be doing in reading as well.
3. Students must develop automaticity with facts in order to be proficient in computation. This is one of my soap box items! Students MUST know math facts and be able to recall them quickly  in order to free up their working memory and be able to focus on more complex tasks. It's just like reading: We all know that if a child is struggling to remember that J says /j/ that child will not read the word 'job' fluently, which will cause a breakdown in comprehension. We work for automaticity in letter/sound recognition and sight words...it just makes sense to do this with math facts. (I'm probably preaching to the choir here, but it's just one of those things I feel strongly about). 

So, what to do with all of this? Well, even though the chapter was rather short, there was quite a lot to think about and plan how to implement. I'm going to start with Math Fact Automaticity and share a few ideas I've used to help my students gain it. 

Daily Fact Practice: I usually spend 5 minutes or so on daily timed practice with facts. I found that is a great way to really keep the facts fresh on kiddos' minds. 

• Abiator's Times Tables is a site that I use to practice whole group. It flashes a problem on the board and students call out the answer.
• Multiplication Rock-Remember these? If you have access to YouTube, these are great videos! Sometimes we'll watch while students are getting ready to take a timed test.
• Paper and Pencil drills: We do these every day. I have some with our old program and that I've collected that only take about 3 minutes to do.
• Wrap-Ups: I purchased a class set of these last year. Kids love them because they're like a game. Sometimes I time them to see how many times they can finish their wrap-up in 2 minutes. They come with a CD also!
• Super Speed Numbers: I plan to implement this next year. You can download everything you need for free from Whole Brain Teaching. It basically turns timed tests into a game and competition against yourself. The goal is to beat your best score. 
• Math Fact Practice Log: I haven't used this in a while, but I created it one year when my students were really behind in learning math facts. They needed nightly practice and weren't doing it, so I created this log. At the end of the grading period, they turned in the log for a test grade. It was a great way to help get parents involved and it didn't take much of the families' time. 

I vary the activities to keep it interesting for the students, but I really feel like the daily review is extremely important. I'm hoping that maybe as I learn more about Super Speed Numbers I can move this activity to the Guided Math portion instead of using my whole group time. Time will tell!

Don't forget to check out our book study hosts:

Chapter 1: Primary Inspired

Chapter 2: Third Grade Gridiron

Chapter 3: Making It as a Middle School Teacher

Chapter 4: Once Upon a Teaching Blog and Sweet Seconds

Chapter 5: Toad-ally Exceptional Learners and Pitner's Potpourri

Chapter 6: Barrow's Hodgepodge and Reaching for the Top!

Objective Display for Monday Made It!

How many of you are required to display your daily/weekly objectives in your classroom? I'm not really required, but it has been suggested. My problem...I'm not so great at keeping things like that up to date. I worry that I'll get so busy I won't update the objectives. And then I saw this adorable idea on Pinterest:

That is so stinking cute! Surely I'd be motivated to keep these up to date! Enter this week's Monday Made It project: Dollar Tree frames + cardstock + awesome pages I made = Tadaa!

They're laying on the concrete around my pool, which I should be in, but...there's so much to blog about! Anyway, I'm sharing the file with you! If you're addicted to polka dots and love owls, just click the text below the picture, and you'll be taken to the Google Doc. I did make a page that says Social Studies since I realize many of you may not teach Alabama History. :) Enjoy!

Click here for your copy!

Thanks again, Tara for doing the Monday Made It Linky! I've loved all the great ideas!

Guided Math Chapter 5

I have to say I have really been enjoying reading this book and collaborating with all my bloggy friends on the great things we're learning! Chapter 5 deals with the small group component of Guided Math. Some of my favorite points:

• Small group instruction is a defining component, but is not the ONLY mode of instruction. I love this because I agree with a balanced approach. We need whole group, small group, one on one, partners, group work, and individual work. All of these have value and need a place in our instruction.
• Small group instruction gives the teacher an enormous amount of flexibility in meeting the needs of students and gives maximum impact to teaching. AMEN! 
• Children are more likely to open up, take risks, and ask questions in a small group setting. I've seen this first hand!
• Use your manipulatives. I loved this research stated on page 143, "Research shows that 90 percent of what we both say a nd do is retained, compared to only 50 percent of what we hear and see." Wow! We all know that "doing" is important, but did we realize just how important it is for retention?
• Keep your small group area organized and free or clutter--((sigh)) I'll just go ahead and admit that my small group table (right by the door) becomes a dumping ground. I've GOT to stop this! I waste time cleaning it off to use it. 
• Let formative assessment (and sometimes summative) to form groups and guide your daily instruction. 

And here's where I get techie: I'm all about using the formative data to form and guide my groups, but how to manage it? I'm also not great with paperwork. Now you know. My secret is out. I HATE paperwork! But, if I can turn that same paperwork into something digital I'm all over it. Hence, my newest Google Form....drum roll please....

Tada! Guided Math Group Records!

(Don't you just love those blocky faces?)

I created this form to serve three purposes:

1. Group students
2. Take notes during/after the lesson
3. Have a paper trail for RTI detailing whom was in the group, when we met, what was covered, and how well said students performed. 

Want a copy?

Click HERE to see the live form. 

Click HERE for the spreadsheet that you can save a copy of.

Here's how I plan to use it: We have a new math series this year (Go Math!), and if I understand correctly, there is formative assessment for grouping built right in. After the whole group instruction, students begin some problems on their own while the teacher circulates and checks. There are "Checkpoint" questions marked with a red check mark that the teacher pays special attention to. If the child misses those problems, my plan is to check their name on my form (which I've set to my iPad home screen), then pull all of those children for reteaching. Using the form I can easily choose the lesson topic and Common Core standard covered (4th grade). I've also left a place for notes so that I'll remember later what went on during the lesson and who needs more assistance.

Another key point in this chapter was that just because a student gets an answer correct doesn't necessarily mean they understand the concept. So true! I plan to address this in math conferences. I don't have all of the logistics worked out in my head yet, but hopefully after we read chapter 7 I'll have a better understanding. I've been doing some research and came across this fabulous blog dedicated guided math: Dr. Nicki's Guided Math Blog. She has some information about conferences and even some forms she created. Definitely worth the look. 

Thanks to our wonderful hosts for hosting this book study:

Chapter 1: Primary Inspired

Chapter 2: Third Grade Gridiron

Chapter 3: Making It as a Middle School Teacher

Chapter 4: Once Upon a Teaching Blog and Sweet Seconds

Chapter 5: Toad-ally Exceptional Learners and Pitner's Potpourri

BeeClip: Digital Scrapbooks for Students

Have you seen this free tool yet? I came across it while reading a post over at CristinaSkyBox. Beeclip is a free digital scrapbook for students. You don't even have to log in! Similar to Glogster, students can upload images, add text, audio, or video, and change the backgrounds. You can even download and print when finished. Something else impressive--I tweeted my find, and almost immediately received a reply from @BeeClipEDU saying thank you and offering assistance. I had a few questions, which they answered almost immediately. They're on top of things!

Here's the one I made in NO time: I used some pictures and a video my kiddos made at the end of the year.

More than one student can edit the same project at the same time on different computers. You can enable or disable the ability to use Google Images, Flickr, and YouTube. And even after you embed, if you make edits to the project, the embedded project changes right along with it!

I can think of so many uses for this that would definitely take a whole different post. Stay tuned...

Guided Math Chapter 4

Chapter 4 was all about effective uses of whole group instruction. With the push for more and more small group instruction, it is refreshing to have the validation that whole group instruction is an important part of a balanced teaching approach. Whole group instruction is not bad! In fact there are many instances in which it is preferable to small groups, including minilessons, whole group games/reviews, giving instructions, and math huddles. Probably the idea that stuck with me the most from this chapter was the format of minilessons.

MiniLesson Components:

• Connection-This is the activating portion of the lesson
• Teaching Point-Teacher models or demonstrates ("I do" portion)
• Active Engagement-Guided practice ("We do, Y'all do" portion)
• Link to Ongoing Student Work-just what it says: You link to what they'll be doing independently ("You do" portion).

Sammons writes that the mini-lesson should be brief---no more than 10 minutes. I've found it extremely difficult to do each component of a minilesson and still keep it within the 10 minute time frame, at least in 4th grade. I especially need more time with the active engagement portion because I'm often listening in to students and offering feedback. While I really strive to limit the teacher talk, and focus on more time for guided practice, I know this is something I still need to work on. I'm finding that for adequate practice, usually my minilesson takes between 15-20 minutes---close enough :) I think for 4th graders and the difficulty level of some of the problems they solve in math, 20 minutes is reasonable.

How about you? What did you take away from this chapter?

Can't get enough of the Guide Math book study? Check out these links for more:

Chapter 1: Primary Inspired

Chapter 2: Third Grade Gridiron

Chapter 3: Making It as a Middle School Teacher

Chapter 4: Once Upon a Teaching Blog and Sweet Seconds

Guided Math Chapter 3

I'm loving this book study! It sure is nice to share ideas and collaborate with all of my bloggy friends! I have to say chapter 3 has been my favorite so far.It's about the nuts and bolts of using math warm ups. I was so excited about implementing these that I made a flipchart and a powerpoint with daily math stretches. (See this post if you're interested). Here are my take-aways from chapter 3:

• "Participating in a variety of brief mathematical activities...leads students to make subtle shifts into the world of mathematical awareness and learning." (p. 68) LOVE this statement! So true!
• I can't wait to implement the math stretches, but I worry that my morning to do list will be too long...I need to rethink our morning procedures and decide if I want to do the math stretches in the morning or at another time during the day.
• I couldn't agree more with the text on page 82 about making math connections. It relates the reading strategy of making text to self, text to text, and text to world connections to math. The math connections are math to self (How did my family use math last night?), math to world (use current events), and math to math. I envision creating an anchor chart with the kiddos when we learn about these. 
• Calendar Board: Again, I need to incorporate this into my math instruction next year. I'm a little rusty on it, since I've not done it since I taught 3rd grade 5 years ago. I've been blog-stalking and have gotten some great ideas! I watched this great video by Stephanie at Teaching in Room 6. She has lots of great ideas for calendar in the upper grades. Here's another video I found on YouTube of a 4th grade Every Day Counts calendar lesson. I also thought I'd get a copy of our old Saxon Math 3rd grade teacher's manual which has some pretty good ideas for calendar math. I don't have to use them all...I think the think I'm going to have to keep in mind is that it should be short (15 minutes). 

I'd love to hear your take on Guided Math so far! If you'd like to get into more of the conversation, check out these posts from our hosts for the first three chapters:

Chapter 1: Primary Inspired

Chapter 2: Third Grade Gridiron

Chapter 3: Making It as a Middle School Teacher

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...?