Board Game Design

Last Friday we began our board game design project.  I had promised students a reward learning time when we had saved enough time by working hard.  I find that this project pushes kids to think creatively and to be problem solvers.  One of the most important focuses is for them to solve design problems by testing their design and re-imagining things that don't work.  This helps in many ways when we learn to look at our own work critically.

We will also be working on informational writing when we approach writing our game rules.  This is a very tough subject for students to grasp.  They understand what they want to happen, but it is difficult for them to put it all into words.  We will be working on the thought process to identify what needs to be explained and put into words.

We are currently in the design process which is a purely creative stage of the project.  This Friday we will begin talking about prototyping which is making cheap paper components and testing to see if our design works the way we want it to work.  We will be spending a few minutes each day talking about different ways to make game mechanics work together.  I look forward to seeing their creativity come to life.

Individualized Learning

Students who are hungry for learning are growing in so many ways.  My favorite times as a teacher are when students are begging to learn more.  We were celebrating a birthday with some free choice time which was mostly used to do learning games on the tablets, but it was refreshing to see some students choose to partner read and others choose to free write.  Then I had a group of students begging for me to teach them more math and we worked on simplifying fractions and adding with unlike denominators.

I love that craving for learning when I see it.  The world has few things that are impossible for those who are driven.  If I leave my students with nothing else, I want to leave them with a hunger for knowledge and the ability to ask the kinds of questions that will help them satiate their hunger.

I am having a lot of fun reading Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH right now as the class is hanging on every word and enjoying the story.  Our conversations have been very good and they are asking about key vocabulary.  I look forward to doing DRA testing in a couple weeks which gives me an opportunity to sit down and focus on each student individually.  There are few things as powerful as individual time to instruct and just listen.  Take five minutes and really listen to what your child has to say and it will amaze you how they think about what they read.  I know most of you do that and I thank you for raising students who have learned that their opinions are valuable.

Fun With Fractions

Today we began a leap into the world of fractions.  We got out the fraction bars and worked on equivalent fractions.  Tomorrow we will be exploring which fractions are bigger and talking about why the smaller denominator makes a bigger piece.  It is always amazing to me to watch seven and eight year old students begin to explore the world of fractions.

The kids laughed and the "ooos and ahhhs" of discovery were present.  We had fun working on a new math concept.  We also explored a new report in our STAR math data that shows our class averages across four domains.  We averaged the 89th percentile in Number and Operations, the 94th percentile in Algebraic Concept, the 94th percentile in Geometry, and the 79th percentile in Data and Measurement.  This was a real eye opener to me.  Data and Measurement was the lowest of the four domains for all twenty-six students.  I asked students whose problem this was, and explained to them that this was a teacher problem and I have let them down so I was going to work on helping them reach their potential.

We will be working hard on finding new ways to work on teaching time, money, graphing, and measurement.  I will be working in a daily problem in all four of these areas to bring more awareness to these topics.  I guess sometimes I assume that they will pick up these concepts without direct instructions and I haven't done a good job spiraling through to check.  I will rectify this and find a way to bring that also up to the 90th percentile.

I also wanted to pass a good digital place to practice addition and multiplication facts.

http://www.multiplication.com/quiz/multiplication-self-correcting-quizzes

The kids have used this site in the classroom and it is a nice place to get immediate feedback on what they know and target the facts in which they need the most practice.

Working Together

It has been an up and down time following Christmas break when it comes to working together.  Days off (both planned and unplanned) have led to some students being out of routines.  We have talked about what a great team looks like and how we can do a better job to help each other.  Today was one of the best days that we have had since before Christmas.  I saw students helping each other follow the Cardinal Code.  I am very proud of my team today.

Teamwork is very important when it comes to reaching our potential.  When we have to stop and redirect it takes valuable learning time and it takes away from the time that we can be exploring our interests as we learn.  Students have been practicing playing together in music and I think that type of learning helps us gel as learners in the classroom.  

I look forward to a great week of learning as we are shockingly only 18 school days away from the end of the 3rd marking period and spring break.  It will be important to be ready to learn on all of those days because I will be working hard to get in as much good learning as possible.  

Don't forget to send in reading logs or e-mail me your students total minutes on Monday!  Have a great weekend.

Multiplication Facts...Practice, Practice, Practice

I am in the best shape I have ever been in math right now due to the hard work of your students.  They make learning time fun and productive and I have been able to read the reward of being able to push each and every student.  We are at the point in the year where there is a real separation of students who know their math facts and those who don't.  I don't measure this with rocket math, but I measure it by observing them doing their work.  The students who have taken the time to learn them or have a good memory are able to spend more of their time on their problem solving questions and they are making leaps in their math concept.

I am beginning to see frustration in the eyes of those students who still have to skip count out their multiplication to solve multiplication and division problems.  This struggle perpetuates as math gets harder and more intensive in future years.  As a teacher, I have presented many ways to solve math facts and different ways to think about them, but nothing replaces repetitive practice.  I don't ask for a lot of your time at home because their is no way to replace family time for kids.

One of our students above brought in a wrap up that they have been using at home to practice.  This is a fun way to be able to practice independent of others in the car or waiting for dinner.  I am not sure if you can find "wrap ups" in a local store but they can be found online.  Some time practicing each day will really benefit students as multiplication and division is going to be the majority of the math grades this marking period and I am not satisfied with where we are with our math facts across the classroom.  I really can't stress enough how important these facts are to understanding multiplication, division, fractions, and geometric area.

It is okay to print off a multiplication table and have students practice for a week by using the chart because as they get faster looking up the problems, they will absorb some of those facts.  Make practicing fun and your students will benefit from this.  I am going to try some new things at school, but I can't replace the kind of daily practice you can provide as parents to support this learning.  Thank you for being strong parents and I know everyone is doing their best.