Meeting And Teaching Highlights

I spent the most wonderful hour with Mrs. Streetman’s Kindergarten friends this afternoon. During that time, we read a book called Eating Fractions. This is a book I have read to KG students for years because it shows fractions in a real life application–food and recipes–that has real meaning to a KG student. While we read the story, we discussed that fractions are part of a whole, that we can have halves, thirds, and fourths and we were able to see real examples of each of these fractions. Following the story, Mrs. Streetman provided her students with a problem to solve and I am so excited by the outcome of this lesson! Her students were given 12 paper cookies and a workmat. The problem she posed to her students was this: You have 12 cookies. You want to share them with a friend. How many cookies will each friend get if you both have the same amount of cookies? The students set to work to figure this out with no other directions. As they worked, we watched. Some went right to two groups of six, some kids made two piles putting one cookie in one pile and one in the other, back and forth, until all cookies were divided, some even put five each in two groups and then split the remaining two. It was fascinating to watch. At the end, when all students were done, they has a chance to share their strategy and I loved hearing the explanations. I even heard, “Me, too!” from a couple of kids, proving that they were truly listening to their classmates as they shared. After this first problem, Mrs. Streetman posed a similar problem: instead of one friend, now you need to share your cookies with three friends. Again, they worked while we watched and again they shared when they were done. One student divided up his cookies into three groups and then had to figure out how to move some so that he had four groups. I was truly so excited to see these students thinking, manipulating and problem solving. It was awesome!

After the lesson was over, Mrs. Streetman and I chatted for a minute about the success of this lesson. We tend to think in terms of the mathematical process standards, as that was the focus of the Kindergarten Math Plan for 2011-2012, so we quickly went through the standards in our heads: Problem solving? Yes. These kids were solving a real-life problem. Communication? Absolutely. Their communication was spectacular as they stated their solutions to the problem. In communicating, they were also reasoning and proving their thoughts and ideas (which is another standard). We had a connection to real life in the problem and in the book that we read and the children represented their fractions on their workmats with symbols and with manipulatives. When we realized that this lesson hit all five process standards and hit them well, Mrs. Streetman was so excited that she did a happy dance in the classroom as the children packed up (seriously…she did…anyone who knows her will believe it!).

What a wonderful lesson from start to finish. I have already filed it away in my math binder to use next year when I head away from my TR position and into my Kindergarten classroom. I can’t wait to teach this lesson again. Well done, Mrs. Streetman!

I have to be honest and admit that after two years of not having my own classroom full of kiddos, I truly miss being able to read to children on a daily basis. I love reading aloud. I love doing the voices for characters, I love reading chapter books as well as picture books, and I love getting so caught up in a story that you almost forget where you are for a little while. Because of this, I was determined to celebrate Read Across America Day and Dr. Seuss’ birthday in a mathematical way this year, just so I could get a little reading in, too.

So, after looking for ideas on the web, I decided that with my KG and First Grade students, on Dr. Seuss’ birthday, we would redesign The Cat in the Hat’s hat. After all, he’s been wearing the same hat for 55 years. Don’t you think it’s time for a new hat? We talked about patterns and designs and got busy recreating this iconic hat. Outside the Math Lab are many new possibilities, should The Cat happen to want a new one (or should any reader want to see what we came up with). In addition to hat making, our KG friends were able to play a dice game with The Cat in the Hat’s hat which reinforced teamwork, sharing, colors, counting, and number writing.

And, throughout each lesson, I got to read. I was able to read several of my favorite Dr. Seuss books, including The Lorax (which is my all-time fave Dr. Seuss book). I was even able to finish The Lorax without tearing up.

Happy birthday, Dr. Seuss! Thanks for the books you’ve given us which we treasure and will continue to treasure for years to come. I can’t wait to see your new movie this weekend. I wonder if I can get through the movie version of The Lorax without tearing up? (I seriously doubt it!)

This morning I had the privilege to watch the most amazing podcast from the Virginia Trekkers line up. In this podcast, the Trekkers visit a recycling center and show step by step how our recyclables go from trash to new products. I was glued to the TV for 15 minutes! As I was watching, it occurred to me that this podcast would be great for KG students to view as they learn about or review sorting. I was reminded of my days as a KG teacher in the spring, right around Earth Day, when I would bring a garbage bag of trash to school for my students to sort. They had piles of paper, plastic, aluminum, and glass. There was even a pile of trash that was just trash and would need to be thrown away. Now that I have access to this podcast from the Trekkers, I can easily envision watching it with my students first and then letting them sort the trash. What a fun math-science activity that would be!

Thanks, Trekkers, for the great idea and for an amazing virtual field trip this morning! If you want to watch, click on the link below.

http://www.virginiatrekkers.com/Recycling/Recycling.html

I have just finished reading and taking notes on the most amazing resource that can be found in the REES library on the professional shelves: Mastering the Basic Math Facts in Addition and Subtraction. I love this book! It is the perfect way to begin addition and subtraction practice and mastery in First and Second grades. However, there’s tons of good stuff for KG students to use to explore addition and subtraction, as well as games and activities for those Third Graders who still need to review their facts.

What I like best about this book is the resources! There’s an CD that comes with the book that contains every activity, game, and parent letter mentioned in the book. There’s nothing for teachers to do except to copy what they need. Beyond the ease of implementation, I also love the connection to writing (this book has been the sole resource for my PGeP for this year as I focused on implementing writing in the First Grade Math classroom) and that most of the activities are games. As we all know, we can get kids to practice their math facts all day long if we disguise this practice as a game. Finally, there’s a literature connection to each chapter and each skill set. The books are engaging and fun and we have lots of them already in the REES library. Those that we don’t have have been given to Mrs. Roberts to, hopefully, be ordered.

We also have on our professional shelf in the library the sequel, if you will, to this book which is called Mastering the Basic Math Facts in Multiplication and Division. I have not yet read this one cover to cover as I did with the addition and subtraction book, but the book follows the same format: games, a CD, literature links, and connections to writing.

I can’t say enough about this series of books in terms of how it can help children learn and master their basic math facts in a systematic way that embeds the mathematical thinking in kids’ heads. It’s not just memorization, it’s mastery. Give it a try…it will work. I have seen proof with my work in Ms. Johnson’s class since the fall. It can work in your classroom, too!

OK…I am off to return the book to the library so you can check it out, too!

Not having any snow days this year has been a bit disappointing, but it also caused something to happen this year that makes KG and First Grade Teachers a bit frazzled. Because of our lack of snow, both Valentine’s Day and the 100th Day of School were celebrated on the same day this year. That makes for a day packed with mathematical learning. And, it makes for tired teachers when the day is over!

Our Kindergarten teachers decided to split the days, focusing on Valentine’s and hearts on Tuesday and then to celebrate the 100th Day of school on Wednesday (the 101st Day of School). The children did not seem to mind and it actually allowed for both students and teachers to focus on the goals for each individual day and to not be rushed in doing so.

I had the pleasure of spending some time in Mrs. Streetman’s Kindergarten class Tuesday afternoon as they tried to solve a problem. Apparently, Mrs. Streetman wanted to make her friends a heart shaped cake, but only had a square cake pan and a round cake pan. The children were asked to think about how she could make a heart from those two shapes if she only cut one of them one time. She posed this problem to the children early Tuesday morning and when I visited the class in the afternoon they were still stumped. So, Mrs. Streetman gave pairs of children two circles and two squares and had them work together to see if they could figure it out. I saw some children cut the square in half diagonally, knowing that the bottom of a heart was pointed and that they needed to somehow make a point. Once they made the cut, though, they weren’t quite sure how to fit the pieces together. I saw several pairs who just cut into their squares and circles and cut a heart shape. They were quite proud of their hearts, but were disappointed when they were reminded that their cut was supposed to be one straight line. Finally, one friend very confidently proclaimed that he knew exactly how to do it and amazed us all when he cut his circle in half, shifted his square to look more like a diamond, and placed each semi circle on the sides of the square to make a heart shapes. The ohhs and ahhs were precious, as the children were impressed with their classmate’s ingenuity! When Mrs. Streetman followed this child’s example and cut her cakes and formed a bigger, edible heart, the class was thrilled, proclaiming her to be the best Kindergarten teacher ever! What love these little ones have for their teacher, who is so amazing that she can turn plain circles and squares into hearts! The cake was iced and consumed as love for Mrs. Streetman, and the one child who solved the puzzle, filled the air of Room 3.

I get to visit this room full of love this afternoon. We will continue celebrating 100 Days of School with a number recognition activity that uses the Promethean board. Now, I won’t be serving up cake, but I will dish out a surprise for these sweet little ones. I wonder if that surprise will be met with as much adoration as Tuesday’s cake? Since it doesn’t involve food, I doubt it, but with 5 and 6 year olds, you never know!

In classrooms all over the United States, teachers and students count up to the 100th Day. There’s a huge celebration and while the counting continues after the 100th Day, the focus shifts. In classrooms everywhere, students (and teachers) are no longer counting up, but counting down! The countdown to the last day of school has officially begun. 77 days to go for HCPS.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of helping out with Ms. Kersey’s Measurement Olypmics in Third Grade. It was so much fun for both the teachers and the students!

The students competed in four events: the cotton ball throw, the wall jump, the car race, and rectangle vs. square. Each event required the students to be up and moving and measuring using centimeters on a meterstick. Obviously, the children had great fun throwing cotton balls and racing cars, and seeing who could jump the highest, but it was great to see how the measurement component of this activity became second nature them. At first, they were not sure which side of the meter stick to use and were cautious about adding on the find the total distance covered, but after about two rotations through these activities, they were measuring quickly and accurately with no trouble at all. In fact, I think the measurement became secondary to finding out who had the largest distance covered in the event!

At the end of the rotations, gold medal winners for each event were listed on the board. I think Ms. Kersey should get a gold medal for creating such a fun set of math rotations for her students. They were up and moving, they were measuring, and they were having fun! Sounds like a gold medal math day to me! Great job, Ms. Kersey!

I spent my morning with Mr. Friedman’s fifth graders exploring gummy worms and we all had a yummy time! As Mr. Friedman and I reflected on the lesson, we discovered that it was a fairly perfect lesson. It was not so perfect for the few kids who couldn’t eat the gummy worms when they were done, but it was perfect in terms of the mathematical process standards that math teachers are expected to cover during the course of their daily mathematical instruction.

There are 5 process standards: Communication, Connections, Representation, Problem Solving, and Reasoning and Proof. Typically, one lesson will not cover all 5 standards. The number of standards met depends on the concept/skill being taught. But, after our reflection today, Mr. Friedman and I agreed that we covered all 5 standards in this fun one-class lesson and we are very proud of this fact!

First things first: we asked the children to solve a problem. Working alone or in pairs, the students were asked to tell us the percentage of each color of their gummy worm. Using a ruler and a chart, the children measured, found fractions, and converted those fractions to decimals then percentages, in order to answer the question and to solve the problem. Clearly they were working to solve the posed problem, and a real-world problem at that. We did not ask them to solve a page full of decimal to percent conversions (which isn’t actually problem solving according to the process standards). We gave their mathematics a real world use. In the process of solving this problem, the children were obligated to use mathematical representations to explain their thinking and to show the process of solving the problem. Hence, two process standards were covered: problem solving and representation.

But let’s not stop there. As the children worked, they orally communicated their thinking to partners and communicated using written words with their teachers. There was also a period of time during the end of the lesson where the entire class took time to reflect on the lesson. More communication! Let’s not forget that much of the communication that occurred between partners was reasoning and proof as one partner tried to explain their thoughts to the other. Even students who worked alone had to explain their thinking to a teacher in the room. As a result, two more standards (reasoning and proof and communication) were covered.

So that leaves one standard left untouched: connections. As it turns out, we had connections all over the place in this lesson. We connected math to real-world objects like food, for starters. But, once the children found their percentages and had answered the original question asked of them, they then had to use their gummy worm, and more math, to try to figure out if their gummy worms were elastic by performing a small scientific experiment. In the process, they also had to describe their worm in terms of the 5 senses. So, the lesson also connected math and science. Finally, each child was asked to get a little creative and to draw a picture of their worm, to name it, and to tell an interesting fact about their worm. This part of the activity connected math to art and to creative writing. There were lots of connections made during this lesson!

The children loved this lesson mostly because of the gummy worms. It seems that anytime you bring food into the classroom, children are suddenly more motivated than ever to learn. What Mr. Friedman and I loved about this lesson was how beneficial it was to the children and how many of the process standards it covered. In teacher terms, it really was a perfect lesson and is one that we will definitely use again with classes in the future!

I might be biased, but I think the first ever REES Family Math Night was a huge success! I want to give a big shout-out to all of my REES teacher friends who worked all day and then came back to school to monitor activities and to assist families as they explored many mathematical activities around the school. This really helped to make Family Math Night a family event because we did not need parents to volunteer to man the stations.

I spent the evening of FMN in the cafeteria and watched as families played Set and Smath, tried to beat Mr. Rutman at Mancala, and created pictures with pattern blocks and tangrams and geoboards. The atmosphere in the cafeteria was quiet and pensive, as everyone sincerely concentrated on the math concept/skill in which they were engaged. I’ve heard from several teachers that their rooms were busy, and that everyone had fun and were interested in the activities. Sounds like a successful night to me!

I did have a few parents who sought me out to say that they were overwhelmed (in a good way) with all of the choices presented to their family on FMN, but that they were sad that they didn’t have as much time as they would’ve liked to work through more of the activities. I feel that it needs to be said that when the activities were slated for FMN, it was never thought that any one family would ever be able to complete all of the activities in one given night. Instead, the variety and number of activities were created as such so that families would be able to find a few activities of interest to them. Even so, the point of more time being needed is well taken and noted for next time.

I do hope that everyone who attended FMN will go online and take the quick survey so that we can make FMN better in the future. We need your input and comments to help us make decisions about the next Family Math Night. The website is: http://www.quia.com/sv/554010.html.

Thanks again to all who helped, all who attended, and all who completed the survey (or who will complete the survey by Friday, January 20).

I have just had the best first week back at school after Winter Break! It’s so exciting to see so many students having fun while being totally engaged during math time at school.

I began my week with Mr. Friedman’s math students making paper snowflakes. These amazingly beautiful creations are currently hanging in the Math Lab and Library windows for all to see. This was a great review of symmetry and all things having to do with shapes, in addition to a lesson in patience and, for some, persistence as they focused and patiently cut and re-cut their folded paper into snowflakes. We all were quickly aware of the connection between math and science during this activity, and many scientific questions were asked as we viewed slides of real snowflakes that had been captured by photographers and scientists as they fell. It really was a great morning to be a 5th grader, or a teacher of 5th graders. We all had fun!

On Wednesday, I spent my morning with Ms. Johnson’s First Graders as we learned the power of zero when we add numbers. If truth be told, we realized that zero has no power when added to a number. It doesn’t change the number(s) at all! We linked our learning to the book Gray Rabbit’s 1, 2, 3 and enjoyed a story while we practiced adding zero to numbers.

Yesterday, I had so much fun exploring ordinal numbers with Mrs. Artz’s Kindergartners. We used a Promethean flip chart to discuss ordinals and to practice recognizing and identifying the order of apples in a line. The children were such great listeners and all enjoyed their time at the board, circling, crossing out, or counting the apples. After the flip chart, the children were then given the chance to show what they knew about ordinals using counting bears and some very tricky clues that really made everyone think, even the teachers! I am excited to repeat this lesson over the next few weeks with the other Kindergarten classes. Mrs. Streetman’s students will be participating in this lesson this afternoon, in fact.

Today I get to spend time with Mrs. Davis’ Fourth Graders who will be in the Math Lab this morning, in just a few minutes, in fact, to do some measurement stations. They will be playing a game with Gallon Guy and working to estimate weight and length using metric units. There will also be some stations in Mrs. Davis’ room, so we will all be up and moving during math time today!

Next week brings Family Math Night, which is a huge event for our school in that this year’s Family Math Night is the first ever for REES. There are lots of activities for everyone in the family to work on together and I am so excited to see it all come together. I am particularly proud of the REES faculty who have stepped up to volunteer to facilitate activities so that our families can stay together and participate in the activities as a family. It’s going to be a great night and I hope that everyone will be able to come. It’s next Thursday, January 12th from 6:45-8:00. Please try to come out for a fun night of Math!

Happy New Year everyone! It certainly seems, mathematically speaking, that 2012 has started off well for REES!

I spent an hour this morning doing a fun, collaborative, small-group review of geometric terms with Mrs. Larkum’s Third Grade Class. For the first half of my time with these amazing students, the students explored a collection of 2 dimensional shapes. They were challenged to find an interesting shape and to share with the small group what was they felt was interesting. Next, students had to find 2 shapes and were asked to share something that was the same and something that was different about each shape. Finally, the group had to pick a target shape and to sort the remaining shapes based on the target characteristic that they had decided upon. I so enjoyed listening to the mathematical discussions that took place during this group time. I heard words like curves, points, and symmetry. It was music to my ears.

Then, I turned the tables on the students and showed them a secret sort that I had prepared a head of time. I had several target shapes, shapes that fit the target, and shapes that did not. Their job now was to work with their group to figure out my secret sort. They were charged with not only uncovering the sorting rule, but they also were asked to draw additional shapes that fit the sorting group and shapes that did not fit the group. The fun part for all of us was the method by which we recorded our information. I could’ve had chart paper for them to use to write the sorting rule and to draw new shapes that fit the sort, or that didn’t fit the sort, but instead we used Scribblar.com and we had so much fun!

Mrs. Larkum’s students were familiar with Scribblar, which was convenient as I did not have to use additional instructional time to show them the site. They knew how to use the tools and how to type and they were proficient with the chat box, too! Each group had their own page on Scribblar so that none of the groups could see what the others were working on until it was time to reveal their work. At that time, I was able to use the iBeam and my laptop to pull up each group’s page so that they could share their work and ideas. They loved the secrecy factor of this activity and they also seemed to really like being able to communicate with me via the chat box. Again, this helped with secrecy, as we were able to chat teacher to group without the other groups knowing what we were chatting about. Ideas stayed private until the reveal!

When it was time to reveal, each group did an awesome job of sharing their ideas for the secret sort and several groups did discover my sorting rule, which was fantastic! They loved being able to see the Scribblar pages from the other groups and they even had fun reading our chats.

So, at the end of the lesson, I asked the children to be very honest, which you can always count on children to be, and to tell me what they liked about the lesson and what they did not like. For likes I heard: it was challenging, using Scribblar was fun and different, the geometry review was fun, group work was fun (lots of things were “fun” apparently!). Mrs. Larkum even added that she liked that all of the students were engaged and participating throughout the lesson. I personally liked being able to chat with each group privately. When it came time for dislikes, believe it or not, there was only one: next time could we all please have our own computers? This was a totally valid dislike. However, I did chat with the students for a minute about the reason why each group had only one computer and they easily understood that it was because the idea was to work as a group to solve a problem. If each student had a computer, they wouldn’t be so inclined to work as a team. One very astute student even reminded us all that one of the goals was to work collaboratively (his word, not mine) within the groups, so one computer was all we needed. Well, if that’s the only dislike than I think this lesson was a success!

I am very excited about the outcome of this lesson. I got out of my chart paper comfort zone and tried something new and it was successful. I can’t wait until I can use Scribblar again with another class!