100 Minute Book Study: Chapter 5

Today's post is being hosted by Dilly Dabbles Blog. Click HERE to read what she has to say.

Writing Time/Direct Instruction in Writing:

So I've been struggling with how the writing time, at the end of the block, will help my students when it isn't followed by the consolidation piece. This chapter has cleared up a lot of my questions.

Writing time is a great time to create clear learning goals and success criteria with the students. Students can share their writing. You can also look at Mentor texts, which is a great way to co-create success criteria. It's also an opportunity to look at exemplars as well as modelling writing. 

What I was envisioning was a variety of modeled lessons, with no immediate follow through. After reading this chapter, things are so much clearer. I also realized that I can continue to do a lot of things that I am already doing. 

Here is an example of the success criteria that we created for letter writing.

We deconstructed  a letter using the success criteria that we co-created.

Students deconstructed their own writing with a partner to create class exemplars.

This is an example of a shared letter that the class wrote. We used a checklist to make sure that we had all of the success criteria.

To take a closer look at my "Writing Friendly Letters with Learning Goals and Success Criteria", click on the picture. 

To see my other writing products with Learning Goals and Success Criteria click HERE.

 

Monday Meet Up with TTT

 I'm linking up again with The Teaching Tribune for their Monday Meet Up!

This weeks is all about me!

 I TEACH: I teach first grade, or as we like to say grade one, in Ontario, Canada. I love first grade for nine months of the year! September in grade one is so hard! Harder than any other grade that I've taught. 

I HAVE: an amazing family, even if the little one is hiding. She was watching out for alligators.

I have two beautiful little girls. They are finishing off Grade 2 and Senior Kindergarten. They just competed in their first tennis tournament and won Silver and Gold. 

 I have been married to my husband for 10 years! It's hard to believe it has been that long. He thinks he's funny!

 He's really Not! I am way funnier.

 However in all seriousness we make a great team.

I watch: I don't watch much. I used to be an avid TV watcher, especially CSI and reality shows. But, kids shows have taken over my life. Most nights I am too tired to get up and find the remote so I can change the channel. Unless it's Caillou, then you should see me move. I can't stand Caillou. 

If I'm going to watch something it's likely to be an action movie. I love car chases, fight scenes and all out craziness.

I LISTEN: I listen to top forty in the car. But mostly I listen to my children singing "Let it Go!" over and over and over again.

I READ: I read everything. I read every chance I get. I have a few favourite authors that I will read again and again, while I'm waiting  to find the next great read.

Kelley Armstrong, and Illona Andrews are by far my favourite authors.

Have you watched Bitten yet? The show is based on Kelley's books! I was so excited when they decided to make the books into a TV Show, especially since I live in the real BEAR VALLEY! It was amazing watching our little Canadian town turn into a little American town. The Bear Valley Diner is really a costume shop. The Sentinel is now a music school!

 I DO: I used to do a lot of running, now I just do a lot of running around. Taking the girls from violin practice, to tennis, to soccer. It feels like I never stop!

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by my blog today! 

Diggin' Into the Math Workshop

 I'm linking up again this week with Laura from Where the Magic Happens. I was blown away by the number of people who visited my blog last week. Thank you so much. 

Today I'm diggin' into the way I organize my math block. My last post was about how I organize my classroom, and I admitted that I wasn't very organized, especially my desk.  I have to say though my math block is very organized.

Whole Class Instruction

Everyday we start our math block with a whole class lesson. Usually 5 to 10 minutes. I try to make this quick so the students aren't sitting on the carpet too long. 

Depending on the task for the day this lesson maybe a variety of different things:

• a mini lesson
• a game (my students love playing games with flash cards)
• an introduction to the math centres
• an introduction to a problem

Centres

Throughout the week I will have a variety of centres. My school board is moving towards recursive instruction. Instead of teaching full units, like patterning and then  not touching it for the rest of the year, we continue to give the students opportunities to practice the skills throughout the year.

Therefore, I will have one or two centres were students will practice a new topic, i.e. time. In the remaining centres students will revisit different topics, i.e. geometry, sorting and graphing, and money.

Problem Solving

Twice a week, I do a three part lesson:

Part 1: A mini lesson to set up the problem (5 min)

Part 2: Time to solve the problem (20-30 min)

Part 3: Reflect and Connect - students share the strategies they used to solve the problem and the other students give feedback.

I was involved with a program within my school board called CIL-M (Collaborative Inquiry in Learning in Mathematics). We worked with a variety of teachers from around our board, consultants, and principals to create open ended problems to try in our classroom. 

This was an eye opening experience for me. The right problem can reach all students. The wrong problem can be a disaster. :)

I plan to make two changes next year. 

1. I want to integrate technology into my centre time. I have created a time QR code game that my students absolutely loved. So I plan to make more. It allows them instant feedback to see if they are right or not.
   
   
   
2. GUIDED MATH, I am part of a book study this summer called "Guided Math" by Laney Sammons. It is an amazingly easy read. 

I'm excited because I'm already doing most of the things that Laney suggests but I can't wait to add the guided component to the math workshop as well.

Here are some products that are multi-strand math centres. Click on the pictures to see the item in my store.

These activities are great for centres.

I absolutely love these problem solving posters.

Thank you so much for stopping by! Don't forget to hop back over to Laura's Blog to continue through all of the posts.

Guided Math Book Study: Chapter 2

I have linked up with Amanda from The Primary Gal again, this week to bring you my thoughts on Chapter 2 of Laney Sammons book, "Guided Math".

Laney Sammons believes that there are 7 foundational principals of Guided Math. The two principals that struck me are: "All children can learn math." and "Learning at it's best is a social process"

"All children can learn math." 

This one is an eye opener for me. Not that I didn't think that all children could learn math. I always felt myself as a learner that I just couldn't do math...I didn't have the ability to do it...I just wasn't a math person. It's only recently as a teacher that I have begun to fully understand some math concepts. I feel that many parents and students fall back on the belief that their child's lack of achievement is based on inability. However, if we change that misconception and believe that all children can learn math, then think of all of the possibilities this opens up.

"Learning at its best is a social process."

I am a firm believer in the fact that students working together on the same idea enhances student learning. Every since I began my teaching career, I have felt passionately about that. My classroom is designed on that principal. All of the students desks are in groups. I have a variety of tables and spaces around the room where students can work together. I have to say my classroom is rarely quiet.

 Sense of Community

A new student would be able to see and feel a sense of community in my classroom. They would see students working together and showing respect towards all of their classmates. They would see students taking risks and knowing that mistakes are a part of learning. 

Classroom Arrangement

Laney, believes that the arrangement of the classroom is important for guided math to be effective. The arrangement of my classroom encourages socialization. It facilitates movement and allows for easy access of math manipulatives and materials.

Home Area

The students desks are in four groups of between 5 and 6 students. Each group is given a colour.

Large Group Meeting Area

I received a beautiful new carpet this year. This is our large group meeting space. This area is directly in front of our SMARTboard which we use every morning for our calendar activities as well as many other lessons.

Small Group Area

I have a guided reading table where I meet to conference with students. We call it our rainbow table, since it is shaped like a rainbow.

Math Workshop Area

The rest of my classroom is the math workshop area. Groups of students can work on a variety of centres throughout the room, either at the different colour groups, on the floor or at two round tables. 

Organization and Storage of Materials

I feel very fortunate, to have a wealth of math tools in my classroom. Many of the math tools I inherited when I moved into my classroom.  I came from a very resource poor school, so it was a wonderful surprise.

I have all of our math tools on a shelf at the front of the classroom where students can see them as well as access them easily. The organization of them was driving me insane last summer, so I took pictures of each of the math tools and created labels.

Numeracy Rich Environment

A student walking into my classroom would see a numeracy rich environment. They would see both student created and teacher created anchor charts and posters around the classroom. 

This student would see student created "I can" statements. I use a giant speech bubble for them to record their "I can" statements.

 I decided on a monster theme for my classroom this year, so many of my student reference posters are monster related.

Click HERE to check out more of my math poster themes:

I love the idea of building a numeracy rich environment, and I'm happy to see that I am already doing some of things that Laney suggests, but I would like to build a richer numeracy environment. There are many things that I would like to try next year.

Math Journals

I use an interactive reading journal. If we are taking the idea of Guided Reading and turning it into Guided Math why not take a reading journal and create a math journal or notebook instead?

Check out some of my fellow bloggers great interactive math notebooks.
Totally Sweet Math Centers by Tabitha
Diary of A Not So Wimpy Teacher
Primary Possibility - Stephany Dillon

Tabitha from Totally Sweet Math Centers by Tabitha was so super sweet, she gave me three samples of her Interactive Math Notebooks. Click on the links to try them out.
Addition and Subtraction Grade 1
Addition and Subtraction Grade 2
Place Value

Measuring Tools

I think Laney had a valuable point. Measuring tools need to be integrated! 

Math Related Children's Literature

This is something that I do, but I need to do more often. Reading math related children's books allows students to make mathematical connections

Check out this amazing list by Love2Learn2day full of math related children's literature organized by topic!

Math Books by Student Authors

Umm...brilliant idea! We make our own books all the time. Never thought of making our own math books!

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