Try it Tuesday: In Kahoots with learning

I'm all about gallery walks and collaborative learning.  I've blogged about using cups as a response strategy and having students solve problems together for math review.  

However, I'm excited to take this to the next level with kahoot! 



I signed up for a free account and will create quizzes for my students.  They'll answer with the iPads and as a table group.  All they'll do is go to kahoot.it and log in with the code I give them (that I generate to go along with a specific set of questions.) 

It looks like this:

There is literally no way for them to mess it up other than typing in the code wrong.

From there, we'll make teams (usually the table teams since they're Kagan structured anyway).  From there, the game begins!  The quicker they answer will lead to more points for their team.    

Here's what a sample question looks like:

I'm also excited about using this to build metacognition for my students.  I can have them create questions for the class.  I can have them answer if the questions were too easy or too hard, and have them give feedback to me and to others.

In the fifteen minutes or so we played with kahoot, my brain began buzzing with possibilities.  This could be great for inspiring students to create really thoughtful, deep questions for one another about what they're learning.  They'll get to take charge of their own learning.

Will you be in kahoots with me this year to try something new to get your students excited about learning? 

Math explorations

I am a huge advocate of the use of manipulatives and hands-on exploration.  Right before spring break we dived into volume.

Our first day was focused on exploring cubic volume with cubes.  It was such a great opportunity to watch them struggle through the challenge sheets and learn from one another with no pressure of assessment.  

Their task:

They had a great time exploring with cubes.  I also frequently allow them to work on the floor and move around.  They're ten and need to wiggle sometimes.  I might as well embrace this and provide these opportunities in the classroom.
 

They had a specific task sheet (for accountability).  I gave them ten minutes to explore, then they shared with a partner (Kagan hand up, stand up, pair up, and share).
 

One group was super excited that their blocks were ASU colored!

After a day of exploration, we dived into strategies, formulas, and problem solving.  We spent a few days on regular shapes before diving into the irregular ones.  I posed the problem as a challenge and let them struggle as a team.  Most groups figured out that they could find the volumes separately, then add them together.  

They had so much fun exploring volume.  Instead of just giving them the formula, I felt it was more important for them to have hands-on practice exploring exactly what volume means.

Who says math can't be fun?

Year Six, Day 1

The weekend before school started, I was a wreck.  I worked Friday night on various small tasks for my classroom, took all of Saturday off to spend with friends, and worked for a little bit Sunday morning before heading to B's family's BBQ.  Sleep did not come easily Sunday night and nightmares of past students and worst case scenarios flooded my mind.

I got to work about seven am on Monday.  Our start time is 8:26. My first task was hanging our classroom pom-poms:

 I had duty (bummer) and I struggled with undoing the folding gate.  See, the gate was run over by a (rude) parent, so it's bent in a strategic way.  This means it doesn't fold up nicely and has quickly become my new Monday/Friday morning nemesis. 

Luckily a parent helped me wrestle the gate.  I was also burdened with both a stop sign and radio, so next time I'll not carry those.  Or wear open toed shoes.

My other job at duty was to help direct drop-off traffic.  We have a lot of red curbs in front of our school and I had the unfortunate job of trying to tell parents not to park.  These parents were obviously very excited for the first day and taking pictures of their kiddos in front of the school.  I had to be the bad guy and ask them to not capture this precious moment.

I went to the wrong spot to find my class and our line got bisected when we were entering the building.  I forgot to collect lunch money and we were a few minutes late to specials, after I tried to take them down the wrong way.

Thank goodness for first prep!  I took a few deep breaths, calmed myself, and proceeded to tackle my to do list.

The rest of the day was smooth sailing :)

I had 27 students show up and they were talkative from the first moment.  They're responding really well to my positive classroom vibe, which is good.  Considering how frustrating last year was, I'm determined to stay positive.  I want my room to be a joyous place.

I didn't spend hours on procedures.  I gave them a first day treat.  We covered a lot (norms for read alouds and number talks), learned some procedures, and practiced structures like Kagan pair up and share.

We read First Day Jitters, which many of them had never heard before.

It's a cute picture book with a fun twist at the end. (Spoiler--the teacher doesn't want to go to school!)

Prior to reading, we went over read aloud norms:

I was a little worried about some of their initial responses.  I asked what my job was during a read aloud and the first response I got was "to grade papers." 

Um...no.

I clarified that during a read aloud, I was the one reading.  They were dumbfounded by this notion and asked when I would grade.  I told them they wouldn't see me grade in the classroom unless it was a one on one assessment (Aimsweb, Core phonics, etc).  They were bewildered and asked when I would get their stuff done.  I said at home, in front of the TV, or while they're at specials.  This seemed to satisfy most of them, but that does worry me...

A teacher shouldn't be known for spending hours of in class time grading.  Yes, it happens.  But that shouldn't be what your students expect you to do.

Instead of me giving a tour of the classroom, I sent them on a scavenger hunt:

It's way more fun when they investigate!  Plus it gets their bodies up and active, which is crucial.

I went over the hand procedures for number talks and then made an anchor chart about the strategies they used:

After we did our number talk, I had them create their fractional me sheets:

They had forms for homework and left with smiles on their faces.

The hardest part of day one?  Well, besides the rough start?

Wearing shoes the whole day!

It's that time of the year.

And...I'm back to work.

It's Saturday. That being said, I spent about six hours in my classroom and all I really feel I accomplished is making a big mess.

After my final day of math training, I went to my new school to get my keys.  I stayed about two hours because I had my final day of tutoring before the family heads back to Europe.  I managed to get my technology all set up and decided where I wanted my furniture.  I only had to move the filing cabinets and wardrobe twice before being happy with the placement!  I set up my desks in Kagan groups, unpacked the few boxes I had, then headed home.

Last night I finished The Secret of the Fortune Wookiee while packing more.

This morning I woke up around six, typed up the rest of my teacher notes on the novel, wrote a grant for books on donorschoose, then headed over a little before nine am.  I worked until noon, came home to load up again, met up with the boyfriend and bestie, grabbed lunch (my treat...err bribe. Let's be real, it was a sub bribe) and headed over.   We only got to work for about an hour and a half before it was too hot and we had to leave.  (They shut the air off at one and it was close to three.)

Today we accomplished moving about a hundred outdated text books to a storage cabinet, putting math books in all the desks, partially hanging two bulletin boards, and beginning to unpack boxes and organize my library.  We didn't finish hanging the bulletin boards because I use sheets and they had to flatten out.  I staple up the top part of the board, then use anti-wrinkle spray and let them air out over night before stapling the rest.

I think there is a small pile on every desk.  I've taken over about 70% (of the materials I've gone through) so I think this is progress.  I'm just overwhelmed because so many other teachers' classrooms are done.  I need to keep reminding myself that it's okay to not be done. I'll go in tomorrow for a few hours (when the building has AC).  I'll go in for most of the day Monday and Tuesday. I have Wednesday after training, all day Thursday, and next weekend.  My room has to look presentable for open house...which is in 6 days. Yikes!  At least it's a short commute and I have awesome friends who can help.  Plus everyone at my new school seems super friendly and helpful.  It's such a positive, refreshing change.  I can honestly say I'm excited to go to work again.  

However, once it's all done, I will treat myself to a mani & pedi :)

Math training, days 2 & 3

After tackling my homework for math training, grocery shopping, and spending several hours leveling my library (such a daunting task), I didn't have the energy left to process what I'd learned.  

However, today I was home much earlier so I could reflect on yesterday and today's math trainings.

Days 2 & 3:

We talked about multiplication.  We talked about it...a lot.  Perhaps it's because I teach fifth grade and have taught inclusion, but none of the strategies mentioned were new information.  I grasped the concept right away and helped my neighbor make the same mathematical discoveries.

However, I did learn a few new things over the past few days.  Here are my "ah ha" moments:

The minuend is the first number in a subtraction problem and represents the amount you start with.  The subtrahend is the amount that is being removed or subtracted.  

This discovery raised an interesting question within our group.  Why is it that other math vocabulary terms (addend, sum, factor, product, quotient, etc) are well-known but minuend and subtrahend aren't?  Why can teachers (and hopefully their students) use the correct vocabulary for the other operations, but stumble on subtraction terms?  I know I'll be incorporating these terms into my math instruction!

"Give One, get one, move on" strategy

The page is divided into four sections.  Students solve the problem in the first quadrant, which is labeled "give".  After time to process the problem, students then will stand up and find three other people to "get" strategies from.  The students will work in pairs to explain their strategies to one another.  Not only does this allow for movement, but students can explain their thoughts to one another.  During this time, the teacher is monitoring as an informal assessment to see what students are grasping the content and which ones still need a little more practice time.

The next classroom tweak deals with these manipulatives:

Found in almost every elementary classroom, I always called these "ones", "tens", "hundreds" and so on.  Most teachers do.

However, in doing so, you're limiting students' understanding of the relationship (powers of ten) between the manipulatives.  

These will henceforth be referred at as units (smallest), rods (long ones), flats, and cubes.

By doing so, a teacher is able to stress the relationship between a value being ten times larger or smaller than the value next to it on a place value chart.  

Referring to these as units, rods, flats, and cubes also allows for the manipulation in upper elementary.  If my "one" is now the cube, I can use these manipulatives to represent a tenth (flat), a hundredth (rod), and thousandth (unit).  I can also regard the unit as a thousand, then have students prove the other values. (Rod would be 10,000, flat 100,000, cube 1,000,000).  

Finally, we played close to 100 (from Investigations).  While this game was not new to me, I did appreciate the discussion about its importance in the classroom.  In playing this math game (and others), students are provided the opportunity to practice many math skills such as estimation, reasoning, critiquing the reasoning of others, operations, and place value.  These games take minutes to learn, can be a good task for students if they finish early with an activity, and can be used as homework.  I know my students would much rather go home and play a math game as their homework then fill out a worksheet.  

Close to 100 also reminded me of another quick math activity:

What an easy way to get their brains working during the first few moments of the day!

Stay tuned for a recap of days 4 and 5!

Simplicity, part 3

As previously mentioned, I'm committed to small, simple tweaks this year to make my classroom a more organized and positive place.  Today I present ideas eight through ten!

Idea Eight: Notebook Bookmarks

One of the things my students seem to struggle with when using notebooks is finding the page they left off on.  For some reason unknown to teachers, they love to skip pages.  At the beginning of the year when we set up our notebooks with our table of contents, page numbers, and color coded markers to distinguish subjects, I go over the norms of not skipping pages and using the backsides.  However, by November, this is usually forgotten.

Not this year!

No, this year will be different with the help of this ribbon and duct tape combination!  After journaling, they will simply put the book mark in their notebooks to indicate where they left off and then put their notebooks away.

Idea Nine: The Great Pencil Challenge

Could it be? Can washi and/or duct tape can solve the mystery of the disappearing pencils?

I could have cute prizes for the students who have their assigned pencils at the end of the day, then a few days, then a week.  

When the pencil gets down to basically nothing, I'd give them a new pencil with the same number but different tape (so I could keep them straight). 

Idea Ten: Table Organizers

The great bucket idea of last year failed.  Yes, these shower organizers that were so meticulously color coded by table and had so much hope...didn't work.  

By May, all of the buckets had been stepped on and cracked beyond repair without so much as a simple apology.  Part of this was my fault because the buckets didn't have their own space to rest on when not in use. See, the buckets would rest on someone's desk (if he or she was absent) or on the floor, where the buckets were inevitably and frequently stepped on.

However, I could have eliminated the problem with this set up:

I was already planning on placing my students in Kagan groups of 4-6 (depending on class size), so I could arrange the desks around these organizers.  I know they are at Target, I just need to wait for them to go on sale or be in my cartwheel ap (or both!).  

I'm getting excited to get into my classroom and begin setting up! 

Echoing Green

For our intervention block this week, we've been working on reading strategies.  We went over how to record our thinking and that we read poems more than once.  

They did an awesome job finding the shifts in mood in the poem Echoing Green.  Last year our amazing coaches (M & G, love you both!) did a close read lesson with us with this poem.  Based on what they did with us, I had my students color the "happy" words in one color and the "sad" words in another color.  I was really impressed that collaboratively figured out that the poem is happy in the beginning and shifts to sadness toward the end.

I modeled on the smart board.

Their think sheet.

Kagan strategy of "pair up and share" to get them movin' and talking :)

Tomorrow we'll re-read the stanzas and talk about the theme.  Next week they'll create a written response about the poem.

They just get so excited about reading!

Multiplication Strategies

For the intervention part of the day, we've been working on multiplication.  The fifth grade standard says students have to solve using the US standard algorithm, but we are stressing multiple ways to calculate the product.

I give my students a warm up problem, have them work independently for a few minutes, then share with a neighbor how they solved the problem.  If the group got different answers, they work together to solve it again, thus practicing their math discourse.  (Also, mathematical practice #3 about critiquing the reasoning of others).

Here's a snapshot of one group's work:

The strategies they typically use are:

1. US standard algorithm

2. British standard algorithm (very similar to US but with more of an emphasis on place value, as seen in the top image)

3. Partial Products

4. Estimation or compatible numbers to check for reasonableness

5. Repeated addition

6. Halves & Doubles

7. Lattice Method

I love that they're focused on the process of finding the answer rather than the one right answer.  It lends itself to much richer mathematical discussions about the value of numbers.

Week Six updates

It's almost the end of week six and my oh my, has it been a roller coaster of a week!

Here is our new accountable talk poster to guide student conversations:

I love that I could color code it :)

We've been working on strong leads and revising our first pieces with the Being a Writer unit.

I modeled using a strong lead to "hook" your readers:

(My story is about my history with doing martial arts and the multiple lessons I've learned along the way.  This particular piece that I used to model adding sensory details and voice to your writing)

We co-created an anchor chart on sentence starters to help students "hook" their readers :)

We also used one of our new centers from donorschoose during our intervention block:

We are working on context clues.  Students worked in their table teams to come up with the definition of the unknown words by using strategies.  They actually did awesome with this activity, which was great to see!

This activity will become one of our centers during small groups next week.

Speaking of centers, we used this one today in science:

Students had to sort different scenarios into the following categories: erosion, deposition and weathering.  They did a great job with it! 

(This center is a free download from TpT, created by Laura Candler.  It's awesome, there is an included answer key and you should grab it too!)

Happy pre-Friday!

-Ms. Vice

Don't Take Me Literally

During our intervention portion of the day, our grade level has been working on figurative language and idioms (CCSS RL 5.4 and L 5.5).  

We made a foldable, went over the different types, found examples within text, analyzed examples and finally came to the fun part: showing off our work!

As a formative assessment, we had students work in pairs to analyze a common idiom.  They wrote the literal meaning of the phrase, the figurative meaning and drew pictures for each.

I modeled with "it's raining cats and dogs" and then they had an hour to create a rough draft, edit and make a final draft with their partner.

Here is our bulletin board:

Don't take me literally!

Terrific Thinking Thursday

Our school is using Number Talks for math to boost our students' number sense, working understanding of mathematical concepts and critical thinking.  The philosophy behind Number Talks aligns perfectly with Investigations, which we are using as a tool to guide our standards-based instruction and assessment.  Through hands-on learning and discourse, our students are learning how to interact with math rather than memorize and regurgitate information.

Our grade level has tweaked our number talks:

Monday: This is our traditional number talk.  A problem is displayed on the board, students solve mentally then raise their hands to share their answers.  Emphasis is given to strategies and explaining their thinking.

Tuesday: Ten minute math from Investigations.  We are starting with quick images where students are looking for patterns, which is supporting the 8 math practices.

Wednesday: Word problem Wednesdays.  We are moving away from the traditional circling of the number and choosing an operation robotic routine.  Instead, we are focusing on criticial thinking and strategies.

Thursday: Terrific Thinking Thursdays!  We display a deceptively simple problem and let students solve individually before sharing out whole group.  

Fridays: Fast Facts Fridays.  Students are working on their individual goals for fact fluency (multiplication and division) in a fun, game-like way with their shoulder or face partner.

Since it's Thursday, here is an example of today's problem:

The problem states "You have $2.75.  What coins could make this amount?"

None of my students gave me an answer invoving dollar bills.  There were actually more answers they came up with later and I was impressed they used half dollar coins in their answers.  Not bad for eight am :)

New post it collaboration idea

At my school site, we're very big on collaboration.

I saw this idea on pinterest and I'm super excited to try it in my classroom:

Students will answer a question individually on post-its, then put the post-its on larger paper and collaborate to make the best answer while incorporating all of their ideas.

This would work well for reading, math and science :)

Fluency prep for next week

Next week we are working on fluency during reading time, so in preparation, I made a new center:

(These masters are from a Kagan book)

My awesome coworker shared these with me since I'll be doing reading centers during small group time.

The Kagan activity is called "Quiz-Quiz Trade" where each student has a card.  Each student finds a partner, reads the card (Q on the front, A on the back), listens to the partner's card (tries to answer their question) and then trades cards.  Students don't hold on to their original card the whole time, allowing them to hear the correct answers to a variety of questions.

This fluency center will be stressing phrasing and expression, which means they will be reading in meaningful chunks while paying attention to punctuation cues.

Time to cut out some new cards!

1st Week Idea

I admit it, I'm guilty. I am guilty of trying to condense the entire first week's worth of ice breakers and procedures into the first day of school.  I think I do this because I'm so eager to get to the part of the school year where students are learning and eagerly sharing ideas with one another. I'm ready for the part where my classroom runs smoothly and I don't have to go over how to set up notebooks and center expectations.  However, I've also learned through trial and error that the first week(s) of school need to be spent going over procedures and expectations so the rest of the year can run smoothly.

I stumbled upon this great idea on pinterest and immediately added it to my first week lesson plans.

Essentially, students are completing a Venn Diagram about themselves and a buddy.  Pretty simple idea, but then I got to thinking about why this would be important.

1: It's a great, non-threatening review of Venn Diagrams and what it means to compare and contrast two people.  Since the comparing and contrasting of two individuals is a cornerstone of RL 5.3, it's a sneak peek formative assessment.

2: It's a non-threatening format that students are familiar with.  It doesn't involve notebooks.

3: It's a great way to establish speaking and listening norms.  I would model this with a co-teacher to show students what is expected in a conversation.  We could also model appropriate voice levels, thus reviewing another classroom expectation.

I wouldn't do this the first day of school.  Instead, I foresee this as a great Tuesday through Thursday activity.

At our school, we use Kagan grouping structures, which means I have my students in groups of four to six that change every six weeks (or so).  In each group, there is a "high flyer", a medium student, a lower student, and usually a student with an IEP (since I am inclusion).  The students work together and learn from one another.

On the first day, I would have students interview their "shoulder partner" who is the person sitting next to them.

The second day would be devoted to interviewing their "face partner" who is the person directly across from them.

The final day would be interviewing their "kiddy corner" partner.  Then they will share out with the group and make a four way Venn Diagram (I'd provide the templates) about their table teams.  

From there, we would do a gallery walk to learn more about the other table teams.

During this fifteen minutes, I would monitor for appropriate voice levels and have the opportunity to teach Kagan structures and group expectations.

I'm excited to give this new idea a try!  I also plan to repeat it within small groups once we start switching during the second week of school.

How would you make this activity even better?