New Year, new math set up!

2016 has been off to a good start so far for my third graders! We started off the first week with some team builders and review of rules and reviewing some of the standards we've worked on. We also started with a new type of math block for us- a small group model instead of my whole group followed by centers. So far, I've seen great results and responses!

For the first half of the school year we followed a model of math block which involved a quick warm up and a 30 minute whole group lesson. We then had about 45 minutes of centers. These centers would be 3 rotations of things like independent practice, group games, math writing, technology, and I would meet with small groups at this time. We finished our math block with a 10 minute closing and reflection. 

Here's some things I was noticing and reflecting on over break..

-I wasn't able to meet with each math group in this time

-the higher students were bored during whole group, and the lower students had to work harder to keep up

-during whole group I may miss a student who's got a misconception, if they're able to look at neighbors during a group activity (and not ask for help)

-because I will not meet with every student every day, I may miss something

I believe I'm being harder on myself than it actually is.. But because of the varying levels within one class I really feel the need to have more face to face time with my students. However as much as I'd love to have 3 hours for math that's a little unrealistic hehe. So I started researching different set ups for math block to see which one would best suite my students' needs. 

That's when I came across the small group model! The set up is starting with a 5-10 minute number talk/strategy talk which is super important for building number sense. Then, we have 4 centers, each 20 minutes. My students have the same centers, except that I can meet with each of my four math groups! During the 20 minutes I can teach the lesson and work some same problems with my small group of 5-6 students. After centers we spend 5 minutes reflecting/closing.

Here's what I'm loving so far..

-I'm meeting with every student every day

-I'm catching any misconceptions as they arise

-I can instantly differentiate my lesson based on how the 6 students are doing, so if they're having trouble I take it down a notch, if they're flying through it I can add a challenge

-It is impossible for my students to ignore me or zone off if I'm sitting right across from them :)

The kiddos are also loving the new rotations! They ask more questions as I teach and are actively participating. They also get to sit on bouncy chairs at small group so that's a pretty sweet deal! 

So far so good! I hope to continue to tweak the model and its flexibility but I'm really loving it so far. Definitely worth considering if you're looking for a change up!

Rock on,

Diana

Daily 5 Math Centers with Freebies!

I'm finally getting caught up with grading and planning since the wedding! It only took me a month :) I wanted to share how we do math centers in my classroom- which the routines set in place for those were a God send with being gone for a week!

Although I call it Daily 5 centers, we actually do 3 a day. We only have about 45 minutes for centers so by doing 3 each day I get a longer chunk with my math groups. There are 5 centers that we rotate between.

1. Math by Myself
2. Math with partner
3. Math Writing
4. Math technology
5. Math with teacher

I love that these 5 centers allow for different approaches to a concept where students can have independent practice, play games, write about vocabulary or explain their thinking, and use technology to reinforce their skills.

This is a few examples of what math centers look like around my room. You'll see children all around the room in seats, on the floor, crowded on the couch, bouncing on our bouncy ball chairs, even standing. I believe movement is so important to incorporate, not only as they transition between centers, but also while they're at their center. You'll also see different manipulatives, technology, and games to reach all learners and keep that engagement going. However, you won't see blurry faces.. that's just a fancy app I have ;)

Every day students do "math by myself" which could be a page in their book, a worksheet, or interactive notebook activity. This should be something they can do completely on their own, since it's not partner work and I'll be working with a group. "Math with a partner" and "Math Writing" centers are visited twice a week, and "Math technology" and "Math with Teacher" are 3 times a week. On Friday I meet with all my groups to reteach anything they missed from our weekly quizzes.

So, here's the kicker. I start centers on day 3. I promise I'm not crazy!! The first full I week I do not do my "Math with teacher" group and they just play a game or do a review activity as a group. Meanwhile, I monitor the class and check on groups to make sure everyone is on task and I can answer any questions. I set a timer for 12-15 minutes and display it on the smartboard. When the timer goes off, we clean up our centers and all the of the students return to their seats. I start by setting a timer for 1 minute, and then each day I see if we can beat our previous time to clean up. Once all students are at their seats I announce where the groups go next and send them on their way.

During that week my students learn procedures such as where to find their work for each center, what materials they need (and where they can get them), when it's appropriate to talk or when they should work quietly, and where to turn in their work. This takes a lot of modeling and repetition, but that saves you a whole lot of time in the long run! Now my students know exactly where to go, and can even move into their next center without me announcing each group. They know to move quickly during transitions before I start the timer. They've even gotten the hang of "early finishers" activities and working on those independently. I'm so proud of how far these kiddos have come so far and how independent they are! They take pride in their work and do not take the responsibility of centers lightly.

If you're interested in trying out our centers I've made a few different schedules and cards for math centers to help get started! I'm still working on a product that has the 3 centers, but feel free to check them out and see which fits your schedule the best!

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Daily-5-Math-Schedule-2007691

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Daily-4-Math-Schedule-2092579

Rock on,

Diana

Establishing Routines & Expectations

Here's my post about the first two weeks... a week late!  :)

We're currently in our third week of school and things are running smoothly! I'm so happy with how my kiddos are doing with math rotations and our general classroom procedures. I wanted to share some of the things I do the first two weeks to have everything running like a well oiled machine (ok it's still a little squeaky but we're getting there!)

The first big thing I push is class building. Before you can expect these kids to listen to you and respect eachother you need to build those relationships. I know there's a lot out there about being stricter the first few months and then letting off  a bit but I really feel like if you build a trusting relationship with your students they will listen to you because they WANT to, not because you scare the bejesus out of them.

Some fun things I like to do for class building are get to know you games. One we do is called a snowball fight. I found this fun idea on pinterest and the students LOVED it! You write a couple facts about yourself on a piece of paper with your name, crumple it up, and then let the kids have at it. After a few minutes of snowball fights, or until a snowball falls in the fishtank for us, the students each grab a snow ball and have to find the person who wrote it. They then read the facts about the person and get to know them a bit. After a couple of rounds I had the kids write the same facts but with no name, so they had to try and guess who it matched. Here's the link I found on pinterest if you want to check it out: http://www.minds-in-bloom.com/2011/07/back-to-school-snowball-fight.html

Another fun class building thing I do is ask silly questions. I have them either pair up,  or work with teams of 4. I then ask a silly question like "If you were a vending machine that could sell anything, what would you sell?" and each of the kids share. Then I'll share a few with the whole class and they get a good giggle out of it. Some other good questions are "what's the craziest dream you've ever had?" or "If you could be any sound, what would you sound like?"

I like to have one class building activity per day for the first full week. After that, I really like to do one a week if I can, to keep everyone working together and feeling like a trusting family.

After we knock out some class building I then go into the classroom rules and some procedures we use every day to learn. I'm a big fan of Whole Brain Teaching. If you're looking to learn more about it I highly suggest you check out the book by Chris Biffle OR you can check out a site I made for some district PD last year: www.wholebrainteacher.weebly.com

I start with how I plan to get their attention. When I say class, they say yes. The trick is, they have to match the way I say it... no matter how goofy I do it! so if I say WHATS UP CLASSY CLASS?! They say "WHATS UP YESSY YES!!" or "hey hey class" they say " hey hey yes". You can switch it up however you'd like so they don't get bored and neither do you! You'll get some laughs out of it, so whats neat is you have kids following rules and enjoying themselves as they do it. THAT IS KEY!

I then go over my 5 classroom rules. These rules have NO LOOPHOLES. So if you have a kiddo thats really tough to crack and likes to find a special way to get under your skin, they still have to follow your rules!

1. Follow directions quickly
2. Raise your hand for permission to speak
3. Raise your hand for permission to leave your seat
4. Make smart choices (no loophole here-a kid that likes to find loopholes does not want their intelligence questioned!)
5. Keep your dear teacher happy (by doing the right thing!)

I teach these rules by using "Mirrors Up" which is another WBT technique. They repeat after me with actions and words, so we match movements and words to the classroom rules (the brain is getting a workout!). I go over the rules several times a day the first week. I want the rules to be memorized- there's only 5 and if the kids learn movement with it then they can have it memorized by day 2 no joke. After the first week I go down to just doing the rules once a day, and after week 2 we try to do it once a week if we can, just to keep it fresh and on their mind.

After we've grown together as a family and set out our behavior expectations, it's time to show them that I actually will be looking for those behaviors and rewarding them. I like to use class dojo to give my students points for good behavior and for doing their work. What I like about class dojo is its online, so I can add it from my classroom computer during class, or take my phone to lunch and even give points as we're walking in line or outside of our classroom. Also, parents can log in and check their child's points. Class dojo allows you to also take away points. There's lots of different philosophies on this, but I'm ok with them losing points for excessive breaking of rules, and they lose that point privately. Students all have different totals of points so usually it's not noticed by other students. I think that's important. You as the teacher can leave a comment with the points they earn or lose, or can send a message to the parent so they are clear as to what happened. I of course like to send messages about the positive behaviors to open up dialogue with parents and have them know that I love their child and appreciate their positive qualities :)

I would like to add that students then use these points for rewards- and I do not have a prize box. Instead I do coupons for privileges, such as lunch with teacher or feeding a mealworm to our class pet Stubs. This way, the positive behavior is linked to a good feeling, rather than a material thing. It's been pretty motivating so far :)

So these are the big things we've had in place the past two weeks! The students show great compassion towards eachother and they want to do good, because it feels good :) I'm so excited to have this great bunch of kiddos.

I hope everyone is off to a great start to the school year!