Vocabulary on the Fly

I'm a big fan of working smarter, not harder, so as I was planning my unit for volume and mass I knew it was jam packed with vocabulary that we'd need to get a handle on. I wanted to find some interactive games and activities that didn't take me hours to prepare. So here we are, vocabulary on the fly!

Clump & Dump

We played clump and dump this week and it only took me about 10 minutes to write the words on cards. I took some index cards and cut them up (I'm running low on supplies!) and had 15 cards for each of my table groups. On those cards I wrote their vocabulary words related to our math topic of volume and mass. I gave them their "dumpster" of words, now we need to "clump" them into categories. At first I let them choose their own categories, to see how they found them to relate to each other. This was really neat to see the connections they made!

After they worked with their group to clump their words, I asked them to now clump them differently. This time I wanted them to have a "volume" category and a "mass" category. This sort allowed me to do a quick check of understanding. I could have started with this, but I was curious to see what they wanted to categorize them on their own. I heard lots of great conversations of why certain words should go with certain categories. They're talking about the vocabulary words and their meanings! You can't beat it!

Charades & Taboo

Charades and Taboo are already such fun games, adding your own vocabulary words to them makes these games easy to explain, play, enjoy, and learn! For charades all you have to do is have your vocabulary words written on slips of paper. A student will then pick a piece of paper and they must act out that vocabulary word without saying anything! I like to have my students in the audience write their guesses on white boards, so they're practicing the spelling of the vocab and it keeps it from getting a little too crazy.

For taboo, you have the vocabulary word at the top of the card and have 3-4 words of phrases below it that cannot be used to describe it. You could spend some time making your own cards, or better yet, let your students make the cards! They have to come up with the top 3-4 words that describe that vocabulary word. I loved seeing the connections they made to words, like for mountain one student wrote avelanch! I wouldn't think of that one right away, but makes sense! The actual game of taboo is exciting as well because you see students really thinking about the vocab and describing it in different ways than the typical definition. 

Graphic Organizers & Frayer Model

Before you really get into the games, I like to do graphic organizers or the frayer model with my students so they can look at each word a little more in depth. My students know the drill when it comes to the frayer model and draw their own box divided into fourths. The first box is the definition, then an example, then the vocabulary word used in a sentence, and finally a picture. To spice it up from the typical frayer boxes I sometimes let my students create their own graphic organizers. No need to run copies when students create their own sort of map with squiggly clouds, bubbles, or geometric shapes. They enjoy making it their own, but by having it split up into sections they can use each section for a purpose such as the definition, examples, synonyms, non-examples, etc. These activities are very meaningful to organize their thoughts and explore the words in more ways than one. It also doesn't take a lot of time, so you can make graphic organizers on the fly!

If you are fortunate enough to have ipads in your classroom I really recommend the app "popplet". Popplet allows you to make virtual bubble maps where you can type text, make pictures with a draw feature, upload photos from the camera roll or web, and embed links or videos from the web. It's fairly easy to do, so after a quick tutorial your kiddos can be independent and make bubble maps in minutes!

Mini Books

Last but not least, I suggest having a place where your students can keep all of their vocabulary. I wish I had room for a word wall in my classroom but space is tight, so all of my students have their own personal "word wall" or mini vocabulary booklet. In the past I've spent hours assembling booklets with borders, clipart, and fun font. I've also spent 5 minutes getting out paper and told my students to make their own- guess what they liked better? They LOVE to personalize their own booklet, and the fact that it's mini makes it even niftier! They can be made with just paper folded in half or if you can get your hands on some paper bags those can be used for the cover. Those take a little longer to assemble, but the kiddos love the crinkly vintage look they have.

I hope you enjoy these little fun ways to bring vocabulary into your lesson plans! I think the most meaningful games are ones the children help create. It saves you time, but most importantly it brings some higher order thinking to those kiddos by creating it themselves!

Rock on,

Diana

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

All I do is plan, plan, plan no matter what

Sing that title to the tune of "All I do is win" and you'll feel like planning is what all the cool kids rap about.

So I didn't get a chance to do any blog hopping scavenger hunt pics today.. Although my fiancé is working night shift so maybe I can cross the "cop eating a donut" off the list ;) Instead I've started doing some pacing guide planning and also uploaded my first two products on TpT! 

The Teachers Pay Teachers products I've got up so far are a number of the day activity and a back to school QR scavenger hunt! I'm thinking of taking the number of the day and making several versions, in order to have it progress in complexity as we cover new units. 

The QR scavenger hunt is something I've been wanting to make for a while! I can't wait to try it out the first week of school :)

You can check out my TpT store here: 

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Number-of-the-Day-1942553

As far as planning goes, I have a lot of work ahead of me!! 

I used some planning sheets from Ashleigh's Education Journey, the same person I purchased my math units from. I did a breakdown of the year for math and science, and then started planning the first science unit.

Well, it may be time for a donut break! Thanks for stopping by,

-Diana