Worksheets Don’t Grow Dendrites: Strategy 7

Hi, Friends! This strategy is all about using manipulatives, experiments, labs, and models. We’re teaching at a time when assessment has been placed at the forefront of well, just about….everything. Often times, we rush too quickly to abstract paper and pencil tasks without allowing students adequate time to enjoy concrete experiences. By using hands-on objects that students can touch, manipulate, change, pull apart, put together to create…we help them to build a deeper understanding of concepts that will be easily remembered in order to apply the learning to real world situations.

How many students do you have that get frustrated or misbehave when a piece of paper is put in front of them or even flat out refuse to complete work? The frustration may not be with the work itself, but in being rushed to show it in a way that is uncomfortable…too soon. In the real world, no one takes away our support. No one insists that we “figure it out” and solve problems based on memory alone. We have calculators , fingers….tools and apps that we use to solve problems….all.the.time. So, why do we as teachers take away support from students because we feel they’ve grown dependent on it or have used it for too long?



Students understanding of mathematical ideas is broadened when they’re allowed to use concrete representations. In our classroom, when students visit work stations, manipulatives are provided as support. If students need them, they have assess to them. If they don’t, they’re not required to use them.



Before beginning independent work, examples of expected outcomes are projected to provide clarity…



…and a quick reference {example}. Using manipulatives can also provide game-like opportunities for learning.



In order to display our understanding of edges and vertices, students constructed models of 3-Dimensional figures using toothpicks and marshmallows. (I’m sure there were a few missing vertices, by the time this lesson was done!)



We could have read lots of books, colored pictures, looked at video clips....and we did, BUT none of those things could replace getting our hands dirty to plant real seeds.  Planting in our classroom is definitely an experiment because growing dendrites might be a talent, but growing plants is NOT! Ha!



When we compared living organisms to non-living objects last year, the kids couldn’t wait to get their hands on worms! Real…icky, slimy…wet, muddy worms! Yuck! Now, while I enjoyed watching them enjoying themselves….the gummy worms were more my speed! Lol! =)



Concrete experiences like this and labs also help ELLs when focusing on new vocabulary and concepts at the same time! There’s no doubt, every student in the room knew the difference between the living worm and the non-living gummy worm…not to mention, which one tasted better!



So, the next time you’re planning….think of  tactile ways to engage students in learning! Kids remember what they experience and DO!



I love my big take away or “aha” from this chapter. Provide students with the support they need for as long as THEY need it. It’s not up to me to decide it’s time to force them away from it. When a student is ready to show what they know independently, they’ll tell me they no longer need the aid or simply stop using it. Let them guide the learning. Let them touch, manipulate, feel, and experience as much learning as possible with their whole bodies. Paper and pencil tasks should be the very last step in learning….learning IS in the doing.

Allow students to use manipulatives, conduct experiments, build models and watch them flourish! Hands-on learning is FUN!

Stop by Mrs. Jump's Class to hop through the other posts about this chapter. Enjoy!

Five for Friday~Routines, Routines... & Making 10

Hi, Friends! How are ya?! Another Five for Friday has rolled around….and we’ve officially survived the first two weeks!!  Whooo hooo! Sit back and stay awhile….check out these 5 happenings from our TODAY!



Routines are taking shape! My little crew of firsties and I are getting to know one another and meeting expectations has become the name of the game!



1 of our classroom expectations is knowing how to use an appropriate voice level. Sometimes you also just need a little space for yourself to get your work completed. With the switch to {round} tables this year, there’s no space for big, rectangular privacy folders. To gain a little privacy students learned to divide their tables into 4 individual spaces by placing their book boxes on the table extending out from the supply caddy set in the middle.



After taking time to learn procedures for showing what we know….students earned their first crack at smart art! Smart art is our weekly reward activity for meeting expectations during Daily 5 throughout the week. Our story this week was about pals, so students worked in pairs and used verbs to tell things that friends or pals do! Turn & talk, reading response and art all rolled into one….=)



Having a classroom library that students are allowed to access for good-fit book choices requires organization. Last weekend, I had my [personal] kids return all of the books back to the library bins because….let’s face it….I was just too exhausted to have the class do it for themselves! This week….however…I knew that it was important to teach this routine and hovered just a bit to ensure each student neatly returned their “good-fit” books back to the correct library bin by matching the sticker or letter on the bin. They did a great job!



I posted this picture earlier today onto the FB page and it’s gotten A LOT of attention! {Thank YOU to all!} We started this lesson by viewing a quick video clip about different ways to make 10 on DiscoveryEducation.com. The title of it was The Making of 10 (Math Monsters). We discussed what the little monsters were doing to create groups of 10 as we watched and then used this little activity to review the week by showing the pattern found in creating the same number different ways.

We worked on 2 or 3 of the little rectangles together and then…..I asked the class to stand and pretended that I couldn’t remember the next combination that would come in the pattern, sent them to talk about it in small groups and to build it using their own set of cubes {for each group}. They were charged with the task of holding up cubes that would be an example of the next combination needed…FIRST….THE FASTEST….and it involved a “clip up” action for getting it done! Engagement, movement, good behavior….all in one!

A little friendly competition makes things fun and interesting too! =)

After working to create the needed combination, the class was called back to the carpet and we completed additional squares together. Students making wise choices were chosen to record the numbers for each part to be joined to create a group of 10. Oh, how wonderfully a firstie will sit in order to get their hands on one of the teacher’s FAVORITE markers!

It took a couple of times to go back and forth before completing the chart and our room was a little rowdy, BUT the kids really enjoyed the lesson and it was a great wrap up to subitizing, spatial patterns, counting in easy ways and counting in hard ways, etc… It was so much fun to watch them challenge each other!

ANNNNNd guess what?! All I did was put the chart together and facilitate the discussion…the kids did EVERYTHING else! Score! ANNNNNNND, little did they know…..as soon as they were off on their way home, the chart was laminated and placed in a bin for math stations next week! No excuses about not knowing what to do because… guess what?! They created it! Extended practice……deepening of understanding…..here we come! You can see the blank poster that was set into stations by visiting the FB page.



Before ending the day, we settled down and settled in to routines for writer’s workshop. Today, we completed the assembly of our folders and began to write across 3 pages for the first time. Because it was our first time, I simply stapled 3 blank pages together. No copies. No wasted ink. 3 blank pages of printer paper. Students used their pencils to draw a line across the page from the middle staple to divide their paper in half. Illustrations went above the line. Words/writing went below the line. We use that same routine in our morning work journals. It saves pages. =)

Reference resources are kept on the prongs that run down the middle. So far, we’ve added our heart maps and a mini-poster to practice the path of motion for forming our letters. Each student also has a personal word wall that is kept in the folder. The pocket on the left houses writings that are still a work in progress. The pocket on the right houses writing that is complete.

I searched all over and couldn’t find green and red coding dots….soooooo, instead we incorporated color coding plain white labels as part of our discussion about the use of our folders! Glad I never found them….

Well, friends…..that was our Friday. There’s been so much happening on the homefront since school started that I’d loved to share! One day that I don’t come home and collapse…we’ll play catch up! Until then, keep visiting…more fun stuff to come! Click the pic below to grab a little freebie for Making 10. Next week….beginning addition!



My favorite thing that has happened so far this year? One of my shy guys walked over and quietly asked…. “Is it ok if I put your name on my heart map?”….{heart melted}. It’s been just 9 days, but……..I think they like me!!!!!

Celebrating~Teacher of the Year!!!

Hi, Friends! How’ve you been? It’s been a while, so I’m gonna crash my own Wisdom Wednesday to catch up with ya!


I’ve been working on taking a little of my own advice and getting some much needed rest over these first few days of summer. That’s right folks! That fat lady has sung…the curtain has closed and it’s a wrap! We’ve celebrated the end of another fantastic year in 1st grade! It’s really true that time flies when you’re having fun! It’s so hard to believe that another year has come and gone.



Our A-Z countdown was a big hit! Watermelon Day was a favorite! There were lots of grateful yums and a whole lot of slurping going on in the classroom that day!



We reviewed animal habitats as we ended the year. Care to guess what habitat we illustrated as part of our math lesson? I’ll give you a hint…..it has several layers and is such a hoppin’ place that there are animals swinging from the trees! Lol…..exploring {the rainforest}…..was exciting! We read non-fiction texts, reviewed their features and used details to illustrate rain forest habitats after decomposing numbers on the tree branches. We did this activity on one of our very last days so it got packed up before I could snap a picture of the final product. After working with a partner to decompose the numbers written in the trees, students were free to conduct independent research using PebbleGo.com and add details to their illustration to show what they had learned.



We also reviewed a different phonics skill each day of the last week-ish. Do your kids enjoy The Little Old Lady…books? Mine did! Being that one vowel sound slides right into the other when we pronounce words with diphthongs, we usually use a wide mouthed illustration of the little old lady when we brainstorm these types of words. The trouble with that is…..I tend to forget that The Little Old Lady that Swallowed a Diphthong….{ahem}….may not be such a great title to use for this little activity!!!! Geez, lol! She’s eaten a lot of things, but ummmmm, that’s one we’d better skip! If you’ve got a suggestion for another good illustration, help a girl out and leave it in the comments. I guess we could just illustrate the words on the web, huh? 

After creating a word web of each of the spelling patterns together on chart paper, we completed a directed drawing for students to illustrate and create their own word webs. Students then chose words from each of the bubbles to include in a creative writing about our very greedy friend. They turned out looking a little something like this…..



Field Day…Play Day….Watermelon Day…..review, review….Awards and our very last day as a little school family were all loads of fun. I wish I could share them all, but we were so busy creating memories that the camera got left behind a LOT on those days! I’m so proud of how hard my kiddos worked this year, even up until the very last couple of days. Daily 5 time was absolutely sacred and they didn’t let anything interrupt their procedures! I was in awe of how well they worked together.

To hear my firsties reminding each other about how to choose helping partners, reminding each other to still check for understanding….even with only a day left?! To hear them using the language that we practiced all year, the language that we began using on the very 1st day of school?! Amazed and just plain ole proud! Yep! They were ready. There was nothing more left to do other than enjoy making memories and send them off to 2nd grade with a bang!



As the year came to an end, I also received an awesome surprise! This year, without a doubt was one of the best! I had the best class of inquisitive little loves. We learned so much and grew so much….TOGETHER. After making sure each one of them ended the year feeling loved and celebrated, I was invited to a celebration of my own! Just last night I was recognized as TEACHER OF THE YEAR for my rockin’ campus! I can brag on my kiddos all day, but I get a little shy when it comes to directing attention directly on me.

It was a sweet show of appreciation and I couldn’t have been a bit more grateful to my coworkers that took time out of their summer evening to come support me. It was great to see my very 1st principal’s smiling face in the audience and then there’s the person that nominated me…my current principal. Let me just say, that could be a complete, whole ‘nother blog post! If she moved to the moon, I’d be ready to suit up and follow…..she’s absolutely the BEST! She encourages each of us to strive for excellence in such a way that makes it easy to go the extra mile, to show up and rock each and every day. Our school is a place that is filled with love and laughter and people that genuinely care for each other. The positive atmosphere on our campus is like no other and its all a tribute to her leadership. To be complimented in this way, by her…means a lot to me. My heart was completely filled with gratitude and I appreciate the recognition for doing what I love and LOVING what I do.



I hope you’re enjoying some rest and relaxation too! Stay tuned….I’ll be back soon to share a TREAT from our very last day!

A “Quacktacular” Gift for YOU!

Have you begun to review skills as we wind down the year? If you’re a TX Firstie, this will be a fun way to review skills before administering EOY testing. Skills included in this little freebie are magnitude comparisons, number sequences, place value, addition and subtraction. I’m so excited about having time this summer to put together more of the ideas floating around in my head! Only 19 more days to go!

My kiddos are gonna flip when they get their hands on this write the room activity! Cut the cards apart and hang them around your classroom. Provide each student with a recording sheet. Group them according to your preference and let them go to work! Write the room is a fun way to get kids up and out of their seats to complete tasks that they might otherwise find a little difficult to sit through.

I hope your kiddos will enjoy it! Click the pic below to grab it! Thanks for following along in the Firstie fun! I think you’re “quack”tacular!!! Enjoy the rest of your teacher appreciation week! You deserve it…….and that’s a fact, Jack!

Five for Friday~Measurement Fun

 

Hi, Friends! Did we make it? Is it REALLY Friday? I think this may have been one of the longest weeks in history!  While enduring the changes that come along with securing the campus for testing, we managed to make a little noise and shake things up with some hands-on fun in math. Wanna see what we did?


I couldn’t be one bit prouder of the way my kids rock morning work. Using this time as a quick review and for problem solving has been really helpful in making sure they have a good understanding of skills we’ve learned this year. As promised, with each passing month a gradual release of support has been had in order to foster independence and thinking. We’re beginning to turn into quite the little story tellers {even, in math}!



Early this week, we reviewed what it really means to be an equal sign. We rocked it with hands on learning. No paper on the first day, just our Mimio and unifix cubes and LOTS of chit chatting. Students were split into pairs to work to solve one problem at a time after we had a quick discussion at the carpet. The left and right hands were drawn to help guide students. After presenting a set of numbers on each side of the equals sign, students had to solve in order to prove if the statement was true or false.

The student sitting closest to the green left handprint on the desk tags was responsible for building the number on the left side of the equals sign. The student sitting closest to the red right handprint was responsible for building the number on the right side of the equals sign. After each partner built their tower, they placed them standing next to each other in order to answer ‘true’ or ‘false’. The tower served as their proof! It was a little confusing at first, but after a couple of tries it all clicked and we were off and running. 5 + 5 = 10 was obvious, but they got progressively harder to include problems with 3 addends on one side of the equals sign.



After we got the hang of it, we moved to recording our work by taking a 12 x 18 sheet of construction paper and folding it into fourths. We stapled it twice along the left side and trimmed the top folded edge to form a blank book. Students then worked in pairs to prove statements as either true or false that were listed on the board as I walked around to check for understanding. Build. Illustrate. True or False? That was the gist.

Our standards are changing in math. This is one of the newer concepts that we’re going to be responsible for. It’s been fun doing something new, going a little deeper. Now that we’re working with numbers more, building them, taking them apart, talking about them, justifying our positions and having to provide proof, students are gaining a greater understanding of math symbols and what they truly represent. LOVE!



By Wednesday, we were ready to introduce our skill for the last six weeks of school:  measurement. I try to work in listening and following directions as much as possible. I’m kind of sneaky because it usually takes on the look of directed drawings. To get our little booklets ready for our introduction to measurement, students were each given a booklet that I cut quickly from a folded 12X18 size sheet of construction paper with 4 sheets of printer paper in between. 3 booklets were cut from each stapled set of pages.  Students listened and followed directions to decorate their booklet to look like a pencil and then….



….pulled one {real} pencil from their desk to use both as a measurement tool and writing instrument. They were to walk around the room to find two items that were shorter than their pencil and two items that were longer than their pencil.  We practiced double-checking to make sure our items were lined up correctly, illustrated them and wrote a sentence to describe the length of the item in comparison to the pencil.  Walk around the room, you say? Find items to measure, you say? Yep! They had fun with that!

Here’s a little freebie, if you’d like to do a little pencil measuring of your own! Next week….we’ll be using Jack and the Beanstalk to really get crackin’ at non-standard measurement! Stop by next week to see what we’ll be up to!

Five for Friday~Story Problems

Hi, Friends! How are ya? It’s time for another Five for Friday!



It’s been an amazing day! It’s after midnight so, I guess I should say…yesterday was an amazing day! It started with the mad dash out of the door after missing the first go ‘round with the alarm clock. Just before dismissal, the heavens opened and rained down golf ball sized hail! In true TX fashion….20 minutes later….the sun was shining and we were off and making a mad dash for the first night of our church’s Spring Awakening conference. I can hear my pillow calling, so let’s take a quick look-see at what went down in Room 159 this week. Ready?



This week, math was all about addition and subtraction using problem solving. This chart isn’t all that cutesy, but it served the purpose of introducing new math language to problem solving.  Simple, but significant and part of the process of learning…



Admittedly, I think we did a little more adding than subtracting. No worries though because this will be our focus in math again next week. We used this story problem to practice modeling different addition sentences for the same sum (with 2 addends).

Students worked in pairs with a set of ten frames to model “teen sums”. Each pair of students were assigned a number and worked to model all of the combinations for that sum beginning with 0 + the given number.  We started with 0 in order for students to see the pattern developing as their first addend increased and the second one decreased. One student in the group managed the ten frames and one was in charge of the marker.



On the next day, we moved to creating story problems in order to incorporate writing in math.



We dedicate one day each week to story problems. This week was a little different because rather than simply have students work to solve story problems, I had them start from scratch to create them. In doing so, students had to model their thinking using ten frames and use math language in their writing. Differentiation for ability determined how many counters each student was given.

Students dropped their counters onto their desks, then arranged them on ten frames and told a story to their shoulder buddy before beginning to write. I also modeled one on the whiteboard before expecting them to do this independently. Once their stories were written, students were given a sheet of drawing paper to illustrate the problem they had written. Notice the finishing touch? Even my witty class of mostly boys LOVES doodle frames!

Part of the learning process was being able to get thinking onto paper…not every student got what they thought and spoke written perfectly onto their papers, but that was part of the learning process too. My struggling readers/writers dictated their story problem to me. I wrote it on a sticky note and they copied it onto the writing paper.




Math is ALWAYS the most active time of day in our classroom. You can check out some of the activities we use to review skills in my little TPT shop! I’m blessed to be participating in a sale with over 200 fantastic blogging friends! Here are…..ummmm, just a few 100 or so of them…



You might’ve noticed that things at A+ Firsties have changed a bit. The little rainbow is my previous logo. You’ll find the new one at TPT looks like my updated button. Click HERE to grab a freebie to write a few story problems of your own! Have a great weekend!

Seriously! What were YOU thinking?

Have you ever found yourself wondering the answer to that question during the day? Actually saying it out loud? Well, today….I did…out loud….over and over again….



…during math. Shocked?! At me asking that question or by the fact that I taught math, lol?! I don’t share a lot about our math time because my heart belongs to all things literacy, BUT today was one of those days when the lights came on. It was one of those days when through the organized chaos, the chitter chatter, through the rowdiness of it all…they learned. They REALLY learned. They got it!

 After creating a chart to outline the steps for solving a story problem, we reviewed each of the strategies we’ve been discussing and prepared to practice what we’d preached. We’ve been calling these…. “Think” Strategies…



I have some very clever little mathematicians in my class that keep me on my toes, so one strategy that I was sure to incorporate was, “I just know it”! I attended a training recently where one of the instructors expressed how important it is to share with students that “just knowing” the answer is a valuable strategy. By honoring it, the need for acknowledgement is addressed and those students that “just know it” are more receptive to practice the steps of the process because THEY know, YOU know that THEY KNOW the answer, even before beginning the steps of problem solving. =)



Each student received a story problem to solve. Only 5…6? 6, I think, were created. This approach allowed for students to work in pairs and/or small groups to engage in “math talk” to discuss their thinking. It also allowed for differentiation for ability. After students walked through the steps of solving the problem, they had one additional task….explain your thinking. Prove it. Defend why the strategy you chose to use was the BEST strategy to solve your story problem. Here’s a closer look.

Their choice of the "BEST" strategy is named on the green sticky note.



….and now that we can better verbalize the “why” of what we did, the pesky worksheet has become a “think” sheet. Want your kiddos to show what they know? Great! But make ‘em tell you why! Seriously! Ask ‘em…… “What were YOU thinking”?!



See ya later! =)