Q3 Week 6

Welcome to Week 6 in Q3!  I wanted to take some time and look at ways to keep our math lessons hand on and engaging!

Hands on learning keeps learning real & brings the concept to life for students.  That connection is one that stays with a student and allows the learner to draw upon it during future learning.  

Students are more focused because they are learning from an experience.  That experience is tapping into many different learning styles to solve the problem. 
Read 4 Reasons to Use Manipulatives, Not Just in Math! From We Are Teachers! 

# 3 is a BIG one for me!  Failure is essential in the learning process!

You can find more hands on ideas from We Are Teachers and their 24 Creative Ways to Use Math Manipulatives in Class.  

What is a Cheese Bit? I love this math video from Making Math Real.  In the video the instructor models and explains how to move from concrete to abstract.  

Watch The Story of Three! and see the Cheese Bits in action! 

SILLY NUMBERS!  I love how he helps the students understand that 20 14 is really 34.  Such a great way to get students into renaming numbers.  

This visual is a simple way to represent the idea of concrete to abstract.  

Students need the foundation of concrete (Manipulatives) to understand the abstract (Algorithm).

So before you plan your next week of math think about CRA!  How can you hit those learners and help them as they cross the CRA continuum? 

This video is an awesome!

Q3 Week 5

This week,  let's examine the idea of share writing. Too often our schedules don't allow much time for writing instruction.  In a strong Balanced Literacy classroom,  you will find both reading and writing instruction taking place.  I wanted to take this blogpost into the world of shared writing.  

Shared Writing is a time in the classroom where the teacher acts as a guide in modeling and shaping language for students. The students and teacher work together to create a piece of writing.  It is especially important for our struggling readers and ELL students to engage in shared writing. Shared writing allows students the opportunity to express their thinking orally first and then to be able to see it in written form modeled by the teacher.  

Check out this article Must Know Tips for Shared Writing written by Regie Routman to gain some insight on strategies for shared writing. 

The video below is a good example of how a teacher can engage in shared writing & sharing the pen with their students. 

One of my favorite shared writing activities is morning message.  This can be used in all grades! Students love to come into to a message or to watch as a teacher constructs a message. Check out a morning message in 3rd grade below!

I love they way this teacher using call and response plus her word wall to guide students during a morning message.  They always LOVE when you make mistakes and they catch you.  Wink, wink!

Grab a FREE copy of this Balanced Literacy infographic from The Reading Mama!  It is a great visual for how teachers and students work together in a Balanced Literacy classroom!

Q3 Week 4

Let's talk motivation!  I know all of you are working hard to motivate your students to work at their top potential in your classrooms. 

I loved reading this article from Cult of Pedagogy below on 5 Questions to Ask Yourself About Your Unmotivated Students~By Jennifer Gonzalez

You can also check out Light a Fire below for more ways to motivate your students.  

Or download this FREE class survey to help you determine how your class is motivated.  

For me, the most powerful way to motivate students is to allow them to take ownership of the classroom. That leads over into ownership of their learning. Students need to feel safe to make mistakes within their school family. That security is what supports their learning goals. 

That is why morning meeting is so important.  It is a time for students to learn to lead, make connections, and problem solve.  We so often want to forgo this time to jump right into instruction.  If this happens and those connections are not made we put a limit on our learning potential.  

Are you teaching GRIT?  

I LOVE these motivational videos made by students.  

It would be awesome to have your students create motivational videos for each other. 

Check out this motivational story about two seeds!

And this funny one too!

Ways to motivate using words!

Rewards: If you are looking for some easy and inexpensive rewards for your students, click below to head to Pinterest! 

Q3 Week 3

This week,  I wanted to share some ideas to get your students excited about writing about reading.   I am a firm believer that students should not be exclusively answering written comprehension questions as their only written response for reading. 

Students should be writing before reading, during reading, and after reading. I am going to break this idea up into sections and give you simple ways to get your students engaged in written response.

 (The more you get them writing about their OWN thinking,  the more comfortable they will become responding to texts.) 

Pre Reading Writing:
Activate Prior Knowledge
Prediction Writing-Students can look at the cover of a book and write a prediction on post its. (Project the cover of the book on the smartboard.) Have them add those post its to a chart paper poster about the story.  Be sure to revisit the poster during and after reading to discuss the predictions. Check out these fun and engaging ideas from The Lemonade Stand!

Or use this FREE writing sheet from JD's Rockin' Readers!
KWL: So GREAT for nonfiction!  I think I used this every time I introduced a nonfiction text. You can have some serious fun creating a HUGE one for your class and then a smaller one for your students to write on.  Here is one from my nonfiction unit on Sharks!  Just be sure to revisit it during and after reading! 

Table Top Twitter: Pose a question related to a book that you will be using in class.  Cover tables with paper and allow students to answer the question on the table.  This would work for predictions too!  They can the do a gallery walk and read each other's responses before you read the book as a class.  

During Reading: 
Stop and Model/Make Connections
Visualization Draw: I LOVE to have students draw visualizations while they read. I have students come to the floor with a sheet of paper and a pencil. They fold their paper into 4 parts and I then begin reading.  I stop throughout the story for them to draw their thinking and write a sentence to go along with it.  (Just a quick sketch!) I stop 4 different times and then we do some sharing at the end. 
  
Double Entry Journal: Double entry journals are a great way to get students to record their thinking and also locate the text evidence that supports their thoughts.  All you need is a simple T Chart or this google slide!

After Reading: 
Think and Discuss
321 Reading Summary Strategy: Allows students to organize their thinking after reading a text.  Grab a FREE copy below.  Also, check out the digital one I made in Google Slides for YOU!

GIST: Getting the GIST is a great reading strategy that also incorporates writing.  Perfect for summarizing! Grab it now from Mcgee's Middle!

A PLOT Map or Story Map: A plot/story map is another great way for students to record the action in a story on a graphic organizer.  

  

RACES Strategies FREEBIE!

Check out these FREEbies that hit all 3! 

From The Teacher's Toolbox

From iTeach1:1