Running the Math Block ~ Part 2: The Daily Grind

Welcome to part 2 of how I run my math block! Part 1 is all about why I needed the change, and some things I did about it :)

For my daily math block, I start off each and every day with my calendar. We do calendar during snack time, but kids are expected to pay attention and participate.

You so totally need this calendar if you have a SMART Board-it's amazing. She also has it bundled for the year, and one for the lower grades as well (which our 3rd grade team has after seeing me use mine during walkthroughs!)

Starting off with calendar, we do the number of the day by finding the factors, deciding what type of number it is, and then I have the kids come up with 3-5 ways to get that number as an answer and we share out (which I love hearing about, they try and make them complicated, and I often remind them that simple ones work just as well. It's naturally differentiated to them, and they can make it as hard or as easy as they need!:)

We record all of this in our Numbers Notebook, and then work our way through the rest of the calendar, and the daily component as well.

Next, I do (or try to!) the lesson of the day. I stick to the Math in Focus structure for this, but I try to keep it short, so I have more time to meet with students, and they have more time to practice.

Sometimes, it'll be a longer lesson because of manipulatives, but I try to keep the main lesson under 20 minutes (less if possible!), so they have at least 30 minutes of practice time.

After I finish the lesson, I put up the work schedule.

Students are allowed to work on whatever they choose, as everything is practicing the skill we are learning.

Some kids go straight for the task cards-

While others go straight for their workbooks.

We haven't done an independent journal center yet-but that may become the '1st choice' once we do. Right now, I use the whole class lesson for journal instruction sometimes, until we get a little more comfortable with it.

While students are working, I'm either floating around the room, or pulling students to the back table to work.

How do I know which students to pull?

Well, there is where my masterpiece comes in!

Usually, skills will take us a few days (most MiF lessons are 2, if not 3 days). I give an exit slip at the end of the previous lesson, and look them over.

I check to see which ones need practice and where, and they go on my list to work with.

I'll also throw an entrance slip at them for morning work if it's a one day lesson, and do the same thing.

Once we're at the back table, I model the skill, and then we work through it a few times. Once they've shown me that  they can do it independently, I release them to choose a center.

Love having whiteboard squares on the table-it makes it so much easier to pull groups!! 😍😎 #iteach4th #iteachfourth #teachersfollowteachers #teachersofinstagram

A photo posted by Smiles & Sunshine (@smilesandsunshineteacher) on Sep 9, 2015 at 2:37pm PDT

I then use Google Spreadsheets (again!) to record who I worked with and what skill we hit-so I have the data to back me up if needed. (Students also have their own Evernote notebooks where I take notes)

Each cell is a different time I've met with them-sometimes we cover more than one skill in a lesson!

When there is about 5 minutes left, I hand our the exit slips and have them start cleaning up. I do have them turn in the exit slips into a different bucket than my turn it bin-just so they don't get lost! :)

Stay tuned for part 3, how I trained the kids!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Running the Math Block ~ Part 1: Needed Changes

Hi! I've made some major changes to the way I run my Math block, so I thought I'd do a little mini-series showing how it evolved and what I do now. I hope you enjoy it!

When I first started teaching in my current district, I did Math Workshop-and loved it! I felt like I was reaching the needs of all my kids, and they were able to learn and practice at their level.

But since our math program was so old (they didn't even make it anymore), and with the new Common Core standards, we looked into purchasing a new program.

So my next year at the school, I was piloting Go Math! (which I didn't hate-but I didn't love it either).

Well, as things go, our district decided to go with Math in Focus (the choice came down to that or Envision-Go Math, was 'disqualified' due to test scores).

Now, all through the Math Committee meetings, I had been opposed to Math in Focus, as I've found that it often goes above and beyond the Common Core, and if we're going to teach the Common Core, I think that we need to teach it well before trying to build upon and extend it (and ironically enough,  I told my old principal this, and he was all like 'No, it's totally Common Core' at the meetings, but when I had my end of year meeting with him last year, he was all like 'Where's the Common Core?' Can I just say-I told you so!).

We did have some trainings toward the end of our pilot year (when we knew what we were going to pick), and at the beginning of the school year that made me feel a little more comfortable with Math in Focus.

Last year was our first year with it-and towards the end, I hated the way that my math block was running.

I wound up doing a lot more notebook entries to teach the kids, as everything had taken so long (what with snow days and delays), and I needed to at least expose the kids to things.

I thought long and hard about how I wanted my math block to look like last year, and with a little bit of inspiration from The Primary Gal, I came up with an idea.

First, I wanted to have entrance and exit slips for each lesson, so I could easily pull groups based on need and skill.

Second, I also wanted a quicker way to assess-as the tests sometimes took 2-3 math periods.

Third, I wanted to make better use of time and workbooks, and meeting the kids needs better.

And last, but certainly not least!, I wanted math to be more fun for the kids, as well as a little more interactive.

Since Math in Focus didn't come with any of the things I needed/wanted, I came up with the idea to make it myself!

So I put together a PD project to make what I needed.

Wrote up a description for my summer project to be approved by the PD committee-fingers crossed! #needtogetmovingansgroovin #summerofmath #mathblockrevamp #teachersneverstoplearning #fourthgrade #math #iteach345 #teachersofinstagram #teachersfollowteachers #igteacher

A photo posted by Smiles & Sunshine (@smilesandsunshineteacher) on May 13, 2015 at 4:31pm PDT

Note: I have not yet made the videos-I wasn't sure if I was going to get the tech I needed (not yet), and I wanted to get the main part done first. If and when I get iPad and/or Chromebooks, I'll start on the videos. 

After a couple of months, and almost a 100 hours, I finished!

Inside, I have quick checks (1 page assessments) with two types of data recording sheets.

Entrance Slips

and Exit Slips

Each chapter is divided by a Chapter sheet, and even the back cover is pretty!

As I don't have a TPT shop, this will not be for sale.


What's all this have to do with how I run my math block?

Well, let's get into {some of} the good stuff!

I start off each chapter with a quick check-which I then grade and keep them on my desk until we're done the chapter and the last quick check.

This way, parents (and kids!) don't freak out because of the low scores, and I send them home with the second quick check so they can see the growth they've made. We also graph our results in our Data Notebooks.

The quick check allows me to see who knows what, so I can get an idea of what we may need to spend more time on, and what we may need to spend less time on.

I also record their scores in a Google Spreadsheet, so I can keep track of their score changes (and use it for my evaluative purpose-using assessment to drive instruction-yada yada, blah blah blah ;)

Even the kids who started out high made some growth! The numbers in parenthesis represents the number of points the check was.

I got that idea from the SLO my team did last year-I was fascinated by giving the same test twice and seeing a huge difference in scores from beginning to end-which I think is much more helpful than the pretest from Math in Focus, which has little to do with the end of chapter test.

So, I have my newly made and beautiful products-and what do I do with them?

Stay tuned for part two!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn 

Close Reading Workshops

This year, one of my professional development goals was to learn more about comprehension strategies and close reading.

So far, I've attended two workshops, as well as reading a variety of blog posts (though I don't think those count for PD credit!), and some books.

The first workshop was very technical and very much focused on the components of a close reading lesson, without much practice. No lie, it was a little boring-and overwhelming.

The one I went to earlier this month was more focused on us doing close reading lessons and experiencing close reading. I also attended this one with two coworkers. I felt that I had learned more at this one-and am better able to do it with my kids now.

It was a BER workshop, so you can check to see if it is coming to your area-I recommend going if it is!

I also got some validation during this one-which was nice after a difficult few days.

Here are some of my notes-although Mini got a bit of a workout too~I did an interesting mix of tech and paper :) (I have an Evernote Notebook created with the workshop info-if you would like it, please send me an email-I can share it with you!)

It was super interesting, and I've been applying some of the easy to use strategies in my class (the next day!).

She also recommended some books, which I just had to pick up!

Baloney is by Jon Scieszka-the camera cut it off

Of course, strange things happen when you are ordering from Amazon, and books mysterious appear in your cart :)

The top two are new Mentor Texts, and First Day Jitters is a replacement-with all my moving, my original got lost somehow!

I'm thinking of making a close reading binder this summer, using the resources I've found from my two workshops, blog posts, and Pinterest. That way I can have everything in one place! :)

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

The Sub That Never Was

I was at a workshop yesterday, and I wanted to share how I set up for a sub.

But...

My kids had a snow day. (Although it was bad out at all-it was icy-with no snow!)

Hey! He worked! Too bad I already had the day 'off' with a workshop!

So-no sub.

But I still went to my workshop! (The start was delayed an hour due to weather, but we still had it!)

So I'll share about the sub that never was! :)

I always start with my Sub Binder. I got this from Lesson Plans and Lattes.  I only have to update at the beginning of the year and I'm set!

Next, my plans.

I save them, so I just copy and paste the day into a new word document and changed certain aspects. 

I try to plan easy to do things that go along with what we are currently learning.

Everything gets stacked in the order of the day, and I'll often leave little post its on it, either labeling or explaining more.

I have a stock of Scholastic News saved, so if it's a Social Studies day, that's what they are working on.

For Math, I try to have a fun game/worksheet that not only goes along with a skill we've been practicing, but is also seasonal!

Since I never know who might show up (unless it's planned way in advanced like this one was), I don't want to try to have them do a Math in Focus lesson (especially since I'm not 100% comfortable with the program myself!)

In Reading, I always try to have a story with an activity-again, themed to the season!

For my guided reading groups, I wrote the plans on a sticky and attached to my binder, as well as additional instructions on each book.

I had previously written them in my plans, but with this method, I can write it up immediately after group, so I know the direction they go it.

If it is a 'surprise' absence, I write the GR plans in my regular lesson plans. It'll usually be having the student read aloud from previous chapters, or do a close reading article.

I overexplain everything, so my plans are usually 4 pages. Plus, I used to sub, so I know what it is like to get plans and have no idea what to do!

So these activities will be stashed away, and when I'm out again, they'll be dusted off for use. The best thing is that the activities can be used from year to year, so it is an easy copy and paste for a new day!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Informational Writing

I recently went to an excellent workshop on writing-Opinion/Persuasive Writing!

Now, even though this was a workshop on Opinion/Persuasive Writing, I got some great ideas that could be used for any writing-especially prewriting ideas!

I actually wrote the prewriting ideas up for a teamie-to share the awesomeness of the workshop! (If you're in the New England area, and have a chance to see Fred Wolff-who is a Six Traits presenter-then go!)

Our newest writing unit is informational/expository writing, and before we got to writing, I wanted to go over what informational writing was (and could be!)

After we came up with our lists, we moved into groups.

We are going to be writing advertisements (though they didn't know that)-I figured it was a good way to introduce it, plus it's that time of year when ads get crazy!

Using one of the prewriting ideas I got at the workshop, I split the kids into 4 groups of 4 (yes, I only have 16-I love it! I'll have more next year :)

I had them divide up their paper into three columns, and label it Toys, Games and Electronics/Video Games.

With their group, they had to brainstorm a list for each.

After they finished (there was some cool discussions!), I had them do a gallery walk to see what other groups came up with.

When the gallery walk finished, I gave each group a yellow piece of paper and had them divide into three again.

This time, they needed to pick the best toy/game/electronic and write down:
-Why it was cool
-Why people would buy it
-What made it the best

I told them they needed to come to a consensus on the best for each category.

The discussions they had were great!

As well as some compromise thrown in there :)

They took another gallery walk.

This group could not agree if a Wii (girls) or a Playstation/Xbox (boys-and I can't remember specifics :) was better. I suggested gaming system since that's what they both are.

This group had to compromise-they gave one girl the toy if the boys could pick the electronic :)

One of the kiddos here had a HUGE music thing-he won the electronic battle

 Then I sent them back to their seats. I had them pick one game/toy/electronic that they thought was the best and answer the questions above.

We shared as a group when everyone was finished :)

We talked a little bit about advertisements, and what they are.

Tomorrow, we'll talk about what an ad needs to have and I'll get them started on their writing.

This was a great lesson-long, but worthwhile! (It took over an hour-probably closer to an hour and a half with the chart and activities) Plus, they were engaged the whole time, and working cooperatively. Score!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn