I have shared before how important I feel it is for students to reflect on their own learning. My students know that I value the art of making and fixing mistakes (we sing about it even in class!) And while grades are important, learning lies at the center of everything we do. I like it when students take some time to fix work from class, and I like to reward their extra effort through upping their grade in the gradebook. Elementary school is about building a firm foundation in math for all the work that will continue to build on the knowledge they have gained from our class now. In order to bring all of that together, I created a "fix-it" sheet for students to use to correct their tests. To gain credit back, students have to correct every problem they missed. But now not only do they need to correct the work, they also need to take some time to reflect on why they think they missed it. Some reflections show misunderstanding (I thought billions were bigger than trillions) while other share mistakes in computation (I thought 6X4 was 20.) I can learn as much about my students from their diagnoses as they do about the math they were working on in the test. So far I have used this with both 5th and 4th grade on our latest assessments, and I was very pleased with the students' reflections (even when one student said, "I don't know what I was thinking. I just didn't check my work.") We're continuing on our quest for learning math and learning good work habits!
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During the course of the year, 5th grade language arts students have read fiction stories and studied poetry and now we have arrived at the nonfiction portion of the year. To kick off our study of nonfiction reading and research, we first examined the various text features that make reading nonfiction unique (and in some ways more challenging!) The kids worked in small groups to take our brainstormed list of text features and organize them into a "How-to Guide" for reading nonfiction. They listed ideas such as have a question you want answered in order to focus your reading, pay attention to captions, interpret the charts and graphs, and use the glossary to understand unfamiliar words. They critiqued each other's guides (pictures below) and gave tips for improvement. We are now in the application phase of nonfiction reading. After a short Prezi project on an artist, they have been given choice in topic and presentation. Some students are studying people who inspire them, future jobs, science interests, and more. They are planning brochures, posters, and PowerPoint presentations to showcase their learning. And most of all, they are reading nonfiction to gain new knowledge for this work. At their request, this week we will also be teaching younger students the necessary elements of reading nonfiction using their How-to guides. Stay tuned for pictures and evidence of more nonfiction reading work. TO BE CONTINUED...
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Tracey BeanWerner Elementary Archives
May 2018
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