Happy Halloween - well almost! Here are some quick math updates for Knowledge Peak students... Third grade math has begun our unit on measurement. This week we have been making sure our measurement skills are secure to the 1/4 of an inch and to 1/2 of a centimeter. the students also looked at conversions of unit from bigger to smaller in both the metric and the U.S. systems of measurement. We'll be exploring perimeter, area, and circumference in the next couple of weeks with more application and problem solving involved. Fourth grade math students took some time last week to create some Halloween math. They had to think creatively to make a geometric math monster and label the elements of geometry. To add an extra element of fun, students were asked to imagine that the monster had invaded our school and create "wanted" posters, including rewards, names and descriptions if they wanted. Below are some examples of their creations. Otherwise in math, we have been working on our unit covering multiplication and division concepts and some basic algebra understanding. We have been working on understanding order of operations, inequalities, factors & multiples, and prime & composite. We'll continue that work through next week. Fifth grade has begun the Stock Market Game. We have spent a week learning about what the stock market is, how to research a stock, and how to make a trade within the website for our "game." Students are paired up with another 5th grader. Trading officially begins today and will continue until April 15. Here are the rules of the game:
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I have finished up students' ALP's. They will be coming your way in Friday Folders either this week or next (5th grade should receive them this week & everyone else next week.) Within the stapled packet look for:
I don't have much to report on what went on in my classroom this week because I was only there on Wednesday. It was a less than ideal week from that standpoint, but they were in great hands with Mrs. Beck as the sub all week. On Monday, the math kids all worked in their TenMarks accounts. This is an online practice tool that is good for math review and practice. The environment is formatted similar to PARCC testing. It has not only multiple choice but fill-in the blank, drag and drop, number lines, true/false, and more. TenMarks is completely free and lessons are tied directly to the math standards. I like it because I make the assignments for kids to work on so I am able to tailor it to what we are working on in class. If the students get less than 75% of the questions correct, I can also reassign so they get more practice. There are videos and hints that can help kids too. The kids like it a little more than other online learning programs because for every assignment they complete, they earn points which they can spend in the "store" for games. If you would like to check it out, ask your child for their login (or email me and I will provide it.) The program is district approved and has no personal information about the kids except their first name and last initial. It randomly generates a username and password for them. If you want to see what the 3rd grade looks like, login as me and feel free to click on an assignment and try it out (they are actually rather hard!): User Name: traceb42621 Password: bus340jar This week I was gone because I was at the Colorado Gifted Conference on Monday and Tuesday. I had a chance to attend some great sessions. One of those was parenting advice that I thought I would pass on to you. Lisa Van Gemert (GT teacher/administrator) and Dr. Dan Peters (psychologist) shared "The Delicate Balance of Boundaries with the Gifted." They shared the challenges of setting rules in a house with GT kids, and then suggested using the metaphor of fences to negotiate rules with your child/children. First the challenges (stereotypically):
Van Gemert and Dr. Peters suggest sitting down to talk to your GT child/children to make sure that they know that the rules in your house are based on what your family values. GT kids also love to learn something new all the time so you could even share with them information about their brain: that their pre-frontal cortex is still developing and that is the part of the brain that can look ahead and see consequences. Therefore, tell them they will need to outsource some of their decision making - to you, of course! - until their brains are done growing. :) Then sit down and talk fence rules (you should actually share the metaphors and refer to them later as you have to set new rules or adjust old ones): Prison Fences - These are the rules that children CANNOT ARGUE with. These are the rules that affect life and safety. DON'T set a lot of these rules. For example, no friends at the house when an adult isn't home. Privacy Fences - These are rules dealing with technology in your house (texting rules, etc.) Example of this might be determining appropriate social media they can use and mom/dad having access to all passwords. Chainlink Fences - General rules of your house that can have exceptions within reason. This fence "gives" slightly when you lean on it - small things can get through occasionally. That way you won't look like a "liar" when you change the rule. Screen time might be a chainlink discussion - set a reasonable time for school days but adjust on weekends or if students have a project on the computer. This is where you can allow your GT kid's negotiation skills to play out. Ranch Fence - These rules allow you to build a relationship with your child and nothing critical is at stake if these rules get broken. Yet these rules allow life to flow. (Think expansive, wooden fences that keep the cows in, but might need occasional repair and upkeep.) Examples of these might be how you establish chores getting done in your house. Van Gemert and Peter suggest that by having your child join in the conversation with rule setting, they can feel like they have some control, and they begin to gain the independence that they value. And I would add this makes it so that when they fail (and they will!) they will still be within the safe boundaries of those combined fences to pick up and try again. Quick note on conferences... If you did not get a chance to meet with me, I am still happy to set up a time for us to chat. I can also email thoughts about your child's progress in my class. Let me know if you are curious. I am headed out of town this afternoon for the rest of the week/weekend (my grandmother died last weekend - not unexpected, but still sad.) Then I am out of the building on Monday and Tuesday for the Colorado Gifted conference and gone on Thursday for a Math Textbook Adoption meeting all day. So if you would like to meet, please let me know a day before school after October 27 that might work for you. Let me provide a quick update on where each class is in terms of our curriculum plan for the year: 5th grade Math - We are just finishing up our unit on decimals (mostly on addition, subtracting, multiplying and dividing decimals.) Our test will probably be on Thursday of next week. We'll then learn about the Stock Market for about a week so we can begin the Stock Market game which will be ongoing for the rest of the year. 4th grade Math - We just took a test on our review unit for place value, addition, subtraction, and data collection. Our next unit is a quick one to review the basics of multiplication and division, as well as order of operations and solving inequalities. 3rd grade Math - This group will take their test over the review unit on place value, addition, and subtraction on Tuesday. Our next unit will be looking at measurement (linear, perimeter, area, etc.) 5th grade Language Arts/Creativity - We are continuing our work on Greek & Latin roots for the year. The kids are also reading mystery novels for literature circles. I thought that seemed fun for the Halloween season! 4th grade Language Arts/Creativity - They will be returning to their time with me on October 26. 3rd grade Language Arts/Creativity - Students will be spending one more week with me where we will be finishing our reading of The Green Book. We'll read and discuss to close our time together until we meet again on November 30. I try to make math learning more fun than just dry, boring worksheets of problems all the time. There is a time and place for that in math to simply practice, but in both 4th and 5th grade math lately I have used a sharing strategy called graffiti wall. I just wanted to show you a few examples of their creativity when reconstructing a problem that has lots of different answers. Also this week, 4th grade math students got to have some fun with data collection (and then mean, median, and mode based on that data collection.) They tried to stack a pile of Smarties as tall as they could. After six attempts, they recorded their tries and got to work tabulating the math. Why not have do math and eat it too? (More pictures on the photos page.) This week on Tuesday, I met with all 3rd - 5th grade GT students to discuss and set their affective goals which will appear on their ALP (Advanced Learning Plan) for the year. We talked about how affective goals relate to being a better student and/or being a better you. It is a Colorado state requirement that all GT students have not only academic goals but also a social-emotional goal. It is a requirement I am happy to fulfill because at Werner we are always concerned with the whole child and their growth in ALL aspects of their lives. Here is a quick explanation for each grade-level's focus this year. Lessons and discussions in homeroom, with the counselor, and with me will be going on all year to support these goals. Expect to see your child's checklist and personal goal in the coming months as I communicate their ALP. (Each of the thumbnails will link you to the complete blank document.) Fifth Grade - Healthy risk taking is the 5th grade goal for the year. We talked on Tuesday about four types of risk: intellectual, social, emotional, and physical. Students worked with me to brainstorm healthy risks that they could take at school during this school year. They also completed a quick survey about their attitudes towards risk taking. Students have to pick two (one for each semester) that they are willing to take. Risks range from trying the spelling bee, speaking in front of the class, running for Wildcat leader, and many more. Students will reflect at the end of each semester on their activity. The focus is not on being 100% successful but instead focus on being willing to try something new. Attached here you will find the survey and the brainstorming sheet we used to guide our goal setting this week. Fourth Grade - The fourth grade goal is related to organization and study skills. Since this is the first year the kids get a planner, this seemed like a logical year to spend discussing how that can help students be better learners. Categories on the checklist for organization/study skills are time management, study skills, managing materials, homework, and using their planner. Students could choose any one of these 5 categories to write their specific goal after they reflected on their own greatest area of need. Cleaning out backpacks and desks seemed to be a popular need - and maybe you parents agree! Fourth graders will be hearing about these topics all year as our Werner staff works to reinforce good study habits. Students will reflect again at the end of the year on the checklist and answer questions that ask them to think about how their work in this area might continue to help them in the future. Below is the blank form the students completed this week. Third Grade - The third graders' goals relate to peer relationships. The overall categories within peer relationships are large group interactions, small group interactions, conflict resolution, and communication. Students completed a checklist to self-evaluate as a pre-assessment on Tuesday. They then took a look at an area they marked as a 1 or 2 and set their personal goal on that specific area. In addition, students had to brainstorm what they might need to help them be successful. Ideas ranged from help from Mrs. Flemister (our counselor) to more patience to suggestions from a teacher about new strategies. We will complete the checklist at the end of the year again and students will reflect on their progress with a form I will provide them. See the form below for the checklist example. How in the world is it October already? While I am ready for cooler weather (a tiny classroom with no outside windows and 20+ kids in it – well you can see why!) I am not quite ready for it to get too cold yet. With October now, it is time for conferences. If you desire a conference with me, please just zip me an email. I am happy to try and join your conference with homeroom teachers if the timing works or set up one of our own. Email me at [email protected] if you would like to plan a fall conference. Now here is a quick update on the happenings in Knowledge Peak this last week of September/beginning of October… All three math classes have recently completed their first math test on Unit 1 in my class. All of the students got their tests back early this week. And with the return of those tests comes time to own their learning. I give students two options: I am happy with my learning and my grade OR I want to fix my thinking and in turn fix my grade. If students are willing to take the time to fix ALL the problems they missed and analyze their mistakes, I give them back half the points they missed. In my class and in elementary school, I think it is important that the focus be on learning concepts to mastery as much as possible and yet also learning about yourself and learning how to reflect on how you learn. I applaud mistakes when students take the time to fix their mistakes. I like to reward students for the effort and energy that comes with that work. With that in mind, you may have seen your child with a yellow (3rd grade,) green (4th grade,) or blue (5th grade) copy of the “fix-it” sheet (also see copy below and click on the image for a larger version.) They have a week to re-solve the problems they missed, tell me why they think they missed it, and turn in their test again with this sheet in order to be graded again. Watch Friday Folders this week and next to see how your child did on their test. Third and fourth grade language arts are on a four-week rotation so this was my first week to work with the students in GT 3rd grade language arts. We are going to be looking at how the theme of change plays into literature. Our study will especially focus on reading a book called The Green Book, a story where a group of people has to leave Earth to inhabit a new planet (so you can imagine how change is important in that story!) One of our activities was to think about how our lives include constant change. The kids took some time to brainstorm things that change and then categorize those changes. Below are some pictures of the work they did trying to determine how to group different types of change. After our vocab work this week too, we are ready to start reading the book next week. (See more pictures on the photo page of the website.) All of my math classes are looking ahead to units on basic algorithms necessary to master at each grade level. Third grade and fourth grade are reviewing addition and subtraction concepts. Fifth grade is reviewing multiplication and division. I know sometimes parents are driven crazy with the “strange” algorithms we allow kids to use in elementary school (lattice, partial sums, partial products, column subtraction to name a few.) Many times these alternative algorithms are explored because they lead students to a conceptual understanding of why the math works instead of just memorizing steps for an algorithm. Most of these non-standard ways of teaching involve students using their knowledge of place value and composing/decomposing numbers to solve. Those are skills we want them to have in math. However, ultimately the standard algorithm does win when it comes to being efficient for most students so kids do have to learn those too. In last week's blog, I shared a video link that explains some of this through showing the different multiplication methods. This week I just want to make sure parents know when they should expect students to be able to use the traditional/standard algorithm for each operation. Please keep in mind that because my 5th graders are completing 5th and 6th grade math standards, they need to master both multiplication and division this year. For many of the 5th graders this week, they have been struggling with mastering both of these before we move on to completing these operations with decimals too. Nonetheless, here is what our expectations are for mastery of traditional math operations: 4th grade – Standard algorithm for addition and subtraction (using regrouping) 5th grade – Standard algorithm for multiplication 6th grade – Standard algorithm for division |
Tracey BeanWerner Elementary Archives
May 2018
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