Chartchums: Guide to Great Anchor Charts

Anchor charts are a great tool in early elementary classrooms. They give students visual reminders, record the learning, and are great reference tools. My favorite resource for charting is the website Chartchums. They have tons of examples of great charts on the blog, such as the one below.

They also wrote an entire book  devoted to charting in the K-2 Classroom focusing on Math, Science, and Social Studies. Pretty awesome!

Happy charting!

1st Grade: Fact Fluency

Addition and subtraction fact fluency is challenging to teach because students need a lot of practice and cannot be expected to know all their facts at the end of a single lesson. Having a bilingual model with 2 classrooms has a ton of advantages, with one being an additional math block to work on number fluency and problem solving. While students are working on fact strategies in the primary language of instruction, there are several routines that can be done in the supporting language to push them to mastery of these important facts.

Below are 3 very important types of facts and a couple routines that could be done daily to practice:

• Making Ten
• Students find a partner on the carpet. Partner A hold up any amount of fingers that they choose. Partner B holds up the rest of the fingers necessary to make 10 and says the number sentence.

Example:

Student A holds up 4 fingers

Student B holds up 6 fingers and says "4 and 6 is 10"

Then students switch and partner B holds up fingers first

• Teacher flashes a ten frame and students hold up how many more they need to make 10.

Example:

Teacher shows the following ten frame:

Students hold up 1 finger, and together say "9 and 1 is 10"

• 10 more/ 10 less
• Practice counting by tens, starting with any number on the hundreds chart.

Example:
Point to 6 on the hundreds chart and students count, "6, 16, 26, 36". Talk about and make notes of patterns when counting by tens (which is the same as adding ten). You can see the first day of the chart, we started at 6 and the second day we started at 3. You can continue to use the same chart and just document with different colors for multiple days.

• Flash a dot card as the starting numbers. Students write what is 10 more on their whiteboard.

Example:

Students would write 15 on their white board because 10 more than 5 is 15

• Doubles 
• You  can play the same game that students played using their fingers to practice making 10. Partner A holds up fingers, Partner B has to hold up the same amount and say the doubles fact. 
• You can also play the dot card game from 10 more. Hold up a card and they double it

Example

Students write 5 + 5 = 10

Students love playing math games and these are quick, fun whole group routines that will really help your students master the basic facts!

Kindergarten: Graphing Unit

Teaching math in small groups has a ton of advantages, but it is very challenging in Kindergarten because students need a lot of instruction and practice before they are ready to independently work. Mrs. W at KACD is working hard to make sure her students are getting authentic practice and trying to make 3 rotations and an exit ticket fit into 45 minutes - no small challenge!

In looking at the next concept coming up in Kinder, here are some resources and ideas about how to approach the graphing unit with a small group instruction model. 

Kindergarten Graphing Unit

Day	Objective	Exit Ticket*	Whole Group Mini Lesson	IP	Small Group
1	SWBAT create a pictograph	For these lessons, I would just check their IP because this would take them a long time to do as an exit ticket	Make a pictograph together where you have different cut outs ready to go and you attach them to the graph on the board – something fun like they pick their favorite animal and get to put on the graph (but only do like 10 kids),  this mini lesson should be enough for your highest group to do the IP	Here is an example worksheet, I would take out the questions in the middle, so all they are doing is creating the pictograph	L: Make another class pictograph together on chart paper (in the format of the IP) and really practice counting the number of each item, have them do the beginning of the IP with you
					M: Make another class pictograph together on chart paper (in the format of the IP), have them start the IP with you
					H: go over the work and make sure they did it correct and start answering questions based on the graph.
2	SWBAT create a bar graph		Make a bar graph together of something fun, favorite ice cream flavor? This mini lesson should be enough for the highest group to do the IP	Here is an example worksheet, again, I would take out the questions in the middle so all they are doing is creating the bar graph	L: Make another class bar graph together on chart paper (in the format of the IP) and really practice counting the number of each item, have them do the beginning of the IP with you
					M: Make another class bar graph together on chart paper (in the format of the IP), have them start the IP with you
					H: go over the work and make sure they did it correct and start answering questions based on the graph.
3	SWBAT create a table graph		Look at a set (maybe unifix cubes or magnets) and create a tally chart to sort what you have. This mini lesson should be enough for the highest group to do the IP	Here is an example worksheet, I would take the questions off the bottom (but use them in small group with the last group)	L: Make another class tally  chart together on chart paper (in the format of the IP) and really practice counting the number of each item, have them do the beginning of the IP with you
					M: Make another class tally chart together on chart paper (in the format of the IP), have them start the IP with you
					H: go over the work and make sure they did it correct and start answering questions based on the graph.
4	SWBAT interpret a pictograph	1) Are there more zebras or giraffes? 2)       What animal has the least? 3)       How many tigers and bears are there? You will want to have the pictures on the exit ticket and read the question to them. Today’s exit ticket might take closer to 10 minutes – so shorten rotations to around 7 minutes	Using the pictograph you made in Lesson 1, answer the following questions together: Which has the least? Which has the most? Are there more ___ or ____? Are there less ___ or ___? How many ___ and _____?	Here is an example worksheet that they can continue to practice pictographs. Because most of them cannot read yet, just have them practice making the pictograph and write “m” next to what has the most and “l” next to what has the least.	L: Show them a premade pictograph and use their write board to answer questions similar to what you did during the whole group. Before switching, have them do the beginning of the IP with you
					M: Show them a premade pictograph and use their write board to answer questions similar to what you did during the whole group. Before switching, have them do the beginning of the IP with you
					H: go over the work and make sure they did it correct and then ask them questions based on the graph that they created for IP, or using the same graph you used in groups 1 & 2.
5	SWBAT interpret a tally chart	These lessons will look exactly like lesson 4, just with tally charts and bar graphs. For IP just have them practice making it and focus on analyzing graphs during your whole group lesson, small groups, and exit ticket. Here are some resources to pull graphs: http://www.education.com/worksheets/kindergarten/graphing-data/ http://www.kidslearningstation.com/graphing/kindergarten-graphing.asp http://kiduls.net/free-graphing-worksheets-for-kindergarten http://www.kidscount1234.com/ (click on “graphing” on the left side)
6	SWBAT interpret a bar graph
7	Graphing Review	Whatever they need to practice or a fun graphing activity J

*Students can do an exit ticket that matches the day’s objective because it is given the last 5 minutes of the math block, after they all have had the small group lesson.

*There are more than likely going to be early finishers for the IP, maybe a number or counting center that they know and can play

*Make sure that you create and read both horizontal and vertical graphs

If you have any graphing resources or ideas please share in the comments :) 

1st Grade: Addition & Subtraction Unit Test

We have been talking a lot about formative assessment this quarter and ways that we can check in with our students at the end of each lesson and the end of each unit.

For unit tests, it is best to group questions by skill and see exactly what students need to work on both to make reteach groups and guide future instruction based on student work. Here is a sample unit assessment for the 1st grade Addition & Subtraction Unit. Make sure that when grading, you pay close attention to the strategies that the students used as this unit is based on teaching strategies for quick addition and subtraction. We want to see students moving away from direct modeling and towards mental math strategies. You can get so much information beyond just correct and incorrect!

Please let me know if you need a copy in word to make edits :)

Have a great Monday!

3rd & 4th Grade: Teaching Student Centered Mathematics

One of the best resources for teaching conceptual math, in my opinion, is Teaching Student Centered Mathematics.

It breaks down the building blocks of math understanding and how to teach concepts conceptually, rather than through procedures.

Today I came across the workbook that goes along with this amazing resource, available online. It is the 3rd - 5th grade edition and has some excellent activities.
Check it out!!

1st Grade: Using 10 to add 9

There has been a lot of talk recently about how to get our 1st graders adding and subtracting fluently. It is challenging to build and a lot of students just are not visualizing these strategies and using them independently.

Yesterday, I watched an amazing small group lesson with Ms. A at KAO. She was using a double ten frame mat and unifix cubes to model moving
the cubes around to make ten.

It is really important for students to understand that addition is just a faster way to count, so you can move things around and still get get the same sum. She was showing them that the amount of cubes were not changing, just moving so you can make it easier for yourself and still get the same sum.

If students do not have quick and easy strategies for adding 10, this lesson will not go well. They need to know that adding 10 is easier and be able to do that quickly to make this strategy worthwhile.

Thank you Ms. A for doing such an excellent job on this lesson and letting me jump in and teach with you :)  

Using Cubes for Problem Solving

This week Mrs. Doyle and I had a great chance to see some CGI problem solving in action. KIPP DC has done a lot of work this year to push their students thinking and problem solving skills. One big takeaway we had is that students need cubes to directly model the problem. Understanding the context of the problem and being able to show what is happening is crucial for student understanding.

The cubes should be readily available and in towers of ten, of all the same color. We keep them in towers of ten to help students with base ten thinking. When they always start with groups of ten, they are much more likely to use base ten strategies to make counting and operations more efficient.

Cubes should always be out and being used during story problem time for K-2 and can be easily stored and hassle free!

As you can see, 1 black cube got mixed into the blue cube box. You have to really work with students on keeping them organized and putting them back into tens at the end of the lesson, but that can definitely do it!

1st Grade: Adding Doubles & Doubles Plus 1

Addition strategies help students do mental math quickly in their heads and lead to automatically with math facts. Teaching these strategies is difficult and it takes students awhile to really get it.

The first step is getting student "buy in". The already know how to add 2 + 2 by drawing circles or counting on, we need to convince them that this new "magical" strategy is super cool and going to help them do math facts in a snap!

In order for students to use doubles to add they need to recognize doubles. They have a ton of prior knowledge about doubles and that is what makes this such an effective strategy. Start by activating this knowledge with pictures and talking about things that they know come in doubles. This will give them a visual to recognize the facts, as well as give them a solid foundation of what you mean when you say "doubles". I recommend making this an anchor chart in the classroom. 

Here is an example.

Once you have introduced the concept of Doubles Eureka math has a great strategy for using your fingers to practice doubles to ten. 

Basically, you show students the doubles facts with your fingers and say the number sentence together. 

Example: Hold up your pink finger from each hand and together say, "1 + 1 = 2". Next hold up your pink and ring finger from each hand and together say, "2 + 2 = 4." Practice each fact up to 5 + 5. Here is a visual from Eureka to show you how to model with your fingers:

Here is a game students can play to practice either independently or in small group:

Doubles Aren't Trouble

Doubles Plus 1

Once students are easily recognizing and adding doubles, they can begin using this strategy to add doubles plus one. 

My favorite way of introducing this is with unifix cubes. Here is an example, make sure you use the color coding when you teach it!

Start by having students build a doubles fact with their cubes and write the addition sentence. 

5 + 5 = 10

Next, use a number line to decide who 5's neighbor is. It's 6!

Have students add 1 red cube to the top of one of their towers. 

5 + 6 = 11

Talk about the double in this problem, so they very clearly see that it is just 1 more than 5 + 5. Repeat this with lots of facts until they see the pattern. Next, start with the near doubles fact and see if they can build the hidden double. 

Example:

8 + 7 = 

Students would need to build 7 + 7. Once they all have it, they can add 1 red cube to the top of 1 tower to make 8 + 7. A huge part of doubles plus 1 is being able to visualize the hidden double. It will take them lots of practice and repetition to see it. 

Once you have done the doubles and doubles plus 1 lesson, focus on practicing doubles. Students should not practice doubles plus 1 until they quickly know their doubles. The only way it is an effective strategy is if they have automaticity with doubles!

Good luck and I look forward to hearing if any of these strategies help it "click" with the kids. 

Edmodo: Quick and Easy Exit Tickets!

Edmodo is an amazing resource that Ms. Douglass recently introduced me to. This website is completely free. You create a teacher profile and then add your students to your class to give them access. You can then give them assignments to complete electronically and they even have a bank of TEKS aligned test questions!

Ms. Douglass creates her exit tickets daily using the TEKS bank of questions and has her students do those as their first activity on computers each day. It has made managing exit tickets for 120 students possible! 

It is like the classrom version of facebook :) 

Ms. Douglass and I both highly recommend checking it out. 

4th Grade: Angles

Angles will be introduced for the first time to our 4th graders this year. Most things that are taught in 4th grade students have been exposed to before in some context, but this is completely new. They are going to be so excited to be learning more advanced geometry.

There are a lot of really great read alouds that can be used to introduce angles, I really like Sir Circumference and the Great Knight of Angleland. It is also available on You Tube!

Here is a great game students can play with a partner, that will help them describe angles verbally. 

PBS has some great resources including a full lesson plan, videos, worksheets, and ideas for instruction. 

Here is a great anchor chart for angles:

Teaching with a Mountain View

The Eureka Math lessons for angles are pretty strong and have some great resources.

This is also a really great lesson to make a foldable  and encourage students to go back and study the different types. 

Hopefully some of this will be helpful in your planning :) 

3rd Grade: Multiplication & Division Facts

During Q2, 3rd graders will be working on multiplication and division facts. This is such a fun unit because students are super invested in learning to multiply and divide (although I am not sure why they think it is so cool).

It is really important to build a solid conceptual base for multiplication and division before moving to fact memorization. It is also key that students begin working with problems in context from the very beginning.

This book is a really great resource for how to teach multiplication and division and a suggested order. The entire book is available online for free, which is amazing!!!

Here are some example anchor charts created between the teacher and students to activate prior knowledge and outline multiplication and division strategies.

Encouraging students to use multiple strategies from the beginning will help prevent them from over-relying on one strategy. Here is an example problem solving template that requires them to show their work in multiple ways. 

Once students understand conceptually how to multiply and divide. They need to practice multiplication facts. I usually had them focus on multiplication facts and use fact families to help with division. Once multiplication was introduced, 4 in a Row, can be a permanent classroom center or game for early finishers. It is a really fun way to practice that encourages strategic thinking. 

Here are directions for how to play:

1) Player one starts by putting paper clips under two numbers in the row below the board

2) The numbers are multiplied and the product on the answer board is covered with a counter of their chosen color. 

3) Player two moves only one of the paper clips to a new number in the row beneath the board. The new combination is multiplied together and the answer is covered with a counter of their chosen color.

4) Play continues until one player has four of their counters in a row vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. 

5) If the answer to multiplying two paper clips together is already covered the player loses that turn. 

There are so many great resources for teaching multiplication and division, I am excited to share even more as the unit progresses :)

2nd Grade: Addition & Subtraction

Like 1st grade, 2nd grade will spend a majority of 2nd quarter working on addition and subtraction. In 1st grade the focus is on developing the concept of addition and subtraction, as well as fact fluency within 20. In 2nd grade, students will be modeling addition and subtraction, and adding up to 4 digit numbers with regrouping!

During Q2, we are going to really focus on 2 digit numbers, both modeling and the traditional algorithm. We will return to addition and subtraction during Q3 to build up the number of digits in the numbers students are working with.
This is a really excellent article to build your own knowledge of column addition and subtraction.

The first step in planning for such a meaty unit is to create a vision of success. What will your students be able to do at the end of the unit. We have the IA, but we want to make sure we are breaking down the skills that students need. We also do not want to wait until the end of the quarter to assess.

Here is a sample unit test for addition and subtraction.

Breaking down addition and subtraction into daily objectives can be a bit challenging. Here is an example of how I broke them down and the sequence that I would teach them.

Students are going to start by wanting to directly model because that strategy was effective with smaller numbers. The goal is to extend this understanding to directly modeling with place value blocks, rather than drawing 84 circles.  Using graphic organizers will help them effectively use the blocks to add and subtract.

Surfin Through Second has some great activities

Once they understand how to add and subtract place value blocks, they are ready to use the algorithm as way to record what they are doing with the blocks.

Once you have your unit level planning done, here are some resources to help with daily planning:

It is important to teach addition and subtraction together so students understand the relationship between them. Adding to check your subtraction is a great strategy to ensure you got the correct answer and to practice addition while working on subtraction. Here is a center that focuses on checking subtraction with addition.

This unit is going to be very heavy on word problems because students rarely use subtraction and addition with context. Resources for teaching problem solving are coming soon.

Here are some great centers and activities, check out Stage E

Mrs. Lemons Blog has some amazing resources for teaching all things 2nd grade, here are some addition and subtraction freebies

Here is a great video modeling how to encourage students to use multiple strategies. With the new TEKS students need to be able to model with pictures and place value blocks, not just the traditional algorithm. 

Brain Pop Jr is always a great way to reinforce these concepts during transitions or down time. Email Amanda if you need the KAPS login :) 

I will continue to hunt for high quality resources and share what I find!

Kindergarten: Teaching Teen Numbers

Quarter 2 in Kindergarten is focused on extended student's number sense to 20. Many of the objectives are repeated, just going to higher numbers.

A big concept this quarter will be teen numbers. These tend to be tricky for students. Here are some resources to help teach them:

Here is a great video on teaching teen numbers

Math Wire has some really excellent resources that explain how to attach place value meaning to the teen numbers from the beginning.

Although the Harry Kindergarten Music songs are not super conceptual, they sure are catchy...

Using a double ten frame mat will really help students visualize teen numbers as a ten and some more.

Source: The Kinder Garden

The Math Wire page has some great activities that can be used as centers, small group, or whole group guided practice. I especially like the teen numbers book that teaches them as 10 + ___ = ____

So excited to see our Kindergartners know all about numbers up to 20!

Excellent Resource full of Centers!

Last week, Mr. Fried and I spent 2 days visiting KIPP Houston schools and collaborating with their Elementary Math Specialist. We learned a lot from them and really look forward to continuing our relationship and sharing awesome resources.

The following website came really highly recommended. It is a collection of centers and activities that are aligned and grouped by common core standards (which are pretty similar to the new TEKS). Most of their teachers created folders for each standard and organized hard copies of the centers to easily grab and put into page protectors.

Here is the link, definitely book mark it and check it out for quick, great resources!

http://www.k-5mathteachingresources.com/

1st Grade: Addition and Subtraction

Teaching the basics of addition and subtraction is a huge responsibility for 1st grade teachers. This is where the foundation is laid that they will need to be successful in Math.

With that said, here are some resources to help teach addition and subtraction to 1st graders :)

Here are some great books and articles that have a ton of excellent resources on teaching early addition and subtraction.

Mastering the Basic Math Facts in Addition and Subtraction

Developing Number Concepts, Book 2 Addition & Subtraction

Article: Promoting Meaningful Mastery of Addition & Subtraction

Here are a few awesome Math Start read alouds that can be used both as a literacy read aloud and to reinforce the math concepts:

·         Animals on Board (addition)

·         Elevator Magic (subtraction)

·         Mall Mania (addition strategies)

Great resources to use for student work or centers:

Ways to Make 6 - 10 

*This activity is great for small group or an independent work center. Students use 2 different colored cubes to make different combinations and record the addition sentences. 

Using 10 to add 9

*This is a really tricky concept and this video explains it pretty well and has some great visuals of moving 1 over to complete the ten frame. It might be a bit too complicated to show students but it gives great ideas on how to teach it and showing students parts of it with strong models could be really helpful. 

Here are resources divided by topic:

Making Ten

·         Quick blog post about importance of ten: http://mathcoachscorner.blogspot.com/2012/05/importance-of-10.html

·         http://www.accomplishate.com/preschool/printables/make6-10.pdf Page 5 is a great organizer that can be used with 2 different colored unifix cubes to generate number sentences equal to ten

·         http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Kindergarten-Math-Common-Core-KOA4-Standard-Assessment-241181 Pretty basic making 10 sheet

·         https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzmWv3-5sRwiMWY2MTkwNDgtMWNkOS00MWU5LWExMjItZGNmNzNmYzk0YTEz/edit Work station for making ten

·         http://www.snappymaths.com/addition/make10/resources/make%2010%20ladybirds.pdf

  Using Ten to add 9

·         http://www.brainpopjr.com/math/additionandsubtraction/makingten/preview.weml BrainpopJr video about making 10, could work well  with higher groups, again might go over their heads but has some cool visuals

·         Basic worksheet http://www.pleasanton.k12.ca.us/lesweb/first/reteach/r8-4.pdf

·         The first few pages could be good homework for this unit https://irieclass.wikispaces.com/file/view/SLeveled+Problem+Solving+and+Homework-Grade+2.pdf 

  Fact Families

·         http://guidedmath.wordpress.com/2010/04/01/teaching-fact-families-in-guided-math-groups/ Progression on teaching concrete to pictoral to abstract (If you scroll down this page there are a TON of great resources

·         I especially like this awesome conceptual lesson http://illuminations.nctm.org/Lesson.aspx?id=329