NWEA RIT to Resource

Last week, I spent several days at the NWEA Fusion conference learning about MAP from both the company who makes it (NWEA), as well as other users. I am so excited to share all that I learned with teachers to help set our students up for MAP success.

One new tool I learned more about is "RIT to Resource". It is a website that allows teachers or parents to input a student's RIT score by strand and access tons of free resources aligned to that band level. It is only available for MAP 2 - 5 and you need the RIT score by band handy. It is an awesome tool, so check it out!

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Math Races

If you ask middle school math teachers one thing they wish their students knew from elementary school, almost all of them will say math fact fluency. It is challenging to balance teaching conceptual math and building fact fluency, but there are lots of fun ways to practice and build automaticity with math facts. 

Last week at our Math Instructional Leader's meeting, Ms. G at KACD shared her awesome Math Race routine. 

See below for the details from Ms. G :)

Math Races

Materials:

·        Flashcards

o   +1 through + 9, -1 through -9, x 1 through x 12

·        Tests (www.math-drills.com; single addition/subtraction/multiplication facts arranged horizontally) *cut in half vertically so each sheet has 2 columns of facts for students

o   +1 through + 9, mixed addition, -1 through -9, mixed subtraction, x 1 through x 12, mixed multiplication

·        Tracker

·        Timer

Routine:

·        Call each level at a time

·        Students walk to pick up their tests FACE DOWN

·        Students put their paper on their desk FACE DOWN

·        Students write their name on the back

·        Students sit in STAR (cannot touch their paper or pencil)

·        Once all students have a test and are sitting in STAR, put 3 minutes on the timer

·        Say “start!” – students should start right away

·        Once the timer goes off, pencils should go down immediately and papers should be put in the middle

Grading:

·        Students must fill the entire sheet and only have 5 free. That means, they can leave 5 blank or get 5 wrong. If it’s more than 5, they didn't pass.

·        If a student passes, celebrate with 3 snaps. If a student doesn't pass, send them positive/good try vibes.

·        If a student passes, they should put a sticker or a check on the track and swap their flashcards. If a student doesn't pass, they will try again next week!

Storing Flashcards

Storing Tests

Trackers

Here are links to Addition Flashcards, Subtraction Flashcards, Multiplication Flashcards.

Thanks Ms. G for sharing your awesome routine with us!! 

Time for Review!

Over the next couple weeks, all grade levels are starting to review content from the first Semester in preparation for IA 2. Review days can be tricky, but can also be really fun. Some review days are taken up with lessons that need to be retaught using a full lesson cycle. Other days can be more of a mixed review, so here are some ideas for the days that are mixed:

• Break your kids into rotation groups based on what they need to practice as measured by unit tests. You can pull a group to practice addition and subtraction, another to practice geometry, and a third to practice multiplication. It is a great way to give your students exactly the review that they need. 
• Create a grid where students can walk around and "Find someone who" knows how to solve a problem on their paper. Here is an example:

• Create a Jeopardy game with practice review questions that students can work to solve.
  
• Buddy Problem Solving: Create a packet of problems that get progressively harder. Students work with leveled partner to get through as many as they can. 
• Create review centers that students can practice, based on what they need to work on. Math Wire & K-5 Math teaching resources have a ton of good ones for free. 
  

I will keep an eye out for some awesome review happening in your classroom to share with others!

Probability

Probability is really fun to teach...will it probably happen? Probably not? It is so applicable to real like and they love predicting the outcomes of things.

There are a ton of different activities involving skittles and spinners, but here are a few of my favorites:

•   Excellent Read Alouds: A Very Improbable Story, It’s Probably Penny,  Probably Pistachio

• Give out raffle tickets throughout the unit and talk about how they can increase their chances of winning. This is a great way to invest them, build background knowledge, and help them understand probability based on experience
  

• Probability Games: http://mathwire.com/games/datagames.html

• Bridges Lessons: http://bridges1.mathlearningcenter.org/media/Bridges_Gr1_OnlineSupplement/B1SUP-E2_DataProbabil_0709.pdf

Enjoy!

CGI Problem Solving: Recording and Posting Strategies

Across campuses, most teachers are implementing student led problem solving times. Some campuses are doing it following the CGI model, others are doing Worthy tasks, and others are doing a problem of the day.

All are great ways to make sure that your students are applying their math skills and thinking critically about math problems on a daily basis. The use of technology in the classroom is amazing - engages students, is time efficient, and allows for less prep work. While going over problems and sharing strategies, showing student work using a power point, white board, or doc cam accomplishes the same goal as charting it out on chart paper. The difference comes in students being able to reference strategies. Students need to be able to go back and reference past successful strategies to help solve more complex problems. Here are some examples from KIPP Houston of how they chart and organize past charts.

Investing Students in Goal: Visual Classroom Tracking

Visual tracking in the classroom allows students to see their progress towards goals. While visiting KIPP LA and KIPP Houston we saw several examples of tracking systems that are really fun, the kids enjoyed, and did not seem to embarrass or "call out" any of the students.

There are a lot of different things that you can choose to visually track in math. Here is an example of a teacher who is tracking number recognition in Kindergarten. Students will get to put a bug on the flower when they master 0 - 10 and another for 11 - 20.

Here is an example of a Kindergarten teacher tracking counting to 30, students will get to move their frog as they show mastery. 

At both schools, we saw MAP investment and tracking present in most classrooms. Students know what their current score is and what their goal is. Here are 2 examples of classroom MAP trackers.

 It is important that students know where they are and what they are trying to work towards. It also makes your classroom look even cuter :)