Independent Practice Resource

We are currently looking into several different curricular resources to use for Elementary Math next year. One of the resources that we are looking at has some great workbooks available for free online!

We would love for you to take a look, use in your classroom, and let us know what you think!

Here is the link. 

Assessment Week

We are right in the middle of Q2 assessments and it feels like a lot between STEP and IA's, so you might need a pep talk...

GO BE AWESOME!

Student Goal Setting

This week while visiting Ms. D's 4th grade class at KACD I got to see students setting and owning their own goals for the upcoming IA. They set at attainable goal and came up with awesome action items to help them achieve their goals.

It was amazing to see the level of ownership that students are taking over their learning and this is definitely a skill they will need in college - setting goals and creating a plan.

Thanks for sharing with us, Ms. D!!

You can download a copy here. 

1st Grade Numbers to 99

Here is a unit test to help plan the Numbers to 99 Unit and to check student mastery at the end of the unit. 

1st Grade Geometry & Fractions

Next quarter, 1st grade is working on Geometry and then allowing students to extend their knowledge of shapes to fractions. It is a fun unit with lots of great read alouds and a ton of engaging activities that the students will love.

Here is a unit plan that can be used (aligned to the TEKS) and a unit assessment to gauge student mastery. Enjoy!

Probability Unit Test

1st grade is finishing up their probability unit, such a fun topic!

Here is an assessment that can be given at the end of the unit to see which individual topics students mastered and what they need more work on.

Sorry it is coming out so close to unit assessment day, hopefully it will still be helpful!

Here is the link. 

Let me know if you want the word version to edit, the formatting and fonts just might be a bit off.

Planning for CGI

Cognitively Guided Instruction is not as based in planning as the traditional math lesson. The most important aspects of planning for an effective CGI lesson is selecting a problem and anticipating students responses.

Selecting the problem can be challenging because you want to make sure it is a realistic, familiar context and that students can solve in multiple ways and share their thinking. Anticipating responses ensures that you know where the lesson is going and which student work samples you will highlight to get at the learning goal for the day.

According to the newest version of Children's Mathematics: Cognitively Guided Instruction, the prepared CGI teacher:

• Chooses problem contexts that are accessible
• Ensures students have tool available to them to support their thinking
• Encourages students to do what makes sense to them
• Makes sure all students have a way to get started 

So much of CGI is adjusting instruction in the moment and changing course for the next day based on what students did today, this makes the planing process pretty basic. 

Here is an example template that can be used to plan for the lesson:

Here is the link to download a copy. 

Here is an example of a completed template for Kindergarten. 

Happy planning!