Math Reviews - Show Your Thinking!

Math Reviews- Pushing Past the Normal Reviews

Ok, this is something I've always struggled with as an educator. How do you review for the "big" unit assessments in math?! Parents want good grades, teachers want to ensure mastery and confidence, and students want to make both parents and teacher happy while hoping to get a good grade.

When I first started teaching eleven years ago, we always had a review the day before. I created questions very similar to those they'd see on the test, but I'd just change the numbers. Let's be honest-When they got to the test, all they had to do was recall what they memorized the day before...same method with different numbers...not much to mess up. Parents were happy due to the grades, teachers were excited because their students "obviously knew the material", and students were ecstatic that everyone was happy. Did they really know the material? Could they do the same type of problems a week later? Had they grown as a math student? What about next year when that skill was built upon? Plain and simple...nope!

So, upon reflection, I realized that the way I review-since that is still required and expected-needed to change. With the adoption of Common Core, an emphasis has been placed on students truly understanding what is happening, why it is happening, and being able to explain their thinking. These are things we already worked to instill in our students, but we may have not truly focused on those all the time. I took that emphasized rigor and combined it with what I love about math-trying new ways to solve a problem, and I created "Show Your Thinking" review days.

Students move around from group to group on review days! They are allowed to call back another group if they do not agree with their answer. This pushes students to check each other's work ensuring they understand what they are doing. I love the "teaching conversations" that come out!

The kiddos have loved them! On these days, students encounter ten scenarios they must work out with their small group. Each scenario is stapled on to a sheet of butcher paper. The catch is that once they rotate and get to their new scenario, they may not answer the question in the same way as any groups before them. They have to think about other ways to solve the same problem…words, diagrams, pictures, other ways of representing numbers, etc. They realize very quickly that the possibilities are endless. This pushes them to really “understand” the skills being required in each unit-not just memorize a study guide. With the emphasis on being able to explain and reason, I have found that this type of reviewing pushes them past the ordinary “standard algorithm” and gets them comfortable with writing in math, using diagrams (number lines, etc.), and trying something to see if it “works”! Plus, the students really enjoy these reviews!! I even let them take pictures of the various problems for help (with me in a later reteaching time) or to show their parents.

If you are interested, I have created these reviews for 4^th grade math units (place value, , and you can find these at my Teachers Pay Teachers store (Fourth Grade Mania). If you need any other units created, I am happy to help!

I would love to hear how your students reacted to this type of review! Start small…Post a problem on the board and see how many ways they can solve the same problem. It’s great to watch them take ownership and push themselves to new limits!

Happy reviewing!! J

<3 Kristina 

Curriculum Night!

Curriculum Night

It's that time again!! We have been at school one week and two days and now we are getting ready for Curriculum Night! This is when parents come to our classroom to get a feel for what the year will be like for their child.

As we begin the year, we talk about our fears and "jitters" (We read "First Day Jitters") and then throw them away (SO cute when you bring out the trash can and have them ball their jitters up and toss them in!! Shooting a basket in class?!? What?!? Ha!). I share that one of my jitters is when I am in front of crowds. To help alleviate the amount of time I am front and center on Curriculum Night, I have my students create a video for our parents to watch. Genius!! Plus, who doesn't love to watch children?!?!

We brainstorm a list of what we think the parents need to know or see around our classroom (mailboxes, reading corner, homework banner, BYOT, etc.). Students sign up for the part at appeals to them the most (in pairs) and then they break into their pairs and come up with a short scene for that part/area (max 30 seconds). It's great to watch them work together! Viola! A classroom tour is created! I just embed this in my PowerPoint (or show it separately) and the parents love it!!

When parents walk in for Curriculum Night, they head to their child's desk. On it, they will find a few things for them. (I have students help me set their desks up the afternoon before they leave-along with a note card with their names on them showing the parents where they sit in case I am with another parent or in the middle of my presentation when they come in!)

-a copy of the PowerPoint presentation for them to follow along with, take notes, and look back on (if needed) 

*I used the PowerPoint template found HERE on TPT. I just edited it for my classroom needs!

-a note from each child to their parents-I love this touch! It welcomes their parents to Curriculum Night and shares their favorite parts of our classroom or moments thus far. Parents can even write back to them on the back...and students love notes from their parents!!

Notice how this child was looking out for her teacher!! How sweet! Many of them had touches of this in their letters! 

-2 blank envelopes-I ask parents to self address these envelopes so I can use them to send positive "glow" notes home! All I need to do is stuff, stamp, and send! :) (So thankful to a colleague of mine for this fantastic idea!!! I can't wait to see how this works out this year!!)

These were found at Target...200 envelopes and corresponding note cards! Yay!!

-an envelope with a label on it asking parents to take a moment over the course of the week and write a letter to me about their child. You'd be surprised how insightful these can be! There are times I ask for these at Open House, but I've found that asking for them once they've gotten into the year guarantees more participation and honesty. I love these! (Click HERE for the link to the labels, if you'd like to use them!)

I love the letters I get back from parents! 

Once Curriculum Night is completed, I head home and SLEEP!! After a close to 13 hour day, my bed is just what I need!! I hope your Curriculum Nights go smoothly!! I'd love to hear what you do in your classroom. Please let me know if you have any questions-I am happy to help!

<3, Kristina

Active Reading

Active Reading- 

Getting Your Students Digging Through ANY Text!

Welcome to my first post!! Thank you for taking the time to stop by and peruse this first post on Active Reading!

I posted a picture on my Instagram (Fourthgrademania) and many people asked me to explain my active reading more. "Active Reading" is something I have become  very passionate about over the past few years. Active Reading is really annotating, but I have come to find that my fourth graders can relate to "active reading" much better than to "annotate". I do use the terms together, but if you were to walk in my classroom and ask them what they were up to, you would hear them exclaim..."We are actively reading!". Here is how I start it each year.

A student is utilizing her new skill of active reading as we performed a close read in class!

 When students come to me, I am amazed at how disengaged they are as they read any type of text...word problems, novels, articles, worksheets, anything with text on it. They read it once, flip the page, and never think about it again. This is great if their goal is to look busy or simply finish the book, but it does not do anything for their overall comprehension or true enjoyment for what they are reading. Thus, "Active Reading" was born in my classroom! 

Each year, I start this out as we dive into our first novel study on Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. We work through this novel together, so we all have a common cornerstone onto which to build and pull from over the remainder of the year. One of our first discussions is on how we react to the text. By the time they get to me, most of my students have already read and/or watched the movie. I tell them that I have read the book over 11 times and I STILL notice something new each time! I offer them that challenge as they begin reading it again along with me. 

We read the first few pages of our novel together. I then stop and ask them what was going on in their minds as we read. Some do own up to the fact that they weren't really paying attention-They were watching me read, off in a daydream, etc. Other offer up how they were imaging that "dull gray Tuesday" sky, or how they were imagining what life would be like with the Dursleys. This time, I ask them all to really try to focus on the words as we read them and notice what pops into their minds. We then reread the first few pages again. This time, the conversation usually explodes..."What does this word mean", "I can't believe the Dursleys are that boring!", etc. 

This is when I write the words, "Active Reading" on the board. I ask them that those words mean to them. Many of them focus on the word "active", so we dive in to what that word really means to us. Most of their experience with that word comes from sports. They talk about how the more active you are, the better you are at that sport and how you can't do a sport without being active. I tie this in to reading. How can you become a better reader without being active as  you read? I pose the question to my class..."How can you be an active reader?" "What could you focus on?". 

I record their thoughts on our board (or you could use chart paper). Things like new words, questions, funny parts, sad parts, etc." come up. These are all great ideas! 

I then move on to exclaim how there is no way we can remember all of that in our heads as we read an entire article or book...What can we do? We can write (or code text, as I like to call it)!  I take a moment and ask them if they think that they will remember more if they simply hear something or hear and write the same something? Some students will even have stories (proof/evidence) for this! On a new chart, we come up with how we can code our text. 

This is what the chart looked like when we were finished. We added the blue first, then came up with the red together. Finally, I added the golden rule (because some students don't like to do the symbols, so they can just write their thoughts.)!

I rewrite the ideas/words they came up with before on this new chart. 
~Questions
~New Words
~Emotions (happy, sad, exciting, anger)
~Facts 
~Connections
~Predictions
~Wonders
(and so on-I try to group ideas into general terms)

We then talk about how we can't always spend 5 minutes writing about that one line/word, so what can we do? Symbols! Quick jots! My students know I love my Post-It notes!! We go back through each thing we wrote on our chart and think about a quick icon we could use for each. Some classes come up with different icons each year. 

Here is what this year came up with... (The final chart picture is above!)
~Questions - ??
~New Words - Circle and ??
~Emotions (happy, sad, exciting, anger) - !! , :-) , :-( 
~Facts - Underline and star
~Connections - write the word ME! or the letter C
~Predictions - Thought bubble
~Wonders - surround the area with fireworks
(Again, I will try to get a picture and upload it here once I do)

We talk about how each person can use something different depending on what they would like to do. I also introduce my one BIG rule here...They cannot underline without anything else around it. If you don't code or jot down your thought, all you will have is underlines! That just will not do. An underline (or a circle) doesn't tell me anything. After we go through this, we set a goal of them utilize at least two sticky notes as we finish chapter one in our novel. When we finish, we share our active reading with our small groups. Thus begins our year of Active Reading! 

Here are some shots from our classroom as we "Active Read" aka Annotate!

 

As I begin teaching our Native American unit, I utilize some readings from Readworks.org (Awesome site, if you have not checked it out yet! It requires a membership, but it is FREE!!) Since a sheet is different than a book, we go back to coding text. Since they can write on this, they don't have to worry about sticky notes. BUT, they are not allowed to simply underling or circle. For their first time, I usually circulate around to see what they are picking out and responding to. I notice sketches of the Chickee house, since they stopped and looked it up when they got to that word. I underlining, but I also see them writing their thoughts out in the margins. If I see a student who doesn't have anything marked or just underlined sentences, I stop and speak with them about why that part stuck out and help them choose a way to code or to jot down a few words signifying their thoughts. By the end, (I tell them) their paper should look NASTY!! (They love this!!) 

My original Instagram photo!

This is something they continue to do throughout the year in all subjects. We pick apart word problems, respond to questions and passages as we take assessments, even code and jot down thoughts as we read our own novel of choice! This is what we live by in our classroom, so Active Reading is everywhere! 

This is this child's first attempt at Active Reading. I love how he utilized his margins. You can see the thinking!

These students were working in groups. You can see that they are all talking, but each Active Reading looks a little different, as it should. I loved the sketches one made! One even drew Florida, since that is where this tribe lived.

I have found much success over the years of utilizing this strategy. All students, high and low, can do this to their own ability level. This causes all levels of students to zero in on their reading and to pull out thoughts along the way. Anyone can do this to anything given to them, so they all feel successful! Better yet, it has proven to really help all of my students-both in terms of overall scores on assessments and end of year state assessments BUT also in confidence and true love of learning! Once they get past the learning stage, it becomes second nature to them and they find they enjoy what they are reading more because they are truly IN the text! Plus, wait until you hear the conversations that begin to emerge as they active read in groups! It is great to use both individually AND in groups! 

I hope you find this post useful and that you are able to try this in your own classroom! I am more than happy to answer any questions you have regarding Active Reading (or anything else in your classroom). Simply post a comment below or send me an email to fourthgrademania@gmail.com. This is my first educational blog post, so I am learning as I go! Thank you for taking the time to read my first post!! 

<3 , Kristina