Problem Solving - Choose an Operation

Problem solving is HUGE right now in my district.  Our state math test was almost all word problems and our students are struggling with them.  I have read several books on how to teach math that I definitely recommend you pick up!  

  

Click on either book to be taken to Amazon.com.  Both books are by Susan O'Connell who I think is a math GENIUS!  These books totally changed the way I teach math.  The second book is an old edition.  She now has separated it into 2 different books - a k-2 book and a 3-5 book.  

Basically, the philosophy is that real-life math is presented to us through word problems so why not teach math that way?  Makes sense to me and apparently the people who are writing the state tests figured this out too.  

I am definitely not an expert at this yet but I have found and created some helpful worksheets for teaching kids how to choose an operation.  I have compiled them into a Wizard of Oz mini-unit.  (I'm considering making the same thing but with different themes - let me know if you would be interested in that). 

Click on the picture to be taken to my store

The goal of this resource is to help students understand the key concepts of each operation, give them strategies to choose an operation, help them explain their thinking, and assist them with writing their own word problems.  This mini-unit contains: 

1. A sample Word Problem for each of the 4 operations

2. A graphic organizer to help teach the key concepts of each of the 4 operations 

3. A mini-poster to help your students decide what operation to choose

4. Problem Solving pages that could be made into a notebook or glued into a notebook or to use as worksheets

5. Organizers to help your students go through the problem solving process (can be used with any strategy)

6. Organizers to help students write their own word problems

This item is in my TN store if you're interested...TGIF! 

A Peek at my Week

I love looking at all the activities people are doing in their rooms each week so I thought why not share my week!  I'll try to take better pictures next week.  So here is what we did this week: 

My 2nd and 3rd grade math students made Fact Family Rockets: 

2nd graders made addition and subtraction fact families and the 3rd graders made multiplication and division fact families.  These aren't quite finished...I laminated the rockets and we are using them as "I'm Done" activities.  The kids LOVE using these. 

 My 4th grade math groups worked on problem solving.  I had a problem solving bulletin board but I wanted to change it up so I moved the problem solving sheets to the wall below the board.  Some of my walls are magnetic so I just put a magnet on each one.  

The groups work together through each step in the problem solving process on these sheets.  When they are done, I check their work.  

This week, my ELA students worked on using their reading strategies while reading in their Reader's Notebooks.  

                     

 My 3rd graders also learned how to write a summary using the Somebody, wanted, but, so, then organizer

We also used the error detection strategy I posted on Sunday.  

I had the students come up and put a post-it with the correct word over the incorrect word.  They asked me if we could do these every week...isn't it great when they WANT to learn?! 

Reader's Notebooks, problem solving posters, and the summarizing organizer can be found at my Teachers Notebook Store.  The rocket template came from Made in the Shade in 2nd Grade.

SQ3R

Have you used this strategy?  I use it with my 4th and 5th graders every year but 3rd graders could use it too.  For those of you who aren't familiar with SQ3R, it is a great strategy to use with non-fiction, especially textbooks.  It keeps students actively engaged while writing.

To use it, have each student fold a piece of paper in half hot dog style and give them a non-fiction text.

S - Survey - Students should survey the text.  Read headers, bold words, titles, captions etc...

Q - Question - Ask questions about the text.  I have students turn the headings and titles into questions.  These are written on the left side of the paper.  

R- Read - I have my students read one section at a time.

R - wRite - (I know, it doesn't really start with an R) Students write the answers to their questions on the right side of their paper.

R - Review - Students use their notes to review the information in the chapters.  

I made a quick template to use with your students - although you can just use lined paper too.  Click on the picture to grab your copy!  

Complete Sentences

Do you find it hard to teach sentence writing to your students?  I did until I started breaking the sentences down into:
Who?  Did what?  When?  Where?  How?

Using this method really improved my students sentence and paragraph writing!  I made some writing sheets for my students a while ago but they weren't cute.  I bought some adorable new graphics last week and decided to use them to update my old boring sheets.  

Both of these kits include a sample lesson plan, brainstorming cards for the board, sentence writing pages (with primary and intermediate lined paper), and paragraph writing pages (also with both types of lined paper). 

I also made this mini-preview freebie for you to check out before you buy one of the other kits.  

Click on the pictures to be taken to the products!  

Sight Word Book Freebie

Halfway through my first year, I was assigned a group of 1st grade girls.  Up to this point, I was used to working with 3rd-5th graders.  My plans for the girls were the same as my older kids - read a book and do some sort of writing with it plus a little word work.  The girls were done in about 10 minutes.   I still had 20 minutes to fill.  The girls needed to work on sight words so I decided to make a dolch kit and practice sight words during our sessions too.  Since I still had time left in my sessions, I made a simple sight word book template.  I had the girls choose one sight word from their list that they struggled with and write a predictable book using that word.  

Here is a  small picture of the cover.

Sorry that these pics are sideways - I can't figure out how to make them the correct way!  These are interior pages from a students book called "They had Animals".  Her pages say things like "They had an elephant."  "They had a cat."  The girls were able to recall & retain the sight words they made books with.  Within 2 months, they were discharged from AIS (academic intervention services).   You can grab your free copy of my book template at my Teachers Notebook store!  

Early Start and 50 followers!

Okay, first of all, I am SOOOOO excited that I have 50 followers.  I started this blog as more of a journal and place to collect ideas.  Over the summer, I started reading some blogs and quickly became addicted!  That is when I started using this blog more as a place to share my ideas.  As a thank you to my 50 followers, I have a few freebies for you! 

As 2011 comes to an end, I have been reading everyone's new years resolutions...organization and planning seem to be two goals most of us have in common for 2012.  I have been wanting needing to come up with some forms that will allow me to do long range planning.  So I got an early start on my 2012 goals and made a few different sheets. 

 This is a general sheet you can use to jot down ideas for the future. 

This is a sheet I made that outlines each week in the quarter.  The blank section next to the week is for the dates.  You can get them both for free by clicking on the pictures or by visiting my Teachers Notebook store!  

Enjoy! 

Reader's Notebooks

A week or so ago, I posted about my new reader's notebooks.  I wanted to share with you how my students are using them.  

First, I am introducing the notebooks slowly.  The first day we created Do's and Don'ts, took a tour of the notebook, and decorated the covers.  The next day, we read the Cafe menu and created reading goals.  Since I only have 5 students at a time, one worked with me on choose a goal or two while the others filled in their reading interests.  

     

For the next few days, we practiced using think-marks.  The students reviewed a strategy a day (5 minutes) and I showed them the sentence frame(s) for that strategy.  They independently read and filled in a practice stop & jot page (not one in their notebook, I wanted to give them time to practice and make mistakes).  We went over their use of the strategy and their writing until I knew they understood the strategy and how to write about that strategy.  

Now that my students have a few different strategies to write about, they read a book and used their notebooks to document their thinking.    We will continue to do this until Christmas break.  In January, I plan on introducing the reading response journal section.  

I am using paperclips as bookmarks for the response section and the stop & jot section.  The paper clip goes on the page the students are working on so they can quickly find the correct page.  

I might add ribbons to the paperclips to make them a little more fun.  

You can purchase the Reader's Notebook at my Teachers Notebook store.

Assessment Recording Sheets (Freebie)

 I was grading a bunch of assessments and realized that I never made my recording sheets!  I had some from other places but I wanted to use cute fonts so I whipped some up and thought I'd share them with you.

I am required to assess my students on a regular basis.  I like to have a recording sheet that I can quickly look at and see a students progress throughout the year.  For the reading progress sheet, I start with the lowest reading level on the bottom so when I add the students scores, it graphs their progress.  I made a bunch of different reading sheets starting and ending at different levels so there should be one that would work for everyone.  As always, if you want something customized, leave a comment or email me and I will do my best to grant your request! 

I put these on my Teachers Notebook store for you to grab for free!  Click on the pictures to get yours!  

Also - most of the other items in my store are 50% off from now until Thanksgiving.  

Exit Slips Freebie!

My school is on a MAJOR paper restriction.  Each teacher was giving 1 ream of paper (500 sheets) to last the rest of the year.  We are allowed to send our copies out to the BOCES print shop (those pages won't count towards our 500 sheets) but the print shop was flooded and they are operating from a remote location.  They are about 3 weeks behind.  That means that you would need to plan a month ahead to have your copies back in time.  That's just not going to happen for me.  I might have an idea of what I want to do in a month but it will probably change.  My solution to this problem is to come up with some generic worksheets that I can use for a variety of different books or topics.  I'm sending those items to BOCES so I know I will always have something in a pinch.  

On a slightly unrelated note, the principals went to a training on what to look for in lessons when observing teachers.  They bought copies for every teacher so we know what they are looking for.  They didn't pass them out yet but said we could pick up our copy if we wanted it early.  I wanted mine early.  I want to know what they will be expecting so I can be ready!  The book talks a lot about closures and assessments.  They HIGHLY recommend exit slips.  So I made a generic exit slip or ticket out to be sent off to BOCES.  Now I will always have a closure & assessment ready!  

This side of the ticket is lined for questions that require a written response.

This side of the ticket is blank for solving math problems or drawing a quick picture (Draw what you visualized while reading today). 

I printed them double sided so I didn't have two different sets.  Grab your free copy from my Teachers Notebook store by clicking the picture.  

Classroom Jobs for the Resource Room (Freebie!)

I like the idea of having classroom jobs for students but until this week, I could not wrap my brain around how to set this up.  I have 37 students, some come to my room everyday but at different times each day, some come 3 x a week, some only come to my room on occasion (I push into their rooms usually) so how do I set up jobs?

This really bothered me my first year because our mentors gave us a bunch of new teacher books to help us set up our rooms and half of it didn't apply to my setting.  That's actually the reason I started this blog, there was no information out there as a guide for resource room teachers (or any non-traditional teachers). 

So here is my solution.  I numbered my chairs 1-5 and came up with 5 jobs.  I chose to number the chairs so that the kids wouldn't pick the tape off the table and it's not distracting.  

I wanted students to be responsible for pencils, materials, chairs, erasing the board, and a helper for odd jobs.  Rather than assigning every kid a specific job and switching them, the chair numbers assign the students the jobs.  If job #1 is the materials manager, whoever sits in chair #1 has that job for the day.  Rather than numbering my job posters, I made numbers that I can move around to avoid having students do the same job every day if they have assigned seats.

Grab your copy for free in my Teachers Notebook store,  

Summarizing & a Freebie

I have spent the last two weeks working on summarizing with my students.  Many of them struggle to write complete sentences so the thought of reading a book, understanding it, picking out the most important details, re-writing them in new words, and writing in complete sentences was more than a little overwhelming for them.  

I started by reading a book together and discussing what a summary is.  Then I asked them to verbally summarize the story for me.  As they spoke, I typed.  As expected, the first attempt lacked details.  That was labeled as a level 1 summary.  I questioned the group to add some more details.  With a little tweaking, the level 1 summary became a level 2 summary.  We continued this until we also had a level 3 and 4 example.  I printed out each summary with room for a picture above it.  We added pictures to match the level of the summary.  

After this activity, the students really had a clear idea of what a level 4 summary looks like, how to write it, and what to include in it.  To help them even further, I gave them a copy of my Somebody wanted...but...so...then organizer (which you can grab for free by clicking on the picture of the organizer below).  I gave the students another book in the same series (a Reading a to z book - The Hoppers) and had them try a summary on their own.  Kids referenced the example summaries while writing.  

Their summaries turned out great!  They were not missing any major details (thanks to the organizer) and they added a few extra details because they really wanted to have a 4 star summary.  

A students independent summary.

Our summary board with the 4 examples and some of the kids finished work.

Editing Checklist

I have searched and searched for an editing checklist that might work for all of my students (2nd -5th graders). Nothing seemed to work so I finally decided to just make my own.  After I made one with a notebook paper background, I got inspiration for another one which I now LOVE (I guess I am a little biased). I posted them up on my Teachers Notebook store.   

    

Click on the picture to get your own!  

 I plan on printing them on card stock, laminating them, and storing them in a file folder attached to the wall like this, only stapled to the wall and editing checklists instead of blank paper: 

As with everything in my store, if you would like something customized for your classroom, email me and I'll see what I can do!  

Daily Objective Posters

At every staff meeting so far this year, we have heard "subtle" suggestions to post our lesson objectives in our rooms.  I finally got around to making them this week and I hung them up today.  Here is how it looks:

After laminating, I hot-glued the sheets to a ribbon and then I glued everything to the wall.  They hang right above the finished work basket, next to the students cubbies.  

Since I was making them anyways, I decided to make a few more and put them on my Teachers Notebook store.  I made 3 different patterns - dots, stripes, and chevron stripes (which isn't uploading right now, I'll try again tomorrow).  Here are some sample pics:  

 

  

Click on the picture to be taken to the items in the store.  If you would like different wording, just email me at lessonplansandlattes@gmail.com and let me know.  I'd be happy to customize it for you.  Enjoy your Friday evening! 

Introduction to Problem Solving

My districts math focus this year is on problem solving.  Students who struggle with math typically REALLY struggle with problem solving.  I have just spent the first 3 weeks of my AIS math groups introducing problem solving.

To make it a little more fun, I created a problem solving bulletin board for my students to use.

Each work mat is a step in the problem solving process. 

I write word problems on sentence strips and students can use dry erase markers to solve the problem right on the laminated work mats.  Together, we solve a bunch of simple word problems on the bulletin board (1 problem a day for a week or 2) before I give them the graphic organizer.

I only change the numbers in the word problem for the students first time using the graphic organizer.  For example, the day before I introduce the organizer, I might give the students the following problem to solve on the bulletin board: 

There are 35 birds in a tree.  There are 7 birds on a roof.  How many birds are there altogether?

The next day, I would show the students the organizer and let them try it out using this problem (I just cover the old numbers with post it notes): 

There are 19 birds in a tree.  There are 12 birds on a roof.  How many birds are there altogether?

All of the work from the first problem is on the bulletin board.  Students only have to change the numbers in the addition problem.  This allows the kids to focus on using the problem solving organizer, rather than focusing on solving a problem AND the organizer.  Once students have internalized the problem solving process, they do not use the organizer for every problem because it is time consuming.  

I made 3 more sets of problem solving bulletin board work mats.  I am using the polka dot one at building #2.

There is something so cheerful about polka dots!  I have uploaded the polka dot mats as well as a striped and chevron striped sets to my Teachers Notebook store.  Don't forget to download the free graphic organizer while you're there! 

5 Minute Drills & a Freebie

The way the new New York State IEP's are, I have to probe (assess) my students progress frequently.  For my students who have a goal of solving # of basic facts in x minutes, I assess every 2 weeks.  Some of the students only need 40 addition facts, some need 100.  I don't want to have to make different probes for every student, especially when I have 37 now!  I figured the easiest thing to do was print 20 different 5 minute drills (100 problems).  Some of my students, however, are overwhelmed by seeing 100 problems at once.  I make a quick template for them that only shows one row of problems at a time.

Sorry, the pictures are not coming out well at all!  Download the free template from my Teachers Notebook store!

Enjoy!

Literature Circles

As of right now, I have 35 students!  I have a group of fifth grade boys who need to work on comprehension so I immediately thought of doing literature circles.  I had no packets that were appropriate for them so I decided to make my own.  My rules and behavior chart are in a space theme so I made the packet in a space theme as well.

I chose roles that require students to write summaries, make predictions, infer character traits, determine important ideas, and ask open-ended questions.  The packet includes question starters to help students with questions and a list of character traits, two versions of the cover page, and role descriptions.  I have added the packet to my Teachers Notebook store.  If you want a literature circle in a different theme, please let me know and I'll do my best to make one!  

Enjoy your Friday night, 

Becky

PS - I'm working on a literature circle scoring rubric this weekend.

Rounding & Teachers Notebook Store

My students were struggling with the concept of rounding last week.  I created a rounding roller coaster sheet to help the kids visualize the rounding process.  The roller coaster has spots for students to write their numbers on it to see if they are rounding up or down.  I liked the sheet so much, I ran to Target on Sunday and bought a laminator so I could use it today.  It was a huge success!  My students loved it.  After doing a few problems with the roller coaster, they "got it".  They all begged me for their own copies they can take home.  I just finished making a set of 5 so they can each use them during class.

I've been thinking about opening a Teachers Notebook or TPT store for a while now.  Before I started, I wanted to make sure I had all the proper permissions to use the graphics and fonts.  I do not want to sell (or give away) any items that I have not tried in my classroom (with success) first.  The rounding roller coaster was so successful in my room, I decided to open my store and use it as my first item!  You can visit my new Teachers Notebook store here!  I have never used paypal before so please let me know if there are any glitches or if you have suggestions.  It's been a long day so I'm off to relax before tomorrow!

-Beckyhttp://teachersnotebook.com/product/fireflies/rounding-roller-coaster