Math Writing

Math Writing

Students explaining their thinking and being able to write about how they solved a math problem is an important skill that students should be able to do. This can be hard for students. It requires a lot of modeling from the teacher and practice for the students. I like to have a math writing station in the classroom that students go to during math work stations. I would require that students do math writing as a work station daily. 

I created a math writing resource that I used with my third graders. It consists of a variety of third grade skills that students had to answer the problems writing out their thinking. The resource comes with multiple ways that you can use the math writing problems. It also includes a cover for math writing folders. 

Click the link to check this product out!

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Math-Writing-2245485

PBIS in the Classroom

PBIS in the Classroom

PBIS (Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports) has become an important part of school wide behavior and expectations for students. My experience shows that many teachers struggle to incorporate PBIS expectations into their classrooms. In this blog post I provide an overview of PBIS and discuss how to implement the aspects into your practice. I believe that PBIS is a great way to reframe punishments and consequences into positive approaches that enable students to be successful.

There are three tiers of PBIS. Tier 1 is for everyone in the classroom and usually works for about 80% of the students. Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions are put into place when students have trouble following expectations. The tips below focus on PBIS for Tier 1 students. This is where you start with all of your students.

1- Create clear and positive expectations. Students should understand what the expectation is for them to do in the classroom, instead of not to do. For example, “Raise your hand to talk” instead of “Do not shout out”. Also, do not create too many expectations in the classrooms. You want students to easily be able to remember the expectations.

2- Create routines in the classroom. Teach and model the routines in the classroom for your students. You could have students model the proper way to do the routine. Continue to reteach and model the routines multiple times before you expect that students will know exactly what you would like them to do.

3- Review the expectations and routines often. At the beginning of the year spend a lot of time teaching and reviewing expectations and routines with your students. After the beginning of the year, take time to reteach routines and expectations at least one month. This is an important thing to do even if you think your students are doing well with routines. This is where teachers usually struggle because they feel students should already know the expectations and routines.

4- Have the expectations posted. Post the expectations for behavior in the classroom. This way when a student is not following an expectation you can point to the classroom expectations and review them with the student. Some students will need reviewing of the expectations often.

5- Be consistent with your expectations and routines. Whatever expectations and routines you set up with your students be consistent. Practice the same expectations and routines with students. If students are not following the routines and expectations be clear with students about that and go back to review them.

In my experience parents often think that when schools go to a PBIS approach that means there are no longer consequences for not following expectations and routines. However, that is not true. Within a PBIS approach consequences look different and avoid any type of public humiliation (which could be putting a kids name on the board, moving colors in front of the class, or yelling at students in front of everyone). Students who do not follow Tier 1 PBIS may need additional consequences or their own behavior plan that you set up with the parent and student. There are many great resources with ideas of how to help students who struggle following expectations and routines.

A great place for resources and ideas is PBIS world. Check it out below!

http://www.pbisworld.com/

Making Time for Social Studies and Science

One thing I always struggled with while I was teaching in the elementary classroom was how to have enough time for Social Studies and Science. I always felt the pressure of making sure I created a schedule with a large reading and math block. Then I would only have about 30- 45 minutes a day for Social Studies and Science. I know that I am not the only teacher to struggle with this tension. I wanted to share some suggestions of things you can do right now in your classroom to integrate these important content areas during a short amount of time.

1- Integrating reading into Social Studies and Science. I always like to integrate reading passages and children's books into Social Studies and Science because it is a great way for students to get the information that is the objective of the lesson. It also gives students more opportunities to practice their reading skills. One thing that is really important with integrating reading in the content areas is supporting students who may struggle to read or if the books or reading passages are too hard for them. This can be done by having students partner read. It can also be done by you reading the content to the students and then they read it with a partner. The important thing to remember when integrating reading is that the content students are reading is aligned to the Science and Social Studies standards for your grade level. Many times students read books that are non-fiction and fit into the subject areas of Social Studies and Science. Those are great books to read. However, if they are not meeting your grade level standards than it should not be considered as teaching Science or Social Studies during that time.

2- Incorporating time for discussion. Students need time to discuss what they are thinking and learning about. Allowing time for discussion helps students to process what they are learning and hopefully they  can make meaningful connections to the content. It is also a great way for you as a teacher to informally assess what students are learning, what their prior knowledge is, and where you may need to go next with your lesson.

3- Inquiry is an important part of the Social Studies and Science classroom. Incorporating inquiry into your classroom could be done through experiments or research. I love to give students time to research a topic. It gets students reading, writing, and thinking about the topic in a deeper way. It also helps students see that there are multiple perspectives in history. Inquiry can take a lot of time and if you only are spending 30-45 minutes a day on Science or Social Studies, students will need a longer amount of time to finish research projects. It may take a couple of weeks to get a single topic completed. Inquiry works great in groups so allowing students to work together to find information and share their thinking is helpful.

4- Station teaching is another way to teach Science and Social Studies. It may be beneficial for your classroom to set up different stations on a certain topic. This is a great way for students to learn a topic and explore it in different formats. For example, there may be a reading station, inquiry station, game station, and a writing/discussion station. Students can work in groups and go through each station. The reading station would contain a variety of books on the topic students are studying at different levels. Students would read the books and complete an exit ticket of what they learned. The inquiry station would be where students are researching or doing an experiment. The game station would include a game on the topic and could be task cards or a memory game. The writing/discussion station would have discussion questions that students could choose from and discuss with their groups. They would then write their thinking down and turn it in.

These are some suggestions that hopefully you find helpful. It is important that students are learning Social Studies and Science in the classroom. You can even explain to students when they are using Science and Social Studies throughout the day and may not even realize it. For example they use Social Studies in other subjects such as working in groups, getting along, and following classroom expectations. These are all things they are doing as citizens in the classroom.

Black History Month

As most elementary teachers know, it is often hard to find time to talk about social studies given the time committed to teaching reading and math. I know that I have struggled with this tension. But, I knew that I had to find time because it was important for my students to learn about their country, how it changes and the struggles of those who helped bring about those changes. One great way to do this is to teach about the Civil Rights Movement. A great time to do this is during February - Black History Month.

Teaching about important leaders of the civil rights movement is such an important part of Black History month, or any time of year really. It is important to keep certain things in mind when teaching about these important leaders and moments in history. This blog focuses on how to make teaching about the civil rights movement or any topic during Black History Month and beyond. I hope that you will find it inspiring. I know all of your students will!

I also know that many teachers are afraid to teach about people, events and ideas that can be seen as controversial. I understand that fear, but hope that you will work hard to see teaching about the civil rights movement as essential as anything you teach - Including reading and math.

Some suggestions:

1. Keep in mind there are multiple sides of the story. Many times children’s books make it seem like the person being studied did something great and it was not as hard as it actually was. It is important to look at multiple sources and look at real hardships that person faced. An example, of this is how people were brutally beaten by police during the civil rights movement and some killed. Your students are capable of examining these sources and discussing the hardships faced by many in the struggle for civil rights.

2. Teach about more than just Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. played a huge part in the civil rights movement, and it is important for students to learn about him. However, having students research and learn about other key people in the civil rights movement is important for students to understand how they worked together and played a key part. Students will be excited and engaged to learn about other leaders in the Civil Rights Movement. This can also be a great way to tie the Civil Rights Movement into Women’s History Month!

3. Let students ask questions and use their questions to guide their inquiry into the Civil Rights Movement. Allow small groups to research different aspects of the Civil Rights Movement and do a presentation for the other classes in their grade level or to other school leaders.

Hopefully you will find these suggestions helpful and that you will see students really engaged while researching, discussing and teaching others about those who helped to bring about greater civil rights in the United States.

Check out my Black History Month Products:

Famous African American Biographies

The Montgomery Bus Boycott

Martin Luther King Jr. Unit

John Lewis Unit

Rosa Parks Unit

Sight Words

When I was teaching first grade, sight words were a huge part of teaching Language Arts. The teachers I worked with and I used the fry's first 100 sight words with our students. The goal was that all students mastered those 100, but we would push students farther if they were ready for a new list of words. We broke the 100 fry words into lists of 25 for each nine weeks. I created activities that went along with each list. The activities I created were introduction PowerPoints, PowerPoints and word lists, flashcards, phrases, memory, bingo, and rainbow words. Here is how I used each resource.

Introduction PowerPoint- These PowerPoints consist of one slide with five words that you can introduce to your students, practice reading them and talk about them. Then there is a slide where students can put the word into a sentence. There are 25 words for the nine weeks, so you could do this for five weeks.

PowerPoints- These are like flashcards in a PowerPoint. I would project the word on the board and have students practice reading it. I did this if I had a few extra minutes before a transition. You could also print them and make a sight word book for students to practice reading.

Word Lists- These word lists were used for me to check off the words students knew. I also would copy a word list to the back of the classroom newsletter each week to let the parents know which words we were working on so they could practice at home.

Flashcards- I printed these for students to have sight word bags. Students would practice these words with a partner. While they worked in partners I tested students on their sight words or practice flashcards with them.

Phrases- These phrases are great for guided reading. While we are transitioning or right at the beginning of the lesson I would give students a couple of fry word phrases to practice reading fluently.

Memory- The memory games were put in my Daily 5 word work area.

Bingo- I would play this with the whole class on Fridays every couple of weeks.

Rainbow Words- These pages were used for morning work or were used in my word work area.

These resources were a huge help for me when I worked with beginning readers. I hope you find them helpful as well.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Fry-Words-1-100-Bundle-1123329

Math Differentiation

Math Differentiation

I have tried many different ways to set up my math block so that instruction time is utilized well and I am able to differentiate for a variety of levels. I have done Math Centers, Math Stations, and Math Daily 3 to see what works for me. What I have found to work the best is a combination between Math Stations and Math Daily 3. I structure my time where I teach three small mini-lessons in an 80-minute block. In between those three mini-lessons are a combination of math stations and math daily 3. I say it is a combination of the two because math stations focuses on having a variety of games for a group to play with and practice multiple times. Math Daily 3 focuses on math by myself, math with someone, and math writing. I have incorporated these activities into my math workstations so students are getting all three ways to practice. The cen

Mini-Lesson #1: Main Lesson introducing the new skill. This is where I model how to do it. Then I practice it with the students.

Math Stations/Math Daily 3: Students then get into their groups that I assigned. These groups are mixed ability groups. Students are working on math by myself, math with someone, and math writing. Each of the three activities is organized with a variety of activities for students to choose from. They are all activities that they have done with me or similar to a game they have done with me. Usually there is no confusion on how to play the game. During this time I call back a group of students who seemed to struggle with the first Mini-lesson when we were practicing together. I then reteach the lesson with them in a small group.

Mini-Lesson #2: The lesson is practiced with the students again. Then they try some problems with a partner. After the students are finished I check their work and they go to the second round of math stations/math daily 3.

Math Stations/Math Daily 3: Students get into the groups they were assigned to and work on a different math daily 3.  I work with partner groups who struggled with the skill and reteach.

Mini-Lesson #3: I review the skill that was taught again with a few more problems. Students are given a short assessment so I can see who understood the skill and who didn’t. If there is time students can do another round of math daily 3. If there is not enough time, I collect the assessment and go over it with them later in the day or the next day. I try to give them feedback as soon as possible.

Check out my math stations that I use to differentiate. I have grades K-3. I use a variety of grade levels depending on the standards and skills students are struggling with. 

Kindergarten Common Core Work Stations

First Grade Common Core Math Work Stations

Second Grade Math Work Stations

Third Grade Math Work Stations

Creating Classroom Rules and Establishing Routines

 It is back to school time for many students! As students are learning about routines and things happening in the classroom it is good for them to create the class rules together and talk about routines. This gives students ownership of their classroom and helps them to understand why each rule is important. It also gives the teacher and students a chance to talk about the rules, model them, and discuss their importance. I always like to send a note home to the parents letting them know the rules that their child agreed upon in school. This way kids can take ownership of the rules and tell their parents why they are important. One thing I keep in mind when making rules with my class, is to make positive rules. Instead of don't run, we would say walk in the classroom. This way students know what they should be doing, not what they shouldn't be doing. Another thing to keep in mind is to keep the list of rules short. You want students to remember them, if there are too many rules they will forget the expectations. Check out my classroom pack on making classroom rules! It contains resources to help you set up classroom rules and expectations for the year!

Creating Classroom Rules and Establishing Routines