Page by Page vs Entire Poem {Poetry Friday}

Just recently, I was showing my students that sometimes one poem can be a whole book.  Up until now I had only been sharing anthologies of poetry.  We were reading Every Day Birds by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater when one student at the end asked me to read the entire poem together when they saw it as one piece near the end of the book.  My first reaction was - was just read the poem but okay.  I reread the poem and it did sound different.  My voice felt different.  The mood felt different.  My students were raising their hands with excitement to share with these responses.

-it was more catchy

-I noticed there were more rhyming words

-it made more sense

-there wasn't any pausing

Maybe turning the pages does create longer pauses making the flow of the poem a bit fragmented.  However, I love being able to focus on one bird at a time and study the illustrations.  Either way, this day my students taught me to read the poem across the pages and again as one piece to hear a different voice and notice more of the craft.  

Thank you to Jama at Jama's Alphabet Soup for hosting Poetry Friday.

Low Floor High Ceiling Problems {Math Monday}

Several sessions at OCTM - Ohio Council Teachers of Mathematics mentioned and sited resources for Low Floor High Ceiling math problems.  These are problems everyone can have success and be engaged with.  If you would like more information rich.maths.org has this great article, Using Low Threshold High Ceiling Tasks in Ordinary Classrooms.  I made a padlet with direct links to some fabulous resources for a staff meeting this week and thought this might be interesting for my readers. If you have a resource to add to the padlet, please let me know by leaving a comment.

Writer's Feelings {Celebrate This Week}

This week I'm celebrating writing.

Sometimes when I think about writing I get overwhelmed and think it has to be big and grand.  Then I find myself doing a lot of self talk about just doing it.  Last week I attended our state math conference for teachers and my mind was swirling with ideas.  So many ideas that the writing just flowed.  Then when I wanted to capture a slice of life, the writing stalled a bit but I just wrote what I was thinking about and a piece was created.  While it wasn't what I intended I was pleased with this reentry.  Then last night I wanted to share some thinking for Poetry Friday and worked on making my writing small and to the point, remembering it doesn't have to be big and grand.  I timed myself and wrote two pieces in 30 minutes.  These pieces got my mind thinking about an article I might start drafting notes for.  I always find switching grade levels frustrating when it comes to writing articles for Choice Literacy because I worry I don't have anything new to add to the field at this grade level but I'm working on overcoming this.   I think all these feelings I had as a writer this week are natural and hopefully are a sign I'm back to writing with more consistency.

Thank you Ruth at Ruth Ayers Writes for encouraging us to find daily celebrations in our lives.  If you want to read more positive things stop by this week's post, Taking Time.

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Rereading for Meaning {Poetry Friday}

Ambush

I threw 

a small water balloon.

That's all.

I hid.

I tossed.

I ran.

My victim knows, 

and lies in wait

with the garden hose.

by  Kristine O'Connell George

I shared this poem a few weeks ago with my second graders and I thought they would have a reaction to the ending of, "Oh, no!" but they didn't.  The room was silent.  I thought it was a great topic for young students.  There's a great illustration with it in the book - The Great Frog Race and Other Poems by Kristine O'Connell George.  I didn't want to tell them my reaction so I decided to reread the poem.  I started to see some eyes and eyebrows twitching a bit, a tall tell sign some thinking was flickering.  I reread it a third time and the reaction I was hoping for came and I was reminded that rereading for meaning might be easier with short poetry pieces.

Thank you Laura at Writing the World for Kids for hosting Poetry Friday this week.

Writing - Waiting - Re-Welcome - {Slice of Life}

I've missed writing.  I sat down here tonight thinking I had an idea or two and they were just a spark; nothing I felt like developing beyond the sky was blue - the sun was shining - the temperatures were warm - I can't believe it's November 1st.  November is a month that often brings reflection and finding gratitude.  Reflection and gratitude shouldn't only be a November idea but if it takes a little jump starting then that might be what my writing needs.  I'm grateful this space has been here waiting.  I'm grateful this community lets members come and go.  I'm grateful this community will re-welcome me with ease.  Maybe there will be more gratitude slices this month.

Thank you to the Two Writing Teachers group for hosting our writing community and you can enjoy other slices from today by stopping by the link provided.  Thank you for stopping by.

Top Ten Things I heard from Math Heroes while at #ohioctm16, a Math Conference! {Math Monday}

This past Thursday and Friday I had the privilege to attend our local state math conference.  This wasn't my first time to attend and it won't be my last.  This year the conference had more attendees, more sessions, big ideas, and I found myself finding great ideas shared and/or new learning in each session.  Passion fosters excitement and the presenters I spent time with were passionate, positive, and became my heroes.  This list will just touch the surface from my two days, if you would like to know more about something let me know.

Top Ten Things I heard from Math Heroes while at #ohioctm16, a Math Conference!

10.   pbslearningmedia.org - is interactive and has relevant media to promote mathematics.  It can be personalized and is aligned to the common core.  The layout is much like Discovery Education.

9.  Mathematical Mindsets by Jo Boaler is a must read and her website youcubed.org has a wealth of low floor to high ceiling type problems we should be using in our classrooms.  These types of problems can be presented to the whole classroom and allow for varying levels and needs be successful.

8.  RTI doesn't mean same materials for all but watered down or taught again in smaller groups.  Tier 1 groups might get some front loading for the next lesson.   Tier 2 students might need some reteaching and a little detective work to figure out where their breakdown is for the concept being taught.  Tier 3 students need different instruction and lots of reteaching in very small groups, 1 - 3 students. 

7.  For Tier 2 students you might want to look at Cognition Based Assessments by Mike Battista to figure out the understandings your students have and need.  Mike Battista is a professor at The Ohio State University.  In each of his books, he offers an assessment and suggestions for activities based on student responses.  There is also an insightful trajectory for learning.   

5.  Zearn is a computer system that goes well with Eureka Math aka ENY.  You have to register for it but it's free and is based around a growth mindset.  These videos are about the mini lesson being taught and offers another way for students to learn via reteaching a concept, a possibility for Tier 3 students along with Do the Math by Marilyn Burns.  

6.  Engage NY was written for the state of New York and is now found with big updates in K, 2, and 6 at greatminds.org.  They have parent components, videos, all the lessons and things needed to teach their lessons.  There are even some games included.  You have to register for an account but again this is a free resource.

5. "data can look good, but we might be teaching them shortcuts instead of learning the mathematics" from Carl Jones.  He has been a long time member of OCTM and is now a professional development coordinator with a website to check out.   He spoke a lot about mathematical mindsets too and things to make instruction better.  

4. Fact fluency is more than the basic facts.  It's subtizing, unitizing, ten frames - any visual recognition of number arrangements.  Sprints by Eureka Math were the only suggestion offered to help with fact fluency involving paper and pencil.  Games were mentioned in several sessions because they offer practice in a fun, engaging, and meaningful way.

3. "remembering is a different part of your brain than rote memorizing" in a session where Char Shryock spoke about the importance of using games and offered suggestions for hosting Family Game nights with a concept focus to help parents understand different strategies. You will want to catch her blog iteachbay.blogspot.com

2.  No more timed fluency tests came up in several sessions.  This fact was shared by Kim Sutton, "Timed math fact test are good for 17% of the learners, these students thrive on getting faster."  Jon VandeWalle found in his research; if you must do fluency test 3 seconds per problem orally and if written 5 seconds per problem.  

1.  The conference, #ohioctm17 will be in my hometown next year, Columbus Ohio.  I hope you'll consider joining us and watch the OCTM website for more information.  

Pondering Math Representations {Math Monday}

                                    

When I saw this drawing last week, I wanted to jump for joy because I was looking at an example of how a student was able to make sense of a problem.  We often encourage our early mathematicians to draw as a way to make sense of their math work.  With time and as their computation skills improve students want to dive right into working with numbers and quite often they don't understand the problem enough to make sense of what to do with those numbers.  I also think as students grow drawing is seen as something younger students do.  

I loved how E was able to connect these three numbers as one; a sum.  His drawing made me think about bar models and wonder if we tried to draw  the problem with a bit more reality could bar models make more sense.  A couple of years ago I tried to jump right into modeling and encouraging students to use bar models as a way of making sense of their math problems.  It was challenging and harder than I thought.  I knew better but the district resource made it look so easy.  I'm wondering now, if we encourage more drawing prior to introducing bar modeling would there be a deeper understanding and easier transition to using bar models as one problem solving strategy.