Eureka! We Found Manipulatives!

Eureka! We Found Manipulatives
Does taking out math manipulatives make you cringe? I made one of my teaching strategy goals to “bust out the math manipulatives”. It still makes my heart stop, thinking of the disasters that can occur when giving my second graders tools to use, BUT I DID IT!!! AND IT HAS BEEN AWESOME!!!!! If I can do it, then you can do it!
Remember those math bags (pictured above)? When they were delivered to my class I hid them in a drawer! I felt like those manipulative math bags, and myself had a “stare down” and I won! I shoved them in my cabinet for many years! I am embarrassed to admit it, but as the saying goes “The first step is a confession.” Right?
	Confession #2. I have struggled to get Eureka math under control in my classroom. One of the struggles I had was my students were bored and “not-getting-it.” I heard a little whisper from my cabinets saying, “Use us! We can help!” I decided to “BUST OUT” those bags. It was like Christmas when I handed the math bags out, the students were so excited to use them. First, I wanted to name the math bags,  and the kids came up with “wallets” and “purses”. In those bags was what students needed to survive in math, and of course, they recognized the “dolla’ dolla’ bills”! Naming something gives it personal value. So, of course, we laid our wallets and purses on our desk all zipped up and I discussed some ground rules. The first was students could only take out and explore the ‘tool’ for that day. Second, some obvious rules that go out the window when something tangible is given too little hands: 1. Don’t put them in your mouth and they are tools, not toys. Next, I demonstrated what my desk would like and how to put the tools back and how to store them for later. Lastly, I had to warn students and tell them if they could not have self-control, I would zip up their wallet and they would not have them back until the next time we bust them out. (I know the old teacher threat! But show them grace. They are little learners. Give it back to them next time for another try.)
Do you hear that learning buzz in the classroom? Every single student is engaged and learning!!! Math was so much fun! I could also see the progression of “I do it”, “we do it”, and “you do it”! This happened during EUREKA MATH! Success! FUN! LEARNING!
	Don’t be scared to try new things!  Take a risk, if it doesn’t work adjust it, and make it work! Maite McRaney

In Pursuit of Perseverance

In Pursuit of Perseverance
Children are asked as part of our Common Core standards to ….persevere through difficult tasks.  Our students are expected to perform well in many areas-- tests, classwork, character, and collaborative conversations.  We all know students who seem to give up quickly and ask for our help. These behaviors can halt progress and are frustrating to both the student and teacher. Students do not come to school knowing how to move from “This is too hard” to “This may take some effort but I can do it.”    So the big question is: How do we teach perseverance in our classrooms?
How often do we see anxiety skyrocket in our students within the first few minutes of struggling?  Whether it’s a new concept, partner talk, or friendship trouble. I’ve come to the conclusion: kids need more practice with perseverance. They need to learn that mistakes are opportunities to learn.
	Perseverance is one of the important traits developed by experience.  Struggling with a new concept, working out playground issues, writing a story or having an engaging conversation develop perseverance.  When you hear the life stories of famous visionaries, they always have one trait in common: perseverance.  Most people fail repeatedly before they experience success.  It is up to us as educators to unleash the internal drive for success in our students and a “never give up” attitude.  Part of my job as a teacher is to push, nudge, and challenge...then wait, step back, and not interfere to quickly.  That’s hard to do, but it’s in that struggle that growth happens.
“The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make a mistake.”  – Elbert Hubbard
In order to help students build stamina and perseverance, it’s important to incorporate it into your classroom culture.
	So I am in the midst of building my “Dream Team” and we are using and enjoying our Kagan structures to have collaborative conversations.  But, we’ve come to a halt when it comes to next steps.  I pose a question, they have think time, and then they share with their A/B shoulder partner.  When I stopped and listened to their responses they were becoming too structured. Where are the conversations?  Ok, so I asked them to start asking their partner questions.  Questions? They looked at me like I was crazy!  It’s  tough and they wanted to revert back to their sentence frames for help.  Which I am totally fine with as long as that frame gets them to a real conversation. My kids were getting frustrated because they didn’t know how to get to where I was asking them to go.  I had to teach perseverance!  I started with : Modeling- Kids love to hear personal stories from their teachers.  Telling them about a time I failed, but persevered through it was a great way to help them see that everyone feels like giving up sometimes. Several times, I modeled what a conversation looks like with another student.  I showed them that even though we struggled we persevered through it.  It’s key to ask them “What did you notice about our conversation?”  Have them brainstorm- “What are some ideas you have for what to do if you get stuck?” Then have them practice, practice, practice. Practice makes progress!   As they practice, provide feedback and positive praise. Model what positive self/partner talk looks like- “I know I/you can do this if I/you keep trying.” Or just simply telling their partner “You got this!” Remember don’t rush to fix problems for them,  teach them how to fix problems for themselves and watch their confidence soar.  You Got This! Positively Teaching, Randi Muehlen

Teamwork Makes the Dream Work!

Teamwork Makes the Dream Work!
Educators teach the standards every day, conveying information through literature and informational text. We want to ensure the curriculum is learned and is taught the right way. Wait, is there a right way?  The reality is we all have our own way of teaching, but making sure all standards are taught can be stressful; therefore, letting our kids take over during our teaching can be conflicting. There is great value in direct teaching because our objective is explicitly taught, and stopping for our students to talk could cause us to lose focus.  What we can’t forget is that most of our students are coming into our classroom with a vast amount of background knowledge that they are ready to build upon. We need to know where our students come from, be aware of their academic level and begin to link it to their cultural, personal, and educational journey. In doing this we begin to enrich our own learning and teaching experience.
Educate with student-led conversations and you will see the curriculum come to life. The smiles and thoughts that come out of young minds can be mind-blowing, and challenge you to better your practice every day. The academic growth will be evident, but more importantly, you will also begin to see professional growth take place.
	Educational studies show how strongly we are influenced by the behavior of others when we are kids, and how innate our collaborative tendencies are. Kagan’s Essential 2 states that, “Teamwork can make a huge difference in achievement and engagement and can take their students a very long way simply instead of “calling-on-one”.  Along with higher academic achievement you will see a reduction of the gap between high and low achieving students, improved social skills and cooperativeness,  improved self-esteem, increased liking for school and learning, improved classroom climate, decreased discipline problems, increased leadership and employability skills, improved conflict resolution skills and increased empathy and concern for others!” (Clowes, G. The Essential 5: A Starting Point for Kagan Cooperative Learning San Clemente,CA: Kagan Publishing. Kagan Online Magazine, Spring 2011 www.Kaganonline.com )
If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. ~African Proverb
Direct teaching with collaborative conversations is the ideal situation, but not easy by any means. As previously stated, I begin collaborative conversations from day one. This can definitely be noisy and conversations can quickly go off-topic at the beginning of the school year.  You can start with “Partner Sharing”; Partner A talks to Partner B, or vice versa and then move into Rally Robin.  In order to maintain control and have valuable discussion during this time, hold students accountable. Set up each table with Kagan Mats for students to know who their face and shoulder partners are.  Have an anchor chart or table notes to address accountable table talk. Then, tell students which partner will be talking first (ex. Partner A will share their thoughts first) and then the listener should take a quick note (ex. My partner stated…) on the writing mat, of his/her partner’s response.  Students will begin to share their thoughts as they get to know one another and then learn to discuss the curriculum being taught.  Depending on the group of students, effective collaborative conversations can be visible within 3-5 weeks into the school year.  Even then the conversations and student’s work will not be perfect, but don’t get discouraged!  As someone once said, “Mistakes are proof that you are trying.”  Students need to get to know one another, trust one another, and feel valued in order to disclose their thoughts.  This may take time, but once you get that ball rolling you will see your students engaged in the learning because you shared ideas, communicated concepts, and inspired academic conversations.
	Live, Love, Teach, Hilda Sanchez

Teach Them to be Scientists

Teach Them To Be Scientists
The road is before you. The destination is clear.  You know what stops to make on your journey, and you know where most of the speed bumps will lie. Your challenge is keeping your vehicle tuned up. You must take care that each part of your vehicle is in good working order, otherwise the whole trip may be affected.
Each month, we will investigate one part of the vehicle that will help us reach our destination-- fostering scientific thinking. The road is science education. The stops are the Disciplinary Core Ideas. The speed bumps are time, resources, students’ prior knowledge, etc. The vehicle is the Science and Engineering Practices, and the more equipped the vehicle, the better we can navigate the road.
	I remember a time when a science fair project was just one more thing to get done. It was a grade I needed to earn, and it was a lot of work my mom was going to have to help me with. This is not how I want my students to see the science investigations we do in class or, hopefully, the ones they do outside of class. I want students to see the value in asking scientific questions and investigating their world. I want them to develop ways to answer their questions. I want to give them the skills to design investigations. I want them to be confident in their ability to be scientists.
This month we will learn how to teach students to plan and carry out investigations.
	Last month we learned about a strategy called Inquiry Boards. Click here for more info: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RuXjrGrggY With Inquiry Boards, students brainstorm the variables, using a big question and lab materials as their starting point. They determine the variables they will investigate, and turn those into a question they can develop an experiment to answer. But is that enough to require before giving 30 kids baking soda, vinegar and beakers? Probably not. There is much more planning left to do. This brings us to this month’s tool. Last year, Dr. Harri spoke about something called Argument Driven Inquiry and it changed my classroom. (Thank you, Dr. Harri!) I would certainly recommend any science teacher puts at least one of the ADI books on their Amazon wishlist. Here is one for your viewing pleasure:  https://www.amazon.com/Argument-Driven-Inquiry-Biology-Investigations-PB349X1/dp/1938946200 Using the Laboratory Proposal tool, students learn to design the specifics of their investigations. We discuss how they will change and measure their independent variable, how they will measure their dependent variable and how they will maintain control over their control variables. We decide their procedures, discuss safety concerns specific to the lab, how they will analyze their data and create a rough draft of their data table. In order to get lab materials, each group member must have this filled out and have a neat data table copied into their notebooks. Students are then released to collect their data. And this is exactly what they do. Most groups now collect data in about 20 minutes! If you would like to see this in action, please set up a Spotlight visit! I would love to share it with you! Stay Curious, Sara Yeh

The Naïveté of a Teaching Veteran

The Naïveté of a Teaching Veteran
The students walked in the classroom that Monday morning and a few of them gathered at the white board and marveled at the new landscape. I listened to them talking and asking questions amongst themselves; Ooooooh!... What is that?... Oh no, a time out!...
When all else fails, go back to what you know!
	My oh-so-noble cause has failed.  I introduced my new clip chart idea using only positive behaviors to last year’s class in April.  It worked very well.  So well, that I thought I could start off the new school year, with a fresh crop of 4- and 5-year-olds, and have all the typical kindergarten behavior issues managed and under control.  Those typical behaviors I could manage and help change in the past weren’t changing and weren’t being managed well by me.  I tried so hard to focus on only positive behaviors and expectations, but those undesirable behaviors kept rearing their proverbial ugly heads.  I went home on a Friday, totally exhausted and knew something had to change...
“Change course, but don’t give up.” - Roy T. Bennett
I am still on a quest to focus on the positive behaviors my students exhibit in the classroom using a clip chart.
	I had to change course.  I had to go back to what I knew was successful for me.  But I am not giving up on my noble cause.  My students are not ready for all of that just yet. I realized that many young children sometimes need to be told explicitly what not to do. How can I spin “no biting” into a positive expectation? “Keep your teeth to yourself”?  I guess can say both; positive and negative statements don’t have to be mutually exclusive.  I realize many young children need to see something to strive for and something to avoid.  In my experience, most of my students do well monitoring their behavior if they can see it on a chart. I added the visual negative consequences (warning, timeout, parent letter) for my students and myself to help monitor the undesirable behaviors, but kept the positive behavior charts to continue on my quest.  This next month, I will be focusing on those students that fit in the lower 80% who respond to conventional classroom management that just need that extra hand up to be more successful in the classroom behaviorally. I am confident that I can get rid of those negative reminders sooner than April...  Let’s get to the top of the ‘T’! Happy and Positive Teaching! Erin Grebel
Click here to schedule a visit	erin.grebel@omsd.net

Questioning + Google Classroom = One Good Idea

Questioning + Google Classroom = One Good Idea
“Class, who was the main character in this story?” “Class, can you identify the character’s problem?” “Class, why does Gary like recess?”...  Does asking questions like these from our TEs sound like you?  Are the teachers doing all the asking and our students doing all the answering?   Well keep on reading and learn how to mix it up and turn the “asking AND answering” over to our students.
Want to provide an engaging way to get students to ask and answer questions? Google Classroom is the way to do it! Students can ask and answer questions from their peers with instant real-time replies.
	Asking and answering questions can be dry, difficult to do, and not always engaging.  As we know comprehension is very important for student understanding and growth.  We consistently need to provide opportunities for students to improve their thinking and responding skills.
“The marvelous thing about a good question is that it shapes our identity as much by the asking as it does by the answering.” – David Whyte
Create an ‘asking and answering’ assignment using Google Classroom.
	After you and your class read your text, tell students to think of a question they can ask in order to “test” their classmates.  They have to know the answer to that question so that they can go back and correct their peer’s response.  Have students type their question into the “Google Classroom assignment” (video tutorial here). Once all students have typed in their question, assign students to a partner so they know whose question they should respond to.   Just like that you have turned an asking and answering comprehension strategy from McGraw-Hill Wonders into an online assignment that can now be shared and commented on through the use of Google Classroom.     How can you differentiate?… Provide students with question stems.  Require different levels of questions.  Require some students to type more than one question.  Partner up like-students when responding.  Not 1 to 1 with computers?  Do this assignment in shifts; while half the students are entering their questions the other half can work on other assignments, and then switch.  Complete this activity in small groups.  Provide this assignment for your ‘challenge’ group.   Here is a link to see an example of two third grade students’ asking and answering.….Now, happy questioning! :)                             Tech-ing with a purpose,   Tiffani Bossieux

Developing Student Talk

Developing Student Talk
Teacher poses question.  Teacher asks students to turn and talk to their partner. Student A shares, student B shares.  Student A and B, “Okay teacher, we’re done.”
Talking Versus Conversation
	Have you experienced a scenario similar to this?  Have you wondered, how meaningful was that conversation?   I know I have seen this many times in my classroom.  I think to myself, they just put their idea out there which is great but I want them to do more with their ideas and responses.
#ModelModelModel
How do I get my students to participate in conversations?
	If I expect to hear conversations in my classroom, I need to show them.  Modeling is key!   I begin by teaching my students the meaning of a conversation.  It is a discussion between two or more people. It is a way to express oneself with words.  Within that discussion, I could agree or respectfully disagree.   From that point, I give good examples of a good conversation and examples that do not show conversation is happening between people like the example provided above.  We discuss reasons why they are good or not good examples of conversation. I also hold a conversation with a student in front of the class.  I preselect a student who I know would share beyond giving a simple response. As the student and I are speaking to each other, I ask the class to look closely at what we are doing.  We look at each other, we add onto each other’s thoughts or ideas, and we can ask questions. I show students how a conversation can continue by asking their partners questions.  We begin with questions like, why do you think that?  How do you know?  As the year goes on, the questions change to, how can you support your answer?  What evidence can you show? I praise students who are modeling conversations and extending their ideas by speaking more about them.  Children love being praised!  They want to try it out and get that recognition as well. This is just a starting point that has helped me to get students to converse versus I share, you share, we’re done.  Once there is an understanding of my expectations when we discuss, then I begin teaching Kagan Structures.        Always Learning, Sabrina Blackwood
Click here to schedule a visit	Sabrina.Blackwood@omsd.net