As the school year ends, accomplished teachers are reflecting about their year and already making plans for how they will do things differently next year. I've also been reflecting on where I need to go next with professional development. But for this blogpost I want to write about what went well with our k/1 split class.
Having first graders as models for kindergarten students works! My kids have worked so well together this year that often times people ask me, "Which ones are your kindergartners?"The first graders helped the kindergartners at the beginning of the year to get acclimated to school and they took their job seriously. They reminded the kinders of the rules, where to find places in the building, how to use the playground equipment, and how to go through the lunch line. That was the explicit examples they set. But the implicit examples they set were very powerful. When kindergartners listened to the first graders share their writing, it motivated them to be better writers. It works both ways! When the first graders saw the great stories that the kinders were writing, they upped the ante and improved their writing with more details and more descriptive language. When first graders shared their strategies for solving math problems, the kinders were soaking it up. It wasn't long til they were participating in our number talks and holding their own with their first grade peers.
An unexpected plus that happened was that my first grade parents became mentors to the parents of the kindergartners. My room parents were great to contact parents and get them involved in our school and in our classroom.
Although this split class was formed out of necessity, it turns out that it was a good thing and I would recommend it to anyone wanting a challenge and can differentiate instruction well.
But I'm moving on to new challenges. I'm changing schools to work with Kindergarten and first grade students that are learning to read. This change is bittersweet. I'm excited about a new challenge but sad to leave all my lovely friends at my current school. Change is good and so is growth. I'm keeping green and growing! This quote has resonated with me as I made this decision to move.
"Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely."
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
Monday, May 2, 2011
Book Review
Number Sense Routines: Building Numerical Literacy Everyday in Grades K-3
By Jessica Shumway
Recently I was asked to read and review this book for our district's math facilitators to see if this book would be valuable as we work to strengthen our Tier I instruction. I found it to be a valuable resource for us to use.
The author of this book describes routines as “daily warm-ups that help students internalize and deepen their facility with numbers.” This is an easy read which has student/teacher examples and also includes conversations with children. The big idea of this book to me is to help teachers gain an understanding of why we have our students engage in these activities and what skills these activities help students to develop.
Page 9 gives an early number sense learning trajectory. I think this is really helpful to know the sequence of the big ideas and mathematical development. Each big idea has a short explanation which would be great to share with parents. Big ideas are:
subitizing, magnitude, counting, one to one correspondence, cardinality, hierarchical inclusion, part/whole relationships, compensation, unitizing
Pages 22-29 tells what each routine described in the book helps with, how it works, and questioning strategies for each routine. This is a great section!
Many of the routines described in the book are routines that we are already using. I think the value of this book is that it explains why these routines are good for mathematical development and specifically what area each routine targets. Some of the routines described are:
Math Talk
Quick Images
Ten Frames
Counting Around the Circle
Calendar and Data Routines
Rekenreks
Choral Counting
Start and Stop
Ways to Make a Number
Today’s Number
Mental Math
Counting the Days in School
I think this would be a great tool for math facilitators to use next year for professional development with teachers for Tier 1 instruction.
Currently you can browse the entire book online at: http://www.stenhouse.com/shop/pc/viewprd.asp?idProduct=9336
Click on the table of contents tab to find the “browse the entire book” link. Stenhouse doesn’t usually keep these online very long so look at it soon!
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