Promoting independence within the class- Expert list and indivudal clocks




'What to do when I'm stuck?' was created with the class, after a discussion on what is a disaster/ what is not to minimise disruptions to teacher group/ individual discussions with students regarding their work .My class was able to disguinguish between disaster and something you/ someone else could help you with/ fix and subsuequently, the expert list was created.
The students know that they need to see 2 people before coming to see me or another teacher in the space. Encouraging each student to use their own resources/ thoughts before seeking help, as well as celebrating their own indivudal skills.

Clocks were purchased after using kitchen timers to alert students that go into the main space for small group work, to the time they needed to be back inside the classroom. The timers were effective, however I felt that they distracted other students in the space when they made the alarm sound. I purchased these clocks from Kmart for a few dollars and with the current unit/ focus for application mathematics being on time. I consider this to support the students independence, as well as support them in their learning of how to read anaolgue time.

White Night 2014

Last night was White Night in Melbourne, which is basically a festival of sorts in the CBD with light projections onto the main buildings. There is special events,. food and interesting aspects to look at. However, I found the lights the most amazing. I couldn't help but think how great it would be to share this with my kids at school and the broader network.

 

Celebration of individuality

If someone was to ask you, how do your students see themselves, what is their identity, what would your answer be?
How do you view yourself? As an educator, 'just a teacher', learner, early years teacher, 5/6 teacher, just a specialist? , a p.e teacher?

The way we view ourselves as educators affects us, as does the way students see themselves? Are the children in your class students? / kids? / pupils? / individuals?

The way we speak about ourselves, shows a lot about our own sense of identity. This is true of our students, which I always refer to as my kids. They are my kids from school, my class.

Relationships are important to ourselves, our personal and professional careers.
This does not differ for children, how they see themselves inside school, inside your class as opposed to others, can differ a lot to how you may think they see it. How they view themselves in their family, in their friendship groups, in their social/sport groups can depend on the context, or other members in the group.

Just as we change in different situations, so do our students/ my kids.

Take time to get to know them individually as well in various social groups.
It can show a lot about them, yourself and can affect your teaching.

Simple 'things' in a class can help these relationships, this sense of self.
One of the things I have done this year, is about me banners which allow students to show who they are, who they wish to be and shows an extract of themselves.

I have also put up a birthday card to celebrate their individual birthdays. I will place my calendar  purchased today near this to show an overview of each month/ yearly events for my class to refer to.

Task Boards

Task boards in class, allow students to visually see their daily tasks and refer back to this when needed. It can vary from being on a IWB display, to pinboard, to clipboards stuck on the pin boards, to what I have implemented this year due to lack of wall space....On my windows

The colors allow students to easily see what color group they are in, with their names on the stars (maths), books (reading) and rainbows (writing) to be easily changed to allow for fluid groups.
The students were given time to decorate these themselves, so they can identify their own quickly.

In the middle of the task board, is a space for the class learning intention, or in the case of Mathematics, a weekly overview of the groups tasks. This allows independence when combined with my group task books (just large scrap books seen in the reading photo) for me to write daily/weekly tasks, as well as record discussions and information from when the group and I meet each week.

Strategies for Mental Maths

Just found this site that explains mental strategies in detail with examples for the kids to try themselves. 

Here is just an extract of these strategies. The adding 8 is a new one for me. 

Adding Ten 
Adding ten means jumping up ten (think of a hundred’s chart). The ones digit stays the same but the ten’s digit increases by one. Students must understand this. Using a hundreds board to teach this works well to build understanding. Have students actually count up the ten and write down the result. Then affirm with them the pattern and explain why it works every time. 

Example: 5 + 10 = 15

10 + 7 = 17
For older students you can relate this to higher numbers: 

Example 23 + 10 = 33
48 + 10 = 58

Adding 9 
Adding 9 makes sense if students understand adding ten. It sounds more difficult than it actually is.

Remind students of the jump of ten – 5 + 10 = 15. A student would say (in their head) “5 plus 10 = fifteen”
The five and fifteen are naming the same number of ones.

With the nines – a student must count down one in the ones.
A student would say “5 + 9 = fourteen”.
It sounds difficult but once they catch on it is really simple.

Work with lots of examples until the idea is understood:
5 + 10 = fifteen 5 + 9 = fourteen 7 + 10 = 17 7 + 9 = sixteen

Adding 8
This works exactly the same only a child must think 2 less. Using the examples above students would say; 5 + 10 = 15 so 5 +8 = 13, 7 + 10 = 17 so 7 + 8 = 15 (2 less)

• Printable Resources:(in PDF Format)
  
  • Practice Activity - using the above strategies.
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Double Numbers
To add double numbers there are a couple of strategies that might help students.

When you add a double you are counting by that number once.
For example: 4 + 4 = think of 4,8 … counting by fours
Practice skip counting by each number in turn:
2-4
3-6
4-8 etc. This gets harder with the higher numbers but skip counting is an important skill for students to have.

Doubles occur everywhere in life.
For example: an egg carton is 6 + 6
two hands are 5 + 5
16 pack of crayons has 8 + 8
two weeks 7 + 7 =

Do a variety of activities with double numbers and have students determine and explain which strategies help them remember. Each student should look at each fact and relate to a visual image or counting by strategy that works for them.

Near Doubles 
To use the near doubles strategy a student first has to master the doubles. Then, if the double is known, they use that and count up or down one to find the near double.
Example: 4 + 4 = 8 5 + 4 = 9 (count up one)
Or: 4 + 4 = 8 so 4 + 3 = 7 (count down one) 

• Printable Resources:(in PDF Format)
  
  •  Practice Activity - using the above strategies.

link: http://olc.spsd.sk.ca/de/math1-3/p-mentalmath.html

Persuasive Writing

One resource in the many acronyms available 

A AlliterationF Facts O Opinion R Repetition / Rhetorical questions E Emotive language S Statistics T Triples (Three, rule of)
TAFE topic sentenceask rhetoricalstate fact and eg/evidence