Reading stamina

I have been incorporating reading stamina breaks,  based on the daily 5.  My third graders are up to 3 mins,  which is way better than 11 secs *their first score!

Daily 5 Math

So i've been researching on Daily 5 math and like what I see so far. But I want to hear from teachers who have implemented the program or plan to this upcoming school year. I would love to hear any advice!

Talk with you soon!

Great Mental Math strategies

http://hrsbstaff.ednet.ns.ca/pcooke/Math/mental_math_strategies.htm

Geometry Task Cards-3rd Grade

This resource is another gem found on Teachers pay Teachers.

Geometry Task Cards (3.G.1) (click on the title for the link to the resource)

I used this as a review for 3rd graders in a whole group fashion. I also loved the language of the questions. Great test prep activity.

Materials: task cards, recording sheets,  and quadrilateral anchor chart

Prior to the activity,  students watched a quadrilateral video from YouTube:  "Know Your Quadrilaterals"

With this task card activity, it was conducted whole group, but I split students into two smaller cooperative groups,  to be of assistance.

Being that homeroom teachers wanted me to reinforce this skill,  I found an anchor chart (dont know remember exactly where I got this :( for student review and copied to the back of recording sheet.

I gave students the task cards. (1 per student) and gave them 2 minutes to solve each card. Afterward, students would rotate the card until they have answered all cards in group and stop when they have recieved their original problem back.

I went over  the answers aloud, as this was a reteaching lesson. But you could definitely collect the recording sheets and use it formatively.

Tpt link - http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Geometry-Task-Cards-FREE-440709

Enjoy!! 

Place Value activity-2nd & 3rd grade

School is over! Yay! Now I have the opportunity to go through my math materials and share some "tried and true" math resources.

Today I would like to share the game "Race to 100 or 50".  If you click the title, it should carry you to the link on teachers pay teachers to find this game or ( http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Race-to-50-or-100-A-Place-Value-Game-320874)

I used this game with 2nd and 3rd grade students (2.NBT.1 & 3.NBT. 2) to practice the skill, PLACE VALUE.

Materials used:  2 dice, base ten blocks, math mat

Prior to lesson, students should know the difference between ones, tens, hundreds
Player 1 roll the two dice and add the two numbers together. Player 1 will grab ones cubes and represent that number in the ones column. When the ones column has more than ten cubes, then it is time to trade 10 cubes for one rod. Players will take turns rolling and adding whomever is the first to reach 100 is the winner.

To differentiate,  I ran the math double sided to include Race to 50.  Also, students can start with the target number (50 or 100) and subtract instead of add.

Enjoy!!

 

Testing Rubric

Here is something I used as a motivator to prepare my 2nd graders to be independent test takers in reading comprehension.  I use this testing rubric to set the expectation for my students and to make it intrinsic for them. This is typically used for a 10 question test but total adaptable to what you do in your classroom.

Level I-  "makes me cry because that you do not understand the skill, time to reteach"

Level II- "makes me sad because you were "one" question from mastery, take your time and read deeply"           

               (look for evidence)

Level III- "makes me smile, because you have an understanding of the skill"

Level IV- "makes me so happy that I stick my tongue out" (I stick out my tongue and do a happy dance 

                in front of the student)

I used this rubric during a student conference with students (independently). I grade their papers using circles to indicate what is wrong. I right "1st attempt" on their paper, beside it is the "number of questions missed". I have students to evaluate their test and tell me their score.  Then my response is "Is this acceptable?" and they have to reply. (All Levels below II have an automatic redo, after 3 attempts, come to teacher table for assistance)

I used this pocket chart as a friendly competition among all students in class.  I encourage them to try very hard to make Level III's and IV's on first attempts. I use this chart to keep up with how they are doing over time. 

Level Red:  Never achieved a Level III or IV on tests on first attempts

Level Yellow: Mostly Level III/IV and some Level II/I on first attempts

Level Green: All Level III/IV on first attempts

Since I have been doing this, my students have "rose to the occasion".  Before the break, I had about 4 students still in the red, they made it a personal goal to make it to yellow. I set the expectations and they truly wanted to make it for themselves.  

Math Center Organization

I have gone a little “crazy” and I am in blog overload! I realized that I have so much to share! So, bloggers BEWARE!!  J  First, let me begin by sharing a little bit about my classroom. I pull small reading groups in the morning (in my classroom) with second grade and work my afternoons with homeroom classes (in my math lab) with 2^nd, 3^rd, & 4^th grade). This is a view of the back of my classroom. The window keeps is bright and cheery!

This year has been a huge transition for me.  I had to sift through all of math center activities and see if they were common core compatible. In addition, to moving classrooms twice before the school year began. L Several of my center activities and lessons were misplaced. A colleague suggested that I use crates to file my math center activities. Place the file hanging folders with labeled lessons, math skills, grade, and standard, you have ready to go math centers whenever needed. 

Introduction

Hello,
My name is Tenisea Wilkes and welcome to my blog!! The purpose of this blog is to colloborate and share instructional ideas/strategies mainly for the area of math. I live in North Carolina, this has been our first year of Common Core implementation. It has been overwhelming but now I think I understand and can see the alignment. Well, at least in Math. lol! :) Happy blogging!