Sight Word Ho-made Puzzle To Add a Bit of Fun

I've been working with a First Grader on her sight words. 

To add a bit of fun, 

we put together a sight word puzzle together.

First, I wrote all the words on a blank white,  

cardboard puzzle board.  

Then, I lightly colored 5 different colors over the words in irregular blobs with a crayon. These background colors help when you reassemble the puzzle together. I didn't want my student to spend too much time just trying to put the puzzle together again.  

What I wanted was to have fun, and talk about the words as we reassembled the puzzle. 

"  I think we are making the word, GOES.  Here is the GO... how does it end?  Yeah... let's look for the ES to finish the word."

I did provide a list of the words, in ABC order, to look at while we were putting the puzzle together.

I would be a great way for a parent volunteer to work with your students... and have a bit of fun too.

Smiles,

Deborah

 

Teaching for Understanding: Vocabulary for Long Division

Why should you take time to teach math vocabulary, 

when you are having a hard time just

 completing the provided math lesson each day?

I've been tutoring a 4th Grader, and the directions on her assigned page were:

Divide with Remainders

"The remainder must be less than the divisor. 

If it is not, increase the quotient."

OR

Multiply to check division. Add the remainder.

She was absolutely at a total loss about what they were asking her to do.  What is a remainder, divisor, dividend, or quotient? I think she understood it as much as you would if I asked you to complete a problem in which you divided polynomials like this:

One of things we can do is to stop saying, "What is the number we are dividing," and change that to "What is the dividend in this problem?"  As teachers are we always using the correct vocabulary while teaching a concept?  I know we don't say dividend because we are afraid that our students won't know what we are asking. 

How about taping a temporary place-card on each students desk while teaching this unit like this:

Next to each vocabulary word, have the student write their own student-friendly definition to each word.

 Here are some examples of what they might write:

Dividend- Number to be divided into equal groups
Divisor- Number of equal groups
Quotient- Number in each group. The answer to a division problem
Remainder- Number remaining or left over

Here's another idea.  While lining up for lunch, ask your group if we were dividing the group into groups of three, what number would we be dividing ? Yes, ___ would be our dividend.

What number would we write down as our divisor?

Then have the line, move slightly, to group into 3's (while still staying in line).

What is our quotient? (Count each group out loud..1,2,3...)

Did we have any remainders? (Count out loud...)

In the following days, divide the line into 2's, 4's, 12's...

Ask those same questions using the correct math vocabulary.  

Why will this help?  Well, it's almost like they are a "living division problem," and it's a very concrete example of the vocabulary. 

Give it a try, an let me know how it worked for you in the comment section of this blog.

Smiles,

Deborah

P.S. If you are teaching a split 3/4 Grade Class, they ALL need this exposure to the vocabulary of division. 

Split Class Math Vocabulary Word Wall

How can you create a word wall for math vocabulary when each grade is working on different math content?

How can you find all the wall space in your classroom?

My suggestion is to think a bit outside the box and have your students create personal file folder word walls. This folder could cover math concepts for one or more units.

 Each grade level would be working on their own personal file folder, so wall space 

would not be an issue. 

This word wall file folder would not be thrown away, but stored in a students math folder for future use on student homework assignments or center activities.

These folders could be used as you review math concepts for an upcoming standardized test too.

What do you think about this idea? Share you thinking in the comments area of this blog.

Smiles,

Deborah

 

Positional Words Idea: Split Class 1st/2nd

Are you teaching a 
1/2 Split Class? 

Here is an example of how one resource can be used with both levels of students.

 1. Teacher reads, "Ornament Positional Fun!" book to whole class. 

2. 1st Graders: Play
Print individual copies of the ornaments, Christmas tree, and present on heavier card-stock paper. Punch a hole in each corner of the top of the paper and run a yarn loop through the holes. Tie yarn so picture can hang around the students' neck.  
 Assign the role of each of the different colored ornaments to your students. Have them act out their part and then hang the ornament on the large Christmas tree page provided in the packet. The last pages of this packet contain enlarged photos of each ornament, the present, and a tree for the play.  Students hang the ornament card around their neck to help the audience visualize the characters. 

 or
     Reread the book to your students. Students can use choral reading and read aloud the phrase, ““Oh me, oh my, how great would it be, to hang upon this Christmas tree.”

3. 2nd Graders: 

         Use the book within a literacy center or writing center. On a chart, list other positional locations that could be shown on the tree. A page from the book would also be posted so students can see how the dialogue is punctuated. Possible other positional locations examples: top, middle, bottom, adjacent, and  beneath. 

Students design a new ornament to hang on the tree. Then they write a page of text, to add to the book. Their writing contains dialogue between the ornaments and the new positional location of the ornament.

    


This worksheet is my gift to you.  Click HERE to obtain your copy.


 








 
Here is the Teacher Pay Teacher link for the positional book:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Christmas-Ornament-Fun-with-Positional-Concepts-2842015

Smiles,
Deborah

Holiday Positional Concept Book

This cute holiday book, created by a Speech Pathologist, encourages student participation while learning positional concepts to cover this Common Core Standard: CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.G.A.1

Describe objects in the environment using names of shapes, and describe the relative positions of these objects using terms such as above, below, beside, in front of, behind, and next to.

Suggested Uses in the Classroom:

•   Read the book to students in a large group setting and ask individual students to come to the front and place the ornament in the correct position on the tree while reading individual pages. 
•   Print a book for each student in a small group. The teacher reads the book aloud to the small group while each student individually places the ornament in the correct position.
•  Reread the book to your students. Students can use choral reading and read aloud the phrase, ““Oh me, oh my, how great would it be, to hang upon this Christmas tree.”
•  Assign the role of each of the different colored ornaments to your students. Have them act out their part and then hang the ornament on the large Christmas tree page provided in the packet. They”ll love it! Each ornament ( 8 1/2 x 11) is available to be printed individually for the play.
  
  
•  For older students that can read more independently, use the book within a literacy center.  An extended writing project involves writing text about more positional locations on the tree filled with ornaments that the students draw and add to the tree.

        

 She even thought about how to organize the ornament pieces so they won't get lost!

Take a closer look at this product on Teacher Pay Teacher at this link: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Christmas-Ornament-Fun-with-Positional-Concepts-2842015

Each page of the story builds upon the previous page, and encourages students to vocalize the repetitive phrase within the story.

Smiles, 

Deborah

Manipulative Showing the Distributive Property Use in Multiplication

I used the online applet from the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives to illustrate the Distributive Property use in a multiplication algorithm. 

http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/frames_asid_154_g_2_t_1.html?from=category_g_2_t_1.html

Smiles,
Deborah

Multiplication Models: Teaching by Activating Prior Knowledge

 Activating Prior Knowledge in Mathematics

I've been tutoring a 4th Grade Student who is being taught math using the "Math Expressions" program by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.   Chapter 2 explores ways to draw multiplication using area of rectangles, using Expanded Notation, using Algebraic Notation, using the Distributive Property, the Shortcut method, and the Place Value Section Method.  YIKES, each page is a different method!!

To help her, I've decided to concentrate on ONLY seven problems featuring - 1 digit X 2 digit problems.   

That way she can use her schema to make connections between the different methods, instead of calculating new problems for each method.

What Is Schema?

Call it schema, relevant background knowledge, prior knowledge, or just plain experience, when students make connections to the mathematics they are learning, their understanding increases. Good mathematicians constantly try to make sense out of what they are learning by seeing how it fits with what they already know.  Ellin Oliver Keene and Susan Zimmerman in Mosaic of Thought (1997).

To begin with we activated her basic facts background knowledge by completing these expressions. This can serve as math bank of facts while working on the calculation in the lessons to follow. These same facts will be needed throughout each method.  As I work with her, it isn't about knowing your facts... but about understanding the deeper meaning about the impact of the place value of the digit when you multiply multi-digit numbers. 

I had pre-cut the following 4 pages into number expression strips, area model drawings, and corresponding real life word problems.

First, I read aloud the word problem about the bags of apples being donated to the food pantry.  I handed her all the math expression strips and asked her to find the strip showing the expression that could be used to solve this problem.  She handed me the " 6 X 14" strip.

I asked her to explain her thinking about her choice.  She did so. 

She has already covered expanded form of numbers and quickly defined 14 as 10 + 4.  I then explained that we were going to show her thinking  using an area model of square unit by using the number 14 in that expanded form.  

While "thinking out-loud," I chose these 2 area models.  I explained that each square represents an apple and quickly sketched in some apples in some of the square units on the model. 

To record our thinking, I glued the strip containing the math expression and the area model onto her paper.

The above page was placed in a clear plastic worksheet protector, and I completed my calculations, using a dry erase marker, while "thinking out-loud" and explained the WHY behind my calculations. I recorded my calculations next to the model on her large sheet of paper.

With my assistance, she completed the next six word problems in the same way. 

Using the Place Value Model with a Quick Rectangle

Sketching the area model in a rectangular format was added next, and how to calculate the multiplication was done of the second half of the sheet in a clear plastic worksheet protector.  We activated her schema and discussed  the connections between the area model from yesterday, and the quicker sketch that represented the same thinking.

Moving on to the distributive property model..... The area model that we had already completed helped her understand how 6 X 14 could be redistributed into 6 X 10 and 6 X 4, while not changing the amount in any way.

The new learning came from explaining the use of " (   )" to record our thinking. She found it funny that the + sign was stuck there in the middle of all those (  )'s. With a bit of help, she wrote down all the math equations for the SAME 6 problems.

Let's make it a bit more challenging... 

and work on the next method- Algebraic Notation Method and substitute a dot for the previously used X symbol. 






  The beauty of continuing to glue our thinking onto the same piece of paper really was like magic.  She used her schema to see the slight change in the equation and plunged on to calculate the SAME 6 problems again using this method. "The word Algebra kind of scared me, but it's really not that big of a difference is it?" she said.

From My Teacher Pay Teacher Store

If you like this method of instruction that I've described in this post, all sheets can be purchased through my Teachers Pay Teachers Store for only $2.00.  They took hours to create.  

The Shortcut Method was added once the student understood the place value behind the calculations.

Smiles,

Deborah