Authentic Money Measurement Activity

I just opened my Sunday paper to find "The Great Big 

Toys R Us Book" flyer. Last year I did the following activity with 4th and 5th Grade classes and it was very successful.

First, I collected all my neighbors' books and then went to the local Toy R Us store to obtain more books until I had a total of one for every two students in the class. The student work with a partner on this activity, but each student purchased their own individual items. 

Each student will have $200 to spend using the Toys Are Us Catalog. They may spend less than $200.00, but they may not spend more than $200. They must purchase a minimum of 4 items.  They do not need to worry about calculating tax. 

(Though if you did this activity with 6th Grade classes calculating tax would be a good idea.)

The students will receive a “Waitress receipt form” 

to list their purchases and the accompanying prices for each item.(I bought them at Walmart for around $3.00. For some reason, using the pre-printed pad form made the activity more engaging for the students)  The students must obtain a total of all purchases at the bottom of the receipt form.  

I would suggest that you make them add the Waitress receipt form dollar amounts without a calculator.  If you need to differentiate for some students let them use the calculator.

On the back of the receipt, students are to calculate their change from the $200.00 that they were told they could spend.

 

When the students are ready to hand in their completed assignment, they are to check their work with a calculator in front of the teacher.  Any errors need to be corrected.  The teacher will write the amount of change in RED on the receipt.

As a whole class, make an “amount of change” ranking from the lowest (or closest to spending exactly $200.00) to the greatest amount of change received. (This is another opportunity to compare numbers. If you don’t have time to complete this part of the activity today, save it and as a whole group do this activity the following day.)

Deborah

Words Their Way: Ginger's and Kim's Master Schedule

This is the MASTER SCHEDULE that is used by Ginger and Kim. On the schedule. the word
"Instruction" indicates when that group is meeting with the teacher in a small guided group. Colors on the master schedule represent the color of the level of instruction and the accompanying Words Their Way book .  Tasks increase on the individual schedule sheets as the work gets harder.
CLICK HERE to obtain a copy of their master schedule.

The rest of their system is discussed in the October 27th, 2011, post titled, "Creating Independent Learner with Words Their Way"  You can obtain their checklists and grading rubric from that post.

In addition to the books shown above, our district provides the book for adapting for English Language Learners for teachers to use in their lesson planning.

Deborah's Comments:  Systems like the one used by Ginger and Kim create INDEPENDENT Learners and can be used in both multigrade and single grade level classrooms. WHY? Because it doesn't matter what grade the student is in...what matters is where they are in their learning journey and how we can differentiate the level of instruction for that individual journey.

Creating Independent Learners with "Words their Way"

A team of 3^rd grade teachers in my district, Ginger and Becky, were willing to share their system that creates independent learners when using the program “Words Their Way.”

Research shows us that taking the time to train students to be independent learners is a necessary component for a successful multigrade or single grade classroom.

Ginger acknowledged the amount of teacher effort needed to create independent learners, but “Once the students are "trained" to be independent, it is pretty amazing.”

Here are the 4 different group checklists the students use to track their individual progress, and a student rubric to assess that individual work.  I really liked how each checklist was so clear and understandable. Every student, regardless of level, knows EXACTLY what they should be doing.
Group 1, Group 2, Group 3, Group 4, Student Rubric
Deborah

Word Work Checklist based on the Student Rubric

What do you do to keep your students working independently so you can work with a small group of students? “I hold them accountable with a checklist that keeps track of their work and behavior,” said Lisa." They see me marking down what I see, and I share my observations with them. "

Lisa's comments remind students about their behavior or praise their effort. Those comments relate directly to the student rubric:         

·        “I’ve noticed this week that you’ve had all your materials. That’s a 4 for management of your materials this week.”

·        “Do you know that I’ve had to talk to you about your behavior 3 times this week? What score should I give you on the rubric this week?”

·        “How did you sort your words today? Tell me about it.”

Notice the different colored paper used that corresponds to the different word work levels.

Here is her slightly revised checklist. (I just had to add the bands of color for eye tracking.) The third page of the document gives you an idea of how it would be completed for an individual student.

Click on the document to download your own copy of the document.

 

 My summary of the Lisa's ideas Keep your students accountable, and make your expectations clear and achieveable.

Deborah

Word Work Organizational Chart

Calm and focused are two words that popped into my head as I walked into Lisa's class during word work time.

It takes teacher organization and student training to achieve a class where students know what to do each day without their teacher prompting them.In addition, I saw students who knew what to do when they "finished" their required word work.

Here is the organization chart that directs students to know what their responsibility during word work is each day. The "T" on the chart indicates a small group session with the teacher. Notice that the days of the week are not in Monday- Friday order. This chart is written on the whiteboard because that gives Lisa the flexibility to change the days order based on the changing schedule, for example: holidays, teacher institute days, and parent conferences.

Lisa also has her students select their books for their independent reading bags once a week during word work time.

Coming in the next post is the checklist that Lisa uses for assessment.

"Words Their Way" Word Work Student Rubric

Our district currently uses the "Words Their Way" program.  In the next upcoming postings,  Lisa Rabe will be my guest blogger.  Just take a look at the wonderful student rubric she created so her Third Grade students clearly know what is expected from them as they work in either a teacher lead group or while working independently. I can't wait to share with you her organized system. This rubric would be appropriate in a single grade or multigrade classroom.

Would you like to have a copy of her rubric?  Click HERE for a copy.


Deborah

Anchor Chart: What Math Skills Am I Practicing?

My last post was about taking an extra step when teaching students how to play a math game. That step is to insure that the students know what math skills they are practicing while playing the game by creating an anchor chart with them.

Kristen, from Ladybug Teacher Files, Started me thinking when she commented, “ I definitely need to do this more with my EDM games. I feel like I have to rush to get everything squeezed in and I forget to do things like that.”

How could you reduce the amount of time spent creating an anchor chart with your class?

Here is my idea:

Before teaching the lesson 

1. On sentence strips, pre-write in kid –friendly language, many of the skills the game will allow the students to practice. Code the back of the strips with a phrase to help you locate it during the upcoming class discussion.

After teaching the game

2. Write on the board: I will practice these math skills:

3. Begin a class discussion of what skills the student will be practicing as they play the game. As a student mentions an item on your prewritten strips, post them on the board.

4. Have 1 or 3 sentence strips ready for student ideas you didn’t think of during your planning.

5. Save the strips to use when they play the game again in class. Start that lesson by reviewing the skills listed on the strips.  Of course, save the strips for next year too.

 

What do you think of this idea?

. . . Deborah