In May,I attended the National Council of Mathematics Teachers Convention and saw Debbie Diller talking about her new book "Math Stations." I was so excited that when I came home I ordered 30 books to conduct a book study group in the fall for K-2 teachers or Multigrade teachers of grades K/1, 1/2, and 2/3. So when I'm participating in this blog book study, I keep thinking about how the math stations will fit in multi-grade classrooms.
In so many ways it is a perfect fit for "guided math groups" and math stations since the teacher needs to teach two separate math levels. Our district uses the Everyday Math series. So I started by looking at the Differentiating Handbook for the 2012 edition and there are tons of ideas for math stations. I checked out Grade 1 last night and realized that the whole first unit could have stations about comparing numbers, greater and less, playing the game Monster Squeeze, number line activities, and number writing practice. These activities could be very open ended. Tonight I want to look at Grade 2 and look at how those same stations could be upped for 2nd grade.
-deborah
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Soothing Your Fears
Are you concerned that a multi-grade classroom will not challenge your students? Will they achieve the same academic succcess that students in a single grade classroom have the potential to achieve? Will the range of abilities be so great that it's impossible to meet all their needs?
Research evidence indicates that being a student in a multigrade classroom does not negatively affect academic performance, social relationships, or attitudes. For example, Miller (1990) reviewed 13 experimental studies assessing academic achievement in single-grade and multigrade classrooms and found there to be no significant differences between them.
Last year my district took a hard look at our students' spring data from NWEA (Northwest Evaluation Association) that was gathered from our 21,000 elementary students and found that our students in multi-grade classes achieved just as well academically as our single grade classes. In fact a tiny bit better overall. We haven't analyzed the data from this year yet, as it has been so busy finishing the 2010-11 school year, but we will soon and I'll report our findings to you.
Though I work mainly as our District's Mathematics Instructional Coach, I mentor the 178 multi-grade teachers in our district. I want to learn more and I want to share what I've learned these past years, so post your thoughts and questions and let's learn together!
deborah
Research evidence indicates that being a student in a multigrade classroom does not negatively affect academic performance, social relationships, or attitudes. For example, Miller (1990) reviewed 13 experimental studies assessing academic achievement in single-grade and multigrade classrooms and found there to be no significant differences between them.
Last year my district took a hard look at our students' spring data from NWEA (Northwest Evaluation Association) that was gathered from our 21,000 elementary students and found that our students in multi-grade classes achieved just as well academically as our single grade classes. In fact a tiny bit better overall. We haven't analyzed the data from this year yet, as it has been so busy finishing the 2010-11 school year, but we will soon and I'll report our findings to you.
Though I work mainly as our District's Mathematics Instructional Coach, I mentor the 178 multi-grade teachers in our district. I want to learn more and I want to share what I've learned these past years, so post your thoughts and questions and let's learn together!
deborah
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