Five for Friday - October 16

I am officially on fall break! It couldn't have come at a more perfect time. The weather is going to be pleasant, and I have a to-do list a mile long. Number 1 on the list is resting! Here are five random things on my mind right now.

My announced observation was on Wednesday. Our GO Math chapter focus was on addition and subtraction relationships. It wrapped up with a few lessons on arrays. I chose one of these lessons for my observation. The day before the observation, the children found real life examples of arrays in the classroom. They worked as partners to take pictures of them with our two iPads. I also gave them an optional homework assignment of emailing me a picture of any arrays they found in their homes. I printed the pictures to use as a review in my observation lesson. The main activity, after the required GO Math! lesson (it's a district mandate that we use the new GO Math! series with fidelity), was having the children partner-up and make their own array with dot painters. Below is our hallway display of all of the arrays. They did a great job, and the arrays they found at home were so clever! In this day and age of high technology, it's great to be able to connect home and school so easily! If you'd like a copy of the Hooray for Arrays set, here you go!

Note: If you use GO Math!, this complements lesson 3.11 very well!

We had fall parties this afternoon. My room mom and I decided that it would be great to have it outside if the weather cooperated. The weather was perfect! My super room mom had the egg and spoon relay, tug-of-war, pumpkin hockey (with broom hockey sticks and real, small pumpkins), wrap a mummy (with toilet tissue) and a game of Duck, Duck, Goose! This woman thought of everything! She brought blankets for the kids to sit on as they ate their monster donuts and other goodies. I think there was at least one parent there for every one of my students. We even had a grandmother! It was an awesome party! 

There was one bittersweet part of the party; one of our classmates is moving, so we had a little going away present for him. It was a kickball with our signatures. His classmates made cards for him. I think he was a little overwhelmed with everything. We'll sure miss his sweet demeanor, but we'll keep him in our hearts. 

Have you heard of Shipt? It's a grocery shopping and delivery service. I hate to go grocery shopping! Hate it with a passion! So, when I saw a piece on the local news about this service, I decided to give it a try. There is a Shipt app that has about 40,000 grocery items listed. Usually, I'm happy with peanut butter, cheese, bread, apples, bananas, cat food, kitty litter and Diet Dr. Pepper. In just a few minutes, I downloaded the app, signed up, selected my groceries, and BAM! Groceries delivered at the one-hour timeframe I designated. The young man who was doing the shopping even texted me a couple of times to verify information or to ask me about substitutes. The monthly fee is $14, or I can subscribe for a year for $99. That's for unlimited deliveries! I think I'm in love!

I had the post conference for my announced observation yesterday morning, and it went very well! My principal is a stickler for going by the state TEAM rubric (as she should be!), and she was very impressed with the level of higher order thinking my sweet kiddos are doing. I guess all those How? and Why? questions are beginning to pay off! 

By the way, there are twelve instructional indicators of the instruction rubric, and three for the planning rubric. Talk about intimidating! My 30-minute observation was evaluated on all fifteen indicators. Writing the lesson plan took about three hours. There is also a rubric for professionalism and environment. If you'd like to take a look at the instruction, environment and planning rubrics, you can view them here. Does your state use the same rubric or something different? I would love to hear about it!

Don't you just love these memes? They crack me up!

Did I mention that I am officially on fall break? Let the marathon Netflix-watchin', sleeping late, TPT product-finishing-begin! 

Happy weekend!

Comparing Numbers with GO Math

Hi--

I love teaching math. Love it! I think it's because I enjoy helping children pull apart problems and think through solving them. That's what I had to do as a math student in high school and college. I had to know the why's and how's of solving a problem. 

So, when my district adopted GO Math!, I thought my days of teaching creatively were over. You see, our district leader loves fidelity. Fidelity is great in relationships. I might have a little bit of a problem with fidelity in following a prescribed set of lessons. Shhh... 

Mind you, I am a rule follower. Aren't most of us in the teaching profession? We're rule followers, pleasers, and nurturers. However, there comes a time when we (teachers) have to gently push back with respectful questions about policies in relation to what is best for our students. After all, who knows the students best? Yes! We do. Have I pushed back? No way! I want to keep my job. 

However, what I have learned is to work around certain prescribed lesson outlines to find a happier medium between faithfulness to a textbook, and commitment to my students to give them what they need. Today's lesson was so much fun! I didn't feel tethered to a book that sets out a 'do together' activity, some guided practice, and then independent work. Pages, pages, pages. I am not a pages kind of teacher.

Before I describe our fun activity, I need to give a shout-out to the GO Math! series. It is really well done. There are more resources than a teacher could ever use! There is a website with many tools and gadgety things. It is rigorous (another of our district leader's favorite words)! The GO Math! website takes a while to learn where everything is, but I'm getting there. One of the things I do like are the short videos called Math on the Spot. There are two kooky puppets that interact with humans to demonstrate how to solve problems. The kids really like these! And, they're quite good. 

So, back to the lesson... 

It was on comparing three-digit numbers. I began with a review of place values from ones to hundreds. We pulled out the base ten blocks and built numbers. Then, I introduced a little gadget called a comparison strip (a TA in the room suggest this name, since I really didn't have a name for it). I modeled how to use it, and the kiddos were off to work in groups of three or four. I gave them one three-digit number, and they used our base ten block grab bags to pull out a handful of blocks and build a number to compare to the one I gave them. I overheard one TA say, "These things are great!" They are great! Check out the pictures. 

What is this wonderful, engaging tool, you ask? It's a laminated section of sentence strip. There are two black pieces that are also laminated. Brads hold the black pieces in place, so that they can pivot to make the <, >, or = symbols. The children use dry erase markers to record the numbers on them. 

Who knew that they would be such a hit with this year's group. I made them last year, but my students weren't all that excited about them. This year, they're the cat's pajamas!

I cannot take credit for this terrific idea. I searched Pinterest and found this link to Mrs. T's First Grade Class blog. Hers look a little different from mine, but it's the same principle. I don't know if she originated it, but I'm giving her credit. 

You might be wondering if I went back to the GO Math! lesson. I did! Once the children had several opportunities to compare different three-digit numbers, we went back to the book to do just the two pages that were good for formative assessment. I'm sure you won't be surprised to know that the children did an excellent job on the written work after having lots of opportunities to compare with base ten blocks!