You probably (hopefully) have heard your son/ daughter talking about math workstations. In our classroom. We LOVE to allow students to learn through workstations. Here are a few reasons why:
In math, we usually do 2 sets of workstations each day. Monday/Tuesday is one session and Wednesday/ Thursday is the other. Each day we start off with a mini lesson that teaches a specific skill. This is where the teacher talks, not for long, just a few minutes. Students then take this new information with them as they navigate 5 different workstations over 2 days:
The students then get to choose where they begin by checking in with me: They then spend about 15-20 minutes at each workstation. Check out some pictures below to see what we were up to in math workstations this week. We focused on equality using a tool called the number balance. Math By Myself- Using the worksheet, students had to try and balance the number on the left with 2 weights on the right. This is early practice in the addition of numbers and using the equals sign. Math With Someone- For this workstation, partners took turns drawing a card. They had to place a weight on that number on one side of the balance and then try and balance it out with 2 weights on the other side. If they were successful after 3 tries they could keep their card. Math Journal- Students participate in an independent problem solving task where the emphasis is not on the correct answer, but on the degree to which they explain their process. " I think it is 1 and 4 because 1 and 4 make 5 ." Math With Technology- Students explored a few virtual tools on the Chromebook to help solidify their understanding of balance and equality. Find links to these sites and all other sites we use in math workstations in the "math games online" section above. Math with teacher- Students work with me in groups of 3-5 on specific tasks differentiated to their level of understanding. This is where I get a lot of my assessment information on the children. They show me what they know and I get an up close look at where they are in their learning so I know where to go with each student. Some recent prompts I have given them:
After math workstations are finished each day we take a few minutes to "consolidate" their learning. I usually choose one task that they've worked on and have 2-3 students show their thinking. Their peers then talk about whether their thinking is clear, whether it makes sense, and how they can make it more clear or understandable. This is where a lot of the learning actually takes place. Thanks for stopping by, let me know what you think in the comments section below :)
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Things are very busy around here with report cards approaching so I don't have a lot of time to devote to keeping our class site up to date. Please, however, check out these photos of some of the special events we participated in during the month of October: nature walk & leaf workstations, enrichment day and our Halloween party. Thanks again to parent volunteers who have helped out in our class this month and who contributed to our class party. Many of the health outcomes this term focus on how to communicate with and get along with our peers. I find that watching short video clips help students to become engaged in discussion about social skills. Check out a couple of videos we've recently watched and discussed in our class. Preparing for winter In science we have been doing a series of short experiments to find ways that animals prepare for the cold winter. In the below experiment, we learned how oil on the skin of some animals helps it to repel wet weather from its body. First we rubbed water into our dry skin and noticed that it absorbed into our hands... Then we covered our hands with oil and tried to rub water in but noticed that it just beaded off... This week I also introduced the students to my "blubber glove", a glove filled with...you guessed it, lard. The children each got to place one hand directly into ice water and another hand into the blubber glove and then into ice water. They noticed that the hand surrounded by blubber was much warmer in the ice water than their bare hand was. Following this experiment, we chatted about how animals like whales keep warm in very cold water. Our writer's workshop is broken up into parts: -Introduction- Something that "hooks" writers into what we will be talking about that day -Explicit instruction- Explanation or modelling of a new specific skill -Guided practice- Children practice using the new skill together in a group activity -Independent practice- Children write on their own, using the new skill -Consolidation- Children share their work and take tips, compliments and questions from their peers. So far, we have spent most of our time practicing ideas for generating great topics as well as the conventions for writing. Check out some of the skills we have been working on throughout the last several weeks in writer's workshop. Expert topics: Write about something you have a lot to say about. If you won't be able to add details, then you should probably choose a new topic! What will the reader want to know? Don't just say, "I went to a party, it was fun". Tell us what we really want to know! What did you do at the party? Were there snacks? Where was the party!? Stick to the topic: Don't jump around. Start an idea and write a lot about it. Instead of writing about your whole day, choose an exciting part and expand on it. Finger spaces: If your writing is crammed together, use your finger or a space stick (popcicle stick) to space your words out. Stretch words out: Don't just start writing what you think the letters are, say the word long and slow, or many times fast (for the first sound) to try and hear all of the sounds. Write them down one by one. Sight words: These words are posted in our room so should always be spelled correctly! UPPER/ lower case: This is tricky for first graders. Remember to use capitols only at the beginning of a sentence, for the word "I" and for important names or titles. |
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