Tuesday, July 16, 2013

New Vocabulary & Big News, Finally

I have created two new vocabulary activity packs for my classroom and TPT.
If you haven't seen them before, check them out.
Here is what a few of my customers have said about previous vocabulary activities:







Now for the exciting news!  I have been waiting for almost 4 months to become an Independent Designer for Origami Owl.  And last night was the night!  I am so excited to start on this new journey with a company that is growing with leaps and bounds.  They are amazing.
Today in the mail, I received a gift just for being on the wait list for so long.
What other company would do that?

If you haven't heard about Origami Owl, just look at the photos below.  They are beautiful and uniquely you!
If you would like to place an order or hold your own Jewelry Bar, let me know.  I would love to help you design your own necklace or earn one for free.
tamerawilson1@yahoo.com

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Thursday, July 4, 2013

Ten Pin Linky - Reading Resources

Happy Fourth of July Everyone!


I am joining Ashley's Ten Pin Linky for Reading Resources.
  If you would like to join, click here to go to her blog.
I love the idea of a Readbox Display to get students excited about reading!

I sometimes do this same type of thing when teaching main idea, but with book titles.
Cover the title of a book.  
Take a picture walk.  
Think about what the pictures were mostly about & 
come up with a name for the book.

What a great way to highlight the differences/similarities of fiction and non-fiction.

When studying Author's Purpose this year, I used this anchor chart!

So wish I could decorate the doors to my room.
At my school, it is not allowed via the fire marshall!

   
When I used an example of this anchor chart to introduce Cause and Effect, 
my students loved it!  Then, we read If You Give a Mouse a Cookie!

Who doesn't love cupcakes?
How cute!

Excellent link to activities for RTI!

Perfect for sharing with parents at the beginning of the year!

OMG!  What a fantastic reading center!

My firsties love David.
This would be a great bulletin board.

Think that was 11!  Who's counting?
Go join the linky.

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Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Building Mathematical Comprehension - Visualizing

            

I am excited to be one of the hosts for Chapter 5 in Building Mathematical Thinking.  Thanks to   Brenda of Primary Inspired and Beth of Thinking of Teaching for getting this book study together.

Students must be able to visualize what is happening in order to comprehend what they are reading.  Therefore, we must teach students how to visualize.  It does not always come naturally to children. 

The NCTM Standards include representation as one of the Process Standards!  We must teach students to create & use representations.  Laney includes J.K. Wilhelm's seven-step sequence of activities to help students build mental images gradually.

  • Create mental images of observed concrete objects.
               Show students an object. They close their eyes and try to visualize it.
               Then open their eyes and try to describe it.


  • Create elaborate mental images of imagined concrete objects.

               Students recall and describe images they have previously seen.

  • Envision familiar objects and settings from their own experience.
  • Add familiar actions and events, then relationships and settings.

              Can begin to have students envision a math problem.

  • Picture characters, settings, details, and events while listening to a story read or told about.

              I call this "Sketch to Stretch."  
              As I read aloud parts of a story, students draw what they see in their minds.

  • Study text illustrations and use them to create internal images.

               As a whole group or small group activity.  

  • Create mental pictures independently.

Once students are able to create and represent mental images, they are ready to see how it can help them understand math better.

Modeling & Think Alouds
To show students how to use visualization in math, teacher should model and use think alouds.
There are several different options:

  • Teacher does all the modeling and thinking while students listen
  • Teacher does most of the modeling with some students engagement.
  • Large groups, but teacher is monitoring.
  • Small groups, teacher monitors.
  • Students do the modeling orally and/or in writing.  Then, compare with others.
  • Students do modeling independently in a teacher conference.
"Picture Walks" to Build Capacity to Visualize
Take picture walks through math text books, math resources, or math related books to help students see multiple representations of math images.

Visualize, Draw, Share
Students listen to someone describe a mathematical idea (two plus 4, area of a square, etc) and draw a mental image of it.  Then, students share with others and compare images.  Follow up with discussion.

Multiple Representations Graphic Organizers
Practice using symbols, diagrams, models, examples, and words to express a mathematical idea.


Example:  Frayer Model - especially useful for math vocabulary
The Frayer Model:  http://scimathmn.org/stemtc/frameworks/231-shapes
(Adapted from Thompson, et al. 2008)


Math Stretches to Encourage Visualization
2 types & very brief

What do you visualize when you think about addition?
  • Students use sticky notes and illustrate what they visualize.  Add it to chart.  Discuss.
What does this representation mean to you?  Sketch it.
  • Students see a visual representation.  They use sticky notes to describe the math concept.  Add it to the chart.  Discuss
Use Children's Literature & Poetry that relate to math.
I absolutely love The Math Start Books, by Stuart J. Murphy.   Visit his site @ http://www.mathstart.net.
Check out this from his website.  He lists books by the NCTM Standards.  Here are his books that fall under Representation.
http://www.mathstart.net/for_teachers/nctm_standards.php
For other lists of children's book that would be great for Math, just click on the pictures below.  
And here are just a few of my other finds, I thought would go along with this chapter.

Thinking stems:
Words to use during math talk, math huddle.  
Thanks for stopping by & I hope this has been helpful!




Thompson, D. R., G. Kersaint, J. C. Richards, P. D. Hunsader, and R. N. Rubenstein.  2008.  Mathematical literacy: 
     Helping students make meaning in the middle grades. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Wilhelm, J.K.  2004.  Reading is seeing: Learning to visualize scenes, characters, ideas, and text worlds to improve   
    comprehension and reflective reading.  New York, NY: Scholastic.


Representation
Instructional programs from prekindergarten through grade 12 should enable
all students to—
  • Create and use representations to organize, record, and communicate mathematical ideas
  • Select, apply, and translate among mathematical representations to solve problems
  • Use representations to model and interpret physical, social, and mathematical phenomena  
- See more at: http://www.nctm.org/standards/content.aspx?id=322#sthash.UciPKHrR.dpu
Instructional programs from prekindergarten through grade 12 should enable
all students to—
  • Create and use representations to organize, record, and communicate mathematical ideas
  • Select, apply, and translate among mathematical representations to solve problems
  • Use representations to model and interpret physical, social, and mathematical phenomena 
- See more at: http://www.nctm.org/standards/content.aspx?id=322#sthash.UciPKHrR.dpuf
Representation
Instructional programs from prekindergarten through grade 12 should enable
all students to—
  • Create and use representations to organize, record, and communicate mathematical ideas
  • Select, apply, and translate among mathematical representations to solve problems
  • Use representations to model and interpret physical, social, and mathematical phenomena  
- See more at: http://www.nctm.org/standards/content.aspx?id=322#sthash.UciPKHrR.dpuf

 
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Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Going on a Blog Hunt

I have only been on Bloglovin for a few days, but I already like it more than Google Reader.

What do I love about Bloglovin so far?
  • Getting the daily email with all the updates from my favorite blogs! 
  • Being able to mark a post as read, so I do not lose my place if I have to stop in the middle of reading the posts.  (That never happens at your house, I'm sure.)
  • The ability to like a post so I can refer back to it.
  • The ability to easily share a post with others.
Now ....
it is time to find some new and inspirational elementary blogs! 
I am joining Corkboard Connections for a Blog Hop.

Join the fun by clicking on the bear at the top!

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