Division Division Division!

DIVISION is a STRUGGLE to teach. It is such a hard concept for the students to learn! Why? Because often times we (or maybe it is just me???) want to just show the students how to do it, step by step, and expect the kids to just GET IT! But that definitely doesn't do it! Another challenge? Often times we introduce division and the students STILL do not know their multiplication facts. Sound familiar? How many times have you told a parent that the child needs to work on mastering their multiplication facts??? I know I have felt like a broken record with that one.  Now to top it off, common core math stresses the dreaded "alternate strategies" for a concept that was tricky and confusing to begin with.  Now, students need to know the "regular" way AND some other funky ways.  This is for sure how I felt until I actually taught those other funky ways! The funky ways (I keep that term to myself;)) actually made ALOT of sense to the kids! First let's start with the algorithm.  I like to try to make the algorithm FUN because, let's face it….it's NOT.  So, to let the students practice the algorithm in a fun and engaging way, I have them play Division Tic-Tac-Toe.  Here the students FEEL like they are playing a game when actually they are practicing their skills.  The best part? You can pair students that would be able to act as "peer tutors" because they watch each other complete the division problem with a fine tooth comb-wanting to catch errors in their partners work (and helping each other as well!) It is a WIN WIN!!! Download this game for free by clicking on the photo below.

Now let's talk about the FUNKY strategies… :) 

Funky Division Strategy #1) Partial Quotient

This was just confusing to me.  It sounds impressive and looks impressive and rigorous…..but what does it actually mean???? I'll try to explain it….here it goes! For the partial quotient strategy, students need to constantly ask themselves WHAT NUMBER can I MULITPLY the divisor by to get to the TOTAL dividend without going over.  Why do I like this strategy? Because they do not need to break up the quotient to do this (like in the algorithm.)  They treat the quotient as a total number and I just think that is an easier concept for students to grasp. They repeat this until they can't subtract anymore.  If you are a visual learner (like myself) take a look at the visual below to see this strategy in action.

I also have the poster seen below in the room:

Funky Division Strategy #2) Area Model

Area Model. This took me a while! Am I the only one? If I, the teacher are a tad confused with this, imagine how the students feel? I just kept reminding them…..you will get through this!!! With the area model, it is actually very similar to the partial quotient strategy…just written down in a different way. I think you actually need to just look at the model to figure this one out.  They start by drawing a box and write the dividend.  They write the divisor on the left side of the box and then go through the steps seen on the poster.  See the poster below that I post in my room.

Culminating Activity

To display all of the strategies as a culminating activity I had the students PROVE to me their knowledge. I let them choose a partner.  Partners equal IMMEDIATE fun in my room, even if it is for DIVISION (hee hee!) Partner pairs had a job to do.  They needed to CREATE their own division word problems.  (and write them below on the green post-it note) The only restrictions? I told them that they needed to have a 4 digit dividend and a 2 digit divisor.  Students LOVED writing the word problems since they could "personalize" them. Next, students showed their work using 3 strategies that we had focused on.  They needed to show their work as seen below. The best part? If one of their answers didn't match the others, they knew that they had made an error somewhere and needed to go back and check their work.  Finally, I made them write to explain how they solved the area model and partial quotient.  Most groups divvied the work up and each partner worked to explain.  This was great because they were really more inclined to use their academic vocabulary in order to explain the dividend, quotient, etc….

Again, click on the picture above to get the labels for this activity.

Do you have any tricks for teaching division?

3 comments Featured, Math

TRAINING UPPER GRADE STUDENTS to CHOOSE the RIGHT BOOKS!

Getting students to read books at their appropriate level is CHALLENGING in the upper grades! Sometimes, I am frustrated as a teacher that students are reading books that look like they are too EASY.  Knowing and familiarizing myself and students with lexile levels has helped me as a teacher realize that some books that may LOOK easy are actually 5th grade books (and vice versa…books that look HARD because they are thick or longer, may actually not be at their grade level!) The first thing I did to show students and parents what the LEXILE scale looks like was post it in my classroom library where the students check out books. (Click on the pic below to print out this chart!)

Next, since my library did NOT have books labeled with Lexile levels, I made the LEXILE LOG seen below so students could actually look up the current book they were reading to see if it fell in the range of where they should be reading for 5th grade.  This was VERY eye opening for students.  I had a student kind of CONFESS and ask me if he could choose another book since his book was more of a 3rd grade level. (SUCCESS!!!)

Another teacher at my school has their ENTIRE library organized by Lexile Level! I knew it would be a LONG PROCESS and something I needed to tackle, so my next step was to get the books labeled. I made the labels below for FICTION and NON-FICTION so I can have the books somewhat labeled by GENRE too.  Click on the picture below to print out the labels. 

(They print on 5160 standard address labels!)

I definitely think it will be easier getting students to choose the right books when they are actually labeled! Using sites such as LEXILE MEASURES or SCHOLASTIC BOOK WIZARD are helping label each book.  I am having early finishers sitting with the IPAD in the library looking up books and writing the lexile level in the inside cover….(of which I added the labels later) which is making the whole process go MUCH faster! Here is what my WHO WAS Collection is starting to look like!

How do you get your students to read books at their appropriate level?

1 comment Featured, Literacy

Incorporating MATH PRACTICES during MATH!

Are you incorporating the 8 Math Practices 

into your Common Core Math Lessons?

The above picture shows an anchor chart that I made of alternative strategies for multiplication.  Before the lesson, we went over the below Mathematical Practices that I am trying to include in my lessons to encourage students to have good HABITS when it is time to do math!  My coworker in the lower grades is AMAZING and had these practices laid out for his students to reference.  I wanted to make a version that was more suitable for upper grades, so I made the checklist below! 

Before the lesson, I discussed with students what mathematical practices we would be incorporating into our lesson.  The students checked them off on the list and then students explained how they were going to use them specifically (for this particular lesson.)  In the beginning, this takes a bit of guidance.  I constantly referred to this checklist throughout the lesson.  Click on the pic above or below to download this chart! 

While we are working on word problems like those seen below, I like to point out how students are focusing on MATH PRACTICES such as precision (using multiple strategies to check their work) AND critiquing (checking the work of their peers) while they are working. This raises their awareness of the GREAT math HABITS they are working on!

Do you need additional scaffolding materials for multiplication? 

Click on the link below to be taken there!

Another thing I have started doing this year is using the exit tickets (like the one seen below) at the end of a math lesson.  Since it is pretty much a generic template, the students are able to explain what they learned in that particular lesson AND give an EXAMPLE of what they learned (the EVIDENCE.)  They usually find their favorite problem from the lesson and use that as their evidence.  Finally, the students check off the bottom of the ticket which showcases if they felt like they understood the concept OR if they still need help.  I love that they help me form small groups for those that need specific help.  What I love even more is that the EXIT ticket encourages students to NOTIFY me if they need help! Click to download it below…

Do you have any tricks for incorporating the different Math Practices while teaching Math?

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DETAILS, DETAILS, DETAILS!!!

Something I am CONSTANTLY struggling with as a teacher is asking my students to ADD MORE DETAIL and to BE MORE DESCRIPTIVE in their writing. As we begin the school year, my students have had many opportunities to write.  While reviewing some of my student's initial writing samples, I noticed many students were off to a great start with their organization and structure. However, after reading and listening to their writing, I KNEW it was time to jump head first into adding DETAILS.  Why? I couldn't HELP but notice my student's LACK of detail. This seems to be a common problem EVERY year! 

Conferencing

Time to connect and communicate with the students! During our writing time, I conferenced with students using a WRITING ANECDOTAL CHART that I made.  During this time, students were rereading their paragraphs and telling me how they thought they could make their writing BETTER. I was also discussing the notes that I had left with each student. Here is a picture:

Since we are working on a novel study right now (AND focusing on character traits) I knew that I would need to FRONT LOAD unique vocabulary to the kids.  In the past I would hand them the dreaded thesaurus and it JUST DIDN'T WORK!!!  Many times when a student uses a thesaurus they choose words OUT of context and their writing just DOESN'T make sense. 

The Lesson

I had students pair up and choose either Claudia or James from the novel, From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.  I had the students make decisions TOGETHER about the character traits.  If they felt that the character displayed any aspect of the word whatsoever, they highlighted the character trait.  This went GREAT because the students were in HEAVY discussions about all of the different words.  Here is a look at the  words they highlighted (Character Traits List from my WORD LISTS pack!)

NEXT, students chose 3 character traits which they felt reflected their character the MOST.  They also had to choose traits that they would be able to find the STRONGEST evidence for! Following that, students used the paragraph template seen below (CLICK on the picture below to download) to form paragraphs describing the character's traits. I had students attach post it notes (THANKS to the Dollar Store!) because they needed MORE room to write about their character traits/evidence to support that trait.  

If anything, Post It Notes just make things more exciting! See how this student below was able to add evidence to each character trait through quoting the author from the story.  So exciting!

I was floored by some of the students responses and the Post It Notes really provided a GREAT scaffold for students that needed that EXTRA visual to organize their paragraphs! 

They came up with OUTSTANDING evidence.  This is something we will be practicing ALL year!  If you haven't already, download the paragraph template by clicking on the picture BELOW to give this a try with your students!

How do you teach students to add details and incorporate evidence into their writing?

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Making Inferences with Post It Notes!

Today I will be writing a bit about how I introduced inferences to my 5th graders this week AND how I figured out how to print out Post-It Notes to use during my lesson! Right now, we are continuing our NOVEL STUDY with From the Mixed Up Files From Mrs. Frank E. Basilweiler and it was the perfect time to jump into MAKING INFERENCES.  First, I decided to build the students background knowledge with this introductory page from my MAKING INFERENCES pack. This page gives the students a paragraph EXPLAINING what it means to make an inference and gives them clear examples of making inferences! Take a peek:

After completing this sheet and discussing what MAKING INFERENCES were, students gave me their ideas about inferencing.  Their ideas were VERY inspiring!!! Tak a look:

LOVED when one of my students talked about using their COMMON SENSE to figure out what was going on AND when another students said that they can make an assumption or ASSUME based on the clues in the story.  So SMART!!! I had students write their ideas about what MAKING INFERENCES were using my poster/question set from my READING RESPONSE NOTEBOOK.  Here is the final product:

Have you seen the FANCY post-it note tutorials all over PINTEREST??? Take a look at a few HERE.

After seeing this COOL idea everywhere, I decided to try it out myself! I typed up a short tutorial of how I figured it out (click on the picture below for instructions)…It's actually pretty simple once you have the template!

Some of the students came up with some really interesting inferences for the beginning of the year.  I had them write inferences first in their notebooks to practice, and then they chose their BEST one to write on the Post-It Note.  Here are a few of my favorite examples!

Finally, take a look at all of the inferences that the students made on the COMMUNITY chart! I love that students who were having trouble were able to come up and read the chart for ideas and models.  I also love that this will be a GROWING anchor chart throughout our NOVEL STUDY! Here is how the chart looks SO far!

Have you tried printing on Post-It Notes? Give it a try! :-)

5 comments Featured

5 Strategies for Improving Student Writing!

Hi everyone!  Something I have been thinking a lot about lately are different strategies for improving student writing.  So here are the tricks and tidbits that I have compiled.

#1.) Multi-Colored Lined Paper
The idea of using multi-colored paper was something I started using YEARS ago when I was teaching 1st grade writer's workshop.  The idea that students are writing in the white areas and only editing and revising in the grey areas provide an AWESOME visual for students.  This paper is available in my Informational Writing Unit but I have also provided it for free here, for you!

#2.) Taking a Break/Coming Back to IT!
I know I am guilty of writer's block sometimes and get SICK of looking at the same piece of writing!  Sometimes it benefits students to take a break from the writing piece they are working on for a few days (or even a few WEEKS) before revising, editing, AND publishing!! This way, students feel revamped and refreshed when they come back to their writing and can often improve it even more!!!

#3.) A SHARP Pencil
I can NOT tell you how many times I have walked around while my students are writing and I see stubby pencils!  I always have the pencil sharpener open during writing time and remind students to visit it.  It is amazing how much neater a student's writing can look with a sharp pencil!

#4.) Word Lists
I am constantly telling my students to make friends with the thesaurus!!! However, I was glancing at the thesaurus the other day and there were a few problems.
Problem #1) Not all words that you look up are in the thesaurus!!
Problem #2) Not all of the words that are listed would make sense in the context of the student's writing.  SO, often kids use words because they find them in the thesaurus, but in all actuality, the word makes NO sense in that particular sentence!
My solution? A few years ago, I made this sheet called SYNONYM TRAINS.  Students can use this tool to get some unique vocabulary into their writing!

#5.) Putting ALL of the student's work UP!

I know more than ANYONE that this can be extremely difficult to get everyone's work published and up BUT student's genuinely feel good about seeing their teacher post their work AND I think they are more motivated to do the next assignment.

Do you have any helpful strategies for improving student's writing? 

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