Tipping the Scales!

Inequality Math Centres

Centre One - Smartboard

Prior to centres, students were exposed to Crickweb's Number Balance as a closure to a math lesson on equal and not equal. For centre work, students work as a group to come up with number sentences that use the equal sign using Crickweb's Number Balance. Past experience has taught me students will sometimes just create simple equality sentences such as 8+0=0+8. So I created a sheet for them to fill in their group answers that provides a bit of a push to extend their equations.  Crickweb also has a recording sheet.  As a follow up to centres, students individually complete the back of the sheet I created (as typically they only get the front done in centres)  and then use the Crickweb's Number Balance to correct their own work.

Centre Two - Netbooks

Prior to centres, students were exposed to Poddles as a set activity for a previous lesson. As a set to math centres, I review the other activities students can chose from. 

• Poddles Weigh In
• Number Balance
• Pan Balance Numbers

Centre Three - Writing

For this activity, students need to write an equality word problem. Earlier in the week, students had solved some equality word problems. I work with students at this centre. We discuss some unequal experiences they might have had at home and brainstorm some ideas. Then they write their own word problem. After they are finished their writing, they use a small whiteboard, they then need to show two different ways to solve their own word problem. These problems will be used the follow week during centres, where they will answer their peers' questions. 

Putting Presentation Into Presentation

Where We've Been

For anyone who has followed this blog this year, you'll know I've done a lot with Google Presentation with my grade twos. At the beginning of the year the focus was building technology skills: things like how to Make A Copy of a template, how to share a Google Doc and how to create slides. Now we are at the end of the year and my grade twos are presenting their presentations to other classes!

Culture Presentations

In social studies, my students make a culture presentation for each culture they studied: Inuit, Acadian and Ukrainian.

Inuit

I outlined what we did in our first culture presentation in the post Inuit Culture Lesson Plan.
For that presentation, I shared a template with them. Their facts were presented as lists. It was a very guided experience.

Acadian

The second presentation was on Acadian culture. For that presentation, I had students write in sentences. They learned how to add a video and they added a resources slide.

Ukrainian

Their final culture research project was on Ukrainian Canadians. For this project I wanted them to actually present their presentation in front of an audience. As my students were also working on a science research project that involved presentation during the same time period, I did not require sentences for all slide this time. I still had them do a resources page and we discussed identifying websites in addition to the books we used. I gave them a checklist and they worked on it independently while I worked, as required, with students who needed support.

Once finished their Google Presentation, students then had to fill in a script. They were paired up. One student would click to the next slide (as Smartboards do not interact well with Chrome) as the other student read their script. Then they swapped roles. After practicing in class, they went to other classes in the school! My students were excited and nervous about sharing their presentations. 



You'll notice the student presentations are not perfect. Students received feedback from me, like on any project, and were instructed to revise and/or edit. I hope by sharing the completed, but not perfect, presentations, others will have a real sense of grade two work.

Technology As A Part of A Tic Tac Toe Menu

What Is A Tic Tac Toe Choice Board?

Basically a Tic Tac Toe Choice Board is a variation of centres and it is a great way to differentiate learning. You can use it in pretty much any subject. Choice Boards Tic-Tac-Toe Menu Boards outlines what they are in more detail and gives some examples. I have created my own template to use for my Tic-Tac-Toe activities. I usually have three things I want students to do so I strategically place each option.

I try to have accountability built into each activity. Sometimes that is as simple as having a peer check their work and other times it requires them recording a simple answer.

Technology Choices

I like to add technology as three choices. I instruct students verbally and on the template that they can only have one technology activity in their "line". I usually have a Smartboard centre (the rule is only two people at this one at a time and no line ups), a netbook/laptop centre (no line ups) a listening centre or video centre. If students finish their initial three activities before Tic Tac Toe time is over, they can choose additional activities from any square.

An Example: Measurement Tic Tac Toe

Planning

I recently wrapped up my grade two measurement unit. I wanted to give students an opportunity to review before I assessed them. So I created a Tic Tac Toe that lasted about an hour. My three topics were:

• Topic One: measuring with non-standard units
• Topic Two: drawing something to a measurement (non-standard units)
• Topic Three: technology and measurement

The three technology activities were:

1. Laptop Centre: The Fearless Flying Fleas (choose BOLD) 
2. Video Centre: * Video segment was from Math Monsters: Standard and Non-Standard Measurement  
3. Smartboard Centre: Simple Scales from Crickweb

How I Did the Video Centre

I used a laptop and connected it to a device that came with my listening centre. Then I set up three headphones. I used a video segment from Discovery Education.* I monitored when the video was over and told the class when the centre was available again for those who had it selected as a choice. 

Lesson

First I quickly reviewed all 9 activities and where they were set out in the class. As my students
had done a Tic Tac Toe before, I quickly reviewed how they work. Then I gave them about 45 minutes of centre time. During this time I checked in with student I knew needed guided review of certain topics. I kept track of on task behaviour as well and intervened if necessary. However, because students were so engaged and in charge of the speed at which they work, this was only necessary once.  Most students completed their "line" and went on two 1 - 2 other activities.

At the end of the activity, I review what was achieved for each square. For example, for the video, I had students who watched it reveal to the rest of the class that feet can be used as non-standard units.  For the Smartboard centre and two pan balance centre we review what were the heaviest and lightest objects.

Final Thoughts

Using a TIC TAC TOE is a great way to give students choice and create engagement. However they can be time consuming to set up. I also would not recommend them to teach a concept but rather for students to practice, extend or refine their understanding of concepts. More non-standard units online activities can be found in my post Non-Standard Measurement Activities. 

Non-Standard Measurement Activities

Here's a short and sweet post about some of the online resources I use for my measurement unit.

Links

I like the non-standard unit activities I found online  They are motivating and good reinforcement of what students learn with objects in class. I like that many of them have estimating as a part of the process of measurement.

Linear Measurement - Using Multiple Copies of a Unit

• How Tall
• How Big Are You?
• Crystals Rule
• The Fearless Flying Fleas

Linear Measurement - Compare and Order

• Long and Short
• Tall and Short
• Count Us In - Game 14 (height) put the people tallest to shortest
• Measuring Up

Mass (Weight) Measurement - Compare and Order

• Light and Heavy
• Bunny Balance
• Weigh It Up

Math Centres
My students do math centres about once a week. Two centres are always the same. One is a journal centre, where they work with me in small groups. One centre is a netbook centre where they are assigned Mathletics activities or they go to my webpage* (msmondor.wordpress.com) and work on websites I post there. The third centre changes depending on the needs of the class or the unit we are studying.

* I wrote a post about having a class website if you are interested in this.

What Type of Movement Culture Does Your Technology Classroom Have?

You've Got To Move It, Move It

Inspired by Marcia Tate many years ago, movement has become an important part of my classroom environment. Not only do I provide opportunities for students to move regularly but I try to instill in the students the importance of moving so they can self regulate. 

I think this is will become more and more important the more sedentary activities might become with the increased use of technology in classrooms. 

Small Movement Breaks

In my class, students are encourage to recognize when their body needs a break. Throughout the year I do direct teaching of small movement breaks during writing, typing or art activities. However, by the end of the year the goal is students are aware of the need for them. Small breaks might include:

• "spider" - students put their fingers together but leave their palms apart. Then they pump their palms in and out giving their fingers a stretch
• wrist circles
• neck stretches
• shoulder rolls
• body twists

Big Movement Breaks

If students are sitting for more than 15 - 10 minutes for an activity, I try to remember to incorporate a movement break into the activity. When using technology this might include:

• encouraging students to get up and get a drink of water
• stand up and stretch behind where you are working
• a "shake, shake, shake" break where students stand up and shake their bodies
• a whole class movement break*

* I put a list of whole class movement breaks at the bottom of this post.

Frustrated? Change the Mood

Often working with technology can lead to frustration (for you and/or the students). Stopping and doing a fun movement break can change the energy and mood of a classroom. Want to get students smiling? Try:

• Handshake #2 Brain Break
• Button Factory (to get kids laughing, I usually make the last "button" they have to push use their tongue, then they have to say the whole thing "hello my name is Joe..." with their tongue sticking out).

Some Whole Class Movement Break Ideas

• Double This Double That
• Captain’s Coming using cardinal directions instead of “bow” and “stern”. Some ideas for other calls can be found at Pirate Ship.
• Snowball
• My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean (lyrics at end of post) – for fun here’s the Beatles version.
  My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean
  My bonnie lies over the ocean
  My bonnie lies over the sea
  My bonnie lies over the ocean
  Oh, bring back my bonnie to me
  Bring back, bring back,
  Bring back my bonnie to me, to me
  Bring back, bring back,
  Bring back my bonnie to me
  Actions: Start the song sitting down. On the first “B” in the song, stand up. At the next “B”, sit down again. Repeat throughout the song. Repeat the song a number of times, getting faster and faster!
• 10 Great Classroom Icebreakers
• Energizer: Classroom-based Physical Activities K-12
• A Physical Activity Idea Book for Elementary Classroom Teachers

Getting Started With Grade Ones and Google Apps

A grade one colleague shared with me her grade one's first Google Presentation. It is a super simple, yet motivating, first activity. The students really enjoyed the project.

It was successful because:

• it was a culminating activity, so students were knowledgeable on the topic.
• older buddies helped.
• the template the teacher created made it simple for her new-to-Google students to feel successful.
• she had access to the document her students were working on and could monitor their progress.

What she did:

1. She created a Google Doc and made a slide for each of her students. Each slide had 'by' and the student's name. 
2. She shared the document with her students.
3. With their buddies, the students had to find the slide with their name, type their sentences and add pictures.
4. When everyone was finished, each student got to come up and read his/her slide to the class.

Below is a copy of the final presentation. I have removed students names and just left the first initial.

Butterflies - Excitement, Empathy and Drama

 Animal Life Cycles Grade 3 Science

As part of the Grade 3 science unit, Animal Life Cycles, students are to observe and describe the growth and development of at least one living animal, as the animal develops from early to more advanced stages.  This is the story of how one class used a forum to record observations and share experiences. 

Last spring my grade three students were very engaged in our butterfly project. 

There was drama, empathy and excitement as students shared their experiences and recorded the development of their butterfly larvae on our class forum.  

Each student received three Painted Lady Butterfly larvae and were required to journal their observations on a forum. Students recorded their observations, responded to each other and shared pictures as the larvae developed. 

Here are some of the excerpts from our butterfly forum on 123 LearnNet. You will get a sense of the connection and learning that happened.

This is Hawk's post telling about the day his butterflies emerged from the chrysalis.

Here is Eva's hopeful post:

And Hawk's encouragement:

In the end things took a surprise turn for Hawk. This was an email I received: 

"It was an emotional release of the flying beauties. 2 flew away into the blue while one only had moments of freedom before it was a blue jays lunch .So sad but that's a butterfly s life. We have enjoyed this experience so much that we plan on raising more butterfly s in the future. Thank you for this project." 

And Eva's butterfly did finally emerge and fly away.  However the thought of a hungry Blue Jay was not far from her mind. 

The following Google presentation shows the development of one student's butterfly larva through each stage to the day he released them.  Take note of the last two slides they are delightful!  

Butterfly Life Cycle - Google Presentation

This particular forum was on 'Moodle',  the LMS (Learning Management System)  we use to deliver online courses at our school.  

If I were to do this activity in a classroom setting, I might consider sending the larvae home with the students.  This would give them incentive to record and share their individual observations on a class blog or through a Google Presentation.