Amelia Bedelia

October 30, 2015

The last two weeks it has been all about Amelia Bedelia. We initially just intended to have students read an Amelia Bedelia book to introduce them to homonyms during our word block. But, the kids fell in love with her, and so we ran with it. This was the perfect opportunity to capitalize on their excitement and introduce the Common Core Standard 3.9: Compare and contrast the themes, settings, and plots of stories written by the same author about the same or similar characters.

We decided to differentiate reading lessons to meet the needs of all of our students. We split into two groups. One group read and discussed Play Ball, Amelia Bedelia as a whole group. Then, they had comprehension questions that they had to answer with a partner. The other group read with a partner Teach Us, Amelia Bedelia. They answered comprehension questions while Kim facilitated.

Next in our plans was to have the kids read as many Amelia Bedelia books they could in a two day Reader's Workshop setting. They were allowed to choose their titles and whether they were going to read independently or with a partner. We knew it would be fun, but the students flipped out! They loved the freedom of choice. As they read, they needed to keep track of her character traits.

After the two day Reader's Workshop, the students had to choose two of their favorite Amelia Bedelia books to complete a compare and contrast Venn diagram. We used the Venn Diagram to write a compare and contrast paragraph. To make this difficult task easier, we used two different frames to assist their writing.

After all of their hard work, the students created a water color scene portraying one of Amelia Bedelia's character traits or one of her mix-ups.

Happy Halloween!
Kim and Anne

Greg Tang

October 18, 2015

Hi Everyone,

This week we had a great opportunity to go to a Greg Tang Math Workshop. It was over two days, and we each went to one session. The first session was called Clever Connections: Strategies, Standards, and Skills. This session focused on different algorithms and mental math strategies that can be used in the classroom. He showed us strategies and ways to manipulate numbers and break them apart. Because our number system is based on tens, he is always asking students to find and make tens when adding and subtracting. We have been trying to teach our students to do this during our math talk time. It is is difficult for them because it is such a new way of thinking, but we can see its benefits.

The second session was called Smart Math Strategies and it focused on the fifteen different types of word problems using addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. He taught us how to help students navigate their way through a problem using his six-step framework. This framework helps the students understand what the numbers in the problem mean, which then makes it easier for them to solve the problem. There is a huge emphasis on problem solving in the Common Core, and as you move through the grades the wording of the problem becomes much more complicated. As early as second grade, the problems are more complex. That is why the framework is so important.

We encourage you to check out Greg Tang's website. There are tons of games and strategies that our students have loved working with. But the best thing on the site is the Word Problem Generator because you can change the type of problem,  the operation, and the numbers students work with. He also gives hints for each problem, which include a model. Once again, the model is part of the six-step framework, and it makes it easier for students to see an equation and solve the problem.

If you ever get the opportunity to go to one of his workshops, we would strongly recommend it. He will be having a big three-day convention in Kansas City this summer. For the first 150 people to register, there will be a fourth day that is free.

Hopefully, this will help you with your math instruction. Have a great week and enjoy math!

Kim and Anne

Friday, October 2, 2015

Hello Everyone! Happy Friday!!!  It was a wonderfully busy week here at Madison School, but we have decided to keep our blogs short and sweet, in which case we chose our favorite activity of the week to share with you.

As you know, science has been a great hit with our students this year, so we decided this past week was going to be all about Albert Einstein. We were able to cover several reading and writing skills using him as our focus.  We taught chronological text structure, how to write informational essays in chronological order, how to determine important information, and how to organize notes.

The students became fascinated with this science genius while reading several biographies about him. Some students read a one-page biography on him from My First Book of Biographies: Great Men and Women Every Child Should Know by Jean Marzollo. As a whole group, they determined which information was important and highlighted it. Other students read a more complex biography about Albert Einstein from Lives of Scientists: Experiments, Explosions (and What the Neighbors Thought) by Kathleen Krull and Kathryn Hewitt. They too had to decide which information was important enough to highlight. In small groups, all of our students read a second biography about Albert Einstein from the question-answer book titled Did it Take Creativity to find Relativity, Albert Einstein.  Again, they had to determine important information and highlight it.
Eventually, all this information was organized into notes on chart paper.

Complex Text

Just Right Text

Really messy, but that's what happens when we work hard!

From our notes on Einstein, the students used writing frames to write their own biography on this man.  We differentiated this activity for our students, but everyone was required to write their biography in chronological order with plenty of supporting details.  They loved this writing activity because they had so much background information to use.

Typical Frame
There are two pages to this frame.

Complex Frame. Required students to write several supporting details.
There are two pages to this frame.

Now that our students know Albert Einstein fairly well, we are excited to reveal our new quote of the month on Monday.  It is one of his! It says..."A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new." After we reveal the quote, we will have a discussion about what it means and how we can apply it to our lives. Then, we will sing a song that helps the meaning really hit home for kids. When it comes time to write what the quote means to them, our students hopefully will be armed with enough understanding to jot down their thoughts.

We are putting this up over Columbus Day weekend.  Hope you can check it out.

 Last month, the students really got a kick out of the bracelets and locker buttons we gave them to wear and display all month. Our students are still referring to that quote, which states "It's okay to not know, but it's not okay to not try."  It seems to help them reflect on their efforts throughout the day. If you would like all of our quotes and activities they will be up on our teacherspayteachers store after the Columbus Day holiday.

Well, we said this was going to short, but it seems we got a bit long winded.  That's usually the case with us--we love talking shop.

Until next time...
Kim and Anne