10 Ways to Transform Elementary Math

1. Respond to videos - Record yourself and then have the students watch the video during this rotation and respond accordingly. (i.e. in their notebooks, by making a poster, responding in some other way.)

2. Student blogging - Have a prompt ready for students and then ask them to blog a response. They can even respond to others in this system. Free online tools like www.kidblog.org work well for this purpose.

3. Digital Creation - Have students use Google Apps for Education to create a math alphabet book (Sheets would be great for this as each letter could be its own page and students can even work collaboratively on one document!)

4.  Student Created Video - Have students write a creative script 

that includes various math talk vocabulary and concepts and 

then work on recording this video. Several different genres can 

be included here - students could give a news report, create a 

fiction story, or make a documentary.

5. Augmented Reality - Use an AR app, such as Aurasma, with an 

iPad to make student work come to life!

6.  Surveys and Quizzes - Have students use Google Forms or a 

site such as www.kahoot.com to create a quiz for others to take.

7.   Online Portfolio - Have students create a website that will 

house their math progress throughout the school year. There could be a tab for each domain and students could add reflections, graphs, pictures, etc. to show their growth. 

8.  Learning to Code - There are many free sites, such as www.code.org, which guide students in learning how to code. 

9.   Create a math book - Use a site, such as www.storybird.com, to create an authentic picture book that has a math theme. Students can even respond to each other’s book within the class or they can choose to share their work with the  world.

10. Connect with Twitter - Have your class participate in the weekly math #mtbos challenge! 

          See https://exploremtbos.wordpress.com/ for details.

Managing Go Noodle in the Elementary Classroom

The Five "Rules" of Go Noodle 

in my Classroom

I found out about this wonderful and *free* resource for teachers to use in their classroom via Twitter and I have to say my students love it!

But I started to notice that some students were becoming a little too loud at times and that sometimes students had a negative attitude when an activity that they wanted wasn't chosen. 

With that said, the 5 rules of Go Noodle were born for my classroom!

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1. Students who choose to happily participate in the Go Noodles chosen by others will get a chance to pick their own for the class.

- This puts the onus completely on the students and gets rid of the negative attitudes when "girl" or "boy" activities are chosen.

2. The teacher gets to choose the minute length of each break.

-Sometimes we just need a quick energizer and other times our schedule will allow for a longer break. After students have been picked to choose a Go Noodle, they know to ask me how long our break is...this also motivates students to choose quickly so that they can enjoy the break time.

3. The teacher gets to choose when Go Noodle breaks happen in the classroom.

- I try to schedule at least 2 longer (5 minute) Go Noodle breaks each day and then 1-3 smaller throughout the day. Sometimes we fit all these in, but sometimes we have to settle for a more static brain break from another source.

4. Students who would like to have a Go Noodle break will keep their voices at a level 3 or lower.

- I have a voice level chart in my classroom where Level 3 is just above a whisper. We call this whole group voice. Anyone who raises their voice above this can not participate in our Go Noodle activity. This keeps things calmer and more focused for our classroom while respecting the fact that the classroom next door might not be taking a break when we are.

5. Have fun learning and moving with Go Noodle!

- Go Noodle has so many new activities for students to learn! I encourage my students to try out new videos and to really listen to the instructions that are given! And have fun! There's nothing wrong with singing to the songs! 

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How are you managing Go Noodle in your classroom?

Happy New School Year 2013-2014!

I know that many teachers will begin their school year on August 5, 2013, so I made sure that I updated my 1st day bookmarks for every one! They are a forever freebie!  Be sure to grab your copy below from my TPT store and tell your teacher friends!  AND I am having a sale until August 4, 2013!

Grab this freebie from my TPT store as a functional welcome back treat for your kiddos!

Book Connection for the Beginning of the School Year

I am really trying to build my collection of trade books that have a math connection.  One of my new favorites is Stuart J. Murphy's Tally O'Malley.  It is short, simple, and has cool ideas for family involvement with math!

The book basically follows a family, The O'Malley's, while on a family road trip. To help pass the time, they play the tally game. LOVE IT! I remember playing something similiar with my family...I Spy! This just has the symbolic representation of numbers added to the game. Brillant!  At the end of the book, the author has a few suggestions for home and school connections. What really caught my attention though was the very last picture pages:

I'm thinking that I can spin this idea for my classroom-

  "My Summer Vacation"------------> "My 3rd day in 3rd grade"

                        - Family Pics-------------> students, teachers, other staff (drawn)

I will have 1 or 2 "getting to know you" questions that they are going to tally for the third day of school. Students can then choose which one they would like to add to this poster (i.e. How many sisters/brothers/pets, What kind of pizza toppings,etc.). 

I am planning on:

1. Creating an enlarged chart ahead of time to help organize this information. 

2. Giving each student a post it note to write their name on to help organize and tally information at the end of the activity.

-In the book the mother sets a time limit of 20 minutes...I have 3rd graders so I'm thinking of an activity that would involve post it notes and last for 10 minutes max.

Any suggestions for other items to tally? 

What are your plans for the "nth" day in your grade?