{"content":{"sharePage":{"page":0,"digests":[{"id":"35464774","dateCreated":"1299549796","smartDate":"Mar 7, 2011","userCreated":{"username":"Pmagolan","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/Pmagolan","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/fpsdi.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/35464774"},"dateDigested":1531977320,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"Magolan - Strategy 2","description":"Paula Magolan
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\nDI-Strategy 2
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\n1. Name of strategy \u2013 Making \u201csense\u201d of cents! In Everyday Math, Kindergarteners have to identify coins, pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters as part of the math curriculum. I decided to incorporate lessons and center games to practice mastery of this concept.
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\nMini lesson on coin identification - During this lesson the children had the opportunity to look at the different coins using magnifying glasses. They were given a sheet with a picture \/ name of each coin. The student put the appropriate coin on top of the picture. Next we talked about each coins value. The students then wrote the value next to the picture of the coin using the cent sign.
\nCenters:
\n Coin match game- the students had to match coin pictures.
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\nCoin sorting- Using the SMART board the students sorted coins.
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\nCoin rubbings- the students made coin rubbings and then wrote the name of the coin and it\u2019s value.
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\nCoin exchange game- the students using a die, shake the die and take that amount of pennies. When the student gets five pennies, he\/she can exchange for one nickel. When the student has five nickels, he\/she can exchange for one quarter. That person would win the game.
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\nCoin bingo- the students would play bingo by identifying and matching coins.
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\n2. Grade: Kindergarten
\nSubject: Math
\nLength of time: Mini lesson \u2013 20 minutes-----Centers- the students rotated every 15 to 20 minutes.
\nLearning target- the students will identify pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters.
\nNumber of students: 22
\nType of instruction: small groups \u2013 for this activity, I used team tables for grouping. Every month the students get to pick a new team table. My only requirement is that they make sure there is a mix of boys and girls. Every month I am very pleased with their choice of team tables. It usually turns out to be a good mix of personalities and skills. I did have a few children absent, so I asked certain students if they would be willing to move to a new team table for this activity. This allowed me the opportunity to have a mix of students whose skills were strong with those of student\u2019s whose skills were beginning to emerge. I was able to quickly access their skills during the mini lesson done prior to the center activities. I was confident that with these groups, the outcome would be very positive for all students participating in these centers.
\n3. Describe the degree to which this strategy involved students in their
\nlearning. Students were very engaged in the center activities. Within every center, the students had numerous turns to reinforce and master this skill. As I would go from center to center, I was pleased to see those students who were strong in this concept take on more of a leadership role in the group to help fellow team members.
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\n4. How was feedback provided? During the mini-lesson, I was able to give immediate feedback to students in the small group. In these groups, there were four to five students, which allowed me the opportunity to reinforce the skill to the students struggling with identifying coins. During the centers, I was able to go from center to center to oversee the activity. I was also lucky to have an instructional aide in the classroom during the centers. She too, was able to give feedback at the centers for those students struggling with the task. For those students who have mastered coins, I had activities they could take to the next level. For example, the students at the coin exchange center, I would ask them if they rolled a five or six on the die, did they have to count out the pennies or was there another way to do it? Many of them figured out that if they rolled a five, they just needed to take a nickel. I even had two students say to me, \u201cIf I get a six, I can take one nickel and one penny!\u201d
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\n5. I will share these activities with my fellow Kindergarten teachers at our weekly Kindergarten meeting.
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\n6. I learned that creating a variety of centers takes time, but well worth the effort. The students had so much fun learning about coins. In the past I would have followed the activities in the math book; which are pretty generic. When I do these centers again, I would try to get parent volunteers to be at each table. This would help with instant feedback and helping student\u2019s who might be struggling with the task.
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\n7. I would definitely use centers for practicing mastery of a concept again. The
\nstudents\u2019 learned about coins while having fun. I emailed the parents to let them know what we were doing in class and they have followed through practicing at home. The students\u2019 were given an assessment on coins and 20 out of 22 students can identify all four coins.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[],"more":0}]},{"id":"34527364","dateCreated":"1298146691","smartDate":"Feb 19, 2011","userCreated":{"username":"kathywiemers","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/kathywiemers","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/fpsdi.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/34527364"},"dateDigested":1531977320,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"Wiemers strategy lesson #2","description":"Kathy Wiemers
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\n At PV we do a literacy block for 60 minutes a day. 40 minutes is spent doing reading groups and 20 minutes is spent doing independent Accelerated Reading. Based on running records we divided the students into groups. We also incorporate the reading specialist, the ESL teacher and the 3 classroom teachers. My class consists of 14 students, from the three third grade classes, reading at grade level. I was working in a large group.
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\nIn third grade we have novels that children at all schools have to read at various times throughout the year. My students were finishing up the book, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. My learning target was learning vocabulary words that go along with a particular section of the book. We compiled a list of 10 vocabulary words from the section I wanted the kids to learn. We wrote the definitions in their reading notebooks. Normally I would have them study those words nightly and give a test about a week later, in which they would have to match the definition with the vocabulary words.
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\n To vary the vocabulary work I chose to do the 9-grid activity. I had them students fold the paper in half, and then into thirds. This made a total of 6 boxes on each side. I had the students draw a picture to illustrate what the vocabulary words meant. I modeled the first one for them on the elmo. The word was \u201cshuffle\u201d, and the definition was to drag your feet as you walk. I drew a picture of a person walking and I exaggerated the feet of the person so I would remember it had to do with the feet. I then let the kids work on it and take it home to finish the illustrations up. The next day I had the children share one example that they illustrated, and the rest of the class had to guess which vocabulary word it was. I allowed the students to use this 10 grid during the test.
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\n I have to say that the students really enjoyed this, after they got over the initial shock of the difference in learning. They enjoyed sharing and guessing the words. It gave them a more concrete picture to apply to the definition, thus solidifying it in their minds. They got much better scores on the quiz then previous vocabulary tests. I will definitely do this lesson again in many different subject areas as well!","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[],"more":0}]},{"id":"33957064","dateCreated":"1297295895","smartDate":"Feb 9, 2011","userCreated":{"username":"curtisl1","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/curtisl1","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/fpsdi.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/33957064"},"dateDigested":1531977320,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"First Assignment Curtis","description":"Completing the strategy assignment for this course allowed me to improve upon something that has been \u201ctried and true\u201d in my class, with a new twist. The strategy that I chose to incorporate into my math lessons is called \u201cSign-Ups.\u201d
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\nThe \u201cSign-Ups\u201d strategy allows for reteaching opportunities between the teacher and small, flexible groups. The twist is that the students self-nominate themselves for a particular skill on their own, rather than total teacher designation. I used this strategy with my third grade class (26 students) during my Friday math game session. My typical Friday game session consists of a set routine in place each Friday. After introducing an Everyday Math game for students to play, students typically play the game while a parent volunteer and older student volunteers monitor focused game time. Meanwhile, the cross categorical teacher (available to team teach in my room in Friday during math) and I each work with small groups of students on reteaching instruction based on RSA\u2019s and other assessment results. The results have been good, and I feel that I can reach my neediest students and occasionally enrich my highest achieving students, as well, in small group opportunities.
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\nTo prepare for the opportunity for ALL of my students to benefit from some small group instruction time, I returned the mid-year district assessment to the students. We reviewed the main sections on the test and then broke the test questions into 6 main parts that caused the most difficulty: Number Grid Puzzles, Making Change Problems, Extended Facts, Double Digit Addition, Double Digit Subtraction, and Simplifying Fractions (extension\u2014not part of test). Students reflected upon their tests and chose the area that they felt they would benefit most from small group instruction. After writing their option on a post-it note, students came forward to post their choice on the appropriate list. This form of sign up allowed for students to pick their area of need, and not base it on joining groups with a friend. I encouraged student who had an \u201cA\u201d on their test to try the extension activity rather than reteaching groups if they preferred. Students broke into partnerships for game time, and the cross-categorical teacher and I held our small group teaching groups.
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\nMeeting with all of the groups took two sessions of game time on two different days, for approximately 30 minutes each session, although the group times ranged from about 10-15 minute sessions. I was able to give the students immediate feedback regarding their performance on the small group skills as they worked independently on their slates after practicing the math skills together. I could reteach based on being able to analyze the specific step where a mistake was made since the groups were small enough, ranging in sizes from 2-7 students. Students also enjoyed the opportunity to attempt to \u201cgraduate\u201d out of the skill group to return to game time after successfully completing skill tasks.
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\nAfter completing the \u201cSign-Up\u201d activity, I am very pleased with the results. The format of the sign-ups forced me to meet with all of my students, not just the lowest and highest performing. I\u2019ve felt that I typically do a sound job of reaching the extremes in my class with differentiation opportunities, but that this took differentiation to the next level by involving everyone more fully. Also, having students evaluate their performance on their midyear test fully involved the students in their learning, as they had to reflect on their own strengths and weaknesses. Students seemed very responsive during the small group work, and appreciative to be involved in the small group\/teacher interactions. Following up with my cross categorical teaching colleague, we both agreed that the small group reteaching opportunities have been beneficial in the past, and they are now enhanced more by including student choice and the complete student population in the mix.
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\nOverall, I feel that this flexible grouping lesson was successful for several reasons. First of all, the students were already prepared for the routine of game time and small group instruction. Rules had already been established regarding expected behaviors, materials, and finding locations to work. Second, the parent and student volunteers, as well as my teaching colleague, all were \u201con board\u201d with the program. The volunteers monitoring game time allowed me to give full attention to the small flexible groups I worked with. In addition, my colleague could take the bull by the horns, so to speak, and teach the skills to her two students from my class, but also to others needing that particular skill work. This allowed for more students to be reached quickly. Third, there is a level of acceptance ingrained in the students that each of us is different with different learning needs. There has not been an issue with students getting upset that others receive more frequent or longer teaching times during group work, so students flow into the learning tasks and opportunities with ease. Teachers wanting to incorporate the \u201cSign-up\u201d strategy will definitely need to plan ahead and lay the groundwork for successful learning groups.
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\nI am glad that I tried this new version of small, flexible grouping. So many times I have felt it was unfortunate that I didn\u2019t get to work with those 10-15 middle-performing kids in the class because it seemed that I didn\u2019t have time to meet with them. I really did have that time, and I\u2019m glad to work with the class more fully by continuing the \u201cSign-Ups\u201d strategy format.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[],"more":0}]},{"id":"33359780","dateCreated":"1296263532","smartDate":"Jan 28, 2011","userCreated":{"username":"MariaJensen","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/MariaJensen","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/fpsdi.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/33359780"},"dateDigested":1531977320,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"First Assignment Jensen","description":"Three things I want to explore:
\n1. New teaching strategies to reach multi-level learners.
\n2. How to address parent "concerns" about differentiation.
\n3. Be exposed to my peers' successful strategies for differentiation.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[],"more":0}]}],"more":false},"comments":[]},"http":{"code":200,"status":"OK"},"redirectUrl":null,"javascript":null,"notices":{"warning":[],"error":[],"info":[],"success":[]}}