El Parque Nuez

It doesn’t take long to realize that students are all in their own places in learning.  No two students are the same (obviously), and teaching in a “one-size-fits-all” way does little to push students to reach their own potential.

We spent the first 2 months really building culture.  We developed the sort of character we expected in our classroom and students collaborated on norms of behavior and environment.  We got to know each other as learners, but more importantly as humans.

Then we took the plunge into indivualization.

Using NWEA data, DIBELS reading scores, formative assessments as well as informal observations, I discussed with students where they were in reading and in math.  Students knew their goals and the work that was necessary to reach them.

We then broke our time together into 4 areas: 1.) Problem Solving/Learning Skills 2.) Creation 3.) Foundation Work and 4.) Individual Paths.

Our math block looks like this:

1.) Math Minute (Foundation Work) (5 Minutes)

2.) Problem Solving (Either student created story problems, brain teasers, mind benders, etc.) (15 minutes)

3.) Mathematician Work (Learning skills, vocabulary, method, algorithms, organization, etc.)  (5 Minutes)

4.) Creation (anything that demonstrates learning that can be shared with someone else in a fascinating way) (varies)

5.) Individual Work (ixl.com, now mangahigh.com, and small group work with me) (30 minutes)

Rather than having all students sit in the same class learning the same thing, it makes more sense to focus on some shared skills (the ones all Mathematicians know) and creation (so we can share with the world what we are learning).  Then, because all students need different things, the big bulk of the time is spent with students practicing the skills they need to be successful on their own timetable.

This allows me to spend more time with my students who are missing huge gaps in their math knowledge prior to 2nd Grade skills, as well as developing higher order skills with my students who are ready to do 4th grade type work.

It works like this:

Students walk into the classroom with their Math Minute.  Some students are mastering their “Plus 1′s” facts, while others are working on their multiplication facts, already having shown 100% mastery of all single digit addition and subtraction facts up to 20.

After the minute and all work is collected, students work on problem solving activities or develop story problems that must be solved using a step-by-step process.  Since this is a more difficult activity, I model a lot of the process and slowly release responsibility to students to ensure the highest degree of organization in thinking.  As students begin to understand the process, I take more of a backseat, offering guidance to students when they run into roadblocks in their thinking.

Then we work on using math vocabulary to ensure we are sharing the same terms for the types of thinking we are doing in the Math classroom.  We apply this vocabulary to problem solving and different scenarios to ensure they will be best prepared for 3rd grade and beyond.  We then take this work and create videos, comic books, songs, etc. so that we can teach other people how to be mathematicians too!

The largest bulk of class is individual time.  My tier 1 and tier 2 math students have individual learning paths on ixl.com, a site devoted to practicing math skills that are broken down by strand and by grade level.  I post a handful of objectives on students edmodo site and they then practice until they have mastered the skill.

Here’s what a student would see when logging into to edmodo:

They then click on the link and begin practicing.

The cool thing about ixl is that I can then see their progress or any trouble spots that might arise, so I can make sure students are actually growing.   I have also signed up for a Manga High site (thinksilearntechnology.com!) that allows me to create challenges for students as they work through learning new math skill.

On most days during this time I am working with my tier 3 students bringing them up to speed to 2nd grade work.  It is such a valuable time because rather then them sitting in a class of 28 students that are ahead of them, they can feel successful with just a class of 7 (while everyone else is working on their own work at computers) that have similar math knowledge bases as them.

This continues to be a work in progress, but it represents the direction we want to go.  Students take ownership over where they are and where they want to go.  It’s a powerful thought, and one that is distinct from school as they know it.

I’ll continue to update how things are going, the successes and the mistakes.

Do you have any experiences in individualizing the primary classroom?   If so I’d love to hear about them.

I’m in need of a bit of help blogueros.

I’d like to elicit your careful eyes in evaluating some gaming resources for not just practicing math skills, but for also learning higher order math skills independently of teacher guidance.

I just know there is a strong gaming community for Math students out there that I haven’t found yet. But I don’t have a lot of time to do this research myself.

The best site I’ve seen for teaching essential mathematical skills while engaging with an interactive game storyline is “Mental Maths: Mission 2110“, part of the BBC education site.

The site itself is built upon sound mathematical principals, guiding students to solve problems via actual understandings of math, not just simple regurgitation of facts.

The problem I find myself is how to better individualize my classroom of 28 2nd graders.  I’ve broken my Math block into a 10 minute “Math Meeting”, where we discuss weekly problem strategies as a class.  This serves to guide students to use Math vocabulary, to model essential understandings, and to apply our understandings to real life situations.

The 2nd portion of my class is individual work time, where students practice and then demonstrate that understanding while I work with a small group of students who struggle with foundational concepts of counting, grouping numbers, ordering numbers, etc.  NWEA assessments put these students 2 years behind their peers, so I want to spend as much time with them as possible.

The real issue comes during the last portion of my Math block, where I want to really individualize the directions my students are going.   I’ve opened 3 mini computer labs within my classroom, where students cycle through working on individual skills.  Another group of students works at our smartboard.  Another group works on “real world” applications of the math skills we’ve developed.  Finally, I work with a small group.

I value the small group opportunity greatly.  It’s  a chance to really build personal relationships with my students around math and problem solving.

The independent work that students do at the laptops is lacing though.  I’ve yet to find interactive experiences that offer any depth or are truly rigorous.  Other options build students computation skills, but that’s such a small part of what I want them to do.

Does anyone have any suggestions for primary age math sites?  These need to be completely self-directed, and they need to focus on process and not just computation.  I’m searching for higher order knowledge, but sites that also scaffold these processes in ways that are highly interactive.

Additionally, how do you structure inquiry in math for primary students? How do you use the internet to deepen your student’s understanding of process?  What exercises in CREATION do you use for your students to demonstrate their thinking in math?

What are your thoughts on things I’m missing?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I found this via @danielpink and the brainpickings.org site.  We have really begun to dissect sentences in 2nd grade.  Today we isolated nouns that refer only to people.

This video describes all the famous people who have been “objectified” as nouns throughout history.  It was created by NPR’s Robert Krulwich and Adam Cole.  

The post can be found here: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/10/03/people-who-became-nouns/

I’ve been using google voice in the classroom since I got a beta number back when the service launched.  It was essential for Spanish language teaching and continues to be of use in 2nd grade.

Very few of my students have any access to the internet at home (only 3 out of 28 of my 2nd grade students right now).  Google voice is great because it only requires a phone, which even if their family’s phone has been cut off recently, they can borrow an auntie’s, a grandma’s, or a neighbor’s just to make a quick call.

We use the service in a variety of ways:

• Reading: Students are given books to take home via readinga-z.com or http://www.progressivephonics.com/.  They take the paper book home and call my google voice number.  Students read the book into the phone and then hang-up.  I download the mp3 and post it on our class edmodo page or load it on an ipod for students to listen to.  They can then listen to their own voice or mine and compare.  We are collecting these “audiobooks” for each other to use, as well as for the 1st graders who might like to read 2nd grade level books.

• Vocabulary: Students call the google voice number (or text it) to create sentences out of our weekly vocabulary words (or any vocabulary words that preceded that week).  We take these sentences and post them on our class website, so people can create their own sentences too! (usually the first person to post receives some cool prize or riddle).

• Math: Students call the google voice number when they see math operating in everyday life.  We then collect the audio recordings and listen to them on Fridays, talking about the places we see math (eventually we will plot these on a crowdmap).

• Social Studies: In 2nd grade we talk a lot about community issues.  Students call the number when they see examples of our discussions, or things they’d like to learn more about with regards to their community.  We then are able to do some research to answer their questions, or point them to a community member who could give them (or us) more information.