NCTMNOLA: Playing with the Common Core

NCTMNOLA participants playing one of the games

This past week, I had the pleasure of presenting, with my husband Dave, my workshop Playing with the Common Core  at the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Annual Meeting and Exposition in New Orleans. The official Twitter hashtag for this conference is #NCTMNOLA. I encourage you to check it out.

Shared Context

This workshop focuses on using a variety of games to establish a shared context within the classroom. Having a shared context provides teachers with an opportunity to develop narratives, or stories, based on the context so they don't leave learning to chance. At the same time, all of these games address both the CCSSM Content Standards and the Standards for Mathematical Practice. 

These games are excellent for use throughout the school year because they intertwine most of the content standards in Operations & Algebraic Thinking (OA) and  Numbers in Base Ten (NBT) for grades K-2. Each of the games can also be modified for other grade levels, either up or down.

Resources

For the slide presentation and "procedures" for each of the five games that were played click on the link below:

NCTMNOLA Playing with the Common Core (slide presentation and other resources)

Some of the games we played are copyrighted. For those resources, click on the links below:

Part-Whole Bingo, came from Contexts for Learning's resource Games for Early Number Sense. Scroll down to the "Year-long Resource Guides" and you can download a resource summary.

Roll-A-Square was adapted from Investigations in Number, Data, and Space®, 2nd grade module "Putting Together and Taking Apart: Addition and Subtraction"

How Many More To . . . was adapted from Carolee Norris' Focus on Math Blog

My original Playing with the Common Core session from GVSU's Math in Action 2013

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions! My contact information is on the last page of the slide presentation. I'd also love it if you would leave a comment.

Pete Seeger in my Classroom: Abiyoyo

Iconic American folk singer Pete Seeger passed away this week, on Monday, January 27.  In 2006, one of my first grade students introduced me to Pete Seeger's retelling of the South African folk story and lullaby, Abiyoyo.  

Abiyoyo originally appeared on Seeger's 1958 album for children, Sleep-Time: Songs and Stories, and most recently on the Songs and Stories for Little Children CD.

I'm not sure how I missed this classic during my childhood and that of my children, but I did. Anyway, from 2006 on, I used this story every year in my classroom. I introduced it during the first week of school and we replayed it often throughout the school year. We would just listen to the  story 5 or 6 times, then I would introduce the book and read it aloud a few times, we would choral read it together, and sometimes we would listen to the CD and follow along by turn the pages of the book. I had multiple copies of the book available for independent reading and a listening center. My students loved this story--it is both terrifying and calming.

My students loved comparing and contrasting the language in the print version and the oral language on the CD. We had discussions about the characters, what word "ostracized" meant, and the meaning of the story. And, the CD version was the perfect thing to put on during the last 10 minutes of the day--especially after a stressful day; my students would lay back on the carpet and just listen. The repetitious lullaby chorus is so soothing!

abiyoyo, abiyoyo, abiyoyo, abiyoyo,

abiyoyo, ya yoyo, ya yoyo

abiyoyo, ya yoyo, ya yoyo

A few years ago, I found this episode from Reading Rainbow, with Pete playing his banjo and telling the story and added this video into the mix.

Rest in peace, Pete Seeger, your legacy lives on!

The activities mentioned above are compatible with many of the Common Core English Language Arts Standards for 1st Grade (and possibly other grade levels as well):

Speaking & Listening: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.1.2

Reading: Literature: Any number of the standards here

Early Number Sense

One in five adults in the United States is functionally innumerate; they do not possess the mathematical competencies needed for many modern jobs.  (Geary,  Hoard, Nugent, & Bailey,  2013).

In the three sections of MTH 222, Mathematics for Elementary Teachers II, that I'm teaching this semester at Grand Valley State University, my students are learning about research-based games that help elementary students develop number sense and gain a conceptual understanding of place value. An article in the Education Week blog Inside School Research features the results of a longitudinal study published in the current edition of the online journal, PLoS ONE. The study found that number sense is a better predictor of students' later math achievement than counting or other speed-based measures. The authors go on to conclude that "first grade number system knowledge predicts seventh grade functional numeracy" (Geary et al., 2013). As teachers, we must be prepared to assess and evaluate our student's early number sense. And, more importantly, provide appropriate intervention experiences that immerse our students in rich experiences that expand their early understandings of the relationships between numbers.

So, tonight I was doing a Google search for games that promote number sense--in particular a game called Part-Whole Bingo from Contexts for Learning Mathematics Investigating Number Sense, Addition and Subtraction. I came across a blog post I wrote on 'Mrs. Coffey's Classroom Blog' a few years ago when I was teaching 1st grade at Edgewood Elementary school at Fruitport Community Schools. What a wonderful surprise!

Here is the photo I posted on that blog on February 26, 2010.

I'll be using this game, as well as a few others, in my presentation at the  Math In Action 2013 Conference this Saturday at GVSU and introducing it to my pre-service teachers in class next week.

Geary DC, Hoard MK, Nugent L, Bailey DH (2013) Adolescents’ Functional Numeracy Is Predicted by Their School Entry Number System Knowledge. PLoS ONE 8(1): e54651. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0054651

Read at the Beach!

Read at the Beach is an annual March is Reading Month tradition for 1st graders at my school. Of course the end of March is usually too cold to really go to the beach, so we turn our cafeteria into the beach with a little imagination, some beachy props, and great calypso music by our own technology director, Jeff Grossenbacher. (Also of Two Dudes in Flip Flops and Island Breeze fame!) Jeff gets us started with a reading of The Jolly Mon by Jimmy Buffett and his daughter, Savannah Jane.

Then, the kids are off to "read at the beach"!

 

Writing Process

A few years ago, Su Palmer was assistant superintendent of curriculum for my district. She introduced me to writing workshop, "draft books", writing demonstrations,  Dancing With the Pen, Smith and Elley's (1997) How Children Learn to Write,  Effective Literacy Practice. I couldn't get enough. As I began to develop my understandings, I made significant changes in my teaching practice and watched my students grow as writers.

After serving as superintendent in a K-8 school for a few years, Su is now teaching at the college level. She visited my classroom last week to observe my students during our literacy block to get a feel for the realities of the classroom.

She reminded me of two key components of effective writing instruction:
1) make the writing process explicit
2) follow the writing process all the way through to publishing

And, she reminded me of the value of collegial conversations.

My students have been doing lots of pre-writing, drafting, revising, and some editing all year. But, somehow in our busyness, publishing had taken a back seat. The reality is, it's not easy to squeeze in publishing without making it a priority. So, to help make the writing process visible and explicit, we made this chart as a class and have it posted in a prominent place. And, I've started publishing student writing--my goal is to confer with at least 3-4 students each day until each student has one published piece over the next 2 weeks.

Back To School!

New garden path

Our "Barbie & G I Joe" kayaks

In less than two weeks I'll be greeting my new 1st Graders for their first day of school! It's had to believe that the summer passed by so quickly. The summer was filled with lots of fun, work on projects around my home, some travel and, of course, new learning for me.

Where to start??

I'm working very hard to get my mind back into the 'school mode'. I'm thinking about the usual things like how to arrange my classroom, how to  establish a learning community and what to do during the first days. I'm also reflecting on how to apply my new learning from Cognitive CoachingSM Foundations I & II.  So far, I've completed days 1-6 and am already looking forward to days 7 & 8 in September and Group Cognitive Coaching in October. Each interaction with students, colleagues, parents and friends will be an opportunity to practice my new skills!

Competing with the Carnival

The teacher, when she begins work in our school, must have a kind of faith that the child will reveal himself through work. ~Maria Montessori

How do we keep 1st graders engaged in learning despite the arrival of the dreaded (but much loved by children) Fruitport Old Fashioned Days Memorial Day carnival? That's the dilemma we face at the end of every school year. Not only does the carnival set up in the center of town, nearly every bus going to or from our school drives by it twice a day!

This year I decided to do something a bit different. We built
our own "Roxaboxen" in our classroom. First, we read Roxaboxen by Alice McLerran. Then we discussed what materials we would need. Students brought in some cardboard boxes--one even brought in a huge appliance box! Measurement and telling time were math concepts specifically incorporated into the project. However, it has become truly integrated across the curriculum--and a project that evolved in an amazing way! As we were planning what shops or buildings to include, I realized mapping skills and expanded vocabulary could be included. The students incorporated money and economic concepts naturally. We googled 'Roxaboxen' and found that there is a park in Yuma, Arizona dedicated to the original Roxaboxen and we took a "trip" to Yuma, Arizona via Google Earth.

Codi's Pet Shop--Open 24 hours!

Jamie's Train Station

Brody & Brady's 'Hunting Shack'

The room was quite loud, but everyone was completely engaged, from Ryan the banker who was "making money" and using existing student mailboxes for "accounts", to others who were busy measuring and cutting white paper to make "stones" to be used to delineate boundaries. As I looked around, I saw 6 and 7 year old students collaborating as they were creating Jamie's train station, Madyson's Beauty Salon, Brody's Hunting Shack, the Martin & Evans vehicle race track, Codi's Pet Shop, Miss Ead's School of Dance, Miss Louetta's Coffee Shop, Allen's Sporting Goods Store, and Timothy's Weather Station. The Day Care closed before it even opened "because there weren't enough kids" and Amy's Artist Studio took its place. Hand written signs were everywhere: 'Open' and 'Closed', store names, and direction signs complete with directional arrows.

Miss Ead's Dance School

Banker's Hours??

One of the best moments? When the banker realized that other kids were making their own money, he commented, "Hey, that's not fair! Only the money made by this bank can be spent in our Roxaboxen!" Which then led to a lively discussion about counterfeit money and the FBI.

It was clear this project was loosing its power to engage students when "For Rent" signs went up on Wednesday. So, yesterday was "Demolition Day." I'm confident my students were fully engaged and learned so much more than I'll ever know---or could ever be measured on a standardized test.

Supposing I said there was a planet without schools or teachers, where study was unknown, and yet the inhabitants—doing nothing but living and walking about—came to know all things, to carry in their minds the whole of learning; would you not think I was romancing? Well, just this, which seems so fanciful as to be nothing but the invention of a fertile imagination, is a reality. It is the child's way of learning. This is the path he follows. He learns everything without knowing he is learning it, and in doing so he passes little by little from the unconscious to the conscious, treading always in the paths of joy and love. ~Dr. Maria Montessori, MD