Still Building Better Answers in Math

We are LOVING the color coding while building better answers in our class.  Seriously.  If you have been reading my blog, you know I use this strategy a lot ... and I've sung its praises often here.  I've been building better answers with color coding in reading for over two years, but I've just recently started to color code our math answers, as well.

I actually wrote about color coding our math responses earlier this year (you can see it HERE), but after creating my "Building Better Responses" resources for Math and Reading, I made a few changes to how we code the math.

This is what my TACK wall looks like now.  (You can read more about our TACK wall for math HERE).  We just started a new unit in math (probability), so I've taken down all our learning goals for our last unit, and am just starting again with our new learning goals.  The goals under Communication are now revised, based on our new way of color coding our answers.

If it was earlier in the year, I would have added the goals under communication slowly, but since we are nearing crunch time with testing, I decided to post all the goals and dive right in.  We do spend time discussing each goal and write about the goal in our math notebooks.  This helps the students see the value of each goal.

And you know what - they are getting it!  Each time we work on a problem (even when I don't remind them to) markers and highlighters are popping out all over the room, and they are truly analyzing their answers to make them better.  

My Building Better Math Responses  resource contains everything you need to get started with your students.  There is a color coded success criteria goal chart (in both blackboard print and white background), "Good Mathematician" notes and answer sheets for each goal, posters and bookmarks, assessment checklists and rubrics (self, peer, and teacher), and some worksheets to get students started (group, partner, and independent).  You can click HERE to take a peek at the resource - it is really working wonders in my classroom.  

You can also take a peek at my Building Better Reading Responses by clicking HERE.  I am loving how the two are working together.

Happy Saturday!  Hope you are enjoying the weekend!

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Building Better Answers in Math

Have you seen this?  Explain how you found your answer ... math.  Some of my students' explanations in math have sounded like this lately.  I've been getting, "I double-checked my answer", "I checked my work and chose the correct operation", and even, "I used a calculator".  Ugh.

And then I had an idea.  My students can write pretty fabulous reader response answers, so I decided to start teaching communicating in math the same way I do communicating in reading.  

So this ...

Soon led to this ...

We've been using our colour-coded success criteria in reading all year.  We've been building it slowly, adding a new criteria every few weeks - only after the students have mastered the previous ones.  My students can identify each criteria in their own work, work together to identify the criteria in their peer's work, and set goals for improvement based on their answers.  We write each criteria in a different colour - and that's the colour students use when coding their own answers.  It's a pretty beautiful system.  :)

A couple of weeks ago I started using the TACK board (Thinking, Application, Communication, and Knowledge/Understanding) for our learning goals and success criteria in math.  You can read a little more about it HERE.  (I also included a link to download the letters and headers I made).  This is what our TACK board looks like after three weeks in.  All our lesson learning goals are posted under "K", and a new goal with each new concept we learn.  The "T" will build our success criteria for planning for problem-solving, "A" will build our success criteria for problem-solving strategies, and the "C" will build our success criteria for communicating in math.  Just like our reading board, I will slowly add success criteria under the "T", "A", and "C" - adding only after we've mastered the content.  The sticky notes under the "C" column are math vocabulary words the students should be including in their answers.  Students can add a new sticky note each time we introduce a new term.

When I started the board, I wasn't planning on colour-coding our math explanations, so I made the colour of our success criteria under each match the heading.  About a week later though, I decided to start colour coding so I added a coloured dot to each of the criteria under the "C" for our coding.  The students use the colour of the dot to show where they have used the criteria in answering their questions.  And it's working.  :)  

It's still a work in progress, and will continue to be until the end of the year, but I'm excited about the progress we're making, and I can't wait to see what they'll be able to accomplish by the end of the year.  

Happy Saturday!

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A Peek At Last Week - TACK, Fractions, and Characterization

When I went through my pictures to write this post, I couldn't believe that St. Patrick's Day happened on Monday - it seems so long ago now.  It's been the longest week ever ...

I was so excited that St. Patrick's Day fell on a school day.  It's almost always during our March Break, and although I do love making the day special at home for my own kiddos, it was a lot of fun in the classroom, too.  I grabbed a couple of freebies on TPT and added in some activities of my own, and leapt in to some lucky learning.  ;)

(Do you see the piles on my desk?  Yikes!  I really need to find some time to organize)

We're diving into fractions right now.  We started our new unit on Monday, and with a lot of hands-on activities planned, the kids are going to love learning.  I think the I also started my new TACK board on Monday.  You can read more about it in a blog post I wrote HERE.  It's a great way to keep track of current learning goals and success criteria.

 I think the highlight of their week in fractions was creating these adorable Reducing Fractions Mr. Potato Heads from For The Love of Teaching Math.

In Language we finished the second book in our Shadow Children series, and started on the third.  I never planned to read past the first book (I like to hook them with the first book of a series, in hopes a few of them want to continue reading on their own) ... but they are literally BEGGING me to keep reading ... so how can I refuse?  (Happy Teacher!!!).  We're looking at characterization right now in these novels.  I do these novels as a read aloud, so I provide them with sticky notes and the purpose for reading before we begin each read aloud session.  This week we built an anchor chart on characterization, looking at physical characteristics, character traits, growth/change, and conflict (within or with the character).  Each day we talked about our focus, and while I was reading they would make notes on their sticky notes.  At the end of the session, they would add their notes to the chart.  We also started on our Paper Bag Character Projects - this one is always a hit and the kids are so excited to be making them!  I can't wait until they finish up and present them next week!

Which brings us to the end of the week ... and the official start of Spring.  It's not looking like Spring here, that's for sure (and it's still snowing today).  So, if you can't beat the weather, embrace it.  My two oldest girls had their Cross Country Ski Meet on Friday ... and loved every minute of it.

Happy Saturday!  YAY for weekends!!!

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