Last week I had the surprise of my life. Our school was all geared up for a visit from our state superintendent, and our entire school gathered in the gym to hear him speak. But Dr. Rex only spoke for a moment when he began introducing a man named Lowell Milken. Mr. Milken took the stage and began speaking about the difference that teachers make in the lives of children. After a few minutes or so, the entire Stone staff realized that this was not what we first imagined. Mr. Milken was here to recognize and celebrate a teacher with a national Milken Educator Award.
I was completely stunned when my name was called. I am surrounded by incredible teachers who give their all to their students - day in and day out. I am just one of many teachers in my school, district, and state who do what's right for children each day. Thank you to my Stone Academy family and our wonderful school district for the support and leadership they provide. Thank you to the Milken Foundation for celebrating teachers all across the nation. It is an incredible honor to be part of the Milken family. Here is a video clip and some photos from this special day.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
The Surprise of My Life
Fraction Games
I love learning about fractions. We play these wonderful games that give kids an excellent conceptual understanding of what fractions are and how they relate to each other. By playing these games, our kids naturally learn how to compare fractions and how to find equivalency. I remember at the end of last year, my students and I were discussing a problem related to fractions. Several of my students told me that they instantly began visualizing our fraction kits and the games we played earlier in the year. These fraction games stick with the kids (and they have blast playing them, too!).
What Can Light Shine Through?
We asked ourselves this question the other day. We then spent some time shining our flashlights on lots of different objects, which led to some interesting conversations. We found some objects that appeared to have translucent and transparent parts, leading us to think about objects in our home that may contain elements of both. This investigation also led us to new questions. Is colored glass translucent? Or is it just colored transparency? Does colored glass "block" light like other translucent objects? Or does it just allow certain colors to go through? Great questions!
Making Arrays
In order to gain a better understanding of the relationship between multiplication and division, we began studying arrays. We looked at them in different ways and learned to see the multiplication and division facts they could represent. In this activity, each team of students created an array with objects in the classroom. Then they visited other teams' arrays and discussed the fact family they saw. Students took along their white boards and wrote down the facts they discussed.
Finding Conductors
After doing several experiments with conductors and insulators, we we went on a conductor hunt. Each team built a conductor tester and went exploring around the room. We were surprised by what we found! Some metals did not appear to conduct electricity - but we inferred that it was due to the object's shape or structure. We found lots of metal objects in our classroom that did conduct electricity. Here are some pictures of our scientists at work...
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Peer Revision
Peer revision is a tricky thing. Often times, kids will read a friend's writing and just say, "It's good." And that's the end of it. So I spent a day modeling how to give effective feedback to a fellow writer. We learned how to be specific in our praise. We learned to use "writerly language" to identify and celebrate the strategies and word choice we see our fellow authors use. We also learned to be honest when we notice the writer's meaning breaking down. As writers, we want our readers to see the same "movie" we see - we want our readers to be able to experience the moment fully. If our meaning breaks down, we want to make it clearer. We learned to give specific, critical feedback and help our fellow writers improve their writing.
I was incredibly pleased with our kids. They took their work very seriously, and their writing was greatly improved due to the feedback they received from their friends. Here is a video of our students revising their personal narratives together...
Show Good Character - Say No to Drugs!
The above title was our class theme for Red Ribbon Week. Our week ended with our annual parade (although this year we just marched around the recess field). We enjoyed dressing up as our favorite book characters (notice Cat in the Hat, Clementine, Harry Potter, Annie from The Magic Tree House, and even Junie B. Jones), and we had a great time eating fun snacks in the classroom. Here are some pictures of our recent Friday fun...
Building Electromagnets
After studying series and parallel circuits, I issued the kids a challenge. Turn a steel rivet into a temporary magnet. I gave teams of scientists a battery, switch, 150cm wire, small washers, and a steel rivet. After 10 minutes or so, one team experimented with wrapping the wire around the rivet (with electricity flowing through the wire). The other teams quickly revised their own approaches, and soon each team in the class had created their own electromagnet. I was proud of the way our kids experimented with their thinking - trying out ideas, revising their ideas, listening and building off each other's thinking. Unfortunately, some of the batteries provided by our district were weak, so some teams weren't able to pick up a lot of the washers. But that was OK - it just led to another investigation exploring how to strengthen an electromagnet.
My favorite part of the following video is the very end. You can hear our principal begin making the afternoon announcements, and Will lets out a "Aaarrggh" in disappointment - our science time is over. I wish everyday ended like that - sighs of disappointment that our class time is over for the day.
Multiplying Large Numbers
We learned several different algorithms for multiplying multi-digit numbers - partial products, lattice, and the traditional approach. But I want my students to go beyond learning the algorithm. I want them to really understand what is happening when we multiply these large numbers. When our study of multiplication began, we spent a lot of time exploring repeated addition and arrays. So I built on this knowledge and asked our kids to build BIG arrays - like 23 x 34 - using base ten blocks. We then were able to connect the array to the 4 partial products we made when using the partial products algorithm. Our kids were actually able to see what happens when we multiply large numbers together.
In the video below, you'll see kids solving problems using the partial products algorithm and "building" the array using base-ten blocks. But the important step comes after creating the array. You'll see kids making a connection between the numbers on their white boards and the actual base ten blocks.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Studycast - Electricity and Magnets
Click here to listen to our studycast on Electricity and Magnets. The test is Friday, October 22nd, and the study guide came home on Monday, August 18th. If you have any questions about the material, please leave me a comment below this post or send me an email. Good luck!
