Made it Monday, WINNER, Chapter 5 Guided Math

Made It Monday

the bulge is the back brace . . . I can't help but comment on it :-/

Gushy moment BUT I am SOOO in love with this man :) He spoils me with his love!

Next Monday Made It will show how I transform and "cutesified" some other containers I use!

Review and Reflect Guided Math ch. 5

1. How does using flexible, needs-based grouping affect student learning? How can it affect teaching strategies employed by teachers?
     I believe flexible, needs-based grouping provides students with the best instruction to meet their current academic needs. It seeks to provide students with instruction that is right at their level. It allows the teacher to scaffold the lesson to a limited amount of students. The lower teacher-student ratio also maximizes the students learning because the teacher is better able to assist the students in any way they need. Another awesome aspect of this type of instruction is that the students are grouped with similar needs so they feel more "safe" and willing to ask questions.
     This type of instruction allows the teacher to truly tailor instruction to specifically address students areas of need. 


2. Do you use Guided Reading in your classroom? If so, how can you adapt it to accommodate mathematics instruction? What about it is easily modified for teaching mathematics? What may be more difficult to adapt?
     I did last year but not to its fullest potential. This year I plan on implementing it in a way that fits my classroom needs. I do see many similarities between Guided Reading and Guided Math now more than ever. I've even picked up Comprehending Math: Adapting Reading Strategies to Teach Mathematics by Hyde. This book has really brought to light all the obvious connections that I am just realizing now between math an dreading. I find a lot of the techniques for teaching reading work just as well when teaching math. The biggest difference is the vocabulary. It still needs to be made real world significant. Students still make text-self, text-text, and text-world connections. I find trying to make every math concept connect to the real world is NOT impossible just difficult and takes some thinking sometimes.  


3. What data do you have that can guide you as you create small groups of students for Guided Math?
     Next year I have several things that will help me to group my students. In the beginning of the year I have last years school wide assessment, I have the beginning of the year diagnostic math test, and the topic pre-tests. I also plan on creating topic observation checklists for each math topic to use as an assessment tool to help group students and make sure they understand what is essential. I am planning on using the pre-tests on the computer that we have access to assist with my grouping as well. 

200 Follower Giveaway

I have two winners from my giveaway! Mary and Patti Barker look in your inboxes to enjoy your $25 TPT gift certificate! Thank you to everyone who participated in my giveaway!

P.S.

I'm able to go back into my room for the rest of the summer. I plan on "putting it back together" in increments :) I really want it to be the best learning environment for my kiddos.


Graphics from Maree Truelove: http://www.etsy.com/shop/MareeTruelove

Current Classroom Pictures . . . Part 2.a

     Now right off the bat this will be a two-part post. I LOVE outlines and list, henceforth, my title: Part 2.a. My classroom has a "loose" candy theme in mostly primary colors. I say "loose" because I see some amazing classrooms in blog word that have these themes that are so so so creative and everything connects. The perk to using primary colors: they are EVERYWHERE all the time. I love being able to keep the colors fairly cohesive.
      On Thursday one of my favorite college professors is coming to my class to observe a students teacher. On Friday my school is having Grandparents' Day. That was all the motivation I needed to do some deep cleaning in my classroom. It's been pretty consistently clean but it needed a bit more TLC than the usual. I mean it is more than half-way through the year and it's the first time I spent almost the entire Saturday in my classroom. I made a long mental list of all the cute things I need to create to make my classroom more functional.
     Now onto the pictures!

This is a snapshot of the "makeover" process and the beginning of the year!

My classroom library :) I created my labels over the summer and still need to create some new ones for some new categories!

My library check-out system is SUPER DUPER easy -  every student has a check-out slip and writes the title of the book the date they check it out and the date they check it back in.

Are communal class supplies

M&M Math Mania Corner - All my math workstations are housed in the middle. 

Pencil sharpener, paper, and Literacy Work Stations
(Literacy Work Stations need some cutesy labels!)

My Cookie Conduct clip chart behavior system - it's all in its own little corner of the classroom.

Every time a students' clip goes down they must fill out a blue sheet. The blue sheets allow the student to identify what they, why they did it, and what they are going to do next time. I also require a parent signature. The blue sheets keep parents aware of their child's behavior and leaves me a permanent record to reference if I need to. 

My desk! It's tiny but I love it. I originally had a huge one but I decided it took up to much space. 

I try to keep everything in the drawers so I ave a clean desktop. 

This is my round the school year bulletin board. This is where I display students' work. The candy wrappers have each students name on them. The big blue rectangle in the middle is suppose to identify whatever is on display. 

Disclaimer: If I knew how to create borders around pictures and put pictures in collages I would happily do it, but I haven't figured it out. Also, complete side note, I cannot for the life of me figure out how to watermark things I create in Pages on my Mac. Till I figure that out I can't post anything else onto TPT. Since I'm exposing my helplessness I have one more frustration. For the life of me I don't know how people create the adorable previews of their units for sale and put them in their blog posts. If anyone knows how to do any of this and remembers how it felt to be the new helpless little guy please let me know! I would be so grateful!

Before Classroom Pics

One of my FAVORITE things is to see other teachers' classrooms. I love seeing before and after pictures, themes, organization, decorations, and such. I mean before I had my own classroom I would take note of what I liked. Now I have my own classroom and it was not my style at all. The summer involved a lot of sweet talking my amazing handy-man grandpa! I made sure to document the transformation because looking back now it looks entirely different then the room I spend most of my life in! Ha :) During, student teaching my CT's classroom was HUGE! Now the school I am in is AMAZING! It is actually where I have ALWAYS wanted to work! Anyhow, the room I have is the smallest classroom in the school (but I only have 13 sweets!). It was/is a fun challenge trying to figure out the best way to use my space to maximize the learning. I leave you with some before photos with after photos soon to follow.

classroom view from one of the 2 entrances

classroom view from the other entrance 

view from the previous teacher's teacher desk

whiteboard and my projector screen is there (I have an Elmo and am addicted to it)

Those are the before pictures. I have in between the process photos, almost there photos, and real life school photos. I was blessed to have the whole summer to be in my room and go through the "inherited" stuff, paint, and organize. It was such a blessing and then the help from those closest to me was phenomenal! I sometimes wonder if parents truly realize all the time, energy, effort, and money we put into what we do. . . Some parents do and others I believe are still largely unaware. Good thing I do what I love for the sweets!