Let's Talk Math Journals

I've been teaching for seven years and each year I try to add something new to my classroom routine. It's important to try new things, right? I love teaching my students new things, but I have such a hard time keeping the routine. I get excited with new ideas and projects I want to try and I find it hard to have the patience to give my students the time they need to finish the project. I'm getting off track...

JOURNALS! Journals are a wonderful way to organize all the projects, assignments, mini-lessons, games and everything else we do together. I've developed a 15 page printable to help my students organize their learning. It includes many different templates and is open ended to accommodate the wide variety of learners you have in your classroom.

This document is available on my TPT store Megan's Creative Classroom. I'm going to give a bunch of ways to use the pages in your classroom to supplement your math lessons. There are so many ways to use the pages. It's so versatile! And once you model how to complete the pages, students know what to do and can work independently. Your math lessons become a well-oiled machine!

These pages are a wonderful assessment tool as well. Formative assessment is so important to guide your teaching and having students break down what they learned and getting them to put into words and explain the games is a wonderful form of assessment.

Math Game Template:

We play games in our room. A LOT! My students love to play games. When I teach them a new game they're focused, they interact with their classmates in a positive way, they think critically and they learn new math skills. It's a winning situation all around! The most important part of any successful math game lesson is to document the learning.

I start by teaching students how to fill out the template by completing the first few as a class. We discuss what to write and then write it out together. The kids have a concrete record of the rules of the game and their experience. And come Celebration of Learning the kids have something to show their parents. Games are great, but having something tangible to demonstrate their learning is even better!

While my students are filling out the template, I usually grab a few kids and fill it out with them. I ask them questions about their learning and what math skills they were using. Fast and easy. Perfect for busy teachers!

Problem Solving Template:

We do problem solving in a few different ways in our room.

• POW (a problem of the week) that students take home and solve with their parents
• Mathological Liar (an AMAZING game I found at Scholar's Choice): a game where students read several accounts from witnesses to a math-related crime and use various math skills to find out who is lying, and therefore is the culprit. It's so much fun!!! Buy it here.
• Daily Problem: short problems, differentiated and colour coded by skill, that students complete when they come in after recess. It's the first thing they do. They glue the problem in their scribbler and solve the problem. Once they've completed it they do as many as they can (checking their answers with me or a friend when they're done) for the first 10 minutes or so of class.

I don't always get my students to complete this detailed template. Often we work on whiteboards, write and wipe pockets, as a large group (with the support of the whiteboard or smart board), or simply free styled in their scribblers. But having them complete a template like this one is such a great way to help them organize their information and makes it so much easier to assess. I've even noticed that students copy out the organizer in their scribblers to help them solve the problems!

Daily Problem Tins - Colour coded by skill level and new every day!

Sticky Notes Template:

Do you use sticky notes in your classroom? I do. Almost every day. I've been putting it on the supply list for years, so my kids bring their own and keep them in their desks. Many teachers say they don't like for kids to have their own because they become "toys". Kids play with them and write notes and they just get fed up. But I love them. I teach my students appropriate use and those who don't follow get them taken away. Pretty classic classroom management stuff, right? And SO worth the reward!

My students LOVE using sticky notes. They get excited to write on them and stick them to something. Many of them have bright colours and different shapes. These variations in colour and style stimulate their senses and contribute to the learning experience.

So, what do I use them for?

• exit slips - answering a question I pose for them based on the lesson, before they leave for recess of course
• sharing opinions about a reading, problem, or lesson
• taking notes while listening to a story or watching a movie
• a quick and easy way to solve a math problem
• sorting ideas, concepts, characters, strategies or anything else really

This template encourages the use of four sticky notes that are all part of one concept. For example, students might answer four problems involving the same concept. Then at the bottom they explain their learning. What skill did they use? How are the problems connected? What characteristics do they notice are common? Making these connections help strengthen their understanding.

When we play Mathological Liar, students read four accounts of a crime and have to prove the math right or wrong. This template is a wonderful tool to help them sort out their ideas. One sticky per suspect. They show their math on each sticky and at the bottom explain their conclusions. Perfect!

This template is also great for research projects. Take each section and designate it to a category or question to research and students use sticky notes organize and record their ideas.

These are just three of the pages available in my Math Journal booklet on Teachers Pay Teachers. The packet includes 15 pages, one being the title page, which is wonderful for a cover page on your students' Math Journals. I've even left a space to write in their names, room number and grade if necessary. This is a versatile booklet that accomodates students of all skill levels and can be used for whatever you're teaching. I hope you like it and I look forward to your feedback on TPT!

Word Wall Words from Megan's Creative Classroom

Word walls.

What is there to say about word walls? They are so incredibly useful for our students. They provide an anchor for their learning and function as a tool they can use all year as they learn new words and create pathways in their brains for the spelling patterns they're studying.

But they're huge.

Am I right?!

My word wall takes up almost one entire wall in my classroom. Fortunately when my room was renovated 10+ years ago it was decided that my cupboards should serve double duty and have cork board fronts. YIPPEE! It's so very functional. But still HUGE!

So they should be attractive, right? Functional and attractive. And cheap.

My father-in-law says that when it comes down to it nothing can be good and cheap and fast. Well these are! They're aligned with balanced literacy and Making Words, they're FREE and they're a snap to cut out!

I've created full sets of word wall words for grades 1, 2 and 3. These are the grades that have designated sight words (and spelling words). Grades 4, 5, 6 are encouraged to choose commonly misspelled words, or content words for spelling words.

Sets are colour coded so if you have combined grades (as many of us do), it's easy for you and your students to stay organized!

Words are arranged in groups of five, so one page is good for one week of spelling words. EASY AS PIE! Enjoy them and please rate my products on my TPT store, Megan's Creative Classroom.

Preparing for the year to come

Anyone who's been on Facebook recently knows that there is a bar on the right hand side where the people at Facebook take stats about your age, sex, location and interests and they prepare ads for websites or services they think you may like. As a female between the ages of 24 and 30 they seem to think that I need a mani/pedi every day, sometimes many times a day. Now I like getting pampered as much as the next guy (or female in my age range) but there are only so many pictures of people's nails I can stand to look at!!

Today, however, something amazing popped up. A website called Really Good Stuff- and believe me when I say that they are good to their claim. I spent hours on the site earlier today looking at some very interesting resources that will help me in the classroom next year, no matter what grade I end up teaching. What I particularly like about this site is that they offer resources to go with many of their products.If you have an hour or so to check it out, please do so! Many of the resources they carry sparked my imagination and I am now the proud owner of a new folder in my documents FULL of ideas for the new school year.

Happy browsing :)

Digital Photography

Hello Everyone! Hope the rain is treating you nicely. Well, it's been raining here. If you're lucky you're getting a lot of summer sun where you are!!

I found these pictures on my computer from when I did a photography project with my grade four class. We talked about nature and what elements in nature are artistic. We talked about colours in nature and forms in nature and we talked about what we could capture that would cause people to think when they observed our artwork. I created a flickr acconud and used blogger to create a slideshow of the images I put on flickr. These web 2.0 tools are great for working with kids!! You can't see any of the kids faces and their pictures are absolutely amazing. Some of them really put a lot of thought into how they see their playground and school grounds. Stop and take a look if you have a minute!

xo

Buttons

I found a bag of buttons today. You know, the ones that come with your clothes just in case you lose one somewhere? I'm sure we all have a stash somewhere and today as I was putting away the end-of-the-year gifts my students gave me I came accross mine. Now it's a much heaftier bag than I remembered and it made me wonder why I am even keeping them! I don't even own most of the clothes they once belonged to.

Although it would make sense to get rid of them and clear up some room in our tiny 560sqft apartment, the teacher in me insisted I keep them. As I sorted through them and took them all out of the little baggies a bunch of the little guys brought on some memories: the dress I wore to my brother's high school graduation, the suit I wore to my interview at Malmo, summer clothes I bought with my mom when I graduated from university... the list goes on.



It's amazing how buttons bring on so many memories.

They bring about a sense of wonder too. You see as I sorted through these old buttons I couldn't help but wonder what they'd become. What project is there in my teaching future that would utilize these buttons and give them new life. Last week I said goodbye to Malmo. I cried a tearful farewell to my students and the co-workers I met three years ago who I now call my friends. Somehow sorting through these buttons reminded me that my career is far from over. Someday, somewhere my future students will use these buttons to create something beautiful - new memories.

Achievement Tests

Has it really been a month already?! I guess I'm not good at the blogging thing.

So last week was the grade 6 Part B achievement test. Actually, they had all their tests last week. Four days straight of testing. As someone who survived Jr High School final exams, High School final exams (and diploma exams) and all the tests that six years of University bring, I guess the idea of testing just seemed like a common occurance to me, but as I saw the kids studying and worrying I thought about these twelve year olds writing a series of formal tests.

Isn't this crazy?!

They're twelve. Yeah, sure the tests have some merit, but come on! If they bomb the test am I supposed to fail them? NO! If they ace the test but have been struggling all year can I base their final mark solely on the test mark? NO! So why? I know why, you don't have to respond. Government blah blah. Reliability blah blah. Accountability of students and teachers blah blah blah....

What matters when it all boils down? Simple! Do they take the advice I give them as they learn new poetry or when they're reading a section of their novel study? Do they read at home and do their vocabulary homework? Yeah, they do. So to see these kids (YES! They're still kids!) fretting over these tests rubbed me the wrong way.

Anyways, now it's all over and there's still a week and a half left of school left. We've got lots of school-wide events planned and they're goning to go out with a BANG! I guess I leave you with the thought:

              When are tests necessary and when are the just horribly inconvenient?

Cheers!

Fairy Tales

Well, a classic situation for all you combined grades teachers out there.

This week the grade six class is heading off to a week-long fieldtrip and so I've got FOUR students for an hour and a half each morning. What do you do with FOUR kids? I can't work on the things we started with the sixes... So I did what any teacher would do, I asked them what they wanted to do! Their response, of coruse, "watch a movie!" So I thought, okay we can make that work.

We've decided on a mini-fairy tale unit. We're starting with the movie, Hoodwinked, and picking out all the fairy tales they talk about in the movie. Any time a character appears or an idea pops up, they're making note of it. This week our goal is to research all the stories and see how the creators of the movie used them to create a fractured fairy tale.

The best part: We're going to make our own fractured tale! They'll write it, draw pictures and we'll publish them into little books! They're so excited and I am too!!!

Mother's day

It's now less than two weeks until Mother's Day. Not only do I have to find a token of appreciation for my mom and my husband's mom, but also my godmother and for all the kids' moms too!!

What am I going to have them make? Something thoughtful. Something that includes some little part of the curriculum. Something that they'll actually want, not just box up and never see again. Something cheap.

Yeah...right.


How about poetry. That's thoughtful, cheap and desired. We could create our poems on some beautiful paper and stamp water colours on them. I think I have an idea. Now, to create a prototype!

Wish me luck!!

Novel Study

It's been a few days since my last post. I had a crazy busy weekend and I'm still recovering from the sleepless nights. But I wanted to share some things my students and I have been doing for our in-class novel study.

I'm always on the lookout for new ideas and recently I ordered a grade 6 novel study from Scholastic. They have kits for the whole class in a set called "Movin Up". The books are great and they offer some blackline masters and ideas for teaching the unit.


I adapted my own novel study format, one the kids work on for their home reading, to make it work in class. There are basically three parts: a vocabulary assignment where students keep track of words they don't know or find interesting, a reading journal assignment which encourages students to think about what they're reading and requires a written response after each given section and lastly, a final project where students create whatever they want to show me they understand the book. The whole assignment is centered around performance based achievement and being innovative.

Now here's the problem: it's still lots of paper-pencil work. The kids mostly choose the written responses! How can I get them to be more creative? I have so many ideas of how I would do the assignments, but I don't want to sway them and I really don't want to tell them what to do. But I do want them to think outside the box! Help!

The Magician's Elephant

Image taken from www.katedicamillo.com

I've started reading this book on the advice of a colleague. She absolutely loves Kate DiCamillo and this is a book that hasn't yet been made into a movie so I was very curious to read it. I've only read the first 50 pages or so, but so far I've noticed many literary gems present in her writing:

• word choice is very descriptive and powerful
• imagination is a MUST
• characters are strong and well developed
• you can jump right in and you're hooked immediately
• perfect for read aloud.

I encourage everyone to read along with me! You won't be sorry.

Mr. Men

Image taken from www.mrmen.com

Remember when you were in elementary school and your parents read you those little books by Roger Hargreaves? Mr. Messy and Little Miss Sunshine? Those little guys? Well they've become a popular cartoon on YTV as well! I've been wanting to collect the whole series of these delightful little books for some time, but the cost of buying them all at once was very daunting. Fortunately, during my most recent spree in the bookstore I decided to just buy a few. As I mentioned in a previous post, I have been working on characterization with my grade 5 class. These books are PERFECT for teaching character traits! Not only does each character posess a dominant trait (messy, happy, quiet etc.) they also demonstrate many other traits as you get to know them through the very captivating words of Roger Hargreaves. Today I had my students read the books I bought (one per group) and they wrote down passages they felt showed the characters qualities, brainstormed synonyms and additional characteristics they noticed in the book and even made inferences about the characters from their interactions with other Miss. and Mr. characters!! What brilliant students, what brilliant little books! Give them a try. You'll be happy. I promise!

Characterization Assignment

I've been working with my grade 5 class on developing their stories using a story organizer. Many of them stick to it well and some have a hard time writing in only the most important parts. After reading their last writing prompt, I decided that helping them develop stronger characters would help improve their plot and help them connect to their work. I found a few resources online and created a project. The parts are as follows: Part 1: Brainstorm character traits - we opened a new wordle document and came up with as many traits as we could. I prompted them with the question: "What is your character? Is he kind or selfish? Polite or rude? These are traits." As I typed them into the wordle, they created their own in their duotangs. Part 2: Looking for a character - we all brought in magazines and newspapers and cut out a character we think we could write about. Some drew pictures of a character they had in their imagination. Along with this hunt-and-find activity, they filled in a chart to give some information about their character's appearance, behaviour, interests and what other people think about their character. Part 3: Writing about my character - this part of the activity uses dialogue to show how the character they've created interacts with another character in the story. There is no plot, no problem and no solution - yet! They are just talking. The point is to get them thinking about who their character is. What would he or she do? How does he or she talk? Walk? Dress? React to positive or negative experiences? Part 4: Creating a quilt square - in university we had to create a quilt square about our teaching style (our philosophy). We pieced together 8" square pieces of card stock, each one representing a student in our class, and hung them on a bulletin board. I thought I would apply this technique here. Students will create a quilt square, but this time, with everything we need to know about their character! They will be beautiful and we will hang them where they will be admired!

Clay Art Project: I am poetry

Okay, so I know I called in sick today, but I'm trying to get my mind off the potentially paralyzing pain going on in my mouth (root canal at 11:00 today). Last week I started an art project with my class. It started with the inspiration of spring. What other way to honour this season of change than with poetry? Using my favourite research tool, the vast knowings of the internet, I searched for the type that would be perfect for spring. I came accross a type of poetry called "I am" poetry. Basically it encourages students to think about what they are, metaphorically, and describe it in a poem. It doesn't have to rhyme, there's no specific length and you can say whatever you like. Everyone came up with a poem. And not ONCE did I hear moaning or groaning over poetry! Yippee! I paired the poem with an art project, one using clay. Based on Barbara Reid's beautiful artwork, we created a clay likeness of our poetry. We used CD cases to hold our artwork, creating a practical, inexpensive frame (not to mention it restricts how much clay students use as the case needs to close). This picture is the butterfly that I created out of plasticine. The students created a background for theirs as well.

I am a Butterfly by Megan Aspenes

I am a butterfly

Although I started plain and simple

Patient I waited for my debut

I tried new things

I worked hard

I became my best

A new beauty, inside and out

Now, off to the dentist. Wish me luck!

Out Sick

So every once in awhile it happens - you can't make it in to school. Well today is one of those days. Wracked with guilt I created sub plans and posted the job online. I cannot decide if technology has made this easier on my conscience or tougher. Traditionally one would call his or her supervisor or boss, or in this case principal, but with technology to support us in even the most mundane tasks we find ourselves emailing or texting or using an online database to create our absense and fill it in no less than a minute or two. I think that hearing the voice on the other end telling you, "Feel better! We'll look after everything here and we'll see you tomorrow." is a thing of the past. As I am typing this I've received an email saying those exact words! Funny, isn't it? The universe is a powerful force, giving me exactly what I need the moment I need it.

Squiggles

Go to: http://randomline.com/Home.aspx

Have you heard of this game? I bought it at Scholars Choice. It's a doodle game where you are given a squiggle and you create something new from it. If you want to see what I'm talking about, click here. So, I LOVED the premise of the game. It encourages children to be creative and try something new. But, it's not really Language Arts...sadly enough :( How can you make anything LA? WRITE ABOUT IT!! So that's exactly what I asked from my students. I gave them each a Squiggle and they drew a picture from it. I made sure I told them before they started that they would have to write at least 4 sentences about their drawing so they could draw something that they felt comfortable writing about. They had so much fun and I got some very interesting stories about witches, sharks, camping and more! No one had the same. Talk about F-U-N!!

Who are you most like? Writing Assignment

Okay, so I have the laptops booked today and I thought I'd try something new. I pulled up a picture of snow white and the seven dwarves (I heard an idea at teacher's convention similar to this) and as a class we talked a bit about each of the dwarves' personalities. Happy is outgoing, friendly and likes to help others. Grumpy alienates others, is not trusting and is generally, well, grumpy, etc. The prompt definitely had an appeal to the kids. The thing about the 7 dwarves is that we all have characteristics from at least a few, so I asked them to choose the one they were most like. Since we had the laptops I had them write out their responses in a word processor. I gave them 20 minutes and gave them the expectation of having at least 200 words when the time was up. They were so focused! And I was definitely impressed with their writing! Some responses I got were "Sleeping in church is not a cool thing to do because all the kids will laugh at you and tease you." and "Being happy makes me happy and others happy, when I smile people will think that I am a gleeful person." Ah! So proud ;)

Welcome!

Hello everyone! My name is Megan Aspenes and I am a third grade teachers. I graduated from Concordia University in Edmonton, Alberta in 2008. I've taught Kindergarten, Grade 2, Grade 3, Grade 4, Grade 5 and Grade 6. My educational philosophy focuses on making learning part of every day life and learning from our experiences. Look for the curriculum connections and you will find them! Currently I am on maternity leave after giving birth to a very premature baby girl. She's growing every and and is very healthy. I love spending time with her and being at home to watch her grow. In my spare time (naptime mostly!) I have been re-designing and updating some classic creations and uploading them to my Teachers Pay Teachers page Megan's Creative Classroom. I have many free items because who doesn't like free stuff?!  and many very reasonably priced items as well. I'm adding new stuff as often as I can so check it out regularly. Follow me for updates on new items!!