I have always loved teaching math. I'm always trying to make it more interesting and engaging for my kiddos. This year I've implemented official math partners. Instead of doing independent work my kiddos work with their math partners. They are now able to explain their work so much better. As they taught us in college "knowledge is socially constructed". Kids need time to talk, discuss and explain. I have to remind myself that noise is okay - as long as we are all on topic.
I found these cute pb&j cut outs at The Dollar Tree and immediately thought they would be perfect for helping my kiddos remember who their math partner is. I also like being able to say "peanut butters read the problem, jellies write the number sentence" etc.
Dollar Tree should still have these if you want to pick some up. They also had "mouse and cheese" and "frog and lily pad" matching cut outs as well. I may need to think of a use for some of those too! :)
We just finished a nonfiction writing piece. We learned how to write a complete nonfiction paragraph and do research. Second graders love to research! They are naturally curious about so many things! We researched bats and owls and also apples and pumpkins. We read nonfiction books about each topic and then also went online and did research there. After compiling a list of facts the kiddos got to work writing their rough drafts. We then revised and edited them before publishing. Then it was on to publishing.
The kiddos worked in pairs to publish their magazines. For example one student wrote about owls and another student wrote about bats. They then put them together to make one magazine and added text features together. Here's how they turned out:
I'm so proud of them! They did an excellent job and turned out really well!
Last June I go to a training on SIOP - Sheltered Instructional Observation Protocol. What a mouthful! I learned that using SIOP makes learning accessible to all students, especially students who are learning English as a second language. The training was at another school in the county that is doing very well with SIOP. As a part of the day we were told to go tour/explore the school and take pictures of as many SIOP things that we could. I love seeing other teacher's classrooms - it gives me so many ideas!
One second grade teacher had a poster labeled "Hundreds Board Song" on her wall. I read it and thought it was pretty neat because it helped the kids remember what/when to add and subtract when moving around the Hundreds Board. Later I talked with one of the SIOP coaches and she told me that the teacher actually sings the song with her kids, playing the guitar. She made up the lyrics to go with Beyonce's Irreplaceable. She showed us a video and it was too cute! I couldn't wait to use it with my kiddos!
A big thanks to Patricia Owen from Hodge Road Elementary!
Our very first math unit this quarter was Place Value (Numbers in Base Ten in Common Core speak). We were doing TONS of hundreds board activities so I knew I would have to teach my kiddos the song. They absolutely loved it! I downloaded the instrumental version of "Irreplaceable" on itunes and then wrote the lyrics on chart paper and taught it to my kids. It only took them a few times of practicing to have the words memorized - along with motions to go with it all.
After talking with Patricia and receiving her permission, I have a video to share with you but it's nothing fancy. I took the audio of my kids singing and used imovie to add the lyrics. It's so untechnologically perfect but it'll give you the picture.
Here is a little sheet I made that has the lyrics and a picture that helps the kiddos remember the movements on the hundreds board. Feel free to use it in your classroom! Click HERE to donload it on Google Docs.
