Decomposing or Splitting?

I was watching a wonderful video on the Teaching Channel the other day.  In it, the teacher was asking the children to solve an addition equation using a strategy other than the traditional algorithm.  As I was watching, I noticed that she had "math talk" posters under her white board with scripts to encourage conversations using mathematical language.  I took particular notice of 2 of them; one about decomposing a number and one about splitting a number. As the kids shared a strategy, the teacher pointed out that whether  the numbers were being decomposed or split.  She made the distinction that when you decompose a number, you are breaking it apart into its expanded form and when you are splitting a number you are breaking it apart in any way that makes it easier to work with.  The following are some examples of the scripts I saw.  The kids would fill in the blanks with the appropriate info:
I think ___________________________ because _____________.
I agree/disagree with _______ because  ____________.
I got ________.  I used groups of ten.  I started with ______.  I knew that _____________.
I got ________.  I used decomposition.  I broke ____ into ____ and _____.  Then I  __________.
I got ________.  I used splitting.  I split ____ into ____ and ______.  Then I ______.
Be sure to check out the great videos on the Teaching Channel!

Who Knew?

Just read an article all about how important gestures are when teaching, especially in math.  Did you know kids learn better when you use gestures to illustrate a point that you are trying to make during a lesson?  I sure didn't!
I am a "hand talker".  When I am talking, I just can't keep my hands still.  I can't tell you how many times I have knocked over my drink or someone else's during a really exciting retelling of an event.  Now, I find out that all those gestures are good when you teach kids.  The article went on to say that kids who were taught a lesson on equality by a teacher who used gestures learned the lesson better and performed better on a test of the material that day and improved their performance on another test a day later.  As it turns out, we here in the states use fewer gestures when teaching our kids than do other teachers in other countries.  So, go ahead and talk with your hands.  It's a learning tool that's completely free, easy to carry around, and needs no electricity to power it!

Back to School...

Sorry for no post last week, but it was Spring Break for my school system.  Got around to cleaning out my inbox and found some new videos from the Teaching Channel.  Although there were several that were of interest, I was most excited to find one that goes along with what we're trying to improve at my school -  collaboration among our students.  We have discovered that our students don't truly know how to collaborate!  When we say you may work with a partner, they really don't know what that means.  So the instructional coach and I are working to help the teachers improve the collaboration in their classrooms.  The video that I watched was called Improving Participation with Talk Moves.  In the video, the teacher describes several "Talk Moves" that her students use during a class discussion.  I hope to share the video with my math teachers at our next data meeting.  We have already viewed several videos from the book Classroom Discussions:  Seeing Math Discourse in Action by Anderson, Chapin, and O'Connor  which is also a great resource to use to begin to make changes in collaboration among our students.  Be sure to check out the Teaching Channel in general - lots of great ideas and great teachers in action!
Picture of book from Amazon.

S.P.U.R.

I love acronyms!  They make things so easy to remember.  So I was excited when a colleague of mine sent me an article to read called Multidimensional Assessment of CCSSM by Sara K. Bleiler and Denisse R. Thompson from Teaching Children Mathematics .  It talks about measuring the depth of students' understanding of math concepts.  It introduced the acronym  S.P.U.R.  She and her colleagues at school decided they would use this acronym as a reminder for the kinds of questions that they should be asking their students during math to check for the depth of understanding that they have about the concept being taught.  It makes for great formative assessment.  To this end, they created from the article a kind of a reminder card to keep in each teacher's plan book and by each teacher's ELMO for use when planning or teaching.
Here's what S.P.U.R. stands for:
S - Skills:  Procedures, such as carrying out one-step or multiple -step algorithrms, inventing new algorithms, and using technology to perform mathematical calculations - ie.  24 x _?__ = 48.
P - Properties:  The underlying theories and principles of mathematics, often requiring students to identify or apply mathematical justification - ie.  What does the 4 in 341 represent?
U - Uses:  Real world application which oftern means expecting students to develop models to describe the mathematics.  ie.  word problems
R - Representations:  Visual depictions of mathematical concepts, such as graphs, pictures of geometric figures, or statistical plots. - ie.  any visual models
The article gives concrete examples of each of these for multiple grade levels.  Highly informative!  Be sure to check it out in its entirety.

Looking forward to some great PD!

Today, our AMSTI liaisons are coming to work with our K-5 teachers.  We will be working on a vertical alignment.  I am hoping that it will remind our teachers that we are all part of a great big puzzle.  That without each part, we are less than whole.  I sometimes think that as we get wrapped up in the new standards, myself included, we get myopic and forget to look at the "Big Picture" - see where our kids came from and look forward to where they are going.  Maybe today will be a time when we can all catch our breath, and take some time to recharge our teaching batteries and come away with a renewed perspective.

Quick Multi-level Math Game

Yesterday, I was called on by my principal to host a group of 4th graders for an extra math session.  I was glad to do it, but my mind was blank about something meaningful that I could get together in an hour or so of planning time.  All of a sudden I remembered a post from a blog that I follow about a number order game that could be played with 2nd-5th graders that didn't require anything but a piece of paper and playing cards or 0-9 dice.  I think the teacher that showcased it on her blog called it the Ordering Numbers Game.  I drew my board on a piece of chart paper like that shown below:

Of course, for my fourth graders it was from 0 - 1000.  They drew their own configuration of 10 squares and then took turns drawing 3 cards and making a 3 -digit number and writing it somewhere on their board in order between the 0 and the 1000.  The winner in the group was the first one to be able to complete filling in the squares with the random numbers in order.  It was great to see them try to rearrange the digits several times to try to come up with a number they could use.  I think it was a great learning activity and great fun, too!  I love these ideas that are simple but powerful activities to get the kids thinking.

I love to read...

To myself, to students, to just about anybody who will listen!  I have started two book lists.  One of books for teachers that I have gotten a lot out of about the teaching of math.  And one of books that can be used as a springboard for math activities with children.  You can even put these books in a math center with some "I can..." activity cards and have a great center that will integrate reading and math.  On this list you will probably see some old standbys that you are familiar with, but I hope that there will be at least one that you haven't explored yet.  I hope to make this list an ongoing project, so check back to see if anything new has been added.  Also, if you have any favorites that would make great additions to either list, let me know.  I would love to share those, too.!