I have made it to the half way point. Today is the geometry week. We finally have all of the class back from March break so, we are diving into math. I am hoping that we will be able to get to the culminating task (shape monster) by the end of this week.
Today, we started with our geometry unit. I was amazed with how much the students already knew and how they were able to investigate. I gave them a graphic to fill out with a shape and number of sides and vertices. I told the students that I didn't care if they didn't know the name of the shape. I wanted them to focus on the number of sides and vertices. It amazed me that they wen above and beyond what I asked and started to investigate around the room for the names of the shapes. They ended up finding the names for a few of the shapes on their name tags. I introduced a parking lot activity to them. I handed out the post-it notes and asked them a question to answer on their post-it notes. My problem was, when I showed them the parking lot, all of the talking started and the activity turned into a train wreck. I finally got them to quiet down so I could ask them the question to put on the parking lot. When I did, they are started talking and looking at each others papers. I decided at that point that this was a lost cause. I got them to put their post-it notes group by group on the parking lot and left it at that.
The next thing we did was we created our own anchor chart for using position words. I took a toy animal and put it around the cup. I had students describe where the animal was. When they got a position word I would have them write it on pieces of paper (that I pre-cut) and stick it on the board and then I would put a smiley face (again, that I pre-cut) someplace near the word that described its position. The kids loved it. Everyont wanted to get involved and figure out a position word. If one student was answering too many questions. I would have them pick a representative to write the word for them. The only problem was that students had trouble writing the word. If that ocurred, I would write the word on the board for them to copy. After we created the chart. We did a little review and then moved into our shape walk.
Today, we started with our geometry unit. I was amazed with how much the students already knew and how they were able to investigate. I gave them a graphic to fill out with a shape and number of sides and vertices. I told the students that I didn't care if they didn't know the name of the shape. I wanted them to focus on the number of sides and vertices. It amazed me that they wen above and beyond what I asked and started to investigate around the room for the names of the shapes. They ended up finding the names for a few of the shapes on their name tags. I introduced a parking lot activity to them. I handed out the post-it notes and asked them a question to answer on their post-it notes. My problem was, when I showed them the parking lot, all of the talking started and the activity turned into a train wreck. I finally got them to quiet down so I could ask them the question to put on the parking lot. When I did, they are started talking and looking at each others papers. I decided at that point that this was a lost cause. I got them to put their post-it notes group by group on the parking lot and left it at that.
The next thing we did was we created our own anchor chart for using position words. I took a toy animal and put it around the cup. I had students describe where the animal was. When they got a position word I would have them write it on pieces of paper (that I pre-cut) and stick it on the board and then I would put a smiley face (again, that I pre-cut) someplace near the word that described its position. The kids loved it. Everyont wanted to get involved and figure out a position word. If one student was answering too many questions. I would have them pick a representative to write the word for them. The only problem was that students had trouble writing the word. If that ocurred, I would write the word on the board for them to copy. After we created the chart. We did a little review and then moved into our shape walk.
I had created a document with success critera, a sentance started and a review of shapes and position words. As a class, we were going to walk around the school and see if they could find how shapes are used in the school. I asked them to either draw the thing that looked like a shape or write the word. About half the class understood the activity. The other half just drew random shapes that they saw. When we got back to the class, I asked that they used their sentance started (When on my shape walk I saw a (shape) (position word) (shape). Most of the class got that part of it. The kids did have a blast. They were a little loud through the halls, but nothing that really disturbed anyone. They liked getting out of the classroom. I asked them to find a shape at home and we would talk about it the next day.
Our next geometry lesson was about problem solving. I gave the students word problem worksheets and animals made out of tangrams that they had to fill in. The question on the worksheet was "A bag has three shape with a total of 10 vertices. What could the shapes be?" They had to draw out the shapes. This they found easy. Most kids come up with creative answers. The next part of the lesson was for them to either make a scene out of tangrams or use one of the animals and fill it in with tangrams. The kids had a ball. The room was a complete mess for about half the day, but they were coming up with very creative pictures and ideas. They went beyond using the templates that I gave them to creating their own masterpieces.
It was nearing the end of our unit and time to build our shape monsters. I had decided it might be better to give the students smaller shapes than my example because I wanted them to focus on the more complex success criteria than worry about filling the shape. Turns out, they would have done well or even better with the larger size. Most of the kids finished theirs in less than a period. Here are the success criteria that I used. I had the kids 'create' the success criteria together with me. I had them look at my shape monster and come up with some similarities, to create the success criteria. I had already created criteria, but they didn't need too much ahnd holding to create a similar criteria. All in all the shape monsters turned out fanastic. All of the kids enjoyed creating them and showing off their final product. After they finished I allowed them to make things out of the tangrams. I am going to ask students to record all of the shapes that they have used in their shape monster and post it on the board outside class. This will be a of scavenger hunt for students walking by.
Currently, we are about half way through reading the Tale of Despereaux. Out story board is growing fast with main characters, setting and super words. We haven't really come by the problem yet. We have learned about Despereaux and are being re-introduced to Roscuro. The kids are extremely excited whenever I take out the book to read it.
Next week I am looking forward to finishing our two-dimensional shape unit and beginning out three dimensional shape unit. I am also going to be leading the persusasive writing unit. I have got a busy weekend of planning. Talk to you soon!
Next week I am looking forward to finishing our two-dimensional shape unit and beginning out three dimensional shape unit. I am also going to be leading the persusasive writing unit. I have got a busy weekend of planning. Talk to you soon!