Shuffling Those Small Groups

Y'all.  Can I just first say that I get abnormally impressed with myself when I blog twice in one day?  Like it's probably a little ridiculous.

From my excellent IG and Twitter creeping, I can tell that many teachers are preparing for their first round of Parent/Teacher Conferences (PTCs), or just recently made it through.  If you just made it through, way to go!  Self-five!  You did it!  Conferences can be hard, but you nailed it!  If you're still preparing, you've totally got this and you're going to do a great job!

I know that when I was in the classroom, PTCs generally occurred around the same time as a data cycle, which means that generally when we were prepping for conferences we were also assessing like mad(wo)men.  And generally, when we have new data we use it to make sure that we're still grouping students appropriately and meeting the needs of all our kids.  I'm here today to briefly talk to you about how you go about creating your small groups.

Now, when I first started teaching I felt really strongly that students needed to be ability grouped and that the groups students used for work stations (LWS) had to be the same groups they used to come to my table.  If that's how you feel comfortable, great.  However, I want to tell you about how I group kids now that has totally changed the way I manage LWS.  The short version is this:  I put students into rotation groups but those rotation groups DO NOT match the groups of students who come to my table.  When I started as a teacher, I thought this was stupid because I was doubling the work of group making.  However, as an older and wiser (ha) teacher I am 100% in favor of having rotation groups and teacher table groups not match.  Let me tell you why.  First, when you ability group your rotations you're essentially putting your highs, lows, and mediums in the same group, so all the lows are together, all the highs are together, etc.  What I LOVE about having unique rotation groups is that you can mix up the levels of students within the groups, which is great because you can split any potential talkers/misbehavers, and you can also make sure to have some kids that others can ask if they forget what the activity is.  Second, having different rotation groups means that there's never a work station that's totally empty.  It also makes it more likely that students are getting to every work station in a week.  Lastly, the thing that's great about having rotation groups and teacher table groups is that you can call an audible and flex group students if the need arises.  So if you notice that there are 4 students who need work on answering two-part questions, but who might not be on the same level, you can call them to your teacher table without really disrupting the flow of your rotation groups.

When I ran work stations with different rotation groups and teacher table groups, I used pocket charts to indicate rotations.  I had cards with group names and members on it, as well as cards that showed the work station.  Here's an example of what the rotation group cards looked like.

And underneath the group card would be the 3 cards showing their work stations for that day.  So, for example, underneath pumpkins it might show word work, read to others, work on writing.  Here's an example of the work station cards.

I planned for this to be more concise than this actually was, but I just really feel strongly about having different rotation and teacher table groups.  :/  If you try it let me know if you love it, too.  And if you don't maybe I can help you regroup your students so you do love it.

Happy Novvember!
xoxo

Sale Time, Y'all!

Hello, friends!

Unless you don't follow any other blogs, I'm sure you already know that there's a HUGE Teachers Pay Teachers sale going on right now.  In most stores you can get almost 30% off.  (To be honest, the math confuses me a little.  Tpt gives 10% off with the code, and most teachers put their store at 20% off, but for some reason it only shakes out to 28% off.)  But still.  A discount is a discount, yes?

So if you're in the shopping mood, and heading back to school shortly allow me to make a few suggestions.

I use these data folders weekly, usually starting after the first six weeks of school.  I send them home on the same day each week (one year I did Tuesdays, and one year I did Wednesdays).  Students create a graph to show their scores on a quick weekly check-in.  I used assessments that monitor fact fluency, because that was a first grade power standard in my school, and a quick Fundations check-in for whatever unit we were currently studying.  I also had students write a note to their families about their work that week, and I had parents sign a sheet saying that they had looked over the folder with their students.  They also had to make a comment, which ultimately showed whether or not they had actually looked over the folder.  

I also have several bundles of math tasks in my store.  Math tasks are basically really open-ended word problems, but they usually have multiple correct solutions.  I've blogged about math tasks in the classroom here, here, and here.  But even if you're running a more traditional math block these tasks still definitely can be used to push your kids' thinking.  I have some tasks that focus on place value, as well as addition and subtraction.

This is the last product I'll highlight today.  This is a quick, informal check-in that I created for students struggling with rote-counting and number sequence.  I used it with first graders who were below grade level, and I definitely think it would also be helpful for kinderbabes as well.  It assess rote counting, number id (to 30), and 1-to-1 correspondence.  I would give my strugglers this assessment every time we finished a targeted unit to see if they were picking up the skills I was hoping for/making progress towards those fundamental skills they needed to shore up.  It was also helpful data when I took them to student support team meetings.  With the sale it's under $1.00.  It's a win-win.  =)  

One last reminder--during the TpT sale you can also use your credits that you get for reviewing products.  So if you've recently purchased items make sure you go back and give feedback to those sellers today so that you can use some credits towards your purchases during the sale.  

Have fun filling your cart!

xoxo

A prize for teachers!

Okay, y'all.  I can't even really properly express how proud I am for actually doing some weeknight blogging.

I really think that I'm close to having some more closure on my life for next year, which is making me feel a little more zen.  Tonight I just wanted to share a super exciting treat that I'm sure other (nerdy) teachers will feel just as excited about.  I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with this amazing and super great math program called Splash Math.  It's available for K-5 and it's basically a self-paced math site that lets kids practice all their grade level standard.  I LOVE it because it auto-differentiates, and it collects data on each kid.  And, here's the best part!  Normally, because of how totally fab is, Splash Math charges you either per kid, or a particular amount for an entire class, but until the end of the year Splash Math! is giving you an entire class of kids, activities, and data tracking FOR FREE!  That's right, teacher friends--FREE!  You can sign up your entire class for the rest of the year using the link above.  It will guide you through the entire process of registering.

I hope you all enjoy the last few days, or weeks, of school with Splash Math.  =)
xoxo

I did it!

Hello, friends!

We still have one more day of school before spring break, but I wanted to share a quick update.  As I mentioned in this moment of brutal honesty I've really been dropping the ball on math instruction for a few months and I vowed to do better.  (A coworker of mine is really fond of saying when you know better you do better.  And I definitely do so I am.)  So for the past month, basically, I've been assessing my kids 3 times a week and really trying to use that data to meaningfully group and reteach my kids.  One part that I've REALLY liked about this personal push is that I've been really pushing my highest math group much more often, and I'm really seeing growth out of them.  For example, right now we're in a unit on data, time, and measurement and I've been able to not only push my high group to create their own questions, data, and graph, but I was even able to teach them in a small group how to use a scale other than 1 on their graphs.  It's been so nice to be able to challenge my highest group, as opposed to constantly pushing up the lowest groups.  I'm sharing my skip counting by 5s on a graph activity with you, should you be interested as well--for before or after spring break.  =)  I've honestly never done this before, but if I understand technology correctly, you should be able to click this link and download the activity.

Enjoy your spring, friends!

Hey, there! Remember me??

Hello, sweet friends!

I hope that everyone is doing well!  It has been an insanely ridiculous amount of time since I have last updated this little blog of mine, but first we moved and then it took Verizon 138945309 years to install our internet.  (To be perfectly honest, we still don't have internet.  I'm staying at school late today because enough is enough.)

I don't know about y'all, but I am ready for spring!  We just had a snow day yesterday (Snow Patrick's Day), and I am about finished with the cold.  Mid-March is time for weather to start getting warmer and flowers to start blooming.  Not for 6 to 8 inches of snow to be dumped on my city.

So, I was inspired by the amazing Katie King (who you might know as the Queen of the First Grade Jungle) in this post to admit something to you all:  I have not been teaching math the way I should this year.  I've rationalized it a ton of different ways, but the bottom line is I need to raise the bar, both for my kids and myself. I'm part of a fellowship this year, and now in our third cycle we're studying formative assessment so for the rest of this math unit I'm going to assess my kids in some way every day--exit ticket, mini-quiz, journal response.  But every day I'm going to hit those kids with some type of check in and then I'm going to reteach the one who aren't getting it the very next day during math work stations.  I'll be trying to update the blog 2-3 times a week with details about how it's going, and hopefully some freebies that you can use as well in your own class.  Hopefully we can all learn something.  I believe that teachers sharing ideas with each other makes everyone better.

I hope that you're all staying warm and getting ready for spring!
xoxo

I have the best intentions.

Happy Sunday, friends!

Really, I have great plans every week to NOT just blog on Sunday nights, but then it seems that things constantly pop up during the week and then suddenly it's Sunday night again and I haven't blogged since the last Sunday.  :(  Whomp, whomp, whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

Did you get lots of great stuff during the Cyber Monday sale last week?  I cleaned out my wishlist (mostly) and then made 1 impulse purchase.  (Darn you, Cara Carroll and your cute fonts!)  I'm really jazzed to start using this next week with my little nuggets who are struggling with their number sense.  This packet is chock full of superb activities designed to help littles identify number words, numbers, and the quantity that corresponds to a number.

I actually think that this RTI pack will tie in really nicely with this assessment that I created last week.  

I know that my assessment goes to 30, but as it's a baseline assessment (and I actually teach first, not kinder) I think that it will still match up and give you an accurate idea of what your firsties need to focus on.  Or, if you teach K you can just stop your assessments at 20, instead of going all the way to 30.  In fact, since it's the holidays and I've never given anything away before ever I'll give away this assessment to the first 4 people to comment on this post.  That's the way this works, right??  =)  Just comment and leave your email address and I'll send the assessment your way.   

I'm off to lay in bed and watch football.  I somehow pulled a muscle in my back.  Which is ironic since I haven't been to the gym or gone running in over a week.  Have a great start to your week, everyone!  (And if you're on the East Coast stay warm and safe!)

xoxo