Project Based Learning in my math classes.

When approaching this year, I really wanted to push how I can use projects to assist students in learning and using mathematics in real life. As I pushed forward in learning more of what I have access to, I found that some of my resources were limited.  It was also hard to adjust some of these projects without some of the background knowledge or class sizes necessary.  I felt like the classes were either too small, too big, or I honestly could not trust them to stay on task and finish in a realistic time table.

The first big project I introduced was where students in my geometry class created rooms, spaces, or towns only using construction tools. These tools were a compass, ruler, and pencil.  They needed to create a various amount of shapes such as hexagons, pentagons, circles, and triangles.  They were also required to create various forms of lines and angles.  They did very well overall, working in groups of 2 or by themselves.  I had 96% of students finish on time, and 84% of students accurately draw all shapes, angles and lines.

My second project introduced was my End Cap project.  Students were to find the volume and area of the base of fireworks in the shape of cones and cylinders.  They were then required to place these on a 6 foot tall end cap with 2'x4' shelves. They were required to find how much space each firework used and how much space was actually wasted with each set of firework. Before this project, we worked on finding area of circles and rectangles as well as volume of cones and cylinders. After this, I walked them through a couple examples of putting things on shelves.  Even with all this frontloading, students still struggled with the project.  I feel as though maybe I could have broken the project up into multiple parts. Stagger a couple things and then have them put it all together at the end. They just could not comprehend all the information given in the days leading up to the project, then use that information all at once. They could not determine what info to use and when to use that information.  Overall though, I feel as though most students did ok. I did have one group not turn anything in.

The next project was finding the volume of donuts. It was a small little fun as a reward for the hard work as our weekly days were continuously getting missed with snow and activities.  I ordered donuts from Casey's and students were first suppose to estimate the size of the donuts.  Secondly, they needed to try and measure the donuts as well as possible, then re-estimate. Finally, we discussed what the equation for the volume of the donut. Once we found that information, we used the equation and found our volumes.  I then showed, using sand and a cylinder, how we can visually find the volume of the donut.  It was a waste of a donut but it proved my point.  We discussed why our numbers were a little off and then the students ate the their respective donuts.  All in all, it was a good day and the students seemed to have a little more knowledge on what volume is used for.

My final project was having geometry students find a cylinder or spherical product and ship it overseas (not really).  They needed to find the volume of the product, then identify a box that would fit these products.  From there, they needed to find out how many of their boxes would fit a 40x48" pallet. They also need to find the surface area of the box and identify pricing of ording their boxes.  Finally, the students had to identify the price of a shipping container and see how many pallets they could fit in one to ship overseas. After all was said and done, they had to identify the cost of everything and identify how much they would have to increase the cost of their product to make up for all the shipping costs overseas.  Overall, I felt really good about this project. Some students really took off and enjoyed it, while others thought it as too much work and annoying.  I am going to stay on the positive end though and say it was a success. Some minor tweaks for next year and I think this is a good project for years to come.

Overall, with all my projects and everything done, I believe it went really well. I wish I could have done more.  I was able to do a fair amount of online breakout boxes.  Sometimes those didn't seem to be challenging enough, but for some students, I think it helped a lot.  I still feel as though I can continue to expand on what I do every year and I think i really found my niche with a couple of these projects.

Building Basic Fact Fluency in the Elementary Classroom

Resources for Building Number Sense and Basic Fact Fluency in the Elementary Classroom

Compiled by T. Crow

The purpose of this blog is to share the resources I compiled for building number sense and basic fact fluency in my third grade classroom.  I've found that consistent, varied practice is key to helping students become familiar and adept with basic facts and number patterns.

Sites with helpful resources/links/ideas:

• Teaching Channel

• Henry County Schools Elementary Math Resources

• Achieve the Core

• Kansas Mathematics Standards

• Wisconsin Mathematics Council, Inc.

• Scholastic Inc.

• Proud to be Primary

Sites with games/activities for students to directly use via iPads/laptops:

• Math Playground

• MathGameTime

• XtraMath

• Top Marks

Helpful YouTube videos my students enjoyed and used often:

• Doubles Song

• Counting by Threes Song by Have Fun Teaching

• Counting by Threes Song by Scratch Garden

• Counting by Threes Song by Silly School Songs

• Counting by Fours Song by Have Fun Teaching

• Counting by Fours Song by Scratch Garden

• Counting by Fours Song by Silly School Songs

Please note that there are many more videos available.  Jack Hartmann, in particular, has many, many videos that you may find useful.

To gauge fact fluency progress, I administered basic fact timed tests periodically (I've found that occasional use is better than overuse, however.).  I used the following online chart creator to make line charts so my students could see their progress over time:

• Online Chart Tool

Here is a great online random number generator I use when having the kids practice doubling numbers and adding one, two, and ten to numbers:

• Random Number Generator

A great print resource to use is Mastering Addition and Subtraction by Susan O'Connell and John SanGiovanni. Click here for more information about this book and other print resources.

Math-Aids.Com has an easy-to-use random math fact worksheet generator to create worksheets for practicing fact skills such as adding doubles, doubles +1, doubles + 2, etc., as well as subtracting one, two, and three from a number. Click here to utilize this site.

If you have iPads for your students to use, here are a couple of apps to try with your students, which my students enjoyed and used often:

• Pet Bingo

• Math Slide

I hope you find these resources to be useful and effective in your classroom!

Problem Based Learning: Increasing Inquisitiveness and Cultivating Creativity in the Art Room

Tessa explored Problem Based Learning in the art room in order to increase inquisitiveness and cultivate creativity in Junior High students. Here is a link to her blog.

https://cnartroom.blogspot.com/

Engaging Reluctant Readers

Jess was working this year on engaging reluctant readers.  She tried some one-on-one conferencing as well as independent reading everyday.  Check out her thoughts on her blog.

https://cnreluctantreaders.blogspot.com/

DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP FOR JUNIOR HIGH

Hazel looked into digital citizenship with her junior high exploratory.  Students learned about their digital footprint and when it was actually established.  Story County officers came in and spoke with the students about the darkside of social media.  Check out her blog about their learning.
digitalcitizenshipforteens.blogspot.com

Individualized Professional Development

The beginning of the 2018 school year looked a little different for Colo-NESCO educators regarding professional development.  As we have been embarking on personalized learning for students as part of the Competency Based Education (CBE) collaborative, it became evident that asking our teachers to think differently about the learning needs of their students would require us to think differently about our teachers’ learning. We wanted to base our professional development on individual teachers’ needs and interests that would allow them to reach their individual goals and the goals we have as a district.  Starting last spring we surveyed all our teachers: what did they want to learn more about? What did they want to explore or experiment with in their classrooms? We have arranged our professional development schedule throughout the year so teachers will have time to continue to work on what they need to work on to meet those individual goals that will impact their classroom.

Teachers have the autonomy to select their own Individualized Career Development Plan (ICDP) focus area while being supported by their colleagues and peers. Through these efforts, we have put in place a truly individualized learning environment for our staff called Climbing the Mountain. In this framework, started by Jarod Bormann (Keystone AEA Technology Integration Specialist), educators are given time and support to make the changes that will truly impact student learning.

During professional development time, the staff have the option to attend base camp sessions where they can learn some of the basics of different platforms or strategies to make changes in their learning environment. From there, individuals determine a weak spot in their teaching they want to improve. Then, they work with their instructional coach to research multiple resources and strategies that will help them make the changes in their classroom.  Once they have researched their topic from multiple angles, they decide on the best way to implement their learning in their classroom. They gather data on the impact in their classroom, then share the results with peers in a presentation both within and outside the district.

During this entire process, they can ask for additional base camp sessions to support their learning and also work with their instructional coach and technology integrationist to help them guide, plan, implement, and reflect on the process. Once the educators reach different levels of their journey, we recognize them with recognition ceremonies. Ultimately, the goal is for positive change within classrooms and for teachers to have the time and support to take risks in their learning environments.The results and feedback from our staff have been truly amazing, and we are seeing staff collaborating around shared goals like never before.  The journey to truly personalize and individualize teaching and learning for our students has to begin with honoring our teachers as learners.