Making Thinking Visible - Math Edition

Our school has been reading and attending workshops on Making Thinking Visible.  (You can purchase the book here). The text written by Ron Ritchart, Mark Church, and Karin Morrison contains strategies, or as they refer to them - routines, for getting students to show their thinking.  When we know what and how the students are thinking about a topic, it helps us clarify misconceptions or expand on their current understanding.

Much of our work this year has centered around literacy.  I decided to step outside of my comfort zone, and try one of the strategies outlined in the text called, "See, Think, Wonder" during math.  I used this thinking routine as an opener for a math lesson on line plots.

This thinking routine involves projecting an image, then asking students to name what they see, what this makes them think, and anything they are now wondering.  You can do this aloud as a whole class by writing down their thoughts on chart paper as shown below, or having students complete this routine independently.  I chose to do this as a class because I wanted to see how the students thoughts would build off of each other.  Pictured is the chart that contains the student thinking based on the line plot.  Excuse the messy writing; I was trying to keep up with all of their thoughts!

It can be tricky for students to differentiate between what they see and think.  I often paraphrase what they're saying with, "Oh, so what you're thinking is that..."  Using this routine is a great way to introduce a new topic, and get students thinking about math conceptually.  We want our students to be doing the thinking, after all!

Enjoy!
-Hayley

Irregular Verbs Resource Pack

Each year, many students come from homes where English is not the first language, or even spoken at all.  One area where these students have difficulty, as do many young English speakers, is with irregular verbs.

Our students enter the building between 9:00 and 9:15.  Most teachers don't begin lessons until 9:30.  As a special educator, I see that as plenty of time to run a small group to work on goals!

I created a pack of resources to use to help the students learn some of the irregular verbs.  There are so many to learn but I selected the verbs I thought would be most frequently seen and used.

The pack includes four fill-in-the-blank worksheets, a memory matching game, and a sorting worksheet.  I printed several sets of the memory matching game on different shades of colored card-stock.  I paired the students up heterogeneously so they could help each other recognize matches.

How do you teach irregular verbs?

Reviewing IEPs

Do you feel like you could spend a whole year reviewing IEPs?

It seems like that's what I've been doing, gearing up for a new school year.  Although I only have 11 students to begin the year, it seems like a lot.  I typically identify several more in need of individualized instruction during their third grade year.  Last year, I typed up a grid for the general educators that would also be working with identified students.  This helped give a snapshot of what was in each student's IEP.  

Before I go on, I should mention that our school's inclusion model looks like this: one special educator per grade level, all students on IEPs divided evenly amongst the four general education classrooms, and me feeling torn in every direction.  Because of this, collaboration with the other service providers is so crucial.  Luckily, I happen to like everyone I work with!  

It helps to meet frequently with the other providers to ensure you are all on the same page in terms of each child's needs.  The grid that I use is up on my TpT site for FREE.  It can be printed out as is, or typed directly into, depending on what you prefer.  I based this grid on what I find most important in the IEP.  For example, I can get to know their skills through working with them pretty quickly, but might not always remember the specific meeting dates or testing accommodations they may have.  

Feel free to download this for FREE and share with the service providers you collaborate with at school.