Pigeon Math Story Problems-FREEBIE

I am all about themed story problem units!  They engage students and keep them invested in the story being told.  So when I read Pigeon Math by Asia Citro, I knew that it was a great springboard for a new themed unit.

The book introduces story problems by adding and subtracting pigeons in and out of the story.  The characters have silly faces and funny situations, so it will get students invested and interested.  Once this is read, I would dive right into students solving problems with birds on and off a telephone wire.

Number Line versus Hunderds Chart

Our guided math groups finally started!

As we looked back at how we started last year, Jess and I decided upon a couple of goals for our first two weeks of math groups this year:
1. estimation
2. number lines
3. hundreds chart

As our planning unfolded, we also decided that it was very important for our students to understand the connection between a number line and a hundreds chart.  They can seem like such separate tools and resources; however, we really needed our firsties to understand how they connect.

 Our firsties have seen and used a hundreds chart in Kindergarten.  They have also seen them hanging around the room.  They could even tell me that the numbers do "get bigger" as you go down the chart.

Okay...that is completely a start.  But Jess and I wanted to help bring this chart "to life" a bit more for our little learners.

So we cut it up.

 We cut along each horizontal line of the chart and then taped it together.  This left us with one big long number line.  Their mouths dropped open.

I'm not kidding.

They were stunned that this hundreds chart was really just a big number line.

Then we used the big number line to plot some estimation jars that we were also using.  We used it to count.

But there was a problem.  It didn't fit on our table.  It was so....long!
This led us to our next discussion point...the number line is a great tool but a little hard for us to store because it won't fit in the desks or on top of my table.

And this is about where our lesson ended...until the next day.

When our firsties walked in the next day, they quickly remembered what had happened to the hundreds chart.  It was really just a number line.  And we used this tool again to help us with some estimation jars.

 But that number line STILL would not fit on my table :)

So I asked them if it would be okay if I tried to make it into a tool that would be easier to use at our table.  I showed them that I could wrap the number line around a tube.  When I did this it allowed me to fit the whole number line on my table. (The idea came from an image I saw from "What I Have Learned").  It turned out like this:

As a group, we tried out this new resource.  Was it really still a number line?  We counted with it.  Yep.  They numbers still grew as we went down the "tube".  Were the numbers still in the correct order?  Yep.  Then I did something crazy!

I cut it.

When I opened up the tube, their mouths drop wide open!  It was a hundreds chart.

Our lesson had come full circle.  We started with a hundreds chart.  Turned it into a number line.  Took the number line and turned it into a hundreds chart.

They saw the connection.  The number line and the hundreds chart are made up of the same numbers.  They are just laid out a bit differently.

It was a good moment.  Jess and I felt like it kicked off our groups in a positive way.

How I SEE Numbers: Part-Part-Whole

I think that it is a pretty good sign that our Number Talks are working when my firsties just start to EXPLAIN how they see a number before I can even ask the question.
They touch their little noses (our sign that they are ready) and are so eager to talk about how they see the dot cards, tens frames, or rekenreks.
I touched on skill this last year but after reading Number Talks and being more intentional about the cards I show, I see a BIG difference. 

I love having the conversation about how they see a dot card in different ways.  We even have a bulletin board right behind my table where I display the different ways that they see the same exact dot image.

This led to an idea...

I stated in one of my previous math posts about our routine of each student working with "their" number.  They are doing lots of different activities to help them see the different number bonds for a given number.  They are moving at their own pace and do not move on to the next number until they know the different parts of the number they are on.  You can check out that post HERE:)
I wanted to give them the freedom to visualize these numbers in their own way.  

I quickly went home and created something like this and tried it out on some of my firsties.

They really seemed to enjoy it, the activity tied to our daily discussions, and best of all...they were working on "their" number.  But, of course, I was not satisfied with just these sheets.  I needed more.

I made sheets for the numbers 3-10 that look like this (These are four different sheets).  I need differentiated materials for my groups because everyone is working at different levels.  This gives me some different options because some students can handle three problems and some can handle more.  Some kids need the whole number filled in right now and some do not.

But still...I wanted more because we are also working on to help them see the connection between addition and subtraction. 

What do you think?  I hope that it will be helpful to my firsties and your students!!  If you want to try it out...I put a sample up for FREE.  It is for the number five.  Otherwise, the full pack includes numbers 3-10!

 Are there any routines you are using to help with fact fluency?

Very Specific Interest Surveys--for--FREE

Interest Surveys....
I have to admit.  I have never found one that I just fell in love with.  I'm talking...love, love, love, can't teach without it.  It can be tricky.  They are at different stages in their learning.  Some can write short answers about what they like or don't like.  Some can get a beginning sound down.

I know there are some out there to meet my ever-changing needs.  But I just have not found it, yet.

So what is a teacher to do?

Make one...or...two.

Since we are departmentalized and I am a floating teacher that goes where the need is, I work with the same and different kids in math and reading.  And I want to know different things about their interests in math and reading.

The reading one was easy for me.  I knew what I wanted to know.  Basically, I want to know if they like reading, if they read at home, and some preferences.  But I work with struggling readers.  I need the survey to be short, sweet, and easy.  No frustration, please!!!  Here is what I came up with:

 After putting it to the test, I liked it.  Karen read "Wild About Books" before she gave the survey and highly recommended this.  She said it tied in nicely.  I wanted to pass that little tip along :)

Then there was math....

This was not as easy for me to wrap my brain around.  What I really wanted to know was how they interact with math in their everyday lives.  But I just did not know what kinds of questions would lead me to this answer.  So what did I do?

Texted Natalie (my teammate that now lives in Indiana.)

I knew she would have the answer.  Her brain just works that way.  And...yep...I was right.  She sent me a LONG text of possible questions.  This helped me get started.  I was happy with the result.

I was able to find out who plays board games at home, which students have piggy banks, if they help to cook, if they have siblings that they share with, and many other little facts.  Each question gave me some insight or glimpse into their math lives.

It was fun.  They got to know me a little and I got to know them.

I may just have some interest surveys that I love, love, love now :)  Do you have one that you really like?

If not, you can grab either of these for free by clicking on the pictures above or the links below:
Guided Math Interest Survey
Guided Reading Interest Survey

You can also see these surveys here:

http://www.classroomfreebies.com/2014/09/MM-9-8.html

Guided Math--A Starting Routine

Two years ago Natalie, Carrie (our amazing intervention specialist) and I started team teaching math together.  It was completely new territory for all three of us.  And, honestly, I was a little (nope...a lot!) freaked out about teaching math.  I have been a literacy girl my whole life.  Math...not my thing.

But....

Something changed that year.  I really think it was the passion that I saw in Natalie, our learning to co-teach for the first time, and our combined efforts for those kids.  I started to really love math.  Like, REALLY love math!!! This was a first. I wanted to read about math, research math, go to PD for math. 

And so I did and so did Natalie.  Together we came up with a game plan for our second year together.  Looking back on it, I think it was pretty successful.  We were happy with their growth and the changes that we made.  But also saw room for us to improve and grow (as we always do!)

Some changes we made for our guided math during  that second year: a set math routine, guided math templates for review, dot cards, and better learning space.

My groups always start with behavior expectations.  We use both CHAMPS and whole brain teaching.  I also remind my students that I am looking for their effort as mathematicians, not just correct answers.  We use this rubric and self-assess our effort at the end of group.

We also go over the learning objective for the group.  I have a binder that contains my daily guided math sheets.  On the front of the binder is where I write the "I can" statements for that particular lesson.  Last year my sheet looked pretty boring....this year....oh yeah!! It looks awesome!

Then it is time to start.  Before we jump into the meat of our lesson, I like to have a "warm up" period.  I do the same in my guided reading group.  (I do much better with a set routine, so I figure that they do too! ) Our warm-up begins with some type of dot-card.  Sometimes it is tens frames dot cards, two colored dot cards, or just one colored dot cards. 

The warm up continues but with some daily guided math sheets that Natalie and I created.  We wanted to practice/review skills that we had previously worked on.  But we wanted it to be quick.  We thought the best way to do this was to come up with templates that we could use every single day but with different problems.  We also wanted to be able to use them with different groups, meaning the problems on them could be easy or hard, depending on the group level. So we did.  We came up with a binder full of them :)

We created sheets for:
Telling Time
Geometry
10 more/less
1 more/less
Multiples of 10
Place Value
Missing Part
Story Problem
Fact Families
3 Addends
T/F Equations
Data/Graphs 

We put all the sheets that we made into sheet protectors.  This way we could write on them and erase them quickly.  We really wanted this to be quick.

Each week we would look at the skills that we had previously taught and the skills that students were still struggling to grasp.  Those would be the "quick" sheets that we would do during this time.  Typically, I would do about 2 to 4 sheets a day.  But it all depended on how much time we had to spend on each sheet/problem.

Here is an example: if my group was struggling with missing addend.  Then we would work on that sheet during this "warm up" time.  I would write the problem on the sheet with dry erase marker.  Then I would hold up the binder for my group to see.  They would solve the problem on their own, using a strategy that worked for them.  After they had their time to think, they would either tell me the answer to write in or they would write it in with the marker.  We would discuss the different strategies used to find the answer.

Another sheet that I did use just about every day was number identification.  They got really good at this and we could complete the sheet quickly and with very little think time.

 Then there were other sheets that I used periodically because it came pretty easily for them, but I wanted to ensure that they did retain the material over time.

Once our warm-up/review sheets were completed, we jumped right in!  Our guided math lesson went in to full swing.  I always teach the skill, we do it together, and then they do it on their own.  My guided reading lessons follow a very set routine.  But guided math is different.  My lessons are sometimes games, sometimes partner work, sometimes they create something.  It just depends on the skill and the best way to teach it.

But my warm-up routine is one part of our group that remains constant and is never skipped.  I really found that my students truly learned from each other during this period in the group.  The dot cards and sheets really allowed my students to have good conversations about how they solved the problems.  I would watch, over time, students tried out new strategies because they saw someone else in the group using it.  Because of this, the confidence in the group would strengthen and they got really good at these quick sheets!  I was able to create more challenging problems, since the templates are blank.

This was a really positive change that we made to our guided math groups and I will use them again this year.  I even added some more!

But I am always looking to better to my skills.  How do you set up your guided math group routine?