End Word Problem Panic!

If there is one thing that can tie kids in a knot, it's word problems. You know there's a problem when you mention the term "word problem" and everyone in your class gets that "deer in headlights" look. It doesn't have to be that way. With some easy to follow steps, and a little practice, you can help your students cut word problems down to size.

The first thing to do is calm their fear. I told my students that a word problem is like a puzzle. All it takes is a few simple steps to cut them down to size, and solve the puzzle. Let's look at steps that can make those word problems super simple.

Steps for Making Word Problems Make Sense: 

1. Read the problem twice: don't skimp on this one! Many times people think they know what to do after reading it once, but when they read it again they find out they are mistaken. If students can restate the problem in their own words, that helps too.
    Teaching hint: I like to have students get into pairs once they have read the problem twice and discuss how to say it in their own words together. It only take a couple of minutes.

2. Dicide which sentence tells what the problem is asking you to figure out. Underline that sentence.

3. Decide what information in the problem will help you figure out the answer.
    Teaching hint: It's import for students to know how to disregard information that is thrown in there to trick them. It's also a necessary skill when taking standardized tests.

4. Dicide on a strategy to help you visualize the problem using only the needed information. Some strategies to consider are:  make a picture, make a table, guess and check, use logical reasoning, work backwards, find a pattern.
     Teaching hint: This is the step that doesn't use an equation. Instead it encourages students to see the problem in a different way to help them make sense of what is going on. There is a worksheet to use with your students below in google.drive.

5.  Write the word problem equation.  Are there any key words in the question that give you a clue what operation to use?
      Teaching hint: This is a good time to display an anchor chart with key math phrases that give students a clud about what to do. Include words such as:
a.  addition: combine, together, total, plus, altogether, increase
b. subtraction: difference, decrease, left, more than, less than, remain
c. multiplication: times, each, product
d. division: quotient, share something equally, each, separate

6. Solve the problems showing your work. It is a word problem, so be sure to label it.

7. Check your answer. Don't skip this one! Using the reverse operation is always a great way to check your answer. The goal is to have a fact family that works. For example, for an addition problem use subtraction to check:  3 + 4 = 7   check: 7 - 4 = 3     For multiplication use division to check

There are two freebies to print and put in the math notebook to help students remember the steps below, as well as a visualization worksheet.

The freebies below can be downloaded in google.drive by clicking the link below the picture.

Click Here

Thank you Dancing Crayon for the terrific shape on this sheet. 

www.DancingCrayon.com

Below are a couple of sheets that can be added to the math notebook. There are two on each sheet to save on printing.

Click Here

Hope your students loose that "deer in headlights" look with these hints.

Do you need a few Word Problem Resources to help end the "Panic"?  Check out:

     

What's the Deal With Tiered Activities in Social Studies?

Meeting the needs of all learners in a classroom can be enough to rattle the brain of any teacher. It gets a LOT easier using tiered activities. Each group of students comes at an assignment from a different direction, offering more learning for everyone! It's a differentiated instruction strategy that really works!

What is Tiered Instruction?

Tiered activities are parallel tasks that vary in difficulty, and abstractness and use different levels of support and direction. Basically, it allows students of different levels of readiness to work towards the same goal (understanding) in a way that is most useful for them. Below is a quick and easy way to understand how to construct a tiered activity for your classroom.

Why use Tiered Instruction?

It's the Goldilocks idea: Students work on assignments that are neither too hard, nor too easy, but instead are just right.

Keep in mind:

1. When dividing students into tier groups, students are NOT put into ability groups. Students are clustered according to their readiness and comprehension of the particular material being presented. They may be in a group that needs more support for one activity, and a group that needs less support for another area that interests them more.

2.  Tier groups do different assignments as teachers using Bloom's Taxonomy as a guide to building the assignments.  One group who needs reinforcement will do an activity that builds understanding, another group that understands the material will do an activity to extend what they already know. All groups use different assignments to achieve understanding of the same material.

3. If you know your group's multiple intelligences, you can also use that information to form groups. One group would use bodily/kinesthetic to make a short skit, another visual group might make a poster.

4.  Make sure to make each tier activity interesting and engaging. The more flexible you are in grouping students each time, the more students will accept a variety of assignments as the norm. In other words, if students see the grouping as "the smart kids" and "the dumb kids" they will not take kindly to tiered grouping.

5. Start with key concepts, skills and ideas you want all students to know. Make sure each activity meets those goals.

5. Students share what they have learned or done with the class.

Let's take a look at a tiered activity for government:

Group one: Ask students to use the text book to make a Venn diagram comparing and contrasting the executive branch to the legislative branch of government. Include a sketch that would represent each branch with the diagram.

Group two: Ask student to use at least two resources to compare and contrast the judcial branch of government to the legislative branch. Students will construct a poster to show what they have learned.

Group three: Students will choose another country in the world and research its governmental structure. Ask students to construct a short skit that shows the similarities and differences between our country and the one they have chosen.

Group four: Ask students to use what they have learned about the United States governmental structure to create their own country. They must include a governmental structure, a constitution and symbols of the country.

You can tell from reading each tier, that it goes from easiers to more challenging. In sharing with the class what they have learned, all students benefit from the activities of the other.

Have you used tiered activities in your classroom? If so, tell about them below!

Why Does Cooperative Note-taking Work So Well?

If you want an activity that boosts learning for learning disabled, struggling students, English language learners as well as every other kid in your class, try cooperative note-taking! It's simple to do, and taps into every student's need to be social. It's a win-win!

Why does it work?

1. It allows for a quick turnaround of what is being learned. Knowledge has to be communicated to another person as soon as it is read.
2. It gives students an immediate way to rehearse and deeply process the information they are learning.
3. Long term memory requires rehearsal, reorganization, and elaboration of information. This is something kids don't usually get while it is fresh in their minds. With cooperative note-taking, it's required!
4. Students must go through the material a number of times, which means they are cognitively processing the information as they do the assignment.
5. Kids love it!

That, my friends, is the key that boosts learning!

With that, I have included a freebie to keep tucked away in your lesson plan book. When you have material that your students MUST learn, give it a try. I'm guessing you will use it often. All the steps you need are included in the freebie, plus evaluation ideas. Click on the link below the picture.

Click Here

Thanks to Graphics From the Pond for the dividers!!

http://frompond.blogspot.com

                                                       

Christmas FREEBIES!!!

The time before Christmas vacation is always a little crazy! Christmas vacation is about all the kids can think about.  To make those last days before vacation a little more sane for you, and more fun for kids as they review concepts, check out the Christmas games and activities you can get for FREE!  

I have created language arts freebies that might just keep you from pulling your hair out.  For many years I ended up almost bald before vacation, but that's beside the point.  The first is a language review freebie that has two language pages for each grade 1st-5th. It's great for differentiation and lots of review. The second is a homophone game. Kids NEVER get enough practice using those homophones! Enjoy and have a great vacation!!

Filled with fun language pages that even Santa would love!

Click on the picture for your freebie

 

Use this homophone game in centers, or for partner games!

Click on the picture for your freebie!

If you enjoy the freebies, be sure and check out my Christmas Survival Kit for teachers in my store. Check out: 

Strategies to Help the Struggling Reader

We all have had the student (or students!) who refuse to read, are frustrated by even the simplest task, and labor over every assignment. It's impossible to know all of the put-downs from other students this child has endured, or get into their head to know what they are thinking, but we can get a clue from their behavior. Poor reading skills impacts all areas of a child's life. When you think about struggling readers, usually the first thing that comes to mind is trouble with reading...right?  But other behaviors are just as likely to signify a reader who is struggling. Have you ever had a student who showed these behaviors?

What Does It Look Like?

Misbehavior...often students who struggle with reading revert to misbehavior as a cover. If they misbehave they won't have to read, if they misbehave no one will know.

Thinks he/she is stupid...This student thinks the assignment is stupid, the reading is stupid, and you're stupid.  What he/she is really afraid of is that they are stupid.

Says it is boring...If it's boring and he/she struggles reading, maybe you'll think they just don't care, not that they just can't?

Confused, says he/she cannot understand...This student is showing exactly what is going on, he or she really doesn't understand at all.

What to Do:

First, evaluate the student for his/her listening comprehension level to asses the actual comprehension skill level. If there is a big gap between the listening comprehension score and the silent reading comprehension score, then strategies need to kick in quickly to help with reading skills.

NEVER force the student to read aloud in front of the class...as he/she feels more confident this will happen.

Use oral or video learning activities to supplement at least some of the written work.

Provide books for the reader that are easy for him/her to read regardless of grade level. My experience has been that reading easy material helps not only to decrease the stress of reading, but improves fluency. I tell my students that reading easy books will help them read harder books more quickly. The key is to read a lot, a whole lot!

Which brings me to...Reinforce that the only way to become a better reader is to read more. Then make sure books the student can read and enjoy are available.

Arrange for the student to read easy books to younger students. It makes him/her the "expert".

There are lots of web sites that students can use to help increase reading skills. Once you diagnose a skill need, google the skill to find a game/site that helps the student work on it. Games work a whole lot better than drill, drill, drill!

Ask students to draw simple stick figures to show information/ flow of the story rather than words all of the time.

Make use of reader's theater. Practicing a reader's theater part that is on the student's reading level gives him/her the opportunity to be excited about learning new words/strategies for a preformance. Doing this in guided reading is especially helpful, then present to the whole class.

How to do it In the Guided Reading Group:

1. Word work, word work, word work! With a struggling reader it is imperative to make sure they know how the letters work together. I have had third graders who have missed this entirely. Check to make sure they know when vowels are long and short, know letter blend sounds, prefixes and suffixes and how they impact words and also understand homophones. If you teach third grade or higher you may be thinking this is silly, but believe me it is not. Some students have missed the basic phonics skills and need to have direct instruction to learn them. Direct lessons on these skills can easily be included in guided reading using the selected text.

2. Work on new content words for any new selection. Don't skimp on this step, for the struggling reader it is vital. Ask students to write new words down, and discuss the meaning. Get with a partner and read the words to each other. Ask students to make up sentences using the word and/or draw a picture to show what the word means. This step will take more time with struggling readers than with competent readers. Rather than using multiple choice tests with these students, use short writing, drawings and verbal discussion which are much more effective.  When finished reading ask students to write a very short summary of the text using at least one of the new words.

3. When you teach skills and strategies. Don't just "cover" them with this group. Make sure they really know each one through lots of practice and teacher assessment. Keep in mind that struggling readers needs lots of structure and support at this point. Practice is imperitive as each skill/strategy is taught.

4. Prediction is very important with struggling readers. It helps students use their own schema and share ideas with the whole group, rather than alone. This gives needed support to struggling readers. Ask students what words they would expect to find in the selection. Ask students to skim the selection to find any bold faced words, or titles that may include ideas/words that will be covered in the selection. Predict throughout the reading.

5. Read the selection silently. I use the sticky note flags (small, thin, comes in many colors, sticky on one end) and allow students to put them by any word that causes difficulty in the text. These sticky note flags are reusable. Mine are good for at least a month of use. After silent reading go back and discuss any of these words with the group. Click here to see what I'm talking about.

6. Read the selection orally as a group (you might choose to read it to students on occasion as they follow along). Choral reading is a good way to support the struggling reader as they know if they "flub up" no one will notice.  Then allow students to get a buddy and read a chosen paragraph to each other.  When guided reading is finished I usually tell students to go back to their seats and choose one page to really practice and get perfect, then find a buddy and read that page to them orally.

7. The selection will then go into the review reading basket of past guided reading materials that are kept for rereading before each guided reading session begins. All guided reading groups should start with at least 5 minutes of rereading of past guided reading materials.

Finally

Get in touch with parents and impress upon them the importance of ready easy-to-read books at home daily. The best readers, are readers who have read more. It's not magic, it's persistance.

If guided reading has got you down, be sure and check out:

It's Time for Guided Reading, Now What Do I Do?

Maps! Videos, Freebies and More!

I love to teach about maps! It's hands-on, requires LOTS of pictures and kids love it! I've got a great map and globe freebie just for your classroom, plus videos, games....you name it! If it helps teach kids about maps, it's here!

This is great to begin and end a map unit...quickly goes over the main terms in song. Fun

                            

Need a good video on latitude and longitude?  Don't miss this one! It's very clear and easy to understand.

            

This is a great site...it includes videos for the use of color on a map, parts of a map, and so much more.

Click Here

AND....a few games!

Learn about map features and play a game at the same time! Love this one called "Adventure Island" by National Geographic!!!

Click Here

This great game reinforces longitude and latitude skills.

Click Here

Do you have a SmartBoard? Don't miss this free activity! It is about symbols and keys.

Click Here

Now for that FREEBIE!

If you are about to teach about map grids don't miss this freebie! It includes one teaching sheet and two student worksheets with grading keys! Click on the link below the picture!

Click Here for the Freebie!

To look over the resource the freebie comes from, Click on the picture below:

If you want TONS of great ideas and freebies for your classroom, be sure to follow me at:

Dragons Den Cirriculum on Pinterest

Writing-The Math Strategy that Works

If you really want your students to remember those math concepts, there's one sure-fire way to get it done.....writing! By the way, this is true for any other subject too.
It's all about the brain, baby!

Why Does Writing Help Understanding ?      

1. The act of writing helps the brain take in, process, retain and retrieve information.

2. By writing, students gain comfort with, and success in understanding unfamiliar concepts, difficult material, and vocabulary related to subject matter.

3. Writing that is embeded into math (or the curriculum in general) helps the brain to focus attentively, boosts long-term memory, shows patterns and gives the brain time to reflect.

Why does this happen?

1. The fear of making mistakes in front of classmates is a big source of anxiety for kids, so it impacts learning. When writing individually that fear is taken away, and students can express their ideas without the fear that sometimes limits classroom participation. This happens because information must pass through the amygdala, which is an emotional filter for the brain. High stress impacts this part of the brain. In fact, when a student is under great stress the amygdala directs information to the lower reactive brain. Here the information is not retrievable because memories cannot be formed. The result---that math lesson just went down the drain, (actually, down the brain LOL).

2.  Writing relieves boredom. It helps to reduce the neural processing blockades that result when a student feels bored. Writing causes the student to be personally engaged and allows creativity of expression.

3.  Writing helps the brain to recognize, construct and extend patterns. When writing is used to make sense of graphic organizers, graphs and information, it gives the memory another pathway to understanding.

4. Writing helps to develop critical thinking skills while giving students the opportunity to include personal experience into writing. Including personal experience makes learning more meaningful.

What kinds of writing can be used?

1. Jounaling

2. Newspaper editorials

3. Math notebooks

4. Math autobiography...what has been your best/worst experiences with math?

5. One minute paper...to quickly write about a particular concept

6. Create a word problem

7. Write to ask/answer questions (sticky notes are good for this and fun to use)

8. Write creatively to explain math in new ways. For example use math poetry, math mad libs, math comics, or even make a math love letter from one number or operation to another

9. Write to inform others...write step-by-step strategies or description of math vocabulary

10. Write a letter about a math concept

11. Translate an equation into every-day language.

Need some writing prompts?

1. How are the numbers 20 and 200 alike? How are they different?

2. How many measurements describe you? (weight, shirt size etc.)

3. Explain how you could add 436 + 426 in your head.

4. Write a story problem that can not be solved because there is not enough information.

5. How do you use math in your life?

6. Describe money in your own words.

7. If you could be any number, what would it be?  Why?

8. Make an add promoting your favorite shape. Why should other people like it too? Write a poem about that shape.

9. Estimate how many kids are in your school. How do you go about making that estimate.

10. How do your parents use math?

11. In your own words, define parallel.

12. How do you know that 1/4 is less than 1/3?

13. What was the main idea in today's lesson?

14. What is a decimal?

15. What is multiplication?

16. When would you use multiplication (decimals, division etc.) in real life?

That's enough to get you started...let those creative juices flow! If you can think of another good prompt, please include it in the comments section!

Ideas for this post adapted from:
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/writing-executive-function-brain-research-judy-willis
Education World