Classroom Activities
Guided Instruction and Modeling
When I start a lesson I usually have students be aware of the lesson objective and the expected learning outcome. Once students understand the expectations of the lesson I will begin my guided instruction and modeling. It is important that I provide examples of how to use the place value chart and number line to help them understand whole numbers and decimal fractions. I incorporate modeling and reviewing in our daily lesson to support long term memory of the concept taught. My students need plenty of visual instruction for them to comprehend.
I plan to make the lessons interactive and implement time for group and partner discussions to build understanding and vocabulary. The more interested and engaged students are, and the more interactive each learning session is, the more students will enjoy, learn from and retain information from the lesson.
To further engage students in learning concepts I plan to use math videos as a supplemental learning tool. Video provides a means of interactive instruction and is a very flexible medium. Having the ability to stop, start and rewind which is absolutely imperative for me during my instruction. It provides the option to stop each video and challenge students to predict the outcome of a demonstration, and elaborate on the math procedure. I also have the option to rewind a section of the video to review a segment to ensure that my students understand the key concept. Using videos is a good strategy but I know it’s important to select the right video for each lesson to align with your instructional outcome. I have found several good videos on base 10 model, place value, using number lines, adding and subtracting (whole numbers, decimals and money), and estimating. Also, our school has bought math programs to support our students which include; Reflex Math, Adapted Minds, Envision (includes Virtualnerd.com), STAR Math (Accelerated Math), and Gizmo. I plan to use these programs to supplement my instruction, as independent practice or as an intervention tool. Another site I occasionally use to supplement my instruction is mathplayground.com, which has a few good instructional videos. I emphasize to my students that several of these sites are free websites and they are allowed to use them as tutorials.
In this unit I will be instructing five lessons in the strand of number system:
- Place Value – whole numbers, place value, and decimals to the hundredth. To develop further understanding of place value concepts, my activities will involve concrete models (place value mats, place value chart, and number lines), and practice using place value language orally; and illustrations; and will develop connections to real world situations with numbers at school, home, and community to make learning meaningful.
- Procedural computation of addition and subtraction – using the strategy for adding and subtracting using expanded base 10 form. In this lesson I will be using guided instruction and modeling. Students will use a whiteboard to practice as they learn the concept. Think pair share strategy will be implemented as a discussion tool during the instruction.
- Decimal fractions – When I am instructing this lesson I will be using place value and the number line to support student’s conceptual understanding of decimal fractions. This lesson is an important math concept for students to learn; for them understand the connection of decimal and fraction. In this lesson I will be implementing more video clips and power points for visual instruction. Interactive notebook strategy will also be utilized to reinforcement understanding. Hands on activities and grouping will be incorporated to engage students as they learn the concept of decimal fractions.
- Connecting Decimals to money – Using real world context to help students understand the concept of money. In this lesson we will use real world situations such as shopping, selling goods, and household budget.
- Estimation and basic error in connection to the concept of money –Using real world situations with money, students will have a better understanding of the amount of error when rounding to the nearest whole number and to the nearest tenth. This is for numbers between 1 and 10. In general, it would be to one digit, or to 2 digits.
Math Interactive Notebook
Using math interactive notebooks and math journals in the classroom helps my students learn math vocabulary and is a great way to reinforce math problem solving skills. With this activity I have students partner up to work together in completing their vocabulary entries in their math interactive notebook. Each entry usually takes 45 minutes to complete since we make each template from scratch. Have students write the title: The Basics of Place Value. Students are partnered to discuss and share ideas as they complete their task. In their entries they will show a place value chart which flips up to reveal the values of each place. Next, students will explain the meaning of place value versus the value of a whole number. Then students will explain the meaning of standard form, expanded form, and word form. The math interactive journal is used as a supplemental teaching tool throughout the unit to reinforce concepts being taught. Alongside the interactive journal activity the think pair share strategy will be implemented to enhance understanding and usage of math vocabulary. The interactive journal is a great way to have students engaged in their learning by completing anchor charts to enhance their understanding using visual props such as number lines, place value chart, vocabulary foldables, step by step procedures in solving problems, and other important fundamental components of math. This strategy will be utilized throughout the year because our students are visual and hands on learners. The journal helps students with homework and class assignments, which is part of their independent practice.
Independent Practice
Allowing students to practice what you taught them is probably the most important component of the lesson.
Students are expected to remember what to do or how to do something, so they must have the opportunity to practice what they learned. Without a good deal of independent practice, my students may be able to remember for several hours how to do the concept they learned or they may even remember it next day, but chances are they will forget by the next week. So providing independent practice right after each lesson is important. Also, allowing students to work out problems or answer questions on their own improves the chances that the information will be transferred into long-term memory. There are several ways I use to incorporate independent practice in the classroom; practice on individual whiteboards, group activities, peer tutoring, presentations, homework sheets, independent practice sheets, and math puzzles. I try to implement at least two of these strategies each week to give my students an opportunity to practice what they learned. When my students are completing class assignments, I use my formative assessment strategy of observation and monitoring to check on their progress. If a student is struggling, I will give guided support to help that student complete their assignment.
Relevant Project Ideas
I have several ideas for a project that students will be completing once the unit has been taught and the following is my list of ideas:
- A project board of how they connect their learning into their own real world situation.
- A shopping spree of x amount of dollars and how they use the concepts to connect to their spending.
- Role Play – of how they budget using their income and paying bills. How do the concepts you learned connect with this situation?
- In connection of content relevancy is to find out the profit vs. hours in making the jewelry. With this project students will be able to determine how much profit they would make when they sell their jewelry. Students will keep track of how many hours is spent on making their jewelry with their parents. The data will be recorded weekly and they will also keep track of their sales. Once we have compiled the data for at least two months we can start figuring out if the family is actually making a profit for their sales. I believe my students would enjoy this project because it has a home connection and they could include their parents in developing their data analysis. The parents would also be interested in the results.
Comments: