Great Articles on Differentiating the Process

• http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&sqi=2&ved=0CDwQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fteachingasleadership.org%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2FRelated-Readings%2FIPD_Ch8_2011.pdf&ei=zUotUf3zIeH0iwL_tIHABg&usg=AFQjCNGfc_zyuGugtoTvFgWLqeMgUyUH-A&s

  Great article on Differentiation

• Differentiation in a Third Grade Math Class

• A Teacher's Guide to Differentiating Instruction | Education.com

  • While most would agree it is impractical to try to individualize every lesson for every child, research has shown that teaching to the middle is ineffective.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Group Work

Our group continues to meet on Eluminate. We are meeting again Wednesday to come up with a plan for the second group project. It has been wonderful to get to know my classmates while working on the projects together. Eluminate is a great tool where we can all talk and discuss things we want to do. Not only do we work on our projects, but we get to pick each other’s minds on other class assignments as well as our own teaching experiences. I definitely feel that I have a Professional Learning Network!

More Challenges for My Students

In reading through the resources I found this week about differentiating, I came to the conclusion that I need to provide more challenges for my students with higher abilities. I think independent projects would be a good way to do this. Some projects related to topics we are studying in science would work well. Right now I have some students working on posters giving examples of renewable and nonrenewable resources. A way to make this even better would be for them to make use technology to explain or define topics. They could make brochures or posters with a computer program. Using Xtranormal may be a fun way for students to show what they know. In fact, while reflecting on these resources I decided to start one of my students on doing an Xtranormal cartoon to explain about nonrenewable resources. A couple of good resources that helped me come to this conclusion are below: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&sqi=2&ved=0CDwQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fteachingasleadership.org%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2FRelated-Readings%2FIPD_Ch8_2011.pdf&ei=zUotUf3zIeH0iwL_tIHABg&usg=AFQjCNGfc_zyuGugtoTvFgWLqeMgU Differentiation in a Third Grade Math Class A Teacher’s Guide to Differentiating Instruction | Education.com

Differentiation in My Class

I guess I do quite of bit of differentiation in my class right now. A lot of it is made easier with technology. Accelerated Math from Renaissance Place is great for differentiation. All students work on their own objectives from a grade level library. In my third grade I have some in the 2nd grade, most in the third, and one so far in the 4th. The program keeps track for me of who has mastered which objectives and who needs help on certain ones. They work on practice problems, put their answers on a card, and scan the card into the program with a special scanner. I print them tests for objectives they are ready to test on and exercises for those they need more help on. Another program we use is Study Island. Study Island is all done online. It is aligned to the Alaska GLE’s as well as Common Core. Students do the work online and earn blue ribbons for sections they pass. Each student can work at his or her own pace. I also have students in 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade level on this program. Math fact leaning is also differentiated. I have a checklist with the students and the facts (x1, x2, x3, etc.). Each person moves on to the next one once they have passed. We do one minute written timings to test their skill. I noticed a few students that seemed to know the facts, but weren’t finishing the timings. I test them orally when this happens and check them off if they know them. To practice, students have the written tests, flashcards, and computer games. The computer games are used when they are done with their work. Some students are not getting to do the computer games. I need to fix this and ensure that all get the chance to practice their math facts through games. Those that aren’t getting to the games, may be the ones it may benefit the most.

Methods and Tools Im Taking Away to Try

Wow! There have been so many wonderful resources shared so far. The trick has been to go through them to find ones that will work for my third grade class. The first thing I found that I wanted to use with my class was Xtranormal. I used it to do my introduction. You can make a cartoon say whatever you type in as well as give it body movements. There is a monthly fee, so I am waiting until the beginning of next month to get the best use out of it. I would like them to use it to give an explanation of a topic we are working on. (I just haven’t decided for sure what that will be.) I did use a Learning Style Inventory that I found online with my class. This has reminded me of the importance of incorporating different learning styles into my teaching. The one I used at http://www.berghuis.co.nz/abiator/lsi/lsitest1.html was useful in that it was one that my elementary students could understand. However, they took it separately and the results were not stored online. I had to record the results once they got them. School Circuit is a free online gradebook that parents and students can access. I have set up a class and am in the process of figuring out how to enter grades, get parents signed up, etc. I have made an account on DropBox and Evernote. I have not, however, gotten as far as figuring out how to use either with my class. Baby steps… Looking back over my blog, I just noticed that earlier I was interested in MasteryConnect. A way to keep track of students’ progress on mastering the Common Core standards. I’ve got to get back on that as it looked very promising and I was interested in it enough to write about it. This blog may serve as a great reminder for myself on the different things that I want to try. I need to start with one thing and see how that goes, decide whether I want to keep using it for my class, and then work on something new. It is too hard to try more than one thing at a time for me. I get distracted by something else I want to try and end up not really trying the one thing out before going onto something new. Note to self for the week: Try one new thing at a time!!! Now, which to try first??

DVD to learn math facts set to physical activity

This looks like a fun and great resrouce for helping kinesthetic learners learn their math facts and get in some good exercise as well!

 

 

• Order

  math facts with physical exercises

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Multiplication Classical Math To Classical Music - Sing'nLearn -Homeschool curriculum

I just orderd this CD.  There are some samples on the wevsite of the songs.  I hope this helps my students with their mulitplication facts.  As a plus, they learn about famous composers and their music!

 

 

• Multiplication Classical Math To Classical Music - Sing'nLearn -Homeschool curriculum

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Learning Styles

• Learning Styles

•  

• Here's a couple of good sties on how to incorporate learning styles (auditory, visual, kinesthetic) for learning math facts. 

  • Auditory

     

    Auditory learners often need all the facts in place to learn. If you answer what for them they are happiest. These children like to be given an outline to follow, with things done properly and in order. They also enjoy hearing the facts vocalized.

     

     

     

    Visual
    

     

    Visual learners often need to know why. Generally, if they know why they need to know something, they will buckle down and learn it. They prefer to see the information. Their learning preference is satisfied because they see the facts.

     

     

     

    Kinesthetic
    

     

    The kinesthetic learners need to use their bodies in the learning process. They like to know how. Having your kinesthetic child incorporate movement keeps them content while they are seeing and listening to the information being presented.

• Ideas on Teaching Fractions in Third Grade Using Differentiated Instruction

  • Varied Learning Styles

    Visual Learners

    Visual learners learn best by seeing. Provide the visual learners in your classroom with colorful illustrations and graphics while they are learning fractions. Differentiate a lesson on comparing fractions by allowing these students to select from colored pencils or crayons to shade in fraction strips. Use lots of visual aids when working with these types of learners. Sandwich bags filled with colorful candy, snap cubes and counting bears are all useful manipulatives to keep on-hand.

    Auditory Learners

    Auditory learners learn best by hearing. Help the auditory learners in your class to develop poems and chants that can aid in their understanding of third grade fraction concepts. Be prepared to give oral directions to these types of students and encourage them to verbalize their steps as they complete tasks such as identifying equivalent fractions. Auditory learners may particularly benefit from working in pairs or in small groups where they can speak and interact with classmates.

    Kinesthetic Learners

    Kinesthetic learners learn best by doing. Give these students plenty of opportunities to participate in hands-on activities like cutting out fraction strips for comparing, adding and subtracting fractions. Allow time for them to physically demonstrate parts of a group using their own bodies. Give them the chance to get up and move in between assignments. Fraction games that involve using manipulatives are great for your kinesthetic learners.

     

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Learning Week 4

Our group has met a couple times on Eluminate. Our project is starting to take on some form as we try to figure out exactly how we want to do it. We each have assigned rolls. I am working with analyzing a learning style inventory that I did with my third grade class. Right now I am working on figuring out what the results mean for my class and how I can use them to make my students’ class experience even better. I enjoy meeting with my group as we discuss not only our project, but questions we have about other topics as well. I find that this way, where there is only a few of us, and one conversation (or possibly two if one is in the chat box) going on at a time, suits my learning style much better. I continue to check out Twitter (by way of Tweet Deck) at least once a day to see what is being said. I do find some links to some great resources. It is kind of hit and miss however, since it’s hard to have much of a review or explanation on Tweets for me to know if it’s something that would pertain to my situation. I also read several blogs. It’s enjoyable to read the different writing styles of the authors. I have found some that I really enjoy. I don’t always get to the newspaper every day, but when I do there is usually a blog or something that I get good information from. I am learning a lot from my learning network. One thing I need to work on is commenting more when I find something useful that someone has shared. I do comment some, but I think this is one area that I could improve on in the MOOC. I hope that I am providing some good resources that are helpful to others as well.

Resources "In the Cloud"

I am in the process of setting up an account on School Circuit. It is a free online gradebook that students and parents can access. I am hoping that it will be a great resource for parents to see how their child is doing on weekly spelling and math tests, as well as to see if they are caught up on their reading and math points. I know that some students don’t bring their tests home after they get them back. I am hoping that it will also be a great place to share study guides and test dates for other tests. I was disappointed that there wasn’t more information about what the program does before having to sign up and enter in students. What would be fantastic if there was a resource that would send out an email to parents when a new grade is added. That way they would be reminded to check it. There would only be a few each week so they wouldn’t be bombarded with emails. Once set up, I will go over it with my students so that they can see where their grades for different things are recorded. I believe that this will make them more accountable for their own work. They can see that the scores matter and don’t just go away if they throw out their tests. Most don’t understand the concept of averages, but they do know that the closer to 100% you are, the better you are doing. Our middle and high school use Powerschool for a gradebook that students and parents can access. As a parent, I find it very helpful in seeing what my kids need to be working on. In our elementary school, we only use it for attendance and lunch counts. Except for a few items, our system doesn’t really do “grades.” Which is why, I assume, that we don’t have access to the gradebook feature of Powerschool. I do use grades (percentages) for several things: weekly spelling tests, weekly math tests, and content area tests. It would be extremely helpful if I found a program that parents can keep up on how their children are doing with respect to the AR and AM points. They are to get a minimum of 2 points per week on each starting in 2nd grade. Reports that show the points don’t always make it home. I am hoping to find a solution with some of the resources from this week. Study Island is a great resource that kids can use at school or at home. They work through objectives and earn blue ribbons when they have shown that they know the material. They get to see their blue ribbons and I give them a prize when they finish a certain amount. I have checked out some of the other sites that others’ have posted on their blogs and/or on Twitter. I have an account for Dropbox, but see that so far as more of a resource for myself and my colleagues. My third graders do not have their own computers, laptops, or ipads so it is difficult to use these programs with them. I have looked at Evernote, also. That looks like a great resource as well, just not one I would be using with my third graders. I need to look into it more to see all that it does. It looks very promising though

Group Meeting

Our group luckily has Eluminate to meet on. It has served us well in the past, and I hope that it is a successful way to work on our assignment. We have also exchanged phone numbers and are communicating with group texts. This works well because most people get texts more often than they check the wiki, Twitter, or other pages.

Another Technology Tool for Tracking and Managing

A site that I have looked at that someone suggested is Masteryconnect.com. It appears to be a way to track students’ mastery on core curriculum standards. I see that it has ways to score and assess with a smart phone , tablet, or with a document camera into a computer. It looks very promising. It even has a free version to try out. I am going to sign up and see how it works. This could be really helpful as we move toward the Common Core curriculum. A teacher version is available for $159/year and school for $6.00/student.

Technology tools to manage and track differentiated students’ progress in my classroom.

Technology tools to manage and track differentiated students’ progress in my classroom. One program that we use that does a great job is Accelerated Math. It has different libraries of objectives. In my third grade class I have some working in the 2nd grade library, the majority in the third, and right now one in the 4th grade. Within those libraries, students are working on different objectives. Students work problems and put their answer on a scan card that gets scanned into the computer. The computer will flag for me if they are struggling with a certain objective. It also tells me when they are ready to test on objectives. Study Island is an online program where students work on problem in reading and math that are correlated with the GLE for each grade. They earn blue ribbons once they have mastered an objective. It is a great program for them to track how they are doing. I am able to see at a glance how the class is doing as well. I am still researching other sites that can be used to track and manage student progress. I really would like to find a site that helps them track their own progress in an efficient and useful way.

Week Three Learning

This week I learned much from others blogs to help me find tools to manage and track differentiated students. On blogs, not only was I was able to get ideas of specific programs and descriptions of them, but I was helped out in understanding what it meant. On Twitter, I found many recommendations of sites to check out. Google Reader has been a great help. It is easy to read new posts on the blogs I have added to it. While reading others’ posts, I was struck at how important it is for students to track their own progress. Of course, it’s something I’ve always known, but have not used it as much as I should in class. After reading about students self assessing, I came up with some ideas that I could use in my class. The students are able to see their progress on programs like Accelerated Math and Study Island. On Accelerated Math, they know when they’ve master objectives, but I think I know a way it could mean more to them. They have a folder that they keep their Accelerated Math work in. I was thinking that they could have a list of the library of objectives they are working on. They could check off as they master them. This would give them more incentive to get those objectives mastered. We do have a chart where they put up stickers each time they master one, but it isn’t tied to specific objectives. Accelerated Math is technology based, and it gives me a great and easy way to track how the students are doing. The students themselves do not have access to the reports that I do. So even though checking it off on paper isn’t very technological, it goes with a program that is. Our school has been talking about getting iPads for student use. If and when they do get them, I’m sure I could find easy ways for them to track it on there. I am excited to find out how this affects their motivation for learning. Our Wiki group is starting to get ideas on how to organize our page. I saw on one of the videos on our class page how to organize it, but haven’t figured out how to do it yet. That will be what we work on.