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.