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.

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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

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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.