Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Introducing Math



I have made it through my very first days as a 3rd grade teacher...and I am pooped!  The tininess of my students amazes me.  Moving from 4th grade to 3rd grade is a bigger adjustment than I thought it would be.  I am having to make sure I give instructions in smaller chunks and realizing how much less independent they are.  I am learning a lot though!  As I have mentioned before, my state has adopted and adapted the Math Common Core Standards.  My county has started the journey of training us in AMSTI (Alabama Math Science Technology Initiative) in math.  We got the Pearson Investigation Units and a whole lot of manipulatives.  I think it is always important to give kids time to play with new materials before you try to teach them how to use them as learning tools.  So today that is what we did.  I set up a few different stations around the room (unifix cubes, pattern blocks, small white boards, etc) and broke my kids into groups so they could explore.  We also practiced our station behavior before and during our exploration time.  We practiced walking from station to station silently, cleaning up after ourselves, working together, and staying on task.  After stations were all cleaned up, I asked the students to write in their math journals about how we behave and move during stations.  Students were then encouraged to share their writing under our Elmo (document camera).  I think this was a very valuable way to spend our time today.  I took some pictures of the kiddos exploring the materials and reading today.






6 comments:

  1. I too teach in Alabama. I teach 4th grade language arts. Best wishes in moving to third! If you have a chance, I'd love for you to visit my blog. I am having a giveaway for some owl posters.

    Kelly
    Teaching Fourth

    ReplyDelete
  2. Welcome to 3rd! Looks like you're doing great! :)
    Can't wait to meet my new group!

    Michelle

    ReplyDelete
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    Jayme and Val

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  4. Zandria Wright 2nd Grade TeacherNovember 23, 2014 at 8:12 PM

    Hello, I teach in Georgia where we have the Common Core and Georgia Performance standards which forms the CCGPS. I enjoy how you allow students to use manipulative objects to assist in understanding math. You also mentioned how you scaffold your curriculum by breaking it down for students to successfully achieve the standards.

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  5. Differentiated instruction is being used in this activity which gives students task based on their on levels to succeed.

    ReplyDelete
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