Stay safe (a story created by R)

Although we have access to ipads all the time in our classroom, we continue to develop awareness of different ways to assure they are being used most effectively.  Cautiously we examine apps to download and try to avoid those that mirror a 'gaming' focus.  Instead students are encouraged to use apps that allow them to research, to extend and record their thinking and learning, and to create.  Apps such as PuppetPals, Toontastic, Felt Board and Draw and Tell HD can be used to inspire story lines and lessons that contain important student driven messages to be shared with others.   

R created an important safety video on Draw and Tell.  The app allowed her to easily choose her background and characters and all were interactive (she was able to move them around as she talked).  One drawback of this app is she ran out of time recording so it had to be recorded in two parts. The video was then saved to photos on the ipad and then uploaded to you tube. 

Below is a conversation I had with her about her video.

MJ - Tell me about your video.

R - First I added the background, then I added the homes and then I start getting the little sticker things you can move around.

MJ - The animals?

R - Yeah and I added the bad guys, the police and the fire truck so they could get the babies out and bring them back home. 

MJ - I'm wondering what is your message?

R - To don't steal babies.  Don't leave your babies at home because this is what happens. 

MJ - So it is about being safe.

R - Take your babies to the grocery store if you're going out.  Don't leave them at home.  Good thing my mommy takes us to the grocery store with her.  She leaves R (brother) at home. 

MJ - Why do you think she leaves R at home?

R - I don't know but she tells him "don't open the door if anyone knocks".

MJ - R is quite a bit older than you isn't he?

R - Yeah.

MJ - You have created an important message about being safe.  

This is the ending to her video.  

R would love to receive comments about her video. 

Granny's Eggs

On one of her visits shortly after Easter weekend our math friend Ms. Maxwell talked about visiting her granny  Granny has chickens and loves to give their eggs to her friends.  The problem is, granny cannot ever remember how many eggs she needs to put in the carton.

Is there a way to make the carton friendlier so granny knows how many?

Team Jellybean eagerly took on the challenge of re-designing the carton to make it easier for granny to know how many.

Pairs of students (with similiar abilities and understanding) were initially given a full carton of eggs (plastic eggs).  As they worked with the carton manipulating the eggs, testing out different ideas, they discovered new ways to make the cartons friendlier. Students were encouraged to record initial information and a photo was taken of each new design.

KB - If you take 2 away then it would be 10

MJ - How do you know it’s 10?

KB - 5 and 5 makes 10.

MJ - So SB what would you tell granny?

SB - There’s 5 eggs at the top and 5 eggs on the bottom makes 10.

MJ - So maybe that would be more efficient for granny.

KB - Or if you take two more away (takes 2 off the top) it would be another number. 

SB - 8.

MJ - How do you know that’s 8? I look at that and think hmmmm.

SB - 5 and 3 makes 8.

MJ - Ah so still using that friendly 5.

KB - Or if you take these two (takes 2 away from bottom) it would be 6. 

MJ - Now you have a decision to make.  What do you think would be the best advice for granny?

KB - So it should be 11. Eleven is the easiest number because it comes before 12.  

MJ - Hmm as a mathematician I’m looking at that and I don’t think I would know it’s 11.  I’m getting confused.

KB - Or we could take two away to make 10. 

MJ - Which do you think would be most efficient SB?

SB - 10

MJ -  KB what one do you think would be most efficient for granny?

KB - 10.

MJ - What did you do there SB (he is recording as we talk).

SB - 5 and 5 makes 10.  (SB shows 5 and 5 makes 10 on his paper).

Students try to show their thinking using pictures, numbers and words. 

  Granny you could put 10 eggs in the carton.

When we met together as a group (math meeting) to share findings, students discovered that there were a number of different ideas. As pairs shared their thinking LF suggested we show the information using a 'string' (CL had already done this on his paper!).

*Note: Talking with my colleague Ms. Maxwell (who happens to be my mathematician friend) about this terminology, we decided it is actually an open number line students are using and not a string.  I will refer to it as an open number line for the rest of this post and will need to re-visit this idea with my students. 

As students talked I recorded exactly what they were saying.  Take a look at the first carton design and how student #2 explained his thinking.  I was in a bit of a dilemma here as this is exactly the way SB provided his information and nobody questioned it at the time.  Students are always encouraged to try to explain their thinking ("How many?" "How do you see it?"), skills we practice when using dot plates, quantity number line and rekenrek.  In this case,   I re-voiced what he had said (one of the talk moves) to assure SB his idea had been heard and to see if SB or anyone else might question the thinking.  

MJ - So SB, you said 4 and 1 makes 5 and 4 and 1 makes 10.
SB - And 5 and 5 makes 10

The following day we worked together again on the SMARTboard, having students pretend they were granny and sharing their thinking about a carton that wasn’t theirs. 

Cartons were captured on the SMARTboard using the document camera and students were invited to share their thinking.  

MJ - CB if you were granny what would you see?
CB - 5 and 5 makes 10.
MJ - Can you show us? Use the marker and show us where your eyes are looking. (CB circles top row of eggs and then bottom row of eggs)
MJ - CB has gone for bigger groups.  She’s got 2 big groups.  What do you think about that?
RH - It’s 8.
MJ - What would you say to CB?
(CB tags and counts 1 to 8 as RH says this).
CB - It’s 8. 
RH - Because if you took 4 away and then 4 more ..... 2 more 4’s that makes 8. 
MJ - SB what are you thinking?
SB - 8
MJ - How do you know it’s 8?
SB - There’s 4 on the top and 4 on the bottom makes 8.
MJ - Oh so you agree with RH.  CB what are you thinking?
CB - It’s 8.
MJ - So you’ve changed your mind?

MJ - RH how many?
RH - 12
MJ - Altogether? (RH nods yes) But what have they done to make it easier for granny?
RH - Cut it in half
MJ - Do you think that helped?
RH - She would have to probably count it first.
MJ - What do you think would make it easy for granny to know how many? (pause)
MJ -  BG what do you see? 
BG - 3 and 3 make 6.
MJ - CL what did you hear BG say?
CL - 3 and 3 makes 6 but what does 6 and 6 make?
MJ - CB what did you do to the carton?
CB - We cut them in half.
BG - 12
CB - It’s not 6 and 6, it’s 3 and 3 makes 6.
MJ - Yes they just made the carton smaller.  Nobody said we couldn’t make the carton smaller. 
RH - 3 and 3 makes .....
BG - 12 
RH - No I’m looking at this 3.
MJ - And how many would that be?
RH - 6.
MJ - What would that look like?
RH - 3 and 3 makes....
BG - 12.
RH - No I’m looking at this 3 (points to one of the carton halves).
MJ - And how many would that be?
RH - 6

MJ - If you were granny what do you see?
KB - 5 and 5 make 10 
MJ - Oh so he has gone for the bigger grouping.  Show us what that would look like. (KB circles groups of 5 on SMARTbd)
MJ - How many people saw the 5 and 5 makes 10?
Rh - Yeah cause I did that.
MJ - What would that look like? (referring to recording this information)
CB - That 5 and 5 makes 10.
KB - I think I know what it would look like.  I know how to do 5 cause it’s in my Valentine's book.                          

During our literacy block the next day, students were given the challenge of writing granny.  The anchor chart developed with photos of all the different ideas was posted and students could choose which option they thought would be most efficient for granny.  That meant they could choose their own or somebody else’s idea if they thought it was more efficient.  

Some students reflected on writing strategies they were using while writing their letters:

EA and LF accessed books from their reading boxes for words they needed. EA was looking for the word two and found it in Dilly Duck and Dally Duck. 

CL wanted to know if eat (a word he had stretched) and 8 are the same?

CB and CL asked how to spell the number word four. We talked about how tricky some number words are because your cannot hear all of the sounds.  The suggestion was made that perhaps it would be helpful to post number words in our classroom. 

Here are some of our letters!  We have e-mailed Ms. Maxwell to ask if she could deliver the letters to her granny.  

It will be so exciting to hear what granny thinks of our designs!

Five and five makes ten. 

Two and 3 makes 5 and 5 more makes 10.

I cut the egg carton in half.

Two and two makes four.  Two and two makes four.  Four and four equals eight.

 Two and two makes four and another two makes six and two makes eight (spelled AT for eight although hard to see in picture).

MJ - SB what would you tell granny?
SB - 4 and 1 is 5 and 4 and 1 is 10 and 5 and 5 is 10. 
(**Remember the earlier conversation with SB?)

MJ - So how many did you have in your carton?

SB - 4 and 1 makes 5 and 4 and 1 makes 5 and 5 and 5 makes 10.


NOTE: I didn’t want to do a “tell” with the open number line but when nobody questioned the idea that 4 and 1 makes 10  I decided on the following day to re-visit this with the group: 

MJ - I’m looking at this and I’m confused.  SB you said 4 and 1 is 5 (pointing to first open number line) and 4 and 1 is 10 (pointing to second open number line). 
SB - (frowns) No 4 and 1 is 5 and 4 and 1 is 5 and 5 and 5 make 10.
MJ - Hmm what are you thinking? 
SB - 4 and 1 make 5 and 5 and 5 make 10.
MJ - Should we change this? 
SB - Yes. 

Over the following days small groups continued to work with granny’s egg problem.  Two groups who were having trouble the first day deciding on how to make the carton friendlier were given additional time to work together. The focus continued to be “How many?” and “How do you see it?”

Some of our very young students were challenged with figuring out “How many in the carton?”   My documentation focused on 1:1 (which was the strategy they naturally default to at this stage), stable order, cardinality, and in some cases subitizing.  

JT made a connection to dot plates when playing this game and got the plates to demonstrate how some of the eggs in the carton could look just like the dot plates. 

JT - If you take the dot out it looks just like the eggs (he was talking about the middle dot of a five formation dot plate) as he points to four eggs he put in the carton!  (Sorry no photo!)

He created challenges for himself, attempting to match a dot plate amount with the same number of eggs.  Normally dot plates are used for flashes but this game was his own invention as he attempted to make connections to how many.

We hope Granny writes back to us soon!

We can see the BIG STORM

We are excited to introduce another "We Can See" connection to our blog.

We have had very unsettled weather during the month of April and RK and his mom captured some amazing photos of the damage a spectacular wind storm created in his back yard.  His shed is gone now but the memory of the storm will be forever captured in this video he created.

RK and Team Jelleybean would love to hear about experiences you have had with big storms!

Mathematicians at work

We have been focusing on the different tools mathematicians use to make thinking visible. These include dot plates, rekenrek, quantity number line, 

5-frame/10-frame, and dominos. Our job as mathematicians is always to share our thinking: How many? What do you see? How do you know that? How can you figure that out?  We talk about "make a picture in your head" then share what that looks like with others. 

We often start our math time with brain work using one of the tools mentioned above.  Students honour the rules of our math time, allowing wait time for every brain to "think" so nobody's brain 'stops workingl'!  

Sometimes we extend these math games to continue our investigation into number sense. 

Here is a 'snapshot' of our math focus over the last week.  You will see how the documentation I got from students when they played these games helped me to decide on next steps for each group. 

We will begin with 10 Frame. 

10 frame FLASHES are one way we practice "How many", "How did you see it?" 

Here are some other ways:

1. To test out how efficient our mathematicians can be figuring out a number using a 10 frame, we played a simple game using the prompt “What would (insert a number) look like on the 10 frame?”  Students are invited to demonstrate using the 10 frame and magnets or on the SMARTboard what that number looks like. This is followed by "How many?" “How do you see it?” (Student explains his thinking.) The conversation can be turned back to the group with the prompt:

"Do you agree or disagree?" (thumb up/down/side)  

“How many do you see?” (another student to share)

“How do you see it?”

Students are encouraged to demonstrate a variety of strategies beyond one to one tagging and counting to explain how many. These strategies can then be labelled by the teacher. (e.g. 'grouping by 5', counting on, etc.)

2. We have another game our mathematicians like to play to test the efficiency of the 10 frame, using the prompts “How many?” “How do you see it?”. Students close their eyes as the teacher builds the number on the 10 frame and when eyes are opened students are encouraged to share their thinking in connection to using the 10 frame.

MJ - How many?

EA - It's 12.

MJ - How do you know it’s 12?  

EA - 5 and 5 makes 10 and 1 more makes 11 and 1 more makes 12.

MJ - So you are grouping by 5's, 5 and 5 more to make 10 and then counting on 11, 12. (I am labelling the thinking here!)

Domino (aka more 10 frame) Games!

These games are played over a number of days, each new game building on skills considered the day before. 

Please note that Day 1 Domino Cards game has been played many times previous to this and teachers may want to repeat Day 1 a few times before proceeding. 

Day 1 - Domino Cards.  This game begins with domino cards spread all around the room.  The teacher calls out a number and students must find a “picture” of that number on domino cards. Keep in mind that numbers must be manageable for all so we usually don't go beyond 10 if doing this whole group. If you want to document some students strategies I recommend using video for this game as it moves rather fast.  Some mathematicians may build the number using several cards demonstrating part/part/whole thinking (i.e. 5 and 5 make 10), others will find the quantity on a single card using grouping strategies (5 and 2 makes 7), some will continue to need to tag and count.  Students share the card(s) they have found with a partner, asking if they agree or disagree how many. Sharing can then be brought back to the whole group using the same prompts “How many?” “How do you know that?”

Day 2 -  “What’s your number?” For this game students are given a number and must find someone else in the classroom with the same number and share what the number is.  If they don’t agree then Team Jellybean mathematicians can help with suggestions (discussed and documented during prior math talk) of ways to figure out how many. 

RH - You could use the carpet. See you start at one and count till you see your number.  JS told us that last year.

Day 3 - Match the number with a picture. For this game students of similar mathematical abilities are partnered together. One is given a number and he shares what that number is with his partner. The partner has the job of finding a picture (domino) that will go with that number.  One or two partners can then be selected to present their knowledge to the group. 

Day 4 - Match the number with a picture (extended). The game begins by giving each student their own number.  Keep in mind that number recognition may challenge some so there may be the need to be time made to again re-visit strategies that could be used to figure out what number they have.  This time each student must find a picture to go with their number on their own.  Quite the challenge for some.  Prompts continue to be "How many?" "Find a picture to show this."  

Day 5 - A final challenge for those who are ready for it, is give them a number and then they draw their own picture to go with it! Interesting to watch mathematicians brains at work.  What strategy will they use to record?  Are they using one to one tag and count (in a line) or are they thinking about considering more efficient ways such as ten frame/domino formations?  Here are a few examples of the students recordings.  At no time did I remind them of the games we played on previous days, nor did I suggest ways to document to make it easier to know how many.  Prompts however remained constant:

How many?  

How will you show it?  

Make a picture.

Several different small group meetings followed this activity: 

For some it was a time to share efficient ways of representing how many, with peers looking at each others work (using document camera) and talking about "How many?" and "How do you know that?", sharing what strategies they saw being used to provide information.  

For another small group it was an opportunity continue to work on gaining a  greater understanding of how many and how to record their thinking (i.e. Finding a 'picture' to go with the number they recorded on their paper, then figuring out how to represent that number).

Both students in photos that follow had got part of the instruction and had found 4 different numbers and recorded them in the boxes but then got stuck, recognizing some but not all of the numbers they had recorded and overwhelmed with finding a 'picture' to go with each number.  Given a smaller number of dominos to look at and reminders from RH on a number strategy (i.e. Remember her carpet strategy to figure out how many?), both boys were able to connect that the number and the picture go together.  The number 11 was left as it was too high a number to consider at this time (as it would mean having to combine more than one domino card). 

Another small group of students were involved in playing the domino game again, using manageable numbers and simply attempting to  figure out "how many" (i.e. Documentation included watching/listening for tagging and counting, stable order, number counting, conservation). 

As a final note,  our new math problem has a group of mathematicians eagerly wanting to help granny with her egg dilemma!  It will be interesting to see if and how  the thinking from this past week will be applied to the new problem.  Stay tuned!

Artists in the making!

One of the things we have been trying to focus on as we work through the days in our classroom is slowing things down, taking time to share our thinking with each other, taking time to be inspired by others, taking time to connect with others in a variety of ways.  

In the area of literacy development, rather than always being in a rush to complete and move on, students are encouraged to take time to go deeper with their thinking, to express their thoughts and ideas (i.e. What are you thinking?), hold their thoughts, make connections, include details (i.e. Tell us more!), ask questions (i.e. I am wondering....), gain new learnings and re-visit original thinking to see if it remains constant or it has changed. 

What we have discovered recently is this is also true when considering creativity in the classroom.  

I have to admit that I have been totally inspired by the artistic evidence that I have seen created by students in my colleague Joanne Babalis’ class.  Students in Joanne’s class are encouraged to work through a series of steps, developing an appreciation for slowing down the process, giving attention to detail to their artistic creations and always doing their personal best.  

Lego is a favourite centre for many in our classroom but it can be very frustrating trying to find the “Lego guys” in the big bin, particularly when guys are missing an arm, leg, hat, etc.  

Taking an idea from Joanne’s blog 

http://myclassroomtransformation.blogspot.ca/2012/12/on-display-julie-ham.html  

students sorted through the lego, pulling a number of favourite guys out of the bin.  These Lego men were placed at  our drawing table where students talked about their favourite ‘guy’ and then tried to capture what he looked like, images that might be helpful when trying to locate a 'guy' once they were put back at the Lego centre.

When students first approached the centre they desperately want to jump straight to painting. Instead they were given a paper to plan how they would draw their Lego man, using a pencil to draw.  Subsequent conversations included students being encouraged to add more detail to help others decipher which Lego man they were drawing. 

Once students were satisfied with their plan, they were given a black permanent marker to go over their pencil lines. Only when these steps were completed were students were offered paint. Throughout this process they were being encouraged to take time to observe and apply a greater attention to detail.  

Here are the amazing results:

 JK

JK

 JK

 SK

  

 SK

 JK

 SK

 JK 

 JK

Most of these images were created by JK students!
It is absolutely amazing to see how students have artistically moved to such detailed representations so quickly, ironically by slowing down the process!  

Now that we have seen such great success with this process our next step will be to connect writing with the plans, giving descriptions in words to accompany the visual.  Of course depending on the learner this may be a shared write, an interactive write, or an independent writing task.