Strategies for Counting

This summer I was fortunate to attend the 5-day workshop Investigations in the Classroom workshop, hosted by my school. The training focused on how children develop number sense and mathematical reasoning skills.  We were able to explore some of the games and activities that are part of the Investigations curriculum and consider how we might adapt or extend these learning experiences to meet the needs our students.  

One of my biggest take-away from the sessions was the difference between strategies and tools.  As a math teacher, especially of young mathematicians, my hope is that my kiddos develop many strategies for solving math problems. I want them to be able to approach a problem in different ways so that, eventually, they can find the most efficient and practical way to solve it. 

However, too often, we end up teaching students to use the same strategy with a variety of tools.  For instance, students may learn to add using their fingers, cubes or counters, and by drawing pictures, but they may only use the simplistic strategy of "counting all" (starting at 1 and counting up).  Similarly, students can learn the "counting on" strategy (starting at the larger number and counting up) using their fingers, a number line, and a 100-chart.  

While tools, such as the 100-chart, are necessary and valuable for young learners; it is important to emphasize the strategies that students choose, rather than just the tool, so that the students can become critical of their choices.  I often see kiddos, especially when I'm tutoring struggling older students, who are reliant on tools, like pictures or number lines, and can not analyze a problem to choose a creative, logical, or more effective strategy to find a solution.

This year, I am trying to be very explicit with my kiddos about strategies.  I made a chart to remind us of the strategies we already know; as the year goes on, I'll add to it.  When a kiddo volunteers to share how he solved a math problem, I encourage him to name the strategy he used and then explain his tool (if any). We are currently playing a lot of games where the kiddos are combining numbers (more on these games later) so they are getting lots of practice explaining their strategies with partners as well.

Buddy Classsrooms

Last year I posted about our "Chill Spot" when my classroom got flooded by Hurricane Sandy.  Hopefully this year, we will avoid any natural disasters coming into the school, but just in case, I've been carefully to pick up the carpet and pillows from the leaky corner before I leave for the weekend :)

Although it's a couple of weeks into the year, I've been taking my time to introduce materials, classroom structures, and routines, so I actually just introduced the "calm down corner" (as we are calling it this year).  We read When Sophie Gets Angry -- Really, Really Angry and sang a great song called "Full of Lots of Feelings" which I got from a teacher at a KIPP school a few years ago.  Then we discussed the importance of having a place in our room to calm down.

We also talked about how sometimes it can be helpful to calm down away from our friends and classmates.  The kids quickly identified that it can be hard to calm down when you are feeling angry at someone, or other kids are playing around you, or your friends are trying to make you laugh.  When I asked my kiddos where they think they could go to calm down, they immediately thought of their Kindergarten or Pre-K teachers' rooms and other rooms on our floor. I love that they know they'd be welcomed and safe all around our school.

Our school has relied on "Buddy Classrooms" for awhile (read more about buddy teachers and classrooms from Responsive Classroom).  Most of the time, however, our teachers are not able to step away from their classrooms to invite a student or bring a student to another room.  In fact, when a student needs to take a break, we want to send them off quickly and with as little disruption as possible.  Last year, I began to think about a way to make this practical, and purposeful so that students could receive the best support.  So I came up with the idea of Buddy Classroom passes...

These passes quickly and easily indicate to the receiving teacher why a student has come for a "time out."  Sometimes, the student just needs to calm down in a different space, other times he needs to finish some work, and sometimes she needs to talk to an adult about a particular problem.  On the back of each pass are suggestions to the student for how to calm down (check them out on TeachersPayTeachers!).

Last year, we started using the passes on the second floor (with first and second grade only), but this year, we have extended their use to Kindergarten through 5th grade.  Most of us have attached the passes to a lanyard or string so it can go hang around a student's neck and act as a "hall pass" when they travel between buddy classrooms.  While we try to make every student feel welcome when they come into our rooms, it is helpful to know whether that student is coming in with excess energy or anger that needs to be diffused.

Of course, our hope is that our kiddos can function appropriately and productively in our classes all the time, but realistically we know that there will be times when we all need a little break. A couple of hours after I'd introduced the Buddy Classroom Passes, a 2nd grader with significant behavior challenges came into our class wearing his Calm Down Pass.  I knew the student had been being disruptive, and possibly violent, so I silently sent to put his head down at an empty table.  Immediately one of my cuties came over to me with the biggest smile, "I know why he's here," he said, "he gets to calm down!"  Yup! :)

First Grade Memories

As a follow-up to our Hopes and Dreams, this is a very late post about our end-of-year memory scrapbooks...

At the beginning of the school year, we do a lot of assessing and goal setting.  We talk about our Hopes and Dreams for the year, measure reading levels, take math benchmarks and on-demand writing prompts, set goals for reading growth, and track fluency with math facts.  We also talk about how perseverance and self-control will help us reach our goals.  We read books about characters who dream big, experience set-backs, work hard, and overcome obstacles.  All of this is in an effort, to set our kiddos up for a successful year.

And then we get to work.  By mid-November, we're typically into autopilot mode; we do what we need to do, glance up at our posted "hopes and dreams," track progress periodically, and adjust as necessary.  While I analyze student data frequently as I plan, intervene, and differentiate, it's challenging to keep the kids focused on our goals; June just seems way off for little kiddos who don't have much sense of time.  When we finally reach the end of the year, I can see how much they've grown and changed, but it's harder for them to reflect on the work they've put in and the progress they've made.

This past year, we made "First Grade Reflections" scrapbooks and had a great time re-living our favorite experiences, including reveling in how much we had accomplished. We had a page to reflect on our reading growth, a page to reflect on our favorite field trips, and a page to reflect on our favorite subjects.

Students wrote caption for field trip picts.

I also took down the "Hopes and Dreams" we had posted at the beginning of the year so the kids could reflect on whether they had met their first grade goal.  Most of the kids had, but even more interesting was to see how much their drawing, writing, and thinking had evolved. Many of them found their goals funny and noticed that they wrote their names in all capital letters.




It was so exciting to see them get excited about their own growth... and hopefully it motivated them to continue setting goals, working hard, and reflecting on their progress.