May 29th- PLC (Active Exploration: Math)

PLC:  May 29, 2013

Lisa T., Brittany, Katrina, Jen

Brittany and Katrina took the suggestions made in our last meeting and implemented them into their math groups.  They were extremely impressed with the successes observed with their students. 

Katrina tried grouping math groups differently and keeping them consistent and working with the same teacher for the week.  She felt better with the learning and engagement going on and the students seemed more settled with the groupings.

Brittany made the lessons in her math group more individualized and is noticing greater success with her students.  She is also not focusing on one objective for a long period of time and students are excited for math because it is “fun”.

She is working towards a final project with fractions where the students will use fractions to create a pizza and then they will create their own individual pizza to eat.  Fun!

We discussed how well the PLC went this year went.  The ideas, conversations and projects that were discussed were engaging and exciting.  It was great to get a different perspective on activities and also to feel free to discuss successes and things that didn’t go well in a safe environment.  We look forward to continuing with this PLC format for next year.  

May 15- PLC (Active Exploration: Math)

Wednesday May 15 – PLC

We took a look at math activities that Katrina and Brittany tried with their math groups.  We discussed the task, the successes and challenges, suggestions for growth and the next steps that could be taken.

Katrina

-       Fractions to decimals challenge

-       ½ of the class is working on this challenge while the other is doing the Lego challenge in Learning Commons

-       Learning to say fractions, draw fractions on grid paper and then convert to a decimal

-       Relating it back to area and perimeter (previous lessons/sequencing)

-       Do the students have success with so much switching between groups and concepts?

-       They are continuing with lessons, but having a week break from new lessons is tricky

-       Having a lessons being taught by one teacher and then challenge being organized by another teacher… going back and forth can cause chaos in the classroom.

-       Can you plan an activity that takes all week? Creating extension for students.

-       Key to success is being able to follow up with students after lesson plans.

Brittany

-       Working on the foundations of fractions – anchor chart, review

-       Creating art with fractions. Writing our name and writing fractions. Ex. 2/5 letters are vowels.

-       Extending fractions into science. Creating a design on a plane using fractions. Ex. 3/10 of the plane must be grey, ½ of the page must be blue.

-       Current project, 2D and 3D shapes.

-       Began with iPads using geo-board. Review of lines and vertices.

-       Next step… creating shapes using marshmallows and toothpicks. Using iPads to explain sides and vertices.

-       Ability grouping is very successful

-       Interactive lessons using art, iPads and going outside allow students to feel successful

-       Cooking…. Great way to reinforce fractions!

What to do with kids who finish early?

-       Extension questions

Number of the Day

-       Give students a strip of paper with different numbers for them to complete until the end of the year

-       Switching up the chart using Post-It notes

Next PLC: 

-members will bring student work and discuss the successes/challenges of a new math task tried with students

March 6-PLC (Active Exploration: Math)

PLC notes

March 6, 2013

Lisa Thibeau

Terra Xavier

Jen Arruda

Anica Robinson

Terra presented a lesson on Area that she did with her students.  Within the lesson the students demonstrated their understanding of area using Explain Everything.

Within the student work, there was evidence of students varying levels of understanding.  Through the explanations it was clear what the learning had been and which concepts needed to be revisited.  Students also demonstrated connections to other mathematical concepts that were articulated in the explanations that they gave of their work.

Throughout the unit on area, students are learning about how area helps to inform how things are built in our world.  The students will be furthering their understanding by building a Lego city that will allow students to demonstrate through this engaging learning experience. 

Feb. 20- PLC (Active Exploration: Math)

PLC – February 20, 2013

Jen Aruba, Terra Xavier, Lisa Thibeau and Anica Robinson

Terra brought student math assessment questions to the table, since report cards are on our minds.

The issue was how to assess student work when we are integrating multiple strands within the discipline.  During math class, students are participating in authentic and engaging activities that encompass many different concepts. 

The problem arises of how to accurately represent their learning in their summative numeric assessment for the reporting period.

We came to the conclusion that it would be best to assess on a particular strand each term.  This would not necessarily have to be the same strand for each student, however, by the end of the year each student would have a comprehensive assessment of math.

In two weeks, Arruda, Thibeau and Xavier will bring student work from the projects discussed during previous PLCs to look at and comment on.

Feb. 6- PLC (Active Exploration: Math)

PLC- February 6, 2013

Xavier and Ndegwa were at prior commitments, so Arruda and Thibeau sat down to examine an activity developed by Arruda for her higher level math group.

Her concern was how to create a centre that fosters independence and make sure the task is authentic without confusing students with too many steps (visually appealing to meet various levels of abilities within her group).

As a pre-assessment of knowledge for graphing, each student will survey Keeler School for the most popular “fun” lunch.  The students will collect, tally, graph and interpret the data and bring their findings to the Generosity Club to help with the decision on future “fun” lunches for the school.

We came to the conclusion that it would be best to break down the larger task into clearer and more defined smaller steps to enable the students to work independently and be successful. 

The students will be introduced to the centre and will complete the task within the next month.  Once completed, Arruda will bring student work samples to review, as well as how she believes the project went (pros and cons). 

Active Math

PLC – January 23, 2013

Issue with student learning is engaging students in number concepts so that it can be authentic and active. We want to address different levels of ability through the activity(so that students stay engaged).

We are examining a center developed by Thibeau prior to implementing with students so that we can talk through kinks to student learning. One of the goals is to make it so that students can do the learning in groups independent from the teacher.

In 2 weeks we are going to meet again to look over the student work to gauge authenticity and student success. (Thibeau will video the students in action).

DISCUSSION POINTS WE CAME ACROSS

·    One characteristic of the task is to incorporate their interest levels and learning styles to motivate students in doing the math task.

·    Enrichment opportunities once they had the general understanding of the task for the students who need different entry points.

·    Ways to modify for “regular” classroom settings and other grades

·    The structure of the activity remains the same but the math cards can be changed to cover different concepts.

Deal or No Deal Dec. 5

PLC December 5, 2012

Terra, Megan, Jen, Lisa T.

-       Terra showed us Deal or No Deal center from a high, medium, low student

Learning Outcomes

-       Terra explained that the outcome of this center was that students would be able to estimate and add using decimals to the hundredths place.

-       She showed us how they started estimating first with flyers and then moved on to adding with decimals.

-       She asked the group how she could take this center and push it forward

Feedback

-       Differentiated instruction

-       Authentic - using real life situations (i.e. food flyers)

-       Modeled examples  (posters, journaling)

-       Different expectations for each learner (lower- just single digit estimating, higher- estimating and calculating with decimals

Next step

-       Students have a budget of $300 to spend on holiday wish lists

-       Use various flyers to do this

*Some students may get disappointed looking at all the toys and wishing they had them so we thought we could frame the question as making a wish list for gifts or food for Miriam our sponsor child or another child in need.

Active Exploration Group 2

PLC Name: Active Exploration

PLC Members: Megan, Jen, Terra, Lisa T.

PLC Focus and Essential Question:  

How can we challenge the individual learners in the classroom? 

Goals & Strategic Plan

Goal & Descriptor of Success

After an in depth discussion, we decided that our main goals will be:

-building confidence and independence in students through active exploration

-creating activities that are manageable and authentic

-making sure students are actively exploring the skills, knowledge and understanding we, as teachers, want them to learn

-making sure the individual learning levels are being addressed in all activities

We want to work towards these goals with a focus on math.

Our resources will include:

-the Galileo rubric

-Books:

            - “Hands on Math” Grades 2-3 Creative Teaching Press

-“Teaching Student Centered Mathematics” Van de Walle

-“Multiple Intelligences in the Mathematics Classroom” by: Hope Martin

-“Children are Mathematical Problem Solvers” National Council of Teachers of    

                 Mathematics

  -“Number Sense” Grades 4 -6 Dale Seymour Publications

  -“About Teaching Mathematics” K – 8 by: Marilyn Burns

-Math storage room

-Mike

-Each other

-Pinterest

We will use observations, student discussions, and the Teacher/Student Effectiveness Rubric to help us understand how this work has improved student learning and achievement.

Action Plan

Each member will bring sample student work from a math activity to our next PLC meeting. 

We will discuss the student successes, what did not work and what the teacher learned from the activity.

Through further discussion, we will work as a team to share thoughts, suggestions and new ideas about the activity and how we can move the student forward with his/her learning.