Free math curriculum that will change your life!

Today my students were arguing about whether a missing  factor on a multiplication problem being equal to the quotient in a division problem of the same fact family was the commutative property or not. Using THOSE WORDS. Who are these kids?!?!

To all my teacher friends who are out there frantically trying to write common core math units and trying to figure out what exactly those standards are trying to get you to do,  I have your new best friend. To top it off, I believe the CPS board told everyone they are not allowed to but curricula for next year. Lol. Board of education. Silly non-elected, non-educators. So right about now you're freaking out about math because you really can't teach it without a curriculum right?! And then they want you to write your own units for math with little to no direction on how, and definitely no time. I HAVE YOUR SOLUTION!! and it's FREE. the state of Georgia received a grant from the department of education to write these units and spent way, way  more time on them than you will EVER have to write them yourself. Worried about the new teacher evaluation criteria?  The lessons have everything you need, right down to addressing misconceptions ahead of time, group work, student self-discovery, situations for student argumentation, etc.... They even contain background knowledge for the teacher about what kids at this age will think, developmentally, about the subject of the day's lesson, and they're pretty accurate. I have taught only two of these units so far, but it is safe to say that  this will be my math curriculum for next year. I have taught the third grade fractions unit and also the third grade unit on multiplication and division strategies. I keep saying "WOW! They really got that!" At the end of almost every lesson. Each lesson builds upon the next one beautifully, and the students really get enough practice with things to develop an automaticity. This is something I felt that Everyday Math was missing-big time.  I haven't felt this good about math instruction in a while. Here are a few things to remember about the units: 

1) you have to take a little time to read the lessons (including the background knowledge) and really try to understand what they are getting at. 

2) sometimes these lessons call for candy or some other manipulatives so you need to check that in advance and pick them up. Most of the manipulatives are regular things you have in your classroom- pattern blocks, spinners, counters, etc... 

3). Check the performance task at the end of the unit. I don't like all of them and sometimes I have to write a different one. I usually take one of the lessons near the end and tweak it into a performance task if I don't like it. (The fraction one had them creating a board game with fraction questions, not high enough rigor and I didn't want to read 3,000 game cards to see if they addressed all requirements) 

4) you're going to need copies. If your school doesn't let you have enough copies, they're cheating the kids, but I digress.  Most lessons come with a student activity page. This is NOT a drill and kill page nor worksheet, more like a recording sheet. Sometimes you can get away with having them writing on paper instead of making copies but not every day. We are thinking of making them all at once and binding them into a book over summer. 

5) you have to give the kids TONS of time to discover things on their own and in groups. They will amaze you at how smart they really are!!! 

6) the units are great, but we still find ourselves running off a super teacher. Sheet or like resource for homework and/ or additional practice.

7) use the formative assessment questions like they're going out of style for discussion and reflection at the end of the lesson. They're Wonderful. 

8) you have to make your own Friday quizzes. I use a rest prep book from some company that is aligned to the common core. Since this test prep book is broken into the sane units, the questions are matching almost perfectly with the lessons. I cut and paste the test together out of the book. They're multiple choice and easy to grade and give then practice in that as well. I usually give them credit for a workspace area next to each problem as well. 

Thank you, state of Georgia! You saved me from spending $3000 of my own money on a math curriculum since the board of education will no longer buy them for us. 

Plus, these units are rigorous, and fun, and engaging, and prepare the kids both for life AND for the standardized tests. My kids gains equal about twice what other third graders across the nation gained in math, so it's working.  Just sayin'. 

Parent Letters

I saw an idea on Pinterest where a teacher had a notebook, and the kids write letters every Friday to their parents about what they learned, and what they need for the upcoming week and the parents have to respond in writing as well. I loved that idea. Here is my adjusted version. I use a sheet of paper instead of a notebook and before the students go home we make a list on the back of things they learned this week and then they write the letters and get the responses. I love to see these on Monday mornings. I love how it makes the kids have a positive interaction with their parent and also it solves the age old problem of parents asking the kids "what did you learn this week?" And they answer "nothing."
Not anymore!!!!

Now when the "my school, my voice" survey came out and the parents has to answer the question "the teacher keeps me informed about what's going on on class" many said "no" or "a little." Really?! Okay, baby steps.

Boys Detective Kits

For Christmas this year, I asked my brother what I should get for my nephews. He said, anything artsy or scientific. They really like "Aunt Kiki gifts." Last year I made then super hero fort kits with sheets and various accessories with which to build a fort. Rave reviews. They have had hours of endless fun. Great. Now I have to be creative. So I looked on Pinterest, of course because we all know creativity is really stealing someone else's idea. I saw some detective kits. Great idea, and most of the stuff can be purchased at the dollar tree. But I popped into Michael's one day, and they had almost everything I needed and the rest of the stuff I picked up at the dollar tree. A lite time on the computer s d the printer, and voila. ... An "Aunt Kiki Gift"

Rainforest Cafe Field Trip

After the Rainforest Unit that we (the third grade teachers) taught at school, we took the kids on a field trip to the Rainforest Cafe.  We did the same thing last year, and there was quite a bit of time between the hour at which we were finished eating, and the hour at which the bus came to pick us up.  So this year, I designed some activities to keep the students busy so they wouldn't tear down the rainforest enhance our learning experience.

One activity was a simple chart the students had to fill out.  They locate as many animals as they could among the Rainforest Cafe's decorations, write down the animal's name, colors, type, and in which layer the animal is located (forest floor, understory, etc...)  You probably need to have the kids bring a clip board for this activity.  I had them bring their whiteboard slates that we use for spelling practice and math activities and gave each child a large binder clip, and viola!  A clipboard!

Download the Chart (Microsoft Word Needed for this one)

Here are some of the kids using the chart:

The other activity, which we ended up doing outside due to the Rainforest Cafe kicking us out of our seats because they needed the space, was the Rainforest food web.  You need to take yarn and roll it onto a ball ahead of time.  Print the rainforest script.  I also printed pictures of each animal and plant and glued it to a card.  Then, using a clothespin, I attached the animal and plant cards to the children.  Then we read the script and as you get to each plant of animal, you unroll part of the yarn ball and have the students hold onto it.  I read the script and pause and let the children read the underlined words.  We do this all the time as way to check for the students following along with any reading.

When you are done, you have what looks like a spider web.  Here is where you teach about conservation.  I talk about how all the animals and plants in the rainforest are connected, and depend on each other, and must remain in balance- not too many nor too few of any species.  Then I choose one animal or plant (child who is holding the string) and have him or her give 2 gentle tugs on the string.  anyone who felt that tug, gives 2 short tugs, anyone who felt that tug gives 2 short tugs until the whole web has been affected.  Then I talk again about balance and how all lives in the ecosystem affects the others. 

It's great fun, and people who were walking by the Rainforest Cafe downtown were very impressed with this lesson, and were stopping to observe.  I felt like super teacher.  Ha ha.

Rainforest Unit

In Miss Kelly's third grade class, we finished a unit on the Rainforest recently.  Each child did a research paper and built a diorama on a rainforest animal. Then, thanks to great planning on the part of my esteemed colleague, we took the kids to the rainforest cafe on a field trip.  My students do not get to visit downtown Chicago that often, so this was a great adventure for them.  Strange that they live a short bus ride away from downtown and yet rarely go there, But I digress.  The kids did a great job on the dioramas and the research papers!  They have gotten so good at projects!  (So have their parents, in helping them.) 

My students require quite a bit of hand-holding to get a project like this done.  I printed the pictures of the animal for them from www.enchantedlearning.com in order to inspire the, to get started on the projects.  I send home a very detailed packet with example pictures of dioramas and explicit instructions and the rubric.  It helps that my students' local library has a teacher on staff to help students.  We took the kids on a trip to the library at the beginning of the year and it made all the difference this year with our research projects this year.

Here is the hallway display, all set up for parent-teacher conferences.

The dioramas had to include the rainforest surroundings, the animal, and what the animal eats.  They had to make sure it was 3-D too!

Fruit Bat:

Blue Morpho Butterfly:

(you can see my rubric attached to the box, ha ha)

Tarantula:

Aye Aye

Anaconda:

(He is hiding in the grass)

Emerald Tree Boa:

Sugar Glider:

This one is not from my class, it is from my next door neighbor's class but it was so clever.  This child (or his parents) made an electric eel out of a grey sock.

Howler monkey: (and gorilla too, I guess)

Here are some of the research papers.  I should have taken better pictures of those.

Math Anchor Charts

Here are some of my math anchor charts.  Some Ideas I got from pinterest, some are just things that go with the curriculum, and others are things the kids need for the ISAT and can't seem to remember, ha ha.

Here they are; all on the wall, above the high frequency word wall and vocabulary word wall.  You gotta love Chicago Public Schools and the demand for word walls.  But, the kids do actually put the words to use, if they are trained in how to use them.  But... back to math.  

Mean, Median and Mode, really, how does that apply to a third grader's real life?  I don't know, but well, here is the anchor chart.

Area

Multiplication Arrays

There are like 4 questions on the Illinois state test about slide flip and turn.  How many on money and making change (a skill you might actually need for a J-O-B?  I think one.)