Accomplishing SMART Goals: Khan Academy

Lesson Frame:

• We will work on passing Khan Academy skills in order to achieve our SMART goal.
• I will work on passing skills to get closer to achieving my SMART goal.

Activities

• Fifth Grade Builder
• Khan Academy

Accomplishing SMART Goals: Think Through Math

Lesson Frame:

• We will work on passing Think Through lessons in order to achieve our SMART goal.
• I will work on passing lessons to get closer to achieving my SMART goal.

Activities:

1. Countdown to STAAR
2. Think Through Math
3. DONATE POINTS!!!

Accomplishments:

Accomplishing SMART Goals: Khan Academy

Lesson Frame:

• We will work on passing Khan Academy skills in order to achieve our SMART goal.
• I will work on passing skills to get closer to achieving my SMART goal.

Activities

• Celebrating Accomplishments/Reviewing Goals
• Fifth Grade Builder
• Khan Academy

Accomplishing SMART Goals: Think Through Math

Lesson Frame:

• We will work on passing Think Through lessons in order to achieve our SMART goal.
• I will work on passing lessons to get closer to achieving my SMART goal.

Activities

1. Countdown to STAAR
2. Think Through Math
3. DONATE POINTS!!!

Accomplishing SMART Goals: Khan Academy

Lesson Frame:

• We will work on passing Khan Academy skills in order to achieve our SMART goal.
• I will work on passing skills to get closer to achieving my SMART goal.

Activities

• Fifth Grade Builder
• Khan Academy

Blended Learning and Differentiation: Accomplishing our SMART Goals

Lesson Frame:

• We will work on Think Through Math to accomplish our SMART goals.
• I will work on Think Through Math to accomplish my SMART goal.

I feel like it is important to explain to you, and remind myself, why my posts are seemingly so empty of any activity in my classroom.  I have to remember that I am employing a combination of blended learning and differentiation into my daily classroom environment AND that more math is going on in my classroom than ever before!

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Blended learning is basically a classroom model where there is a combination of teacher/online learning taking place.  More importantly, it allows student control over either:  time, place, pace, or path.  

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Differentiation goes hand in hand with blended learning. Differentiation is when the content, process, product, or learning environment is changed to meet individual needs.

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Using Think Through Math and Khan Academy as my platform for our math this year HAS allowed for there to be student control over time AND place AND pace AND path.  I have students who choose to work online both inside and outside of class time (including evenings and weekends).  I have students who choose to work online in math class, during ACE, at home, in the car, etc.  I have students who are working on grade level, below grade level, AND above grade level.  I have seen a huge improvement in attitude towards math and students' mindset about their ability to DO math.  All of my students feel successful.  All of my students have determined that they are all able to learn math AND that it is not up to me (the teacher) to feed it to them.

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I will admit that this was one of the hardest methodologies to get my head around.  Allowing myself to let go of control of what is happening in my room was also a hurdle.  However, I also cannot tell you how thrilled I am with the results I am seeing!  I have never before had students be excited about being challenged with new concepts and enjoying the thrill of figuring out how to solve problems on their own.

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I have not stepped completely out of the picture.  Daily, students complete a pencil/paper set of problems.  During this portion of class, I check the problems as they go, ensuring that I have given immediate feedback and corrected any misconceptions and/or errors.  Once students have proceeded to the online portion of our day, I am available to help if a student feels stuck, I am happy to check the answer to a problem before a students posts it, and I am happy just to encourage students in the path they are currently in.

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If you have been toying with the ideas of blended learning and differentiation, I can assure you that it is worth every worry!  The only caveat is the need to be a 1:1 with some type of technology.  Our school system is 1:1 with Chromebooks from 3rd grade through 12th grade.

Accomplishing SMART Goals: Khan Academy

Lesson Frame:

• We will work on passing Khan Academy skills in order to achieve our SMART goal.
• I will work on passing skills to get closer to achieving my SMART goal.

Activities

• Fifth Grade Builder
• Khan Academy

Accomplishing SMART Goals: Think Through Math

Lesson Frame:

• We will work on passing Think Through lessons in order to achieve our SMART goal.
• I will work on passing lessons to get closer to achieving my SMART goal.

Activities

1. Fifth Grade Builder
2. Think Through Math
3. DONATE POINTS!!!

Accomplishing SMART Goals: Khan Academy

Lesson Frame:

• We will work on passing Khan Academy skills in order to achieve our SMART goal.
• I will work on passing skills to get closer to achieving my SMART goal.

Activities

• Countdown to STAAR
• Khan Academy

Accomplishing SMART Goals: Think Through Math

Lesson Frame:

• We will work on passing Think Through lessons in order to achieve our SMART goal.
• I will work on passing lessons to get closer to achieving my SMART goal.

Activities

1. Fifth Grade Builder
2. Think Through Math
3. DONATE POINTS!!!

I Love Math: Valentine's Day Center Rotations

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I am so proud of all of the work my kids have been doing in math, so I thought we would take a break and enjoy some Valentine's Day math activities.

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To begin, I gave all of my students a Valentine's Day coordinate graphing activity during our 5th grade wide morning work.  I knew this would not be something that could be completed in a short amount of time, so I asked that they bring this to math.  As students went through their rotations, they took this with them to continue working on as they had extra time.

Once they came to class, we began by completing an Estimation 180.  This activity asks students to make an estimate of the number of Conversation Hearts are in a box.  What's fun, is that there is a short video showing Mr. Stadel counting the candies in his box.  The kids love seeing how close they are!

There were six rotations that we worked through during math:

• Sneaky Valentine's Day Code - I created a few Valentine's Day themed coded messages using the Cypher Wheel found on this blog.

• The Heart Building Challenge - this challenge asks students to create a heart using Lego building blocks.

• Would You Rather - for this challenge, I give students fake money and candy hearts, but not enough to solve the problem.  There needs to be a little team work!

• Conversation Heart Math - I used a conglomeration of ideas from this source, along with the Estimation 180 (above) and a blank Google Spreadsheet for us to compare the number of hearts in each of our boxes.  With the time constraints, we did not have time to look at the data we gathered, so we will discuss it tomorrow in class.

• $1.00 Conversation Heart Challenge - I got this idea from "The $1.00 Word Riddle Book".  Students would determine the value of the phrase on their Conversation Hearts using the value A=$.01, B= $.02, etc.  I also allowed the use of a calculator (this was supposed to be fun, after all).  We did actually find a phrase worth $1.00, but it took quite a few attempts.

• BreakoutEDU:  Anti-Love Potion #9 - Finally, our 6th center was a Breakout Box.  I took the Breakout lesson provided on the website and changed it to fit my needs.  Basically, each group rotated through this Breakout and attempted to solve the puzzle to help the class unlock the box and determine the code to save the day.  If you have not heard about BreakoutEDU, you might want to visit the site to see what the excitement is all about!

We just managed to get through all 6 of the rotations just in the nick of time!  Fun was had by all!

Accomplishing SMART Goals: Khan Academy

Lesson Frame:

• We will work on passing Khan Academy skills in order to achieve our SMART goal.
• I will work on passing skills to get closer to achieving my SMART goal.

Activities

• Countdown to STAAR
• Khan Academy

Competition Update

I am thrilled to say that my last two classes have achieved their classroom goal in TTM and have helped us donate $150 to St. Jude's Children's Hospital!

We also had a TIE for most lessons passed in a three week period!  So, two classes will enjoy an ice cream sundae next week.

Our newest competition began today.  Again, I am looking for most lessons passed in a three week period, but the prize is a Minute to Win It game day!

We are still working hard to join the Think30 Club!  As of today, I have 31 of 55 students who have joined this club!!  Also, we have only 8-9 students per class who are looking to join the Khan Club at 30 skills passed.  As soon as an entire class does... ASSORTED DONUTS!

Accomplishing SMART Goals: Think Through Math

Lesson Frame:

• We will work on passing Think Through lessons in order to achieve our SMART goal.
• I will work on passing lessons to get closer to achieving my SMART goal.

Activities

1. Fifth Grade Builder
2. Think Through Math
3. DONATE POINTS!!!

Accomplishing SMART Goals: Khan Academy

Lesson Frame:

• We will work on passing Khan Academy skills in order to achieve our SMART goal.
• I will work on passing skills to get closer to achieving my SMART goal.

Activities

• Countdown to STAAR
• Khan Academy

Out Sick ...

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Accomplishing SMART Goals: Khan Academy

Lesson Frame:

• We will work on passing Khan Academy skills in order to achieve our SMART goal.
• I will work on passing skills to get closer to achieving my SMART goal.

Activities

• Countdown to STAAR
• Khan Academy

Accomplishing our SMART Goals: Khan Academy

Lesson Frame:

• We will work on passing Khan Academy skills in order to achieve our SMART goal.
• I will work on passing skills to get closer to achieving my SMART goal.

Celebration!

I have had a second class reach 100% of their goal to have $50 donated to St. Jude's Children's Hospital!  Congratulations, Mrs. Dabbs' class!  This class will now choose their next goal.  If they achieve another 100%, not only will they get their reward, but Mrs. Z will also throw a pizza party!!

Activities

• Countdown to STAAR
• Khan Academy