Blended Math Workshop

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about what math workshop will look like this year. Is it even possible? There are still so many unknowns, even as the start of the school year quickly approaches.

For my school, the *current* plan (seems to change by the day) is to start the year virtual for 3 weeks and then offer both in-person and virtual learning. Parents will choose the model they want for each 9-week grading period. 

In-person learning will also look very different with students staying apart from each other, no sharing of materials, and wearing masks all day. 

While I am certainly no expert in how to teach in a socially distanced classroom or an entirely virtual one, the blended workshop model I’ve been using for years (which includes video lessons) makes this challenge a little less overwhelming. 

Click below to watch my video where I discuss my typical blended workshop model along with thoughts and ideas for the current school year. 

After you watch, leave a comment with what your year will look like and your biggest challenges with incorporating math workshop.

Everything You Need to Know to Flip Your Class

I've been flipping my 4th grade math class for about  years now and I can honestly say it's completely changed the way I teach.

I love sharing how I flip my class with other teachers and I always get asked a lot of questions.

What does a flipped class even mean?

When do you have kids watch videos?

Where do you get your videos?

How do you know your students are paying attention? 

That's why I decided to create this *free* video course on how to flip your class. 

Click the picture below to sign up now!

This email course consists of 4 videos where I walk you through everything you need to know to start flipping your own class.

I'll cover Flipping 101
- What is a flipped class?
- Why do I flip my class?
- What does my flipped math class look like?

You'll learn All About the Videos
- How do you make videos?
- Where can you find videos?
- How do you choose a good video for students?

Start the Free Course Now!

I'll tell you how to Hold Students Accountable

- How do you know students are paying attention?

- How can you have students reflect after lessons?

Finally, I'll help you Put It All Together

- I'll give you bonus tips and tricks to make your life easier

- I'll show you what one of my flipped lessons looks like so you have an example

Ready to start flipping? Start the course now!

Tech Tools: Popplet

Tech Tools is a series where I highlight an app or website I'm currently using in my classroom. All apps or sites are free at the time the blog is published. (They may include an upgrade option). I am not affiliated with any of these apps or sites - just a fan from using them myself!

Techie Level: Beginner

App or Web: App (iOS) with web option

What is it? Popplet is a mind mapping app. It is a great tool for brainstorming and allows students to add text or images.

How have I used it? I especially like using Popplet to have students compare concepts using a "Double Bubble" thinking map, which is a lot like a venn diagram. I'm including a picture below of a student's comparison of mixtures and solutions

Student example:

Want to know more? Check out Popplet's site for more info., a demo and a link to download.

What do you think? Comment below and tell me how you've used this app before or how you plan to try it out in your class!

Tech Tools: iBrainstorm

Tech Tools is a series where I highlight an app or website I'm currently using in my classroom. All apps or sites are free at the time the blog is published. (They may include an upgrade option). I am not affiliated with any of these apps or sites - just a fan from using them myself!

Techie Level: Beginner to Intermediate (depending on which functions you use)

App or Web: Currently an app for iPads

What is it? iBrainstorm is a mind mapping app. It has templates, but also allows for free form brainstorming. Additionally, you can collaborate with other iPads on one brainstorming session. 

How have I used it? I've used it a lot at the beginning of science units for students to brainstorm what they already know about a topic. We use Thinking Maps at our school and I love that iBrainstorm has the templates to match Thinking Maps. When they're done, students take a screen shot and upload to a Google Classroom assignment. 

Student examples:
I love how different these student samples are - kids always think of things differently than I do!

Want to know more? Check out iBrainstorm's site for more info. and a link to download.

What do you think? Comment below and tell me how you've used this app before or how you plan to try it out in your class!

Going Digital with Google: Student Portfolios

The last two years I piloted student portfolios for my district. After some trial and error, what we found to work best for student portfolios in upper elementary school was to use Google Slides.

Our grading period is made up four 9-week periods, so we had our students select a piece of work for each grading period. My district really emphasized that students should have ownership of their portfolio. We talked a lot about how to choose quality work, but at the end of the day the kids had complete freedom to choose something they were proud of.

We created a template for students - you can check it out here. At the end of the 9 weeks the students selected a work sample. Many times this was something digital that they already had saved in Google Drive. If they selected something that was on paper, they took a picture of it. Then they had to reflect on why they chose that piece of work.

The whole process didn't take more than 30 minutes and at the end of the year, they had a collection of 4 meaningful pieces of work. It was great to share at Open House and spring conferences.

Going Digital with Google: Google Slides (plus a link up!)

If you've been following along for a while, then you know my math workshop has been digital for the last 2 years. You also know that I've been using a website called Blendspace to house my math workshop directions. I even did a blog post you can check out.

I thought Blendspace was the greatest thing ever. And it still has some redeeming qualities, but it also had some downfalls. Like some days the site was reeaaaally slow to load. When I included sites to visit within blendspace it was a bit glitchy on the ipads. My class didn't have usernames so they were still recording work other places and both the kids and I were constantly clicking back and forth.

Now let's fast forward to January 2016. I discovered a great group of teacher-authors on Teachers Pay Teachers who introduced me to using Google Slides in place of Blendspace. Now I knew all about Google. My kids were using Google Drive to back things up and we used Google Classroom. That being said, it had never crossed my mind to use Google Slides in a new way!

So here are my top 3 things I love about using Google Slides for math workshop.

stay with me people, there's a link up at the bottom : )

#1

I can house EVERYTHING in one place. My directions are in slides. Any links or videos are in slides. Ask a reflection question? They type their answer right on the slide. Building something with manipulatives? Take a picture and (you guessed it) put it right on the slide. Seeing a theme here? This was a game changer folks. For me and the kids. In fact, when I asked what they liked about Google Slides, the #1 thing was no longer having to click back and forth or keep up with separate papers. 

#2

It works seamlessly with Google Classroom. I love that I can click the magical make a copy for each student button and voi la! Every kid has their own editable copy. Huge time saver! Google Classroom also automatically backs everything up to their Google Drive so it's a built in student portfolio. 

 What in the world is Google Classroom?! Read about it here

#3

I love that using Google Slides is teaching my kids valuable computer skills. These are skills that I think they will carry on for many years. Sometimes I forget that I need to teach them basic skills because they seem so tech savvy. 

Yeah that all sounds great, but what does it really look like?? Here's a sneak peek into my latest Google Slide on Comparing and Ordering numbers.

Congrats! You made it to the end. As promised...here's a fabulous link up hosted by Mrs. Beers, Danielle Knight and The Daring English Teacher for Innovative Classroom Learning Day. Check out the links below to find other blog posts and digital products to check out.

Leave a comment and let me know how you plan on using Google in your classroom this year!

An InLinkz Link-up

Going Digital with Google: Google Forms for Quizzes

One thing I love about Google is that they are constantly updating their apps. They just released an update that makes it even easier to use Google Forms for quizzes.

I made a video tutorial to show you how easy it is to create, score & analyze quizzes using forms.

Click on the video below to learn more!

Going Digital with Google: Google Classroom

This is my 2nd post in my Going Digital with Google series. Check out my first post to find out how I use Google Forms to assess my students.

This post is all about Google Classroom. This is my first year using Google Classroom with my 4th graders. Last year we used Edmodo, which I liked. There are some pros and cons to Google Classroom that I'll share with you below.

If you're brand new to Google Classroom, I'd suggest searching YouTube for some videos that explain what it is and how to set up your classroom and get started. This is a great video to help you get started.

Pro #1:
Classroom works *almost* seamlessly with Google Drive. One of my favorite aspects of Google Classroom is that I can create an item in Google Drive - using docs, slides, or sheets. Then I can create an assignment in Google Classroom and upload that item. There is the option to have Classroom automatically make a copy for each student. Y'all that's amazing. No more having kids mess up your original document. Classroom even names the document with what you titled it and the kid's name. AND it's automatically added to their Google Drive.

Con #1:
This goes along with what I love about Classroom. If your students use iPads, like mine do, they will encounter some glitches. My kids access Classroom through safari, as opposed to the app, per district request. They also have the Drive app and the apps for Docs, Slides & Sheets. Let's say I uploaded a Google Doc for each student to edit, the kids will click on the link for the doc in classroom. Then the ipad inevitably freaks out because it's unsure of whether to open the drive app or the docs app. At first, this made us freak out too! Now the kids - and myself - are used to the fact that they need to be patient and let the ipad do it's thing. If it doesn't do it's thing correctly, they can still find the doc in their docs app. I know this sounds a bit confusing, but if you try it out on the ipad you'll know what I'm talking about.

Pro #2:
When I make an assignment, the kids are able to virtually turn in the assignment. There are some cool features here. I can quickly see who is done & who isn't. I can enter a grade & return the assignment to students. I can view the grades in a Google Sheet. I can also open a Google Drive folder with all of their assignments in it. No more lugging home giant bags filled with papers to grade, I can do it all from my laptop!

Con #2:
When I used Edmodo, I was able to create groups within my classroom. I was also able to assign things to a select group of students. As of right now, that's not an option in Google Classroom. I've been able to work around it a little bit. For example, during my RTI time I have students working on some independent study projects. I created a google doc for the different independent study groups. Then I shared the doc with the students in that group. They went to it straight from Google Drive, instead of going into Classroom. I've heard rumors that this con is on Google's radar, so hopefully an update will be coming soon.

Pro #3:
Sometimes I just need to share a link with my students, but it's not anything they'll need to turn in. Classroom has assignments & announcements. Assignments have a button for students to submit, announcements don't. I use announcements to share links, directions, or anything else that doesn't require students to turn work in digitally.

Pro #4:
When students turn in a Google Doc/Slides/Sheets/etc. they lose the ability to edit it. This means that they are no longer able to make changes to the assignment after they've turned it in. I like this feature. I've also discovered that if they unsubmit, they can go in and make changes and then turn it in again. This comes in handy when they turn it in, then realize they messed something up.

All in all, I've been really pleased with using Classroom. My 4th graders have figured it out very quickly and it's become our 1-stop place for all things in our class. Stay tuned to this series to find out more about how I use Google Docs, Slides & Sheets in my classroom. 

Going Digital with Google: Google Forms for Assessing

Have you caught the Google Bug?? I have! We are using Google in new ways everyday in my 4th grade classroom. This is the 1st post in my Going Digital with Google Series.

Read on to find out how I'm using Google Forms for quick math assessments.

In the past, I've used Google Forms for surveys, but that's pretty much it. Then I discovered Flubaroo - a free Google extension. Flubaroo will automatically grade your Google Forms. 

I like to use Google Forms for quick, formative assessments.You could use them for any type of grading assignment - they work best with multiple choice questions or questions where there is only 1 right answer. I prefer to have the kids answer with a number so I don't have to worry if they spelled it wrong.

I'm going to walk you through how I create a form and use flubaroo to grade it. I made a quick, sample quiz - you can check it out here: http://goo.gl/forms/QOHInO085U

To get started, you need to be logged into Google Drive. You're going to want to create a new Google Form. As of right now, the add-ons are only working in the old version of Google Forms, so you'll want to stay in that.

Once you create the form, you'll be able to add your questions.

Some tips:

• Make sure that your questions are all required so they don't accidentally submit the form before they're done. 
• You can reorder the questions by dragging them around after you're done adding.
• Make sure to have a question for the students to type their name. 

When you're finished, you'll want to share the link with your students. I copy the link into Google Classroom, but you could share it anyway you're already sharing links with students (including QR codes). 

Next, you're going to need to "view live form" and complete the form yourself. This will create the answer key. I always put "Answer Key" for the name question.

Once the form is finished, click on the option to "view responses". This will take you to a spreadsheet.

• It bothers me when the text runs over the boxes - to fix this, select the boxes, then go to format -> text wrapping -> wrap text

Now you're going to add Flubaroo. This next step you'll only have to do the first time. You're going to click on add-ons -> get add-ons

Type Flubaroo in the search box & click free to download. You'll also have to click "allow" on the next screen that pops up. 

Now go back to the spreadsheet, click "add-ons" -> Flubaroo-> Grade assignment

 Flubaroo will walk you through the next steps. You can decide if you want to grade every question and if you want to grade them equally.

Then you'll select which response to use as the answer key. This is where naming it "answer key" comes in handy : )

Once you're done, Flubaroo will create a new page in the spreadsheet for you. Here's an idea of what it looks like (with fake entries). Not only does it show you the grade, but also how the students do on each question & if there are trends. You can even create graphs to go along with your data!

Another option is to have Flubaroo email students their grades - for this you'd have to include a question where students type their email address. I've used this option with kids, and they love being able to get such quick feedback!

I know this seems like a lot of steps, but once you get the hang of it, it's very quick - much quicker than grading 40 (or more) papers!

Solving Word Problems in a Digital Classroom

Last year I spent a couple of weeks teaching my kids how to analyze word problems. You can read all about my lessons here .

This year I did the same lessons, with a digital twist. I am really trying to incorporate more digital activities now that I'm in my second year of going 1:1 with students to iPads. 

The first day of our problem solving unit, we created a key words chart. Last year, I had the kids write on a a recording sheet like this:

This year I created the recording sheet in Google Docs and shared it with my student in Google Classroom. In Google Classroom you are able to make a copy of a Google Doc for each student. As we acted out word problems using manipulatives, we added to the Google Doc. The students each added to their own chart - this kept them more engaged than if they watched me create the chart. Now instead of having a copy in their math journals, they have a copy in Google Drive. 

On the second day of the unit, I had students sort word problems by the 4 operations. They had to write a number sentence and an explanation for each problem. Last year it looked like this:

This year instead of using paper/pencil, the kids took pictures of the word problems and put the number sentence and explanation into a pic collage. So now it looked like this:

Now, not everything lends itself to a digital activity. Sometimes I still need my students doing paper/pencil activities. However, when I'm able to make something digital I see an increase in engagement and ownership. The reduction in copies and paper is an added bonus. 

How do you incorporate digital activities into your math block?

Interested in my word problem lesson plans? The first 3 days are available in my Teacher Pay Teacher store:

5 Tips for Using Screencasting in the Classroom

Are you using screencasting in your digital classroom? I use it all the time. Here are my top 5 tips for screencasting in your digital classroom:

There are lots of different apps out there that you can use. My personal favorite is Doceri. There are a lot of fancy things you can do with it, but I mainly use it for the basic screencasting functions. You can check out my youtube video for a tutorial on using the app on your ipad.

Use a screencasting app to create your own instructional videos. You don't have to do a flipped class model to benefit from instructional videos. I record my math lessons using Doceri and the kids watch them at the beginning of math workshop. I can record a 15 minute lesson in about 5 minutes without all their sweet interruptions : ). I've found their attention span is a lot better for the video than a whole class lesson and the kids told me they paid attention to the video better!

Like the idea, but don't want to actually make the videos?? I get it. I've incorporated my videos into digital lessons you purchase. The kids loved my perimeter and area digital lesson, especially the dream bedroom activity at the end! 

When you screencast a lesson, include pictures of your anchor charts. You can use a stylus to write in on the anchor charts. I like to create my "charts" in powerpoint, save them as an image and then put them as the background on my Doceri slides. Then I print off a copy for my students and they fill them in as they watch the videos. 

Another way to use instructional videos is to post them on your class website. This works great as a homework helper for students (and parents love it too!). I've found this especially helpful when my kids are working on a new, complex skill like long division. 

Your students can use screencasting too! My kids love creating their own videos to share with me and other students. It's a great way to get kids explaining their thinking. Check out this *adorable* video one of my kiddos made explaining how to decompose fractions. A bonus is getting to listen to their sweet voices : )

Looking for more ways to go digital? Check out my post on using Google Slides for math workshop!

Here's a fabulous link up hosted by Mrs. Beers, Danielle Knight and The Daring English Teacher for Innovative Classroom Learning Day. Check out the links below to find other blog posts and digital products to check out.

An InLinkz Link-up

Using Blendpsace in your Classroom

I'm linking up with Techie Turtle for Tech Tip Tuesday!

This post is all about how to use blendspace in your digital classroom!

One of my favorite tech tools in my digital classroom is the website Blendspace. I use this website to organize activities for my kids to complete during math workshop. My favorite things about this website are:

• It's web based so you can use it with any device.
• It's visually pleasing.
• It helps kids stay focused on the tasks by ordering them.
• You can input a variety of media types.
• It's free!

I created a youtube video showing how to use the website in your classroom. You can check it out here.

When you create a *Free* account with blendspace, your home screen will look like this:

You can browse the gallery for lessons that have already been created.

When you find a lesson you like, you can make a copy. You'll be able to edit the lesson, so it's okay if you only like part of it. 

You can also create original lessons by clicking on "New Lesson" from the home screen. 

You can add lots of different things to your blendspace. My favorites are youtube videos, practice problems or games from different websites, google docs with instructions and pictures for foldables or hands-on activities, and quizzes. 

Once you're finished, you click share and you'll have a link that you can send to your students. 

Have you used Blendspace in your classroom? If so, I'd love to hear about it in the comments!

Check out my FREEBIE on Teachers Pay Teachers that includes the resources and a link to a blendspace I used in my classroom on Comparing Decimals.

Solving Word Problems

This year we changed the pacing of our instruction a little bit. We spent a chunk of time teaching the 4 operations, with heavy emphasis on the skills. Once the students had learned all 4 of the operations, we set aside 2 weeks to focus on problem solving using all of the operations.

In the past we would teach a skill and then look at word problems using that skill. I noticed that I wasn't spending a lot of time explicitly teaching kids how to determine which operation to use. I also realized a lot of kids would catch on to the fact that the word problems were over the skill we were practicing. They didn't have to do a lot of analysis to figure that out.

So this week we spent all week looking at simple word problems. I wanted to spend time explicitly teaching kids strategies to help them solve different types of word problems.

Day 1:
On Monday we looked at example word problems for each operation. We did the same activity 3 different times. First I modeled it whole group, then they worked in small groups of 4, and finally they did it again on their own.

We took 4 problems (1 for each operation) and looked for key words that helped us decide on the operation. We highlighted those words. Then we wrote a sentence explaining how we knew which operation to use. Finally, we wrote a number sentence showing the solution to the problem.

Day 2:

On Tuesday, I wanted the kids to really focus on some of the big concepts for each operation. Looking back, I think it would have been better to flip the activities for Day 1 & Day 2. 

I wrote some simple 1-step word problems for each operation. I passed out different math manipulatives to each table. I displayed one problem at a time and had the students "act out" the problem with the manipulatives. Then we worked together to write a number sentence and discuss what words in the problem helped us know what to do. 

After about 15-20 minutes of acting out different word problems, I collected the manipulatives and passed out a recording sheet. The sheet had 4 sections with an operation symbol at the top of each section. We had a class discussion about the things we noticed for the different operations and recording these observations on the sheet. Some of the big things we talked about were that addition and multiplication give us a larger number and subtraction and division give us a smaller number. We also talked about the fact that multiplication and division have equal groups, while addition and subtraction don't need equal groups. 

Day 3:

 Wednesday, I introduced the kids to a problem solving strategy that I have used in the past. The acronym is CUBES:

Circle the numbers

Underline key words

[Bracket the question]

Eliminate extra info.

Solve the problem 

I explained that this strategy helps them focus in on the important parts of a problem. This will become more important when we start looking at more complex problems. 

Like Monday, we did the same activity 3 different times. I modeled the steps, they worked it out in pairs, and then did it individually. 

I had copied different word problems on a recording sheet. Their first step was to do CUBES to the problem. Then they had to write a number sentence showing how to solve the problem. Once they had the answer, they had to write the answer in a complete sentence (this was harder than you would think!). Finally, they had to justify their answer. We referred back to our chart from Tuesday to help us explain why our answer was reasonable. 

Day 4:

This year our math curriculum specifies that students need to be able to use strip diagrams to represent problems involving the 4 operations. I wanted to spend a day looking at different strip diagrams. The kids had seen these diagrams on our spiral review warm-ups and a lot of them had a difficult time with strip diagrams modeling multiplication or division.

There's a great website and app called Thinking Blocks. We used this to help the kids practice with different diagrams. I don't have a smart board in my room, but we have a "smart pen" that turns the regular board into an interactive board. We used that to practice some different diagrams together.

Then I let the kids spend time in pairs, or independently, playing on the app. We used the addition/subtraction and multiplication/division apps. They were begging for more!

Day 5:

Friday is our assessment day. I gave the kids 8 one-step word problems. They had to use the CUBES problem solving strategy and show their work for each problem. They did a great job! While, I still have some kids who are struggling with the skills, every student knew which operation to do on the different problems. Woohoo!!

Next week we are looking at interpreting remainders and multi-step problems (including problems with extra info.)

Math Workshop

I am LOVING math workshop this year! I'm doing something totally different than past years and it's been fantastic. We are 1:1 this year with iPads so we're using technology a lot in all of the content areas. I decided to try an in-class flip model for math workshop. We are using the website Blendspace to house all of the workshop activities.

Here's a breakdown of what my math block looks like. I have 60 minutes a day for math.

Challenge Problem

We start off each block with a challenge problem. These are rigorous/multi-step word problems. The kids have 5 minutes to work out the problem with a partner on their white boards. Then we spend about 5 minutes talking about the problem and sharing different strategies for solving it. The kids love doing the challenge problems and it's a great chance to mix in lots of different skills.

Warm-Up

Each week they get a spiral-review sheet to work on. I break the problems down by day. There are 5 problems for each day. Monday is always vocabulary, Tuesday and Wednesday are skill review and Thursday is problem solving. They don't have any problems on Fridays. As we move on throughout the year, Wednesday will become more problem solving practice. I have an extra block of time for math on Tuesdays when my G/T kids are pulled out. I plan on using this time to go over the previous week's warm-up. My G/T kids typically don't need reteaching on these problems, but I can pull them in a small group during workshop for any reteaching they need.

Workshop

Once the kids finish their warm-up problems for the day, they start their workshop activities. We are using Edmodo at our school this year. I post the link to the blendspace in their Edmodo group. They get a new Blendspace on Mondays and Wednesdays and have 2 days to work on the activities.

What's in a Blendspace?

Every Blendspace starts with a video and an anchor chart. I'm a bit of a control freak (aren't all teachers??) so I make the videos myself because I want the kids to hear it the way I'd explain it. I've been using a screen capturing app (Doceri) on my ipad to record the videos. They're pretty basic - it's what I used to do whole class. For each video there's an anchor chart for the kids to fill out. They glue these into their journals. After the video, the kids have different activities to work on. I'm really trying to follow the concrete - pictorial - abstract model. A lot of times the activities are independent, but there are also partner activities mixed in. The kids also know they can help each other during math workshop.

Small Groups

I have 2 groups of kids that I pull every day. These are kids that I know need some extra hands-on practice with me. I pull them as soon as everyone starts working on their warm-up. This way they get a mini-lesson in with me before they watch the video and work on the activities. After I've worked with those 2 groups, I pull kids for reteaching, work on corrections with kids, and help with their workshop activities. I've been amazed at how much more time I have to work with small groups.

Accountability

After kids finish their anchor charts and glue them into their journals, they bring their journals to me to get checked. This helps me check-in with each student before they start the independent activities. It also helps me make sure they're putting their charts into their journals correctly. Before I did this, I discovered a lot of kids weren't gluing their charts into their journals or were leaving the examples blank.

I give the kids a grade for math workshop based on the activities that they complete. Not every kid will complete all of the activities and that is okay! I always put the activities that I consider the most important towards the beginning. If students are working with me, they won't have as much time to work independently. However, they're still getting practice. I give them a check, check plus or check minus on the different activities they complete during workshop. Then I take an average for the week.

Fridays

Friday is my assessment and reteaching day. We still start off with a challenge problem. Then they have a "quick check" to do. It's 5-10 questions over the skills we've been working on that week. I'm able to check these right away and re-teach that day. Friday is also a day for them to finish their warm-up and any unfinished work from the week.

Wow that was a long post!! Now for some pictures : )