What do we do besides our lessons in our Math book?
We do various other programs to go along with our Math Curriculum. Read below about each one.
Math Journals
Using a journal to solve math situations will help students understand their thinking and be able to share their mathematical thinking in a written form and orally. We will do a 5 day math journaling process 2 or 3 times a month on a concept that has been taught.
Monday: We will discuss the situation/problem and become familiar with the vocabulary and what the problem is asking the students to do.
Tuesday: The students review the situation and discuss how they would go about solving the problem.
Wednesday: The students will then use their journal to solve the problem. They can use a proof drawing.
Thursday: The students discuss orally how they got their answer and then write it down, they also rate themselves on a rubric on how well they understood.
Friday: Students discuss and share their different strategies that they used to come up with the answer.
Number Corner
Number Corner is an interactive bulletin board that revolves around the classroom calendar, providing skills practice as well as continual encounters with broader mathematical concepts.
In a Number Corner classroom daily workouts involve whole-group games and activities focused on a specific skill or concept. New pieces are added to the display each day -- patterns unfold, school days are tallied, and coins are collected, -- providing the basis for discussions, problem solving, and short written assignments including independent practice. Math becomes less abstract as students are engaged by concrete and accessible models related to computational strategies, place value, money, time, measuring, and algebraic thinking.
In a Number Corner classroom daily workouts involve whole-group games and activities focused on a specific skill or concept. New pieces are added to the display each day -- patterns unfold, school days are tallied, and coins are collected, -- providing the basis for discussions, problem solving, and short written assignments including independent practice. Math becomes less abstract as students are engaged by concrete and accessible models related to computational strategies, place value, money, time, measuring, and algebraic thinking.
Rocket Math
MASTERING MATH FACTS PROGRAM
Our class will be spending time daily practicing and learning the math facts. We will be using a program called Rocket Math. It will take only a few minutes each day of class time, but students will keep working until they have mastered all the facts. A fact is mastered when it can be answered instantly, without any pause. The program allows each child to go at his or her own pace. Students are given an opportunity daily to show they have learned a set of facts by passing its test.
You can help your child progress and learn faster by practicing at home the same set of facts your child is learning at school. Any day your child does not pass a set of facts he or she will have that day’s practice sheet to bring home as homework. It will help a great deal if you will practice with your child for five minutes with that sheet.
Here’s how we recommend you practice. Your child should have the top half of the day’s practice sheet (without answers written in) in front of himself or herself. Have your child read each fact aloud and then say the answers to you. If you hear either the slightest hesitation or an error on one of those facts, give your child some extra practice on that fact. The best way to give extra practice is to begin by immediately giving your child the correct answer, then ask him or her to repeat the problem and answer the answer once more. Next, back up three problems and have your child begin again. If there is no hesitation or mistake when the problem is reached this time, be sure to praise your child and let him or her continue.
Work until finishing the top half of the page, but no more than five minutes in one session. If you wish to do a second session, wait at least an hour, or try it again in the morning. When memorizing facts, two short sessions hours apart are far more helpful than one long session. Your child’s hard work should pay off in “passing” within a very few days. Then the next set will be assigned and practice can begin again. Each practice and test sheet is cumulative, including all the facts learned so far.
Learning all the facts in a given operation is a lot of work, but future success in math is dependent upon knowing facts so well that the answers come automatically without much thinking. Thank you so much for your support of this critical learning goal.
If you go to the Parent Resources page you will be able to see the math facts your child will be tested on in addition and subtraction for Rocket Math.
Accelerated Math
We have officially started Accelerated Math in the classroom. Your child should have at least one Accelerated Math paper in their Homework folder. The paper will be labeled as Practice TOPS, Test TOPS, or an Exercise. The percentage can be found under the shaded lines. Let me explain what each one is and how it works.
Practice: Each student has been assigned numerous objectives to work on. The computer program automatically pulls the objectives that work well with one another and prints out problems for that student to work on. If a student struggles with an objective, the next practice will have more of those types of problems on it. Practices are used to guide instruction and let us know when a test should be printed.
Exercise: As each student works on his/her Practice papers they will scan an electronic scan card to score his/her results. If a student struggles with a particular objective three times the computer will alert me. I then work one-on-one with that student over that objective. After working with them, I print them out an Exercise on the particular objective they were struggling with. After they complete the Exercise, they scan their card and it will be sent home.
Test: Once a student completes an objective well three times a Test will be printed out for them. No student should do poorly on a Test because it is a skill that they have completed accurately in the past.
