Differentiated Math

We recently had an opportunity to actually talk and share ideas with all of the other first grade teachers at the end of our half day district inservice the other day-it was amazing!  I may be a bit odd because I have always loved staff meetings, professional development, taking classes toward renewing me license etc.  I love connecting with other people in our profession and learning from each other.  It's what has always made me love this career so much.  I can never know it all.  There is always something new and ways I can improve for the benefit of my students.  To me, that is so inspiring.  What was so great, was that in this group of first grade teachers, there were so many that are looking to learn and share from each other.  We are in the process of organizing our own get togethers where we can collaborate on things that we feel would benefit us.  So exciting!

Anyways, we were sharing how we are approaching the implementation of our new math series (Go Math) and I mentioned my MATH rotations (see a post about them here).  As I have thought about some of the questions I was answering about the routine, I thought it might be helpful if I described a typical math lesson and how I differentiate. (I won't have too many pictures since this wasn't a preplanned post, but I will do another one soon and make sure to include more pictures).

My main message to these awesome ladies was that the materials in our math series are just a resource to me.  I don't allow it to dictate my lessons.  I'm still doing what I have been doing for the past several years because it's been working.  I have had to adapt things a lot as we changed from EDM to Go Math.  Yes, I use the materials, the same format as their assessments, the sequence, etc.  But the core of how I teach math remains the same.

My other main point is that differentiation doesn't need to be fancy!  I have four children of my own and sometimes feel like I'm drowning with all of the things I need to do as mom, wife, and teacher.   I pour my heart and soul into teaching, but I try to be efficient and keep things simple whenever I can.  I have read some other blog posts about guided math and I get exhausted just reading about the color coded bins and seemingly endless differentiated activities.  My MATH rotations provide differentiated instruction, but in a way that is very manageable for me which means I actually can keep up with it:)

I rely on data a lot and truly use it go guide my instruction.  My math groups change daily based on that data.  I love nothing more than getting to meet with each group and feeling like I am giving them instruction right at the level they need.  But in order to consistently meet with my groups and not get overwhelmed, I have learned to keep things simple.  My differentiated instruction certainly isn't full of cute laminated task cards (I try when I can), but I don't put too much pressure on myself that way or I would get too overwhelmed and not keep up.  So here is a peak at how one of my lesson's developed this week.

Identify the Learning Objective

We are on unit 6 in Go Math which focuses on place value.  Wednesday I planned to teach lesson 6.8 which focuses on making a model to show a number in different ways.  The common common core standard is 1. NBT.B.2a (Understand that the two digits of a two-digit number represent amounts of tens and ones.)  Our students also take the MAPS assessment to show growth and I know that there are problems where students need to identify more than one way to represent a number with place value blocks.  So this is an important lesson for sure and I knew some of my students would struggle with this skill.

Create Assessments

Creating assessments is usually my first task.  For Go Math, we give the chapter tests for a summative assessment.  I create my own diagnostic, formative, and summative assessments in addition.  I know many teachers use the review that is provided as their diagnostic.  This isn't as helpful to me because there are so many skills with typically only one question for each skill.  I find it more helpful to make my own assessments with several questions so it gives me a clearer understanding of where each student is with the skill.  Formative assessments may be simple exit slips and I sometimes use a couple of questions even right from their Go Math workbooks.  If the skill is also a common core standard then I like to have a summative assessment on that skill in addition to the chapter test.

For my lesson this week, I knew my job-share partner had created and given a diagnostic assessment and planned to use that data.  However, on the day of the lesson, I decided to also include one more quick  assessment so that their level of understanding was current.  I like to give the pretest the day prior to the lesson whenever possible.  But that's just me being probably a little over the top and doing the pretest a few days before probably wouldn't change things all that much.

Gather Materials

I then get busy gathering materials to use with my groups.  Sometimes that means I create something new, dust off something from a previous year, or search on TPT.  For this lesson, I remembered that I created a whole mini place value unit that included some task cards.  YAY! One less thing to create for me!!!  I love these task cards because there are two sets for easy differentiation (yellow or black chevron).  There are several types of questions/tasks with place value so if the "showing two ways to make a number" becomes too simple for a group, I can move on to the value of digits or expanded notation.

Since I'm usually gathering materials prior to knowing exactly where my students fall, it isn't an exact science.  However, I know that I will need to have something for all of the levels.  I make sure to have materials for the group(s) that demonstrate mastery on the pretest.  Often this means just taking a look at the second grade skills or sometimes it is just doing something more challenging with the first grade standard.  

Give the Diagnostic & Create 4 Groups

I graded their papers and sorted them into 4 groups.  Since I have less than 24 students, I always just make sure that there are never more than 6 students in a group.  If you have a larger class (I have done this with larger classes) and you just have to adjust to 7 in a group.  I tend to make my lowest group as small as possible to provide as much individual support as possible.  When I'm sorting my students into 4 groups, there are always surprises.  There were two students that normally struggle, but answered the diagnostic question perfectly.  This is why I do assessments for each lesson.  I'm not using a general performance score to group my students.  It is specific to that skill.  Sometimes I have a typically high performing student that needs more help on a certain skill.  My assessments are the way I ensure that each student is getting the instruction they need.

For this lesson I had 4 students in the very top group, 6 in the middle groups, and only 3 in my group needing some intense intervention.

Whole Class Introduction

I usually spend a few minutes as a whole group introducing the skill we are working with for the day. I tell them our focus and write the learning goal on the board.  I like to model and sometimes have students do some guided practice on their dry-erase boards.  

For this lesson, I used the Go Math online component projected on the smartboard to model this process.  Then we did 3 problems on the smartboard/dry-erase boards before moving to the rotations.

MATH Rotations

So what are the other students doing while I meet with students?

m=math facts (addition flashcards-differentiated).  Students can choose to work alone or with a partner

a=at your seats 

For today's lesson, I kept it extremely simple and assigned a  Go Math workbook page.  On this page students were given numbers and had to come up with 2 ways to show the place value blocks. To differentiate (simply!) I provided place value blocks for some students.  I have a student that I modify nearly every assignment.  For him, I wrote only 3 numbers and had him use blocks and then draw the model to represent the number one way.  He needs a lot more instruction before he is ready to show the number two ways.  

t=teacher time 

h=hands-on 

Students work on iPod Touches.  We just got a class set of Chromebooks so I'm hoping that sometimes during this station, students will log in and be able to work on skills that are more directly related to the unit we are.  

TEACHER  TIME DETAILS

I started with my highest group.  I gave them each two task cards like the ones show below.

I then introduced to them the place value block for hundreds.  I modeled this and then gave them some task cards (below) to practice.

Once the four of them seemed secure with this, I modeled how to generate two ways to draw the place value blocks and had them practice using task cards (below) to practice.

This group was doing so well and moved through these pretty quickly, so I decided to extend it just a bit more and talk about the value of each digit in a number.  I taught and modeled this concept using a task card and then gave them the last couple of minutes of our meeting time to practice this skill.  We even did a few (not on task cards) that were in the thousands.

My middle two groups were all students who on the diagnostic could give me one way to model the number, but needed more work with coming up with a second way.  During our meeting time, I explicitly taught them how to model a second way.  It was the whole "I do, we do, you do" model.  I modeled it.  Then we did a few together (I wrote on my easel while, they wrote on the dry-erase circles at the table).  And then they did some task cards on their own.  This individual practice is so helpful because I am right there to provide immediate feedback.  As they are working at their own pace, I can provide more instruction and support as needed.  These groups only worked on tens and ones and did not get the enrichment of moving to the hundreds as they highest group did.  I also take notes during the last few minutes of our meeting time about what students would benefit from some additional practice during our IE time.

The students in my lowest group showed (on the diagnostic) that they are not completely secure in showing just one way to represent the number with place value blocks.  In this group, I spent some time with them just writing two-digit numbers and identifying the ones and the tens.  We used manipulatives to represent the ones and the tens and then we moved to drawing them on the cards.  The cards I used with this group looked like the one below.


Two of the students were doing well enough with this that I was then able to work with them on how to represent the number a second way.  I worked with this group a little longer than my other groups.  I made notes to continue to work with them during IE time.

Formative Assessment

So after I met with all four math groups, I gave a quick exit slip.  After working with every student at my table, I already feel like I have a very strong understanding with where they each are in terms of the skill, but I still sometimes like to do a formal exit slip.

I took the data from the exit slips and my notes from meeting in groups and created an intervention list.  In this case there were 3 students who still needed some strong interventions and 3 students that I would need to check in with and provide some "light" interventions with.  Sometimes after meeting with all of my groups, there are more than a handful of students needing more practice.  In this case, I often will do another day of MATH rotations the following day.

So that's it.  Certainly not anything extraordinary.  But the students made great progress in this one lesson and were very engaged.  The high group oohed when I introduced the hundreds block and when I let them work on numbers in the thousands.  (I'm not joking.  That's why I love them.  Easy. To. Please.)  And on the opposite end, I was able to slow the pace way down for those in that lowest group.  They also were very engaged because I wasn't teaching beyond where they were.  I met with EVERY student in a small group.  The learning needs of the students were identified by using the assessment data.  The lesson (materials, pacing, level of support) was differentiated.  So although I mentioned I wouldn't label this lesson as extraordinary, it was a solid, typical lesson in my classroom and I feel extraordinary whenever I teach math in small groups:)  I hope the details I shared help you in some small way as you plan for your small math groups.

Penguins!!!

This stretch of year can be the hardest.  All the excitement of the holidays are over and winter is really setting in.  So I'm trying to keep their interest (and mine!) and enthusiasm going and what better way than cute little penguins?!

There are so many penguin themed resources out there and my students were so into it that I actually carried this theme for the first two weeks back after break.  Why stop a good thing?

We started by reviewing the strategies that good readers use (what we have been learning in December) and despite two weeks off, I'm happy to report they easily remembered: ask questions, make predictions, and summarize.  Whew!  It actually stuck with them:)

We first made a list of all the things we think we know about penguins.  We talked about how this helps activate our schema.  We also made a list of questions we have about penguins.  I then partnered them up and had them choose a penguin book (my county library had tons).  I gave the students a graphic organizer for them to record summary sentences as they read.  As I walked around the room as they were working I made a note of places where students were struggling to understand a vocabulary word or the meaning of a particular section.  Later, I used these examples to introduce the 4th reciprocal teaching strategy: clarify.

We read a lot about penguins.  A lot.  They were so motivated.  I did read alouds, shared reading, partner reading, and guided reading.  During and after reading, we recorded important and interesting facts about penguins.  This is when I get so excited about teaching reading.  I love when they are authentically motivated and engaged in reading.

Are penguins a part of my curriculum?  Totally not.  But I love to use a theme like this and teach reading strategies (like ask questions, make predictions, summarize, and clarify).  I modeled these strategies and the students also had lots of opportunities to utilize them in their reading with varying levels of support.  Exploring all of these penguin books was also a great opportunity for them to utilize their knowledge of nonfiction text features.

The students wrote an informative piece using the facts and we did a fun directed drawing to display with their writing.  We do informative writing pieces quite often and they do so well with these now (but clearly we didn't edit and revise these:).

We also revisited the cubing strategy (see my Grinch post here for more details on cubing).   We used the information we learned from all of our nonfiction reading about penguins and did some higher level thinking.  I have been terrible about remembering to take pictures lately, but here is a page from the cubing activity.

Our district hired a consultant to model some research based strategies for teachers.  She did a lesson with our class so that the K-1 teachers could observe.  I felt a little bit of "affirmation" because part of her lesson involved the students arguing for or against penguins making good pets.  Kinda neat that of all the strategies and activities she ended up modeling one that I had just done.  Every so often I feel like I kinda know what I'm doing:)

You can click here to get a FREE copy of the penguin cubing sheets, graphic organizer, and writing paper that I used for the informative writing.

Next up, more cold weather connections-polar bears!