Bus L Teacher Resources

The Future and Beyond

2016-09-08T10:14:00.001-06:00

Now that's what I call a hiatus. From pretty much the day I wrote my last post until now, everything has changed so much. From an illness, to a relapse, to time off, to the decision to leave teaching, it's been major. I hope to leave this blog here to serve anyone who could benefit from it, but actually from the end of the 2014-2015 school year, I never taught again. I am currently working on my doctorate in Educational Learning Technologies full time, with the aspiration of becoming a university professor upon completion. I have fond and heartfelt wishes of success for all teachers out there, I just needed to move on to my next goal and get over my illness. Good luck out there everyone!

Big Announcement

2015-04-28T09:32:00.003-06:00

Recently I got the big news, I will be teaching second grade next year. So, my plans are to keep the blog in place with the 3-5 resources, but I will most definitely be shifting my focus to 2nd grade resources moving forward.

5th Grade CCSS Math Vocabulary by Domain

2014-06-23T20:51:00.000-06:00

In all my searching around the internet, I have had a difficult time finding vocabulary for Common Core listed by domain. So, with the help of some resources and my own notes from last year, I made the following list:

5th Grade CCSS Math Vocabulary by Domain

Here is some great math vocabulary words in .pdf format that are word wall ready (my favorite list out there)

Full List of Words (for reference)
A-L word wall ready words
M-Z word wall ready words

More math vocab cards

PDF Listing of math vocabulary words

5th Grade Math Resources for Numbers and Operations in Base Ten CCSS Strand

2014-06-19T15:26:00.000-06:00

I have completed pages of resources for all of the 5.NBT standards, which I have linked to below. I hope you find some great things you can use in your classroom. Everything I list is freely available online, no cost stuff only!

You can also see these listed on my Math School Year Outline (CCSS aligned).

5th Grade Math Resources for CCSS 5.NBT.7

2014-06-19T15:20:00.000-06:00

5.NBT.7: Add, subtract, multiply, and divide decimals to hundredths, using concrete models or drawings and strategies based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction; relate the strategy to a written method and explain the reasoning used.

UNPACKED EXPLANATION: Do computations with decimals in all four operations, being able to relate work to models or drawings, and utilize strategies based on place value, properties, and the inverse relationship of addition and subtraction. It's the culmination of the entire NBT strand.

WHAT THE PARCC WILL EXPECT: I've said it before and I'll say it again. The practice test hasn't, in my mind, done justice to how difficult the actual PARCC test is. So my advice is to make sure this standard, as all others, is taught to the letter of what's being asked. The practice questions are a straight forward .035 x 1.5 and 5.63 + 14.37, which aren't that difficult. So just go ahead and hit the depth of the entire standard, I think it's the best way to go.

RESOURCES:

Math Worksheet Land Worksheets
Mr. Maffesoli.com Worksheets on 5.NBT.7
A couple of great word problem pdfs: Diminishing Return and Got Your Number.
EngageNY full module: This huge document can be a little cumbersome, but if you do a search on the standard 5.NBT.7 then you'll find a few great problems and scoring rubrics here.
5.NBT.7 games

5th Grade Math Resources for CCSS 5.NBT.6

2014-06-19T09:48:00.000-06:00

5.NBT.6: Find whole-number quotients of whole numbers with up to four-digit dividends and two-digit divisors, using strategies based on place value, the properties of operations, and/or the relationship between multiplication and division. Illustrate and explain the calculation by using equations, rectangular arrays, and/or area models.

UNPACKED EXPLANATION: 4 digit by 2 digit division with strategies that involved an understanding of place value relationships (as in moving that decimal place to the left and right), understanding that division is the opposite of multiplication, and understanding the properties of the operations involved. Finally, students should have the ability to explain their calculation visually.

WHAT THE PARCC WILL EXPECT: I'm not sure if many teachers out there have looked in depth at what the PARCC has to offer, but I have to say that I'm not very impressed in a lot of ways. If you look at this standard, it's really sophisticated in what it expects out of students. Not just the ability to divide, but the ability to elaborate on their calculation and process is important. Well, then there's the PARCC question, here's a screenshot of what the PARCC asked for 5th graders to do:

Yep, here it is. The point I'm trying to make here is if you go to the depth of understanding that 5.NBT.6 asks of you to go with your students, they'll have no trouble handling the low level, low quality type of question being asked of them on the PARCC assessment (I know that's a fairly brutal and straightforward critique, but that's how it is with this).

PARENT HELP: I discussed having parents help with basic multiplication and division practice at the beginning of the school year in my 5th Grade Math Resources for CCSS 5.NBT.5 post, and will elaborate on that here.

If you set aside the initial.... six weeks or so of the school year for parents to help their children at home reinforcing basic multiplication and division facts, it can save you a lot of time in the classroom. I haven't met a 5th grade teacher in the all the world who doesn't lament the fact that a good percentage of their students don't walk through the door on the first day with fundamental math facts down, mainly multiplication facts and standard algorithm, as well as the ability to divide with the standard algorithm. So here's some resources that can be utilized for that purpose:

BASIC SKILL PRACTICE:

ROCKET MATH: Rocket Math offers 1 minute timings (you can read more on that in my 5.NBT.5 post under basic skill practice). Here are some division sheets in ORIGINAL FORMAT and in NEW FORMAT.
GAMES:

Fun 4 the Brain Division Games: A great listing with some pretty neat games that practice basic division facts.
Math Playground Division Games: Some neat games that will help kids in need of a little practice.

WORKSHEETS:

Math aids.com listing: I like the offerings here, lots of great basic division practice.
Math drills.com listing: You can't go wrong here, there are tons of choices.
Common Core Sheets listing: Again, tons of choices and variations available here.

ADDRESSING 5.NBT.6 WITH RIGOR, SYSTEMATICALLY: Once students have basic division facts down (fact families basically), and can function within the standard algorithm, it's time to start talking about how to handle those remainders. By 5th grade, they shouldn't just be putting an "r" and writing the remainder next to it, they should either take that remainder and make a fraction with remainder in the numerator and divisor in the denominator, or continue on by using a decimal in the quotient (I like my students to keep going to the thousandths place if necessary).

Long division with the remainder as a fraction

Long division with decimal remainders

DIVISION WITH FRACTIONAL REMAINDERS:

WORKSHEETS:

Math aids.com: Why go elsewhere when it's right here.
Dads worksheets.com: Tons of results here, there are many possible worksheets you can use.

DIVISION WITH DECIMAL REMAINDERS: (there are some options at the links immediately above this as well)

Math is fun.com example: Kids can open this on an iPad or computer to get a very detailed example on how this works.
Khan Academy Dividing Completely to Get Decimal Remainder: I used this lesson in my class to some good results, it was a flipped lesson and students really understood what he was showing them.

5th Grade Math Resources for CCSS 5.NBT.5

2014-06-16T09:55:00.000-06:00

5.NBT.5: Fluently multiply multi-digit whole numbers using the standard algorithm.

UNPACKED EXPLANATION: What more is there to say here? Multiply using the classic method known as the standard algorithm. The key here is the world "fluently," which means students need to be able to do this quickly and with skill.

WHAT THE PARCC WILL EXPECT: The PARCC practice test that is currently out there has three problems that are 5.NBT.5. This is a 36 question test, so realizing that a full 8% of this test is based on this one standard, that should show us all that this is a HUGE standard. Of course, this shouldn't be a surprise. The ability to multiply fluently is a foundational math skill, and should be something students are practicing and reinforcing all year long.

The PARCC practice problems are:

463 x 1,945 =

371 x 2,584 =

625 x 847 =

So, considering that this is a huge standard, let's discuss a few approaches:

PARENT HELP: Multiplication and division with the standard algorithms are HUGE HUGE HUGE skills that can't be taught in a two or three week period. They need constant practice throughout the year. One way I like to do this is by involving parents. From the beginning of the school year, I send home multiplication and division practice as homework for the first few months. This gets parents involved, because even though many parents struggle to help their kids with the more rigorous CCSS based math stuff, they can provide support when it comes to multiplying and dividing. I also try to focus on basic skill checks through the first few months. Too many 5th graders don't have their basic multiplication facts down, so let's hit this standard from bottom to top.

BASIC SKILL PRACTICE:

ROCKET MATH: If you don't know what Rocket Math is, it's 1 minute timings that students try to complete and move up a rocket chart. Teacher directions are HERE, and the timing sheets are HERE (the classic ones that I use because they're the ones my school has, and some newer ones that I don't like as much but they are out there HERE). These are good to send home, and have parents do the timings at night for practice, and then do some timings in class. I have a good system going with these and can do a full timing, and have everything put away within 3 minutes. It's good and quick practice for basic skills, which are necessary. Students can't multiply fluently if they're constantly doing multiplication on their fingers.
Games: I could list literally thousands of different basic fact games, but instead, just go to Google and search for basic multiplication fact games and you'll see for yourself. I'm going to focus on a few of the best here.

Multiplication.com Games: A large collection of games that reinforce facts. I put this link up on my classroom webpage for students to use at home.
Times Table Games: A decent listing of some basic facts games.

Worksheets: Here's some basic facts worksheets to get you started.

Tons of sheets in one pdf file.
Create your own basic facts worksheets at The Math Worksheet Generator.
Worksheet Works worksheet generator: Good stuff here!

ADDRESSING 5.NBT.5 WITH RIGOR: Let's move beyond basic skills into mastering this skill and really starting to push students abilities with the standard algorithm.

Mr. Maffesoli.com Listing: Mostly 2 x 2 multiplication worksheets in pdf format.
Internet for Classrooms.com Listing: Has 2 x 2, 2 x 3, 2 x 4, etc.
Mathaids.com Worksheet Builder: Build some algorithm based problems here and download as pdf.
Mathdrills.com Worksheet Listing: Many worksheets that address the standard algorithm.
CCSS Math Internet Resources: Worksheets, videos, interactives, etc.
WORD PROBLEMS:

Mr. Nussbaum Story Problems: 10 examples exist here.
A few rigorous multi-step multiplication word problems
Multi-step Multiplication word problems from superteacherworksheets.com: It's usually not a free site but this is a free pdf.
Math-aids.com build your own two step multiplication problem pdf sheet.
Helping with math.com listing: Some decent and challenging word problems exist here.
Full module from engageny.org: Do a 5.NBT.5 search in this pdf and find a great listing of some highly rigorous problems, some warm ups, and even some rubrics and scoring samples.
Lessons for Learning: A large pdf document provided by the Public Schools of North Carolina, I found some great and rigorous word problems here.

5th Grade Math Resources for CCSS 5.NBT.4

2014-06-15T10:35:00.000-06:00

5.NBT.4: Use place value understanding to round decimals to any place.

UNPACKED EXPLANATION: Round decimals to either tenths, hundredths, or thousandths, although strategies and skilled learns should apply to any place.

WHAT THE PARCC WILL EXPECT: The PARCC Practice Tests question for 5.NBT.4 tests students ability to round decimals without a given context (without telling them "round to the tenths place," etc.). The actual problem is:

The PARCC does this quite a lot. There are 6 numbers that can be dragged, meaning that two numbers will be left behind, so the traditional test taking strategies, especially process of elimination, won't be as effective here (although it still helps). Students will need the ability to do exactly what's laid out above, to be able to match numbers to their rounded counterparts, and do it without context.

RESOURCES: I'll focus on resources that cover all the components of this skill. You'll likely want to start with doing a lot of rounding with context, and eventually move to the more rigorous side of this standard.

ROUNDING WITH CONTEXT:

Short explanation before some rounding of specified digits
4 page packet that rounds with context
Mathworksheetland.com lesson outline: It's all context based rounding here.
Massive listing of worksheets from internet4classrooms.com: Tons and tons of context based rounding sheets, I mean TONS.
Assessment for 5.NBT.1-4: Actually some decent problems here.
GAMES

ROUNDING WITHOUT CONTEXT: There's not a lot out there for rounding decimals that leaves no context. My advice here is to look at the PARCC problem above and craft some problems that are similar to it, this ensures students are getting rigorous problems that make them problem solve and think. I highly recommend going to that level if possible,

Performance assessment task from insidemathematics.com: Look through this document for a few rigorous problems with scoring rubrics. They could be used for practice or even incorporated into assessments.
Iowa released test items: Released items from the old NAEP test that are now aligned to CCSS (interstingly enough, a lot of these problems were originally meant for 7th and 8th graders). Search the document (ctrl+f) for 5.NBT.4.

5.NBT.4 VIDEO:

5th Grade Math Resources for CCSS 5.NBT.3

2014-06-14T18:18:00.000-06:00

5.NBT.3: Read, write, and compare decimals to the thousandths.

(a) Read and write decimals to thousandths using base-ten numerals, number names, and expanded form, e.g., 347.392 = 3 × 100 + 4 × 10 + 7 × 1 + 3 × (1/10) + 9 × (1/100) + 2 × (1/1000).

(b) Compare two decimals to thousandths based on meanings of the digits in each place, using >, =, and < symbols to record the results of comparisons.

First of all, this standard has two parts. We will first focus on part (a) of the standard:

5.NBT.3a

UNPACKED EXPLANATION: To put it as simple as possible, this part of standard 3 asks students to write the expanded form of numbers, fractions included to represent tenths, hundredths, and thousandths.

WHAT THE PARCC WILL EXPECT: Just like 5.NBT.2, there are no performance tasks for 5.NBT.3 (a or b). So, the best approach to take here is to use these standards to prepare students for the more rigorous work that lies ahead later on in the NBT domain. If your students can accurately write standard, word, and expanded form of numbers that go to thousandths, they'll be fine on this standard. It really is a simple one that can be tied to some other standards as well.

RESOURCES: Again, this will be fairly straight forward. If you teach in sequence (and there's really no reason you shouldn't with this domain, it's already laid out that way), then your students will already have a good understanding of place values in the base ten system, making this the next step.

Adjective/Noun Theme: As someone who has been through a full round of Intel Math training, I fully believe in and utilize many of their strategies, including adjective/noun theme. The a/n theme has been around long before Intel, but is very conceptual and powerful when students learn to utilize it. HERE is a document that explains adjective/noun theme in the four operations. And HERE is another document on adjective/noun theme with decimals. The basic premise here is that numbers are adjectives that describe nouns. You can't add together two unlike nouns (you can't add together 4 dogs and 2 cats without some sort of combining of nouns). So if it's 45 hundredths + 8 tenths, we have to do some converting to get 45 hundredths + 80 hundredths, and then we add the adjectives to get 125 hundredths. It's a simple yet effective way of teaching this stuff that is conceptual and leads to long term retention of learning.
Some worksheets and pdfs:

mrmaffesoli.com 5.NBT.3a worksheets: A listing of some great 5.NBT.3a worksheets, there's quite a few here.
Common Core Sheets: There's a pretty large listing here.
Internet 4 Classrooms 5.NBT.3a: Wow, there's TONS here.

GAMES:

Mathman: A Sheppard Software game, very simple and straight forward Pacman style game that reinforced expanded form, although it might not go as far as decimals. It's good practice for kids struggling with their expanded form of numbers.
Fruit Shoot: Another Sheppard Software game. If you play the harder levels it's a spot on match for 5.NBT.3a.
Walk the Plank: A game from mathforchildren, it's funny and kids enjoy it.

5.NBT.3a VIDEO: This is a Khan Academy video that discusses expanded form with multiplication, pretty much as stated in the CCSS.

5.NBT.3b

UNPACKED EXPLANATION: Compare two decimals to thousandths using inequalities (<, >, =).

WHAT THE PARCC WILL EXPECT: Again, this standard is not included on PARCC practice exams. This is a pretty important standard for students to master, however, because it allows them to show mastery over comparing decimals, understanding place value, and even the ability to properly complete inequalities. So let's just go from there.

RESOURCES:This standard is almost identical to the inequalities standard that many states already had in place before the Common Core, so anything you, as a teacher, already have prior to CCSS (if you didn't trash it) would work great here. Here's a few online resources:

orglib.com questions library for 5.NBT.3a and b: There's not a lot of questions here, but what they do have are to the point and would probably be what it would look like on PARCC.
Collection of lessons from mathworksheetland.com for 5.NBT.3b (some 3a stuff is in here as well).
mrmaffesoli.com 5.NBT.3b worksheet resource page: Yet again, some great resources. Go ahead and bookmark this site, it's golden for everything CCSS.
Common Core Sheets: Same as above for 3a. Good stuff, with many different versions of worksheets available.

GAMES:

Balloon Pop: A simple yet great game for ordering decimals. It's a challenge, but students are sure to enjoy it.
AAA Math Comparing Decimals: It's more like an online practice test than a game, but it really works well.

5.NBT.3B VIDEO:

5th Grade CCSS Math School Year Outline

2014-06-14T11:55:00.000-06:00

The 5th Grade Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are laid out in the following sequence in my school district: (this is my main listing that will link to a page for each standard. Be on the lookout for assessments, which are grouped in 2 week blocks for the most part)

THIS PAGE IS UNDER MAJOR CONSTRUCTION, SO BOOKMARK IT AND CHECK BACK OFTEN!

1st 9 Weeks:

2nd 9 Weeks:

5.NF.1
5.NF.2
5.NF.3
5.NF.4
5.NF.5
5.NF.6
5.NF.7

3rd 9 Weeks:

5.OA.1
5.OA.2
5.OA.3
5.MD.1
5.MD.2
5.MD.3
5.MD.4
5.MD.5
5.G.1
5.G.2
5.G.3
5.G.4

4th 9 Weeks:

4th 9 weeks is set aside for review (the scope and sequence in my district was written so that all standards could be taught before the administration of the PARCC).

5th Grade Math Resources for CCSS 5.NBT.2

2014-06-14T11:54:00.000-06:00

5.NBT.2: Explain patterns in the number of zeros of the product when multiplying a number by powers of 10, and explain patterns in the placement of the decimal point when a decimal is multiplied or divided by a power of 10. Use whole-number exponents to denote powers of 10.

UNPACKED EXPLANATION: This one is fairly straight forward. This standard is commonly known as "the powers of 10," so keep that in mind. It's all about base 10 and understanding that you're multiplying by ten each time you move to the next larger place value, with an understanding of the opposite function of adding a 0, which is removing a zero, while understanding conceptually that removing a 0 means the decimal point has moved a place to the left. Finally, exponents are a great way to have students denote these relationships, and starts building upon skills they'll use a lot further on down the road.

WHAT THE PARCC WILL EXPECT: The PARCC Practice Test site does not have specific problems for 5.NBT.2, but when looking closer at this standard, students will need to be familiar with problems that resemble the following:

34 x 10,000 =
90,000 ÷ 30 =
0.00034 x 10,000 =
Check out this collection of videos from LeanZillion that explains the entire process of powers of 10.

RESOURCES

First off, a lot of the things I referenced in my post for 5.NBT.1 are relevant to this standard as well. So check that out: 5th Grade Math Resources for CCSS 5.NBT.1.
Some practice problems at Orglib.com: This is a great site where you can make an account, build tests from a bank of questions, and even track student results. It's one of the closer things I've found that can mimic the PARCC assessment.
Even though it's in my last post, this is a spot on activity for this standard:

Place value cups (click the link for instructions): This simple activity is very concrete for kids, and if you keep a few handy, they're good for reference later in the year for students who didn't retain everything they learned during the teaching of 5.NBT.1.

Powers of 10 Yahtzee: Although I linked to the Google Doc here, I'll go ahead and explain this game in my own words:

Power of 10 Yahtzee should be played in pairs. Students should already have an understanding of exponents and how to navigate a place value chart. Each player is going to roll the dice. Whatever number player A rolls they will put it as an exponent to the base number 10 (if they roll a 4, they will be finding the product of 10 to the power of 4, or 10,000). Then player B goes. They do this 5 times, and add up their totals, whoever has the highest total wins. A more rigorous extension of this game for the advanced student would be to have each student roll two dice (preferably different colored dice would work), and have one color be the base number and the second be the exponent).

IXL Listing of Problems that Fit the Standard
The following listing is for worksheets:

Mathworksheetland.com 5.NBT.2 Listing: A great starting point. Why make your own worksheets when there's already practice stuff out there. If you know how, you can send these right to an iPad and have kids do some practice there, or print them out.
Mrmaffesoli.com Printables: I use these, good stuff for sure.

Vocabulary

I'll list a few sites that have good 5.NBT.2 vocabulary. I can't really even begin to say how important it is to teach students not only what academic vocabulary words mean, but how to use them in context. There's a lot of power in having students state their reasoning academically that goes beyond testing and helps reinforce the ideas they're learning about.

A great pdf at what's a great go to resource for vocabulary, duplinschools.net.
UEN.org resource file with vocabulary.

5.NBT.2 Video

The first two videos are of Khan Academy explaining both multiplying and dividing by powers of 10:

Multiplying by Powers of 10

Dividing by Powers of 10

Lastly, the STEM teacher in me can't resist putting up this video that explains what exponential growth is really all about in a scientific regard. I give to you now, Cosmic Voyage, narrated by Morgan Freeman:

5th Grade Math Resources for CCSS 5.NBT.1

2014-06-14T10:46:00.001-06:00

5.NBT.1: Recognize that in a multi-digit number, a digit in one place represents 10 times as much as it represents in the place to its right and 1/10 of what it represents in the place to its left.

UNPACKED EXPLANATION: We're basically talking about place value, with an explicit focus on what it means to move up a place and down a place. Within this domain, students will be expected to work with numbers from billions to thousandths. A big pitfall here is to start adding and subtracting these numbers together. The reality here is an understanding of the place value system, and what it means concretely to move between the place values.

WHAT THE PARCC WILL EXPECT: The PARCC samples are taken directly from the PARCC Practice Tests website.

The sample for 5.NBT.1 is as follows:

When you click on the drop down "Choose..." box, you're given something similar to the following:

RESOURCES:

So with all this in mind, let's take a look at some resources that are handy. I will list the location of each resource, and how it is best utilized:

I start with the class making a place value chart on the first day of school just as reference. There are multiple ways to approach this, but an easy way to do it is:

Anchor chart with standard, expanded, and word forms

Another great idea I came across a few years ago is place value cups. This is a good activity for your kids who need a manipulative and need something to refer to during the entire place value domain:

Place value cups (click the link for instructions): This simple activity is very concrete for kids, and if you keep a few handy, they're good for reference later in the year for students who didn't retain everything they learned during the teaching of 5.NBT.1.

A lot of great practice sites, with games and interactives, can be found in this listing at Walkersville Elementary School.
A great listing of some 5.NBT.1 - 4 online games at Mrs. McKinney's Mathletes.

This listing is for some good places to find 5.NBT.1 practice work. These can be utilized by printing them out (worksheets), projecting them and going over them, or having students open them up on iPads and completing them there:

5.NBT.1 Practice Worksheets from mathworksheetland.com: Some good guided lessons and simple worksheet practice pdf files.
Complete the equations to make each statement true from mrmaffesoli.com: A really good worksheet that asks students to analyze place value relationships. It gets to the very heart of this standard.
CCSS Aligned 5.NBT.1 Worksheets (multiple versions available, and they're pretty challenging, this is at commoncoresheets.com).
One more, this one at a page called Wetherbee Grade 5. Go to the bottom for six more pdf worksheet files.

Vocabulary

I'll list a few sites that have good 5.NBT.1 vocabulary. I can't really even begin to say how important it is to teach students not only what academic vocabulary words mean, but how to use them in context. There's a lot of power in having students state their reasoning academically that goes beyond testing and helps reinforce the ideas they're learning about.

Common Core 5.NBT.1 Vocabulary: A pdf file from duplingschools.net, it keeps it simple.
5th Grade CCSS Instruction Guide: A pdf that has a lot of vocabulary listed. Also check out THIS ONE HERE, it has a lot of vocab as well.

5.NBT.1 VIDEO:

I'll end each resource post with a video that most accurately explains it for kids. A lot of times, these videos may end up being from Khan Academy. He explains things well, kids enjoy learning from him, and the practice problems his website offers are spot on.

Teaching Grit and Rigor in the Classroom: Validating Everything I Do

2014-03-17T20:14:00.001-06:00

OK, well it's been a long hiatus from the blog (7 months actually), but I'm back. This year has been a difficult one, with implementing the Common Core, and dealing with a lot of changes in my school district, but I am happy to say that I'm finding more time to get back to my passions, one of them being this blog... So, with that being said, let's move on.

This morning on my way to work, I listened to a great piece on NPR called "Does Teaching Kids To Get 'Gritty' Help Them To Get Ahead?" The article goes on to explain that a child's grit (determination, the willingness to fight on and never give up) can actually be a better predictor of success than can IQ score or standardized test scores. But it also states that it can be hard to implement strategies to teach 'grit,' that it seems to be an inherent trait that certain kids have and certain kids don't.

Yet, I've been stuck thinking about this all day. Every teacher deals with the kids who give up easily. We've all heard the 'this is hard, I quit' mentality that plagues so many children in our world today. Actually, those kids have probably always been there, and it can be easy to see them not being successful as they get older. After all, what is college all about? More than anything else, college tests your ability to do something for many years, dealing with tons of ridiculous garbage, bureaucracy, and politics, and finally get a degree and a job. College is all about grit and self-drive.

In the article, Jason Baehr, a philosophy professor at Loyola Marymount University says the following:

"But I'll say from our experience in the school, I see [kids learning to be grittier] all the time. ... You can create a classroom culture in which struggle and risk-taking is valued more than just getting the right answer."

I made a challenge to myself this year, well a few actually, but what it came down to was creating a classroom focused on process and not product, struggle and rigor and not just right answers and policy. Overall, I feel validated, I feel that my students have shown a greater ability to problem solve, to persevere, and to challenge themselves than ever before in the past. Of course there are the exceptions, as with any class, but I feel that I'm finally coming into my own and creating a classroom culture that demands grit, and I want to grow that.

This article is spot on the way I feel about education at this point in my career. We can discuss hands on learning and investigative approaches, project based learning and strategies to instruct in literacy and math all day and never come to a consensus. But what we need to do is realize that not every child is going to persevere, especially in a subject they aren't passionate about. What we can do, however, is train kids to fight, and deal with their frustration in a constructive way. After all, school isn't supposed to be fun or easy. It's supposed to challenge students, to make them think, to make them frustrated, and to learn to think outside the box. Rigor, relevance, and a classroom focused on the active struggle is a great start. Please read or listen to the article, if you missed the link above, here it is again:

Does Teaching Kids To Get 'Gritty' Help Them To Get Ahead?

Daily Math Challenge: Upping the Rigor in Mathematics Instruction

2013-08-18T13:05:00.001-06:00

All teachers (should) follow lessons plans and unit plans in order to make their instruction cohesive and make sense. I'm not going to get into all the aspects of following scaffolded, developmentally appropriate lesson plans, but if you're "winging it" everyday in the classroom without a clear focus, don't expect a lot of learning to take place.

The point of this post is taking a little timeout in math everyday to let students think and work through challenging, rigorous problems without an immediately evident solution. I call this activity "daily brain work," and it takes 10 minutes. The intent here is to pose a problem to the class, and to step away and let them work through the problem on their own. Students should be able to elaborate and articulate how they reached their solution. Finally, go over the problem, have some students share their answers, and hopefully at least a few have the correct solution to share.

In order to get started, I needed some multi step story problems. Don't start too difficult, and make sure that everything you give students is developmentally appropriate for the majority of the class.

Here are some resources to find multi step word problems and other math puzzles / brain workouts:

Math Multi-Step Word Problems

25 Word Problems at IQ Study Activities: A good starting point to find some straight forward story problems appropriate for 5th graders.
A Few Pages of Story Problems at about.com: Nothing fancy, just some more story problems.
Helping With Math Word Problems Guide: A page with some information on how to help students approach open ended questions, and a bank of questions as well.
Challenging Word Problems at Math Top 10: Good stuff here, there's a lot of them too.

Brain Teasers / Math Puzzles

Houghton Mifflin Grade 5 Brain Teasers: A nice little collection of word problems and brain teasers already set into CCSS categories.
Math Salamanders Printable Math Puzzles: The whole salamander theme is a little bizarre, but there's a lot of good puzzles here.

Primary Sources: The Perfect Fit for Informational Texts in the Common Core

2013-07-05T19:46:00.000-06:00

I've been focusing a lot lately on informational texts as we move towards the Common Core adoption that is pretty much going into full swing next month, and with good reason. The informational text / literature split is very important moving forward, and failure to give it its proper due and focus heavily on it might actually cost you your job a few years down the road, it IS essential.

At the beginning, I focused a lot on resources. Where can I find informational texts? Are there resources out there for how I can use them properly in my classroom? I've already done some posts about this (see: Informational Text Free Digital Resources and The Informational Text Revolution).

Now, I'm starting to think about the connection to other subject areas (another major key in the CCSS). I've always considered myself a social studies teacher. Yes, I'm an elementary school teacher who teaches, and does a pretty darn good job of teaching, all subject areas. BUT, social studies, especially history, has always been my primary passion, and as my instruction in social studies has evolved to the point of students doing multiple research based projects, presentations, and doing some deep, relevant, technology and personally driven learning about history, geography, sociology, and economics, I've thought about how this all fits the CCSS.

I'm going as far as to say that implementing the CCSS in social studies might be the most exciting part of the CCSS adoption for me personally... well, it's actually pretty close between that and the changes it demands of math instruction from kindergarten all the way through 12th grade.

Social studies instruction is already built for informational text. Honestly, I think most of us in the elementary grades might not go deep enough with our instruction, or with student expectations when doing research, but that's not really the point here.

The point here is simple: Primary sources. The more I've been thinking on this subject and studying it, the more I am convinced that 5th grade students can read and analyze primary sources, and it's exciting. Some of the primary examples I've seen of implementing the CCSS in 5th grade involve reading and analyzing the Gettysburg Address, Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech, and other great primary sources.

So with that in mind, I'm going to just throw some information and resources out there that I think can benefit all of us. I'll be listing a quick description of each of these multiple links:

These first links are to research articles, and other descriptions of the importance of primary sources within the CCSS:

Common Core and ELLS: Key Shifts in Language Arts and Literacy : A quick article that lays out the shifts in moving to the Common Core. It very clearly shows how informational texts and primary sources fit within it all.
Engaging Students With Primary Sources : A quick blog post from a social studies teacher that quotes the CCSS and clearly explains how primary sources fit in the standards and the classroom.
Guidelines for Using Primary Sources in the Classroom : A pdf document from The National World War II Museum
Primary Sources: At the Heart of the Common Core Standards : A great quick article on the Library of Congress website that makes it pretty clear how important primary sources are.
Five Strategies to Infuse Common Core State Standards With Social Studies Instruction : A great little article that really got me thinking about how I'm going to use primary sources in my own classroom.
Teaching With Primary Sources Journal : That's right, there's a whole journal on this topic. Check out this pdf, it's powerful stuff.

Finally, I'm going to end with some resources that can be used with students, or can get you thinking more about using primary sources in your classroom:

Teaching With Documents, Lesson Plans : From the National Archives website, there's some decent lessons here that really help when developing your own lessons. A good place to start.
Using Primary Sources in the Classroom : A great pdf document from the Library of Congress that lists some great lesson ideas and some examples.
Primary Sources for the Classroom : A pdf document from the state of Tennessee that might be my favorite of everything I've listed here. There's some stuff I want my students to read and take to heart as they start researching.
Library of Congress Common Core Teacher Resource Center : If you don't know about this, wake up! This huge listing of resources can't be ignored. I've been referring to it often. It's growing daily, and there are tons upon tons of great things there, not just for primary sources, for ALL the Common Core.
Evaluating Sources : Another pdf document, this one is helpful and I think your smarter 5th graders could handle without too many problems.

Two Great YouTube Video Based Tools That Will Add Student Engagement To Your Lessons

2013-07-04T11:47:00.002-06:00

Today I wanted to share a few neat video tools that I can see students and teachers really enjoying in the classroom. I found both of these tools on Free Technology For Teachers, and after playing around with them, decided that they were definitely both worth sharing.

First off, there's wireWAX. wireWAX is a cool YouTube annotation service that allows you to place interactive tags inside of YouTube videos. The best part is, whatever you tag to opens up within the video that's already playing, it doesn't take you to an outside website. I'm already working on one to share with my students during a history lesson, and I've found that it's really interactive and engaging, I think students will really enjoy this.

Here is a wireWAX annotated video to check out:

Next up is blubbr. blubbr allows you to create YouTube video clip quizzes. After playing around with this one, I was very impressed, and see great applications on both computers and tablets alike. If the concept sounds interesting, I recommend you head there and try a few quizzes, and try to make your own. It's really easy, and like wireWAX, totally free.

Well, that's my quick little post for now. Go check out these two great services, you won't be disappointed!

Class Dojo: An Interactive and Fun Way to Monitor and Reinforce Behavior

2013-06-24T11:08:00.000-06:00

Ask almost any teacher what their primary growth area is, and in what area they primarily have issues in, and if they're being honest, they'll most likely say behavior. How do you handle 21-35 kids all at the same time? It's not easy. It's not easy to deal with negative behaviors in a constructive way,

and it's really not easy to notice those students who are doing the right thing, and reinforce the positives. I'll admit, I've struggled with it over the years, and have tried multiple approaches to behavior management.

I feel as if I've been successful, but there's always room for growth. For the last few years, my school has been using the clip chart system of behavior monitoring and reinforcement. It's a simple concept, students start everyday at the green "ready to learn" spot, and can be moved up for positive behavior, and down for negatives.

There are consequences plainly spelled out for moving down, and the teacher can have different rewards for moving up (the graphic shows what this looks like).

I am fully on board for using the clip chart, and have found success with it, even in the 5th grade. BUT, there's always room for growth. I've also noticed from observation that many teachers don't properly utilize (or utilize at all) the clip chart, and this lack of follow through can create issues in a school, where everyone should be using the same method.

OK, anyways, that's not really what I wanted to get in to today. I wanted to show you a great behavior management system that's online, is easy to use, and is just all around fun. And yes, you can use it on a computer or a tablet.

Class Dojo is a neat behavior management software that you can project in your classroom, using a computer, an iPad/iPod/iPod Touch, an Android smartphone, and any other tablet you can imagine (more or less).

Each student has their own avatar, and by clicking on it, you can assign points or remove points. All of this is tracked, and you can view data at the end of each day showing how students are doing. This is easily readable and can be shared with parents either by printing it, or by having parents sign up for their own parent account to view their child's behavior.

I find Class Dojo to be interesting in that it's so transparent. You simply project it, assign points, and students get immediate feedback. It's also a great way of staying accountable (I know that's hard sometimes).

I've used a behavior notebook in the past, logging times I've had to discipline children, just for administrative purposes. Class Dojo takes care of that by keeping all the data together for each child.

Now, I know what you're asking. Yes, it's completely free, at least for right now. So go ahead and sign up, and get to using it. It's very user friendly, and there are tutorials if you're ever confused.

Finally, I'm embedding a few videos to get you started if you're interested in seeing more before you sign up:

Class Dojo Tutorial Video (11 minutes)

Using Class Dojo (4 minutes)

The Zone of Proximal Development and the Common Core: Teaching the Child, Not the Standard (Sort of)

2013-06-18T10:30:00.000-06:00

This morning I wanted to talk about the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and the Common Core (CCSS). If you're not aware of the ZPD, go read up at simplepsychology.org or this definition with visual. To paraphrase, the ZPD talks about scaffolding learning, and that at any given point, we have present knowledge, the next level of knowledge, and beyond. Knowledge that cannot yet be obtained because it lies to far outside that scaffolding is called the distal zone. For example, you can't teach a 1st grader trigonometry because there's so much knowledge to obtain between now and then, so trigonometric functions will stay in the distal zone for some time (longer for some than others).

The great thing about the CCSS is that the tools are right there for teachers to ensure that every child is learning in their ZPD.

In the excerpt from RL.1, taken directly from the Common Core Standards ELA document, a 5th grade student is expected to "Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text." Well, guess what? Not every kid in your class will be able to do that, ESPECIALLY in the first years of the Common Core. So what do you do if that child isn't in their ZPD? Go back to 4th grade. It says ""refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text." If that doesn't fit the bill, keep moving backwards. This work will be integral in the initial years of the CCSS. Of course, we want each student mastering the 5th grade standard by the end of the year, but it's much clearer in the CCSS how everything scaffolds, and how the level of complexity picks up from one year to the next.

Now, when doing a read aloud (which, honestly, is a part of EVERY classroom, a major part, as it should be), it's important to know how this fits the CCSS. Let's not get into the mindset that the CCSS kills reading literature for pleasure, it seeks to balance the reading of literature and informational texts, and reading for pleasure, as most any teacher knows, is very important to student success and is an indicator of future success in the literacy classroom.

First off, you have to know the standards. You have to know when you're touching on those standards, and giving students practice, because after all, writing is equally important as reading in the CCSS (and it really is, you can't argue that). By knowing the standards by heart, you'll know what areas to focus on, where to stop and have book discussions, and when to assign deep writing assignments based on the read aloud.

William and Pérsida Himmele, in their article Why Read Alouds Matter More in the Age of the Common Core Standards, say:

In light of this radical shift away from our current lopsided emphasis on narrative texts, protecting the read-aloud time may seem counterintuitive. After all, why would we want to use up valuable instructional time reading stories to our students? Our answer is simple. In addition to getting kids hooked on books, narrative read-alouds are an effortless way to help students acquire the academic language they will need to comprehend informational texts.

When we give up the read-aloud, we may slow students' vocabulary learning; research has shown a strong positive correlation between read-aloud experiences and vocabulary development (Meehan, 1999; Roberts, 2008; Sénéchal & LeFevre, 2002; Sharif, Ozuah, Dinkevich, & Mulvihill, 2003). A 20-minute read-aloud can repeatedly expose children to academic words that will likely show up in content textbooks. For example, such words as somber, bespoke, probed, tolerance, substance, boring, searing, eliciting, surges, and anguish are considered academic vocabulary. And they all appear in this paragraph from Brandon Mull's book, Beyonders: Seeds of Rebellion, marketed for 3rd to 6th graders. In this excerpt, a character named Nedwin describes his torture at the hands of the captors who placed him under the influence of a pain-enhancing substance.

Exposure to academic words, and exposure to advanced ideas are important components of the read aloud. As you push more and more through the CCSS, you'll learn that exposure is key, you need to constantly expose students to these ideas and to shift their thinking to a deeper level. It will be a challenge in the initial years as we see the glaring gaps between the CCSS and our old state standards, but that's ok, this is about college readiness and future success, and we have to start somewhere.

WORKS CITED

Himmele, William and Himmele, Pérsida, (December 6, 2012). Why Read-Alouds Matter More in the Age of the Common Core Standards. ASCD Express. 8 (5).

Meehan, M. L. (1999). Evaluation of the Monomgalia County schools' Even Start program child vocabulary outcomes. Charleston, WV: AEL.

Roberts, T. (2008). Home storybook reading in primary or second language preschool children: Evidence of equal effectiveness for second language vocabulary acquisition. Reading Research Quarterly, 43(2), 103–130.

Sénéchal, M., & LeFevre, J. A. (2002). Parental involvement in the development of children's reading skill: A five year longitudinal study. Child Development, 73(2), 445–460.

Sharif, I., Ozuah, P. O., Dinkevich, E. I., & Mulvihill, M. (2003). Impact of a brief literacy intervention on urban preschoolers. Early Childhood Education Journal, 30(3), 177–180.

The Informational Text Revolution: CCSS and the Changes We All Face

2013-06-17T18:02:00.003-06:00

This blog is already structured around subjects (the easiest way to reach those subjects is by clicking the name of the subject in the logo at the top of the page). These subjects are laid out by the way I teach them in my classroom... correction the way I taught them in my classroom. The incoming Common Core State Standards (CCSS) will surely have an impact on that.

Now, the CCSS doesn't change the fact that in 5th grade I teach American history and geography. CCSS doesn't change the fact that, here in New Mexico, Social Studies is still covered by the New Mexico Standards and Benchmarks (those standards for Social Studies are available HERE).

The CCSS, after all, cover English Language Arts and Mathematics. An article put out by the New York Times on December 13, 2012 titled Fiction of Non-Fiction? Considering the Common Core's Emphasis on Informational Text asked if the focus on informational texts within the CCSS is detrimental to student learning and love of reading. The article also has a great resource, a quick little questionnaire that can be given to students to see how much they read outside of fictional literature (the answer: probably not much). I know that I'm guilty of having certain books I like to read every year (The Castle in the Attic, The Giver, Holes, and The Lightning Thief to name a few). Well, "the CCSS deemphasizes reading as a personal act and emphasizes textual analysis" (Calkins 2012). And before I dig too deep here, I'm going to just say that the CCSS for literature and informational text are the same, so I'm going to leave it at that.

When it comes to all these informational texts, as I said previously in the post titled Informational Text Free Digital Resources: Gearing up for the Common Core, it's not a matter of many of us going in a direction with literacy that we've never gone before, it's just a more mindful approach to the usage of some strategically chosen texts, and for students to not only be exposed to various texts, but to know their interests and steer them towards informational texts that pique their interests. Also, we have to be mindful of the fact that there is a different between reading for a fact hunt and reading to gain understanding and comprehension of an idea.

BUT, this doesn't mean that informational text reading just becomes about student interest and leave it at that. The research shows that students need to be reading for 90 minutes per day optimally, and that is actual holding a book in their hands reading time (Allington 2005). That's a lot. I usually give my students 25-35 minutes per day of individual reading, and the vast VAST majority of that reading is fiction based literature.

In the coming weeks, I will be laying out how to get started in the reading and writing classrooms (or at least how I will start), including how to assess student readiness and reading levels quickly and efficiently, and how to teach thematically (using The Lightning Thief and teaching Greek Mythology simultaneously for example). I will also be revisiting my units for Social Studies and Science, and focusing them on informational text and writing based approaches. It should be a fun time, but in the end, I feel that it will better prepare me (and anyone who finds these resources and uses them) for what lies ahead.

So stick around, bookmark my page, and come back soon. I'm already getting everything lined up, I just don't like to post things until they're finished. Look for more tomorrow!

WORKS CITED:

Allington, Richard, 2005. What Really Matters for Struggling Readers: Designing Research Based Programs, 2d ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Calkins, Lucy, Mary Ehrenworth, and Christopher Lehman, 2012. Pathways to the Common Core: Accelerating Achievement. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Informational Text Free Digitial Resources: Gearing up for the Common Core

2013-06-15T16:13:00.001-06:00

It's time for Common Core (CCSS) all over the United States, and I for one couldn't be happier. I believe these standards will demand more of students and teachers. The standards will demand a thorough, rigorous, culturally relevant, and college preparatory based education from kindergarten all the way through 12th grade. If the standards are taken to heart, if teachers buy in and work to the maximum of their abilities, I have little doubt that education in the United States will not only be the strongest in the world in about 10 years, but will be the strongest educational system the world has seen. No, I'm not just a CCSS fanboy, I was skeptical just like many others, but the more I read, the more I experience, and the more I train both myself and others, the more excited I am to see what my students are capable of, and how hard and how far I can push them.

In the area of literacy, the CCSS moves classrooms into the world of informational reading and writing. In fact, by the 4th grade, students should be reading 50/50, 50% literature and 50% informational. It also demands that informational text goes deeper than just reading for fact finding. I'm guilty of this, I have too often used informational texts as nothing more than a fact hunt to use in research posters or projects, etc. But that's changing, we have to start going deeper.

This post specifically targets informational text resources that are freely available out there. For me personally, I'm able to call upon a teacher resource room with hundreds of informational texts at my school, and an online resource file of informational texts through the Pearson SuccessNet website (something that came with my districts reading adoption a few weeks back). Those two things are definitely not free and if you don't have them, you're probably not getting them anytime soon. So what to do?

Here is a list of some resources out there to get you some informational texts to your students. All you really need here is a computer, BUT, if you'd like to view these on a tablet, or have them in pdf format, that's pretty easy to accomplish (I prefer using pdfs on iPads because students can annotate them within a note taking app, and pdf documents have more of a traditional text "feel" to them.

I will be focusing on the ins and outs of the CCSS and how informational texts fit in the classroom here in the near future, but for today, let's stick to resources, because it's so much easier to jump on board when you know you have something to back you up. So here we go:

This first link is to a free, browser based web page to pdf converter. It takes the center frame of a web page and saves it in a high quality pdf. I use this when I want students to read something from, for example, the Scholastic for Kids page, and don't want them sifting through text in the midst of side bars and links. Web 2 Pdf. Bookmark it!
A listing of some good places to start gathering resources, in a post titled Online Sources for Informational Text at a blog called "Hello Literacy." Ignore the link to the web to pdf converter on their page called joliprint, as it is no longer in service.
While I'm linking to some online listings (of which there are literally thousands upon thousands), there's also this page from the Common Core Georgia Performance Standards website on Informational Text Resources. There's also this post at Eye on Education. Both should give more than a few resources that you'll want to bookmark.
At the beginning of the second page of this pdf document is multiple links to small readers on the Scholastic website, and they're really pretty good (and already in the correct format).
If you're not aware of The Reading and Writing Project, familiarize yourself. They are the group that did Pathways to the Common Core, a great book that's been like a CCSS literacy bible for me personally. On their site, they keep a listing of information texts called Digital Nonfiction Text Sets.

Common Core Changes

2013-06-14T06:59:00.000-06:00

My early summer lay off isn't exactly over (it's been four weeks since my last post), but I do feel that I'm ready to start posting my Common Core (CCSS) units fairly soon. To provide a little background, here in New Mexico, at least here in Las Cruces, grades K-3 adopted the CCSS this past school year. Grades 4-12 will be adopting this upcoming school year. I know many states have already been there for a few years, but this is my first big experience with it all.

Before I jumped right in and started putting up lessons, ideas, units, assessments, etc. that are CCSS aligned, I wanted to make sure I sufficiently understood what the CCSS is all about. I've attended (and facilitated) a number of workshops and trainings this summer, and have also been reading Pathways to the Common Core, a great book that makes it easier to digest these changes in the literacy and writing classrooms.

Now that I've got a good idea of the direction I'll be going to one last math training today. I attended a few earlier this week about math pacing guides, and this one today is about CCSS and our new math series, Pearson enVision. There will be some changes to my page here. What I'll be doing is re-aligning my units for the CCSS. I will not take down my old units and lessons, but will be attempting to include CCSS resources in them, even the science and social studies one. I will be attempting to re-do those units to reflect both the National Council for Social Studies (NCSS) standards that haven't been mandated in New Mexico, but are definitely coming, and the National Science Education Standards (NSES), which are also not mandated but help tie together my lessons to a broader focus.

I will begin posting these units this weekend, as well as some ideas on how to setup instruction in the various subjects according to the CCSS while addressing rigor, relevance, and a much greater depth of learning.

I'm excited about this shift to the CCSS, I think it will really force teachers to demand more of themselves and their students, and will pay off in the long run. Like anything else that is mandated in education, there are pitfalls and things to make you shake your head. But I've decided that, as it relates to the CCSS, there's not much value in complaining, we're all in this together (quite literally, all states with the exception of Texas, Virginia, and Alaska... and Minnesota in math, have adopted the CCSS, you can see that for yourself on this In the States graphic).

I hope you'll come back and be able to utilize some of what I put up here. Thanks!

End of the School Year: A Time To Regain Teacher Sanity

2013-05-13T20:45:00.001-06:00

The last day of school is now 9 school days away (May 24th). That's right, summer is almost here! This time of year is very relieving, and a little sad, for many in the teaching profession. If you've had a great year, it's melancholy If you've had a terrible year, it's joyous, but either way, you're tired, and you're ready for a break.

But, whether you teach kindergarten or 5th grade or senior English, the end of the year can be a whirlwind. You'll undoubtedly have a checkout list to go through, depending upon your school site and district. If they're going to work on the floors or carpets in your room over the summer, you'll be moving out, or at least getting things ready. If you're like me, and you've been in the same room for awhile (I'm finishing up my third consecutive year in the same room, I've been in three different rooms total in my career, all of which I've taught at one school), you might be lucky and only have to put things away for safe keeping, and possibly just put everything up against the walls so that the floor can be cleaned.

Yes, I'm one of the lucky ones. But, I still have a lot to do, you will too. Take it from me new teachers, use your students, they love helping anyways. Have them help put away books, clean bulletin boards and walls, and help you box up things like your desk and closet. If you're changing assignments, you'll have a lot of work to do. Anytime I've been asked to change rooms, it's a TON of work. I can't imagine the work in changing buildings, but I don't plan on going anywhere else anytime soon, so I'm not too worried.

The end of the year is exciting, but there really is so much to accomplish in those final days. Just keep your head up, because a chance to regain your sanity is closing in quickly!

Depth of Knowledge in the Elementary Classroom

2013-05-11T10:42:00.001-06:00

A new buzz phrase is out there, and it's called Depth of Knowledge. It's not exactly new, but it's Common Core ready, and I for one welcome this shift in thinking.

The days of the lazy teacher are rapidly coming to a close. Being able to sit back, have your students sift through worksheets or textbooks, and grimly move from year to failing year are no longer going to cut it. The Common Core seeks to deal with that by upping the level of accountability and rigor.

Now, over to the conversation of rigor in the classroom. I'm a firm believer that an education should be hard. Students are not there for self esteem, to feel good about themselves with little to no effort. Students are at school to learn, and learning should be hard. Rigor is one of the keys to a high growth classroom (which I can confidently say I had this year). As many teachers know, one of the most important aspects to a successful education is a strong, above average, demanding teacher. It goes without saying that the opposite of that, a weak, non caring, apathetic, BAD teacher, would have the opposite effect.

Of course, you're not here because you're one of the bad ones. You're here, seeking to learn more, seeking out resources, trying to stretch your own knowledge, because you want to grow as a teacher and demand more of your students.

Just remember, students are capable. If you believe they can do it, they WILL step up to meet that challenge.

With that being said, let's take a look at Webb's Depth of Knowledge (DOK), and how it fits with what many of us are already aware of (Bloom Taxonomy, see my post on it HERE). DOK does not seek to remove or replace Blooms, but instead seeks to simplify it, to give it a new flavor (this is my opinion).

Depth of Knowledge is built around rigor. Now, the purpose of today's post isn't to define DOK (you could do much better somewhere else), but simply to give a few visuals that help you make sense of it all. My district, like many around the country, is demanding more, more rigor, and more from teachers, and rightly so. DOK and Blooms Taxonomy are great guides, and it's important to have an open mind when approaching new methodologies.

Without further delay, here are a few resources to help you wrap your mind around all of this. None of these works are my own:

Webb's Depth of Knowledge Guide: A great pdf book that lays it all out there in somewhat academic language. It's a good starting place if you're new to it.
Depth of Knowledge Resources Pinterest Results Page: If you're not on Pinterest, as a teacher, you're missing out big time. There's great stuff here, and for anything you are doing in your classroom.
Depth of Knowledge Levels: A one page pdf document that really simplifies the whole thing with some verbs and suggested activities at the four levels.
Blooms to DOK: A great pdf that draws the link from old Blooms to new Blooms to DOK. Must see.

Using Mail Merge To Automatically Add Names to Documents, Certificates, Etc.

2013-05-07T08:59:00.001-06:00

Mail Merge is a great tool... well the only tool, that exists in Microsoft Word that gives you the power to automatically add fields to documents that you will be printing multiple times. In business, this could include form letters, address fields, salutations, etc. In education, 9 times out of 10, we're talking about letters home or certificates.

I do a lot of certificates for the 5th graders at the end of the school year, and it gets really difficult and time consuming when you have to fill out hundreds of these things by hand. Mail merge only asks that you have their names in columns on an Excel document, and that's it. It's great.

I really hate filling out certificate after certificate, so mail merge has been a life saver. What mail merge does is it links up a field from your document (either Word or Publisher in this case) to data from an Excel document. It's fairly easy, especially once you've done it a few times.

What I have here are examples of how to do this in a few different formats.

How To Mail Merge in Microsoft Word / Publisher 97 PDF DOCUMENT

How to Mail Merge in Microsoft Word 2010 PDF DOCUMENT

How to Mail Merge Video:

Bowling With Math: A Great Order of Operations (PEMDAS) Practice Activity

2013-05-05T18:53:00.000-06:00

Awhile back I posted a simple document called "Bowling With Math" without a lot of explanation in a post titled Order of Operations Game: Bowling With Math. Well, I am going to revisit that document, and expand on it a little bit today.

The Bowling With Math activity page ( you can download in .doc or .pdf format) has 10 "frames," just like in a regular bowling game. This activity is great because it can be varied in difficulty. The point here is that the teacher either chooses a few numbers (or rolls dice like I do), and students have to manipulate those numbers to equal the 10 different "pins" in the "frame," marking that number out each time they do so.

In my classroom (5th grade), I roll three dice. So let's say I roll a 5, 4, and 1. Students have to manipulate those three numbers using the order of operations (PEMDAS) to equal each pin number.

For example, I can do the following:

5+4+1 = 10
(5-4) x 1 = 1
(5-4) + 1 = 2
5+4-1 = 8
1x4+5 = 9

So let's say that's all I came up with, so I'd mark out the pins for 1, 2, 8, 9, and 10 and I would score 5 points for that frame.

In my class, I would do two frames per day, with students keeping their score on the score card each day. At the end of each week, students add their scores and keep a running total. This is a great activity that, when done consistently, teacher the order of operations in a very meaningful, engaging, and differentiated way. You can do as little as two numbers, or as many as you'd like. You can also change the rolls. Some weeks I'd roll five numbers and tell students to choose any three. Other weeks I'd roll six and tell them they could use no more than 3, etc. You can do whatever you want.

For convenience, I've added all the files, as well as a poster if you want to make a bulletin board for this activity, all in this convenient pdf file: PEMDAS BOWLING WITH MATH PACKET

Enjoy!