Category Archives: Standard 2 – Learning Differences

ELA, Math, Project, Standard 2 - Learning Differences, Standard 3 - Learning Environments, Standard 4 - Content Knowledge, Standard 5 - Application of Content

Virtual Field Trip :: National Museum of African American History and Culture

On Friday, February 10th, the 4th graders at my school took a virtual field trip to the National Museum of African American History and Culture.  Students started out with an overview of the newest Smithsonian museum, followed by scenes from the opening ceremony.  For maximum engagement, student also got to compete in a “Presidents for Equal Rights” Kahoot game and an equality quote match on Quizlet.  After these activities, the museum was open to be explored by students with their iPads.  Around the museum were various QR codes that would give access to the content:  a document, image, or video.  The students were engaged in this virtual field trip, and you could see students working with peers to complete writing, reading comprehension, and math activities inside the museum.  The highlights were hearing students say:  “This was the best field trip I’ve ever gone on!” and “Ms. Payne, I didn’t know that there were that many black people that did so many great things!”

Specific skills in the museum:  ordering decimals, compare and contrasting different passages, editing a writing passage to correct errors, identifying fact and opinions in literature.

Virtual Field Trip

Math, Standard 2 - Learning Differences, Standard 7 - Planning for Instruction, Standard 8 - Instructional Strategies

Mastering our Multiplication Facts

When I started this school year, I knew that I wanted my students to master their facts by October so that they would not struggle during the Multiplication and Division units… So I set up this bulletin board to motivate them to move their car along the Multiplication Grand Prix.  I was inspired by the popular Multiplication Grand Prix game on Arcademics, but this did work to motivate most of my students to move their cars along this race track.

Multiplication Facts

Math, Review Activity, Standard 2 - Learning Differences, Standard 4 - Content Knowledge, Standard 5 - Application of Content

Going Back to Rio

 

 

 

 

When the school year started, I, like many others, just couldn’t get enough of the Olympics.  I was determined to find a way to tie it into the curriculum… So I decided to update a planet project I did with place value.  I wanted to review the skills of 10 times as much or 1/10 of a value as well as write numbers in expanded form, word form, and standard form.  The students love this one!  I made to sure to the differentiate the content for all my learners!Olympics

Games, Math, Review Activity, Standard 2 - Learning Differences, Standard 4 - Content Knowledge, Standard 5 - Application of Content, Standard 7 - Planning for Instruction, Standard 8 - Instructional Strategies

Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month

I love making MATH relevant and finding a way to tie it into current events.  Back in October, we celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month with a math review game!  They learned some facts for their scavenger hunt, and they got to find math problems hidden around the classroom.  I made this a little challenging for the students by using Spanish numbers around the classroom.

Hispanic Heritage Month Hispanic Heritage Month Hispanic Heritage Month Hispanic Heritage Month

ELA, Standard 1 - Learner Development, Standard 2 - Learning Differences, Standard 7 - Planning for Instruction, Standard 8 - Instructional Strategies, Writing

Graphic Organizers for Organizing Writing

Moving from Washington, DC to Texas was a huge transition in and of itself… But when you add the differences in the teaching content, it was even more drastic.  In writing, the differences were most pronounced!  In DC, our students wrote in the context of a reading passage; it was more of a response or a find details to support the conclusion that you have drawn.  In Texas, on the other hand, students are asked to write about their own experiences and organize it in a one page-26-line paper.  In DC, they may be given up to 4 pages to flesh out there response.  You can easily see how MY mindset had to change in order to prepare my Texas students.  What I relied heavily upon were graphic organizers to give students a checklist and help them remember the brainstorming and planning steps.  It helped in the end because by the end of May, my students knew what elements to include in their writing to have a quality composition.

Graphic Organizer for Writing

 

Writing Assignment

 

Math, Standard 1 - Learner Development, Standard 2 - Learning Differences, Standard 3 - Learning Environments, Standard 4 - Content Knowledge, Standard 8 - Instructional Strategies

Coordinates Rap :: A Fun Way to Remember Math!

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My students love rap, and I love when they are engaged in the lesson.  I found a rap beat, and then I wrote some lyrics to help them remember how to find coordinate points.  They loved the song, and I would often hear them rapping the lyrics on the playground.  Needless to say, this lesson was successful!

 

Common Core Aligned, Games, Math, Review Activity, Standard 1 - Learner Development, Standard 2 - Learning Differences, Standard 4 - Content Knowledge, Standard 6 - Assessment

American Revolution :: Math Review Game

My students love our review games, and one of the most popular games we played this year was the American Revolution game.  Our reading theme for this instructional window was the American Revolution, so I thought of a way to incorporate that theme into a math game.  What resulted was a way for us to potentially “rewrite history” with a battle between all of the sides that had a stake in this “New World”.  In our game, we had the British, the French, the Colonists, the Native Americans, the Enslaved People, and the Freeman’s Bureau (free blacks).  Each student was placed on one of the six sides.  Each side had a Commander/General and a 2nd in Command, which were made up of our weakest and strongest students.  We played this game in my classroom with all of the fourth graders at one time to maximize our instructional  time and encourage the peer tutoring.  This was a game where all students had to have the same thing written on the boards for their teams, and points were awarded for teams that worked well together.  Teams could spend as much time as they needed on each problem because early finishers were given “sneak attack” opportunities, which were additional problems the teachers would give finished teams to work on while the other teams completed the problem.  Teams could earn additional points if they were called on to explain how they arrived at their answer.  This meant that the higher students needed to make sure that the others on their team knew the content and could tell someone else how to do it.  One student, who receives special education services in reading and math, was so thankful for his 2nd in Command (a higher student) because he really showed him how to do the problems!

Select slides from this game are displayed below.

AmericanRevolutionAmericanRevolution2AmericanRevolution3AmericanRevolution7 AmericanRevolution6 AmericanRevolution5 AmericanRevolution4

 

Math, ST Math, Standard 2 - Learning Differences, Standard 3 - Learning Environments, Standard 5 - Application of Content

Paying My Tutors in Pizza

There are a lot of things that I do to help students better understand key concepts, however, I just cannot reach everyone at the same time.  Since math is such a procedural subject, having additional teachers helps.  Well, we know that finding additional teachers is not always an option, but there are often several students that get “it” just a little quicker than others.  In DC, we use this amazing program called ST Math, which allows students to apply and practice math concepts without words.  Each student should be at 100% completion of the syllabus by the 2nd week of June, but by the time of our high stakes state testing, they should  be at 75% syllabus progress.  We had one student at 100% before the Christmas break, and then a few others joined her before March.  As students reached 100%, they became tutors for the other students.  Before our testing began, I had a total of 11 tutors, which was truly impressive and well above any other grade level at our school.

I informed my tutors that I would be taking them to H&Pizza, a local pizza restaurant, once the DC CAS started and they would get their own pizzas with whatever they wanted on it!   This field trip did not require the students to bring any money because this was my compensation for their tutoring services!  I tried to make sure that all of my 100%-ers could make it as well, even calling a parent on the day of the trip to come in and sign a permission slip so that her son, who had really been one of my best tutors, could go on this reward field trip.

When all was said and done, this trip became an incentive for other students to work towards – students who weren’t quite at 100%.  This was open to all 4th graders as well, and not just those on my class roster.  The kids had a great time and all of them had plenty of food to take home with them!

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Common Core Aligned, Math, ST Math, Standard 2 - Learning Differences, Standard 5 - Application of Content

ST Math Hallway Display for Student Motivation

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At my elementary school, we use ST Math, which is an online math program that is aligned to Common Core.  Most of my students love the program and ask to get on often, though not everyone is as eager to get on, especially if they are challenged by their current level.  I created the following hallway display to motivate students to keep moving towards their goals, as well as to reinforce equivalent fractions and the connection between fractions and percentages.  We were trying to get all of the students to 75% before the major state testing, and thankfully we had a number of students that made it to 100% of their syllabus progress before the state testing.  Students would come up to me every week and ask me if I was going to move their car, and when I did, the students would gather around to show off their progress.

I have included a before and after photo to show how much the students progressed in this program from January to March 2014.

 

ST Math Motivation Wall
ST Math Motivation Wall
ST Math Progress Before and After
ST Math Progress Before and After

 

 

Common Core Aligned, Math, Project, Standard 2 - Learning Differences, Standard 4 - Content Knowledge, Standard 5 - Application of Content

Thanksgiving Dinner Math Project

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Before the Thanksgiving break, I created a project for my students.  They were asked to plan a large Thanksgiving dinner for their family.  They would first need to decide who they would invite.  Then, they were asked to plan out what they wanted to cook.  Afterwards, they were asked to figure how much of each item they would need to be able to feed their entire guest list.  They would then need to go grocery shopping for their ingredients and see how much it would cost them.  After cooking the meal (by cutting out magazine images), they would need to set the table for the feast!

All students took part in this project and enjoyed the entire process.  They were delighted to see their work posted in the hallway, and many were amazed at how much a Thanksgiving dinner can run.  Many of my advanced students chose to “cook” more food than required, which allowed them to do additional calculations. One of the highlights for me was when one student said, “Ms. Payne, that was not math. That was fun!”

Download the Thanksgiving Dinner Math Project Resources.

  • Aligned to CC.4.NBT.5 and CC.4.NBT.6 (4th Grade Math)
Thanksgiving Dinner Project
Thanksgiving Dinner ProjectA student's project