Category Archives: Standard 3 – Learning Environments

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

February 16, 2017 Ms. Payne

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.

Math, Standard 3 - Learning Environments, Standard 9 - Professional Learning and Ethical Practice

Motivating Students in the 3rd Quarter

February 3, 2017 Ms. Payne

I’ve been trying to motivate my students to work hard this third quarter of the school year… So I created some goals that I had for my classes, and I asked them to create their own math goals…

Here is what went up on the bulletin board to track how we’re progressing through some of these goals.

Fraction Equivalence Drills Trackers – Students need to earn 6 basketballs between January and Spring Break after mastering each of the equivalent fraction drill sheets.
Test Average for All Students – My goal for the students is that they score an average of 75% on our assessments. We met this goal on our first 2 assessments.

Homework Completion Goal – The goal is that all students will complete their homework and turn it in on time.

Standard 3 - Learning Environments

Classroom Themes

January 3, 2017 Ms. Payne

I am a strong believer in setting the tone for the year at the beginning of the year with a classroom theme. I did “Oh the Places You’ll Go” a couple of years in a row. Then I took it a little deeper for my 6th graders with “Education = Equality.” This year’s theme for my 4th graders is “Math is Real Life.”

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!

Video June 23, 2014 Ms. Payne

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!

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

Paying My Tutors in Pizza

May 4, 2014 Ms. Payne

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!

Common Core Aligned, Games, Math, Review Activity, Standard 3 - Learning Environments, Standard 4 - Content Knowledge, Standard 5 - Application of Content, Standard 8 - Instructional Strategies

March Madness :: A Review Game

May 4, 2014 Ms. Payne

At the end of our Fractions and Decimal Equivalence unit, we played a new math review game inspired by the March Madness tournament. I created this game so that all teams had an opportunity to work at their own pace and review the content. The rounds were fast, and there were at least 2 teachers in the room to make sure everyone was on task. I had my 3 highest students that knew the content solidly to grade the work from the teams, so that the teachers could focus on monitoring the student teams and peer coaching. These high students were also responsible for adding points to the score board each time a team correctly answered problems.

We did not have any issues of student engagement during this game, as all teams really felt they had a chance to win the game. As papers came in, they were quickly graded, and the team points were constantly going up. All of the teams had mixed ability levels so that there was equity. In addition, each player had to write, so this necessitated the peer coaching. While points were tallied up, players had a chance to make shots in the room on the mini basketball net.

The final part of the game was our elimination rounds. These rounds were quicker than the qualifying rounds. In the end, only one team won. In both sessions that we played this game UCONN won, and 2 or 3 weeks later, it was such a joy to see that the men and women’s teams at UCONN won the real March Madness!

Finally, a few weeks after we played this math review game, we organized a March Madness basketball tournament the Friday before our high stakes state testing started to let the students relax and get rid of stress and anxiety. There was no content whatsoever in this game – just teams of 3 and their b-ball moves!

Below are some of the slides from our March Madness Math Review game.

Standard 10 - Leadership and Collaboration, Standard 3 - Learning Environments, Standard 9 - Professional Learning and Ethical Practice

Breakfast before the Test!

April 8, 2014 Ms. Payne

In the past 2 years, I made breakfast for my students on the first day of our state testing – the DC CAS. This year, I did not want the tradition to end, but I asked the other 4th grade teachers to join me in this breakfast tradition. What a joy it was to see all of our 4th graders fellowshipping and eating a great breakfast before their test! No worries, no stress – just laughs and good food! We made the students waffles, pancakes, sausage, and bacon. Undoubtably, this showed our scholars our love and support for them as they went in to show DC what they’ve learned all year!

Standard 3 - Learning Environments

Spirit Week

April 8, 2014 Ms. Payne

The week before our state testing, we held our Spirit Week. To get the students excited about the DC CAS and to remind them of ways to be successful on the test, I designed the Spirit Week flyer that the school used. Not only did I encourage the kids to participate in Spirit Week, but I was right there with them with my nerd gear, superhero outfit, team jersey, pajamas, and best outfit!