Four Steps to Get Your Students Writing about Math

This past school year year, I put a strong emphasis helping my students be able to describe the processes and concepts behind each of our mathematical skills.  *Sigh* And I'm not going to lie, this has been HARD!  This upcoming school year, I hope to use what I have learned to strengthen this process even more.  To help you do the same, I've created a list of steps for helping you get your students writing about math!

STEP 1: Create Great Questions or Prompts

As I plan for each unit, I develop a prompt to support the daily skill that we are working on.  Now, I'm pretty proud of these prompts and I love how a well written prompt can allow me to see exactly what each student knows or understands about a given skill.  Many of my prompts begin with the same sentence stems, such as "In your own words, explain how...", "How are ___ and ___ similar?", "Explain how knowing ___ can help you do ___.", or "Create a list of real life examples of using ___ skill."

After I spend hours creating these prompts I just tossed them to my students with little instruction on how I wanted to see them answered.  I know....my mistake.  :(

The above response was from one of my top math students and is slightly embarrassing.  THAT is what he thought was a good response to my absolutely fabulous prompt?!?!?  I can't even tell what the prompt was because his response was so short and sweet.  PLUS, he used the wrong THERE!  UGH!  Week after week, I would write, "More detail!" or sometimes I would even say, "More detail, please!!!"  And I didn't get anything more from him and many others in my class.  I even said please.... :/

STEP 2: Create a Criteria for Written Responses
So I decided that they were truly giving me all that they could.  And that although they could verbally tell me these beautiful answers in class, they simply weren't able to form a jaw dropping response independently in writing.  So I started doing a little searching; trying to find a product on TpT or an idea on Pinterest that would help my students become better 'math writers'.  I was sadly disappointed when I couldn't find anything.  So I had to put on my big girl panties and begin researching in a different way.  Ya know.....the kind of boring stuff that they make you do in college.  Gag!  But I actually found several really good research articles that had great criteria and ideas for incorporating writing into mathematics understanding.

STEP 3: Guided Practice!
What I developed from this research was something EXTREMELY simple but give my students a criteria in which to follow when writing their responses.  When I introduced this to the class, we wrote three responses together over the course of three days.  We used this time to make sure that they were using the checklist to help develop responses that are "up to Mrs. Wilp's standards".  I modeled what I expected and shared great responses from my students on the board.

STEP 4: Provide a LOT of Feedback
You'll be glad to know that "Mr. I'm-Gonna-Write-There-Both-The-Same-And-Think-That's-Ok" is improving in his Math Journal responses.  After introducing the criteria for the Math Journals, this is one of his entires from October.  You can tell that he restated the question or prompt, used key math vocabulary, illustrated his thinking, and made sure that his response actually answered the prompt.  The only thing that he may be lacking in my "Don't Forget to:" checklist is the fifth star: USE YOUR BEST HANDWRITING!!!  After developing a criteria for written mathematical responses, I had a great way of assessing and providing feedback to my students.  It was easy to say, "Great job, Amanda!  You did ___, ___, and ___.  Now, let's work on ___."  Then, I was able to closely monitor their work on that particular need.

BONUS STEP: Take it Digital
Later in the school year, I began using KidBlog to do our daily Math Journals.  If you have access to computers or iPads daily, I would highly recommend taking these prompts digital.  My kids seemed to not only enjoy typing their responses more but they also provided a better quality response.  Meanwhile, we were preparing for technologically enhanced testing by typing responses versus writing them!  You can check out a more detailed blog post {here}.

If you are interested in any of my math journals, click the image below to check them out.

Fourth of July Favorite Foods

Hello, it's Shelly Rees of Appletastic: Blossoming in Fifth Grade! I'd like to take a little break from teaching for a bit and talk about one of my favorite subjects: FOOD. Who doesn't love a good cookout on the Fourth of July? Fireworks, parades, red, white, & blue, get-togethers, picnics, barbecues..... see how that list moves toward food? Ahhhh!!! The smell of the backyard barbecue, hamburgers sizzling, fresh strawberries and blueberries, homemade lemonade, and chocolate cake with delicious, drizzled frosting. Mmmmmm.  Is your mouth watering yet?

Join us for a link-up of our favorite Fourth of July recipes! I am sharing 2 recipes that have been summertime favorites for many years.

Texas Sheet Cake

Bring to a boil:

2 sticks butter

1 c. water

Pour over mixture of:

2 c. flour

1 1/2 c. sugar

1 t. salt
1/2 c. baking cocoa

Add: 2 beaten eggs

1/2 c. buttermilk

1 t. baking soda

1 t. vanilla

Bake in a sheet pan @ 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

Icing: 

1 stick butter

1/4 c. baking cocoa

1/4 c. milk

1/2 bag of powdered sugar

Melt butter and cocoa. Beat in milk and powdered sugar. Ice cake while warm.

The Best Chicken Marinade

Ingredients:

1/2 c. vegetable oil

1 c. white vinegar

1/4 t. pepper

5 t. salt

1 1/2 t. poultry seasoning

1 egg

Mix well. Soak chicken in the marinade for several hours or overnight before grilling.

We'd love for you to share one or two of your favorite Fourth of July recipes! Simply write a simple blog post, where you share the recipe, and link it up below!  Keep it short and simple--this is a no-stress link-up. We can't wait to try out some new summertime recipes!

An InLinkz Link-up

Vacations {Road Trip Freebies}

 Hello, it is Jennifer from Teaching to Inspire in 5th. Summer is the time of vacations for many. Some go on "staycations" to local attractions, some go on road trips, and some even fly to their destinations. Last year, my family and I went to Disney World in Florida. Before leaving, I did some math because I really didn't want to drive all that way with two kids. My husband insisting on driving, saying it was cheaper. Being a teacher, I needed some math to prove that he was right. I mean, 10 hours is a long time to sit in a car, and I wanted to make sure it was really worth it!

So, I gathered my information....

Then I used my information to do some calculations:

And, my husband was right. It was much cheaper to drive, than fly.

While I was writing this post, I thought this would be a great idea to implement into the classroom. So I made a few planning sheets for your students to complete the same task with their own locations and information.  Click on any of the below images to grab your copy from Google Docs.

I completes my information as examples into the planning pages.

And then here are the planning pages for your students to use.

 

Have you planned a trip recently? Did you choose to fly or drive?

Also, let me know if you plan to use the freebie in your classroom, and how you plan to use it?

Memorable Vacations

Do you have a favorite vacation memory? You may not have traveled far away but the experience will always stay with you. As a child, we always traveled to the beach. I remember getting sunburned and sand all over me! 

Several years ago, my daughter Mary Ann and I went on a girls' trip to Italy with my sister-in-law and her daughter. We felt comfortable traveling that far because Linda was fluent in Italian and has traveled to Italy and Sicily almost every year.

Our trip was so special and memorable because we not only had an opportunity to experience the historic sites of Italy and Sicily, we were able to stay with family who lived outside of Palermo. My husband is Sicilian and his grandparents immigrated when they were very young to New Orleans and then to the Houston area. Linda has connected with family over many years and they love having visitors from the US.

We visited places that are popular touristy sites but also small towns that are more popular for locals. We were also blessed to have a cousin from Houston who owned a vacation home in Sicily. We met Jerry in Sicily and stayed a few days with him.

By staying with our Italian family, we were totally immersed in the culture. Mary Ann had an opportunity to meet her relatives and learn more about her family heritage. We even walked through the ruins of my husband's grandfather's birthplace that had been destroyed by an earthquake. A distant cousin showed us the remains of his home, the opera house and other places of interest. 

Europeans' main meal is at noon. The families are always prepared for lots of relatives and friends showing up for an amazing meal. The food is so fresh and everything is purchased daily. I loved the simplicity of their lives, no clutter! The Lampasoni home is four stories high!

Look what is written on the glasses. They serve coke at every meal! (a little homemade wine, too!)

I noticed this beautiful basket of tomatoes that the relatives use for their pasta dishes.

Mary Ann had taken some photography courses in school, so she took some amazing photos.

Our trip focused on FOOD, FAMILY and CULTURE. 

Do you have a vacation memory? We would love for you to share in the comments.