Transcript
In 3rd and 4th grade, math and literacy are interconnected. Students have to be able to understand key vocabulary words and be able to break down problem solving questions to really understand what it is that they have to do.
This is my math bulletin board. On the board is where the resources get put that we have created together during carpet instruction. We work together to figure out what is the learning goal asking us, the success criteria that students would have to follow to be able to be successful in that type of math, and have it as a resource for students to use when doing independent work and group work.
The 'Pencil' strategy is a great strategy for problem solving. This allows students to break down and really understand what the question is asking them. The part about boxing in the key words is where students really need to understand language to figure out what type of math they need to use to solve a problem.
The 'Super 7' strategies are different ways that students can show their thinking in multiple ways, whichever way makes most sense to them. When problem solving I found that students were struggling with how to break down the question and what to put on their paper to show their thinking. We created the problem solving success criteria to be able to break down that understanding for them and to have something that they can look at each day when solving problems so that they can be more successful.
During our math time on the carpet, I often read a story that would link to the type of math that we are going to be learning about. For example, If the World Were a Village is a great book that teaches students all about different cultures around the world but also helps them to learn about fractions. We use it to create our own classroom version called If Our Classroom Were a Village. Students work in groups to create their own versions of the book, of the different pages such as the different cultures that we have in our classroom, the numbers of brothers and sisters as well as who they live with at home.
Because vocabulary is so important at the 3rd and 4th grade level, as soon as we learn new vocabulary words that go with the math we have been learning about, those words get put on the word wall in a specific color so that the students can really see them easily. It helps them to be able to use those words in context when learning. For instance, words like rotation and transformation are words that they would need to use to in their work, spell correctly and be able to understand.
