Month: October 2019

The Delivery

lrupp Classroom Community, Learner Profile, Math, TASOK, Who We Are 0 Comment

Today was THE day we have been waiting for ALL week.

After securing permission from Ms. Paula and Ms. Peacock, it was determined that 10:00 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. were prime times for introducing our survey to our school community.

Prior to heading into other classrooms, though, we took time to practice in our pairs and present to the class. Each group walk through the entire process, including knocking politely on the door and getting permission to make a presentation.

After each presentation, our peers offered feedback on what we still needed to work on to ensure our delivery was as clear and professional as possible. Volume, eye contact, and modeling were all areas were needed to work on a bit more before venturing out.

In response to feedback, students took a bit more time to make adjustments. Before long, though, it was time to head out for our first appointment in the elementary school. The risk-takers were ready!

As was anticipated, some groups encountered a few problems because the students were in specials, but in true problem solving style, each scholarly pair managed to arrange another time to return and share the information.

Our second round in secondary school resulted in similar challenges, as students were scheduled for tutorials. Once again, though, scholarly problem solvers either made individual presentations to teachers or planned to return at a later time.

Now comes the hardest part… waiting for the results. We will return next Friday to pick up the packets. We can’t wait to see what the most serious and most frequent problems are at TASOK. Even more interesting will be… who are the most helpful problem solvers!

The Key: Collaboration and Communication

lrupp Classroom Community, Learner Profile, Literacy, Math, Social Studies, Who We Are 0 Comment

Crafting and composing while collaborating was key part of our day. These writers are always eager to engage their pencils and papers in the problem solving process that is writing. Whether it is identifying ideas, incorporating interesting details, or improving sleepy sentences to make them sizzle, there is always a buzz of excitement around the process. It is especially exciting to see the scholars use multiple sources like dictionaries, thesauruses, Chromebooks, and one another.

   

Extending yesterday’s exploration, students worked to expand their understanding of arrays and their connection to multiplication by building with 36 centimeter cubes. In addition to manipulating the blocks, an important part of the process was capturing and communicating thinking on paper.

Several students took it a step further to share their thinking and problem solving process on SeeSaw. These will be shared with fellow scholars tomorrow and with our parents… soon.

 

In preparation for our survey distribution, the entire class contributed to a shared writing of the script, to ensure that all participants received the same directions and information. Students then worked in pairs to divide up the parts and practiced their delivery. Reading fluency and expression were key aspects of reading worked on today.

A Rainy Day Resulting in a Flood of Fabulous Thinking

lrupp Classroom Community, Learner Profile, Literacy, Math, TASOK, Who We Are 0 Comment

Despite being a rainy day, fourth grade scholars were ready risk-taking and reflection.

Even before the bell rang, students found friends with whom to play some games that got everyone thinking.

While Wednesdays are short, we managed to pack in a plethora of powerful ponderings, and projects.

After recording our words for the week, but prior to capturing our notes and noticings, we did a sort to help use inquire into our words. Some groups examined spelling patterns, others explored syllables, still others sought to sort by categories of meaning. It was amazing to see how many different ways we could look at our words and wonder.

 

Part of our discuss focused on our word “composite,” which reminded us of a lot of other related words – compose, company, compass, compose, companion, and… dot com (.com). This, then, launched us into a discussion of other “dots” and their meanings. We are definitely interested in exploring this further.

I wonder if these were the result of the problem solving process.

We were grateful to have Mr. Sheldrick join us as a special guest for this portion of our day. He got to see some incredible inquiry in action!

Not done yet…

After word work, we engaged in the Visible Thinking Routine: Think. Puzzle. Explore. to help us dissect dozens of diagrams.

Students started with a set that they scrutinized alone for several minutes prior to sharing. Scholars then circulated to additional sets of images to add to their thinking and begin puzzling about what they thought.

Some of students’ thoughts and puzzles were share with the whole group.

This activity is the first in a series that will help us design our own problem solving process.

As we neared the end of our Think. Puzzle. Explore., two fifth grade students arrived to introduce themselves and to share a bit about peer mediation.

They were very professional and knowledgeable about the process (which just happened to be one of the diagrams we had just examined). Hmmm… I wonder why these diagrams were included in our collection.

  • What do you THINK about them?
  • What questions or PUZZLES do you have?
  • What do these diagrams make you want to EXPLORE?

Our last inquiry before we headed home for the day launched us into the world of… multiplication (with a touch of geometry).

After clarifying the difference between a ray and an array, students were tasked with using 25 centimeter cubes to create as many arrays as they could.

Before using the blocks, though, this group of gentlemen built an array with their clipboards. Clever!

Students were excited by their discoveries and were eager to communicate their learning in concrete, pictorial, and abstract ways.

 

This is where we are headed…


Multiple Sources to exercise your math-magical brain:

 

 

Sentence Starters, Seesaw, and Surveys

lrupp Classroom Community, Learner Profile, Literacy, Math, Who We Are 0 Comment

We took some more time today to explore some more sentence starters. Starting with a simple subject starter, we reviewed and wrote adverb and present participle options before adding AAAWWUBBIS (subordinating conjunctions / dependent clauses) to our list. While we found it was a bit tricky, we will continue to work on varying our sentence starters.

As part of our PYP Assessment Plan at TASOK, which involves monitoring, documenting, measuring, and reporting learning, students will have the opportunity to document learning and build a portfolio through Seesaw. Today, we had our introduction to what will be a terrific tool for reflection and communication. Students were eager to try out the new forum and were equally eager to problem solve. While our first journal entry is intended to document our knowledge of geometry and descriptive writing, our second activity will be a reflection on our first encounter with Seesaw. It was truly a example of problem solvers in action.

We also spent some time today preparing instructions for a school-wide survey we will be doing about problems and problem solvers at TASOK. Materials will be distributed on Thursday. We are already excited about seeing and analyzing the results, which we be collected next Thursday. Stay tuned for the results.

 

Skip to toolbar