We made it through the school year! I'm pretty sure it was the longest school year ever! We added days to our calendar and lost some precious vacation time. Either way, summer vacation has arrived for us Zones Math ladies and we are truly grateful for it! I don't know about you but I really need these summer weeks to do the 3 R's, relax, revive and refresh! It makes me a better teacher, mother and wife when August hits and it's time to get back to business. ​

 If you are just starting your summer vacation or it is so close you can almost taste it, you might be doing some reflecting on your school year. Did you implement Zones Math? How did it go? I hope you loved it like we do. If you are not in the reflecting state of mind try reading Olivia's blog post that might help you connect with how awesome of a teacher you truly are! 

Maybe you thought about doing Zones Math and you just weren't sure if it was for you. Read Meghan's blog post! It will help you make that decision!

Or did you just stumble upon us and now you are wondering what in the world Zones Math even is? Read this for a great explanation! 

Whatever state of mind you are in this summer I hope you have time to enjoy the 3 R's (relax, revive, refresh)! Stop back to see us at anytime! We are always here to help you along your math journey!

Until next time,
​Sara

It's Meghan, back this week with another (hopefully) awesome idea.  If you don't remember, or are new to our blog, I teach 1st grade.  I love math and technology.

One of the questions we often get is how we create math groups during the guided math portion of ZONES.  Math groups for me are fluid, based on the standard we are working on and each student's proficiency.  I use technology, specifically Seesaw, to streamline my data collection.  This is something you can do with a little or a lot of tech in your classroom.  It works on any device or computer.

So today . . . Seesaw and exit tickets! Whatever the exit ticket is that I am using to gauge understanding, I have my students take a picture or screen shot of it and turn it in to our exit ticket folder on Seesaw.  I can then see how my students are doing (without sifting through a pile of papers) and easily give feedback that my students can see, and that parents have access to as well.
​
Here are a couple examples . . . ​

Pieces Basic is a free app on our iPads.  The students had to build the number 45, screen shot it and turn it in on Seesaw.  I saw how each student was doing and gave them immediate feedback, either affirming their work or correcting their mistakes.  You can see in the comment below the picture, I told the student what needed to be changed.  On the picture, I edited their work using the drawing tool to show the student the correct way to build the number.  From this exit ticket, I was able to create a group of students that needed to be pulled for additional instruction.  

Here is an example of an exit ticket from our math curriculum (Engage NY).  The student completed the exit ticket and took a picture in Seesaw.  To give feedback on this exit ticket, the draw, label and text features we all used.  Again, the student has immediate access to this, as do parents.  

In the paid version of Seesaw, you have access to 'skills'.  These are areas you are working on that you want to assess the students on.  Think standards, but less formal.  The goal of this feature is to give you a quick view of how students are doing with a concept.  When a student turns an item in, you quickly mark their understanding on a 4 point scale.  Then in the 'skills' view, you have a visual of how the students are doing.  You can pull a red (does not understand), yellow, light green group, or green group (ready for extensions).  So easy!  No lists of student, no piling paper together. All of this is hidden from students and parents.  It is only for you and your instructional purposes.  

While Seesaw Plus/For Schools is paid, it is not that expensive.  If it looks interesting to you, you should look into it.  

In summation, use exit tickets/quick checks to build small groups.  And then, use technology to streamline that process so you have more time to spend with your students during the guided math portion of ZONES.

          Happy ZONING!

-Meghan

When I was growing up, my grandparents lived close to Pasadena, California.  For years, they went to the the Rose Parade. It was always, always, my favorite thing to do on New Year's Day.  The floats were beautiful and amazingly creative. The weather was always warm and sunny, and the people were so fun.

This year, I was stuck in cloudy Michigan watching the parade on TV.  But, as I watched, my brain started turning... There is a lot of MATH going on here! Like how many flowers / seeds you need to cover a square inch of space. Or much it costs to create a float. Or the cost per square inch of a float. Or how many flowers you would need to order to cover your float...  Then I wondered: "How can I use this in my classes?"

{Remember my previous post about student engagement? My goal was more authentic tasks!}

While the task I created isn't totally authentic, it does link to something in real life {the Rose Parade}, and gave an artistic outlet for my students.

During the mini lesson, I showed a couple of videos to give students background on my all-time favorite parade:

Then, students worked on the following task in the Explore zone. We gave them two rotations to complete the task:

We used the "answer keys" from the coordinate grid graphing pictures at worksheets.com to give students an outline for an image.  Students colored the image and then counted the number of squares for each color.  For partial squares, we had students estimate which partial squares they could put together to create a whole square.  Click on any of the activity images to download the worksheet {for FREE!!}

There are a few ways you could differentiate this for your class -- you could change the decimal numbers in the Materials Price Sheet and make them whole dollars. You could also have students count partial squares as a decimal / fraction.  How can you see yourself using this in your classroom?

Makin' it real,
Christi

Today I want to tell you about a web based app that would be great to use during On Your Own or Memorize. It is called Front Row.  If you haven't heard of it, it's a (mostly) free app that has a lot of possibility.  If you have heard of it, but haven't had a chance to check it out, I'll lay it out for you.

Front Row is a web based app that is easy to use for teachers and is very kid friendly.  It actually offers other subjects besides math, but today we will focus on math . . . because you know, math. 

What you need to know:

1. There is a paid version.  I will be talking about what the free version has.
2. It offers a few different things . . . 
   1. Adaptive practice for students
   2. Standard based printables
   3. Differentiated printables 
   4. Assigned tasks for students.
   5. Fact practice 

When students login, they see their home screen.  For On Your Own, students would choose Math.  For Memorize, students would choose Fact Practice.

​How cute is that pig??

From there, the students choose the domain they are working in.  Each domain has them take a pre-test which decides where they start working in each standard.  The questions are kid friendly and have a read aloud option.  For ZONES, I would assign the students to the domain we are currently working in.  This screen is very cutsey, which is great for early el.  Other domains that are more applicable to the higher grades are less cute. 

....back to that cute pig.  As students work, they earn coins which they use to buy clothes for their piggy.  (My pig only has shorts.)  They can only enter the store after they have worked for so long and the store is timed - they cannot spend forever dressing their pig!

There is also an easily accessed assignment page where students can go to for any assignments you've given them.  

In the free version, you can assign one standard at a time.  As you teach each standard, you could use Front Row to gauge their understanding.  Once that assignment has been completed, you can assign others.

Adaptive Practice

• You can see how your students are doing in the adaptive practice portion of Front Row (these were the images I shared above.)
• It tells you what domain they have been practicing in, their accuracy, what standard they are currently working in, their strongest standards and their weakest standards.

Targeted Practice

• When you give an assignment, you can see their performance in this area.

Fact Mastery

• See detailed data about your student's proficiney with addition and subtraction facts.

Printables

• You can print practice sheets based on the work they are doing in Front Row.  Think about that.  Automatic individualized practice!  These sheets would be great for more On Your Own work. 
• You can print targeted printables by choosing a standard.
• With the free version, you get 4 printables a month.  

Inquiry Based Lessons

• Need some inspiration for lessons? - check our these lessons sorted by standard and grade.  There are not a ton of options, but what they have are good.

Front Row seems pretty great, right?  I definitely encourage you to check it out.  It has a lot of potential to make your ZONES time engaging for students and it would allow you to work smarter, not harder.  

​Cheers!
​-Meghan, 1st Grade

We all know the term "growth  mindset" has been pretty trendy lately.  But, what does it REALLY mean to cultivate it in your classroom?  When the article "How to Integrate Growth Mindset Messages Into Every Part of Math Class" kept showing up in our Twitter feed, I knew I had to check it out.  This is one of the opening sentences of the article:

Can you identify with the 60% who don't feel strongly about cultivating a growth mindset in your students? I know I feel that way at times. 

Fortunately, this article had some concrete suggestions of what we can do... and there's something we ALREADY do!

One of the suggestions is to use error analysis, which we do quite often in the Notebook zone.  I originally got the idea from Teaching With a A Mountain View (check it out for some great pre-made error analysis pages!). I modified her form for our ELLs, so that it includes a word bank and sentence starters. We do a number talk style model of what a strong response looks like before students work on the page on their own.  Here are some examples from my 4th grade class from their work on the standard algorithm for subtraction.

So how does this error analysis cultivate a growth mindset? Here's what Cathrine Good, growth mindset researcher and social psychology professor says about error analysis: "Embedded in that worked example is a lovely opportunity to talk about growth mindset and mistakes and process."

Do you use error analysis with your students? How can you use this to cultivate a growth mindset in your class?

Always growing,
Christi