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 . . . Exit Ticket in Pieces Basic
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.
Paper Exit Ticket
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.
Skills View
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. 
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:
From the Student Perspective
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.
From the Teacher Perspective
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
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
Horray! It's the end of the year! Either you are already done or you are soooo close to being done (depending on where you are in the country). I wanted to share something I have been exploring for the last few months. If you are already thinking about next year, this is a great resource to look in to. If you're still getting ready for summer, this is a great free resource that is available all summer for students.
Zearn is "personalized digital lessons and small group teaching and learning." (Their words, not mine). Students learn and complete lessons and activities online, while transferring some portions of the lesson to a paper pencil workbook. The program is based on Eureka Math and Engage New York and is completely free. It gives students individualized learning and support while giving teachers valuable data to drive their instruction.
It became available in January for 1st and I was excited to check it out. It is currently available for 1-4, but will be K-5 this fall. I played around with it this year to see what it could look like with ZONES. The paper workbook is something you print for free off of the site. It could be done with many different devices and worked into your day with only a few devices. During math, I used it to supplement my whole group instruction. For instance, I would give a focused mini-lesson, the students would Zearn for 15 minutes and then go on to 30 minutes of ZONES. I would meet with small groups or conference with students during both Zearn and ZONES time. I could also see it being an option for On Your Own in some classrooms. While there are directed portions to the program, the majority is work the students complete on their own. I am sending the modules we didn't get to this year home with students for summer practice. For those who don't have internet access at home (I teach in the country), parents are still able to see the concepts they should be working on and have mastered in 1st. So . . . check it out! How could you see this working into your math time? -Meghan
Show of hands -- how many of you think teaching fractions is a BEAST?!?
Yep, so did we!! Especially in 5th grade, where everything comes together and students need a VERY strong understanding of fractions in order to meet the standards. In our 5th grade co-taught math class, we were struggling with the best way to go about teaching fractions, especially for many students who still did not have the basics. Enter: The Fraction Progression. 
This 1st - 5th grade progression of what students need to know does not cover every Common Core standard for fractions. However, it shows the major understandings students need to have before moving on to the next concept. {You can grab it for FREE from our TpT store!} We are using this progression as a checklist for our students. We start at the top of the list -- if they show mastery of one concept, then they move to the next. We gave students a pre-test on the concepts. We found that a majority of our students needed work on equivalent fractions, so that is where we focused our whole-group instruction and ZONES rotations. While students were working in the ZONES, we worked with students in small groups to cover any gaps. We use the ReThink Mathematics checkpoints to assess student mastery. These are short (usually 3-4 questions) assessments, targeted at a specific standard. Students must get all questions completely correct in order to demonstrate mastery. Remember, students to not need to complete a 20-question test to show they understand a concept! At the end of the week, we gave a checkpoint for equivalent fractions. This checkpoint, combined with their independent ZONES work, gave us a good gauge of where students were at. We saw that a majority of the students showed mastery of equivalent fractions, so we are moving on to comparing fractions. Some students still needed support with basic fractions and equivalent fractions. So, we are using our small group form to guide our small group instruction for this week. {Grab your copy from our TpT store!}
It was very interesting working with these students one-on-one and in small groups. They were able to show a much stronger mastery in this setting than they showed on the checkpoint! Most students are ready for a follow-up checkpoint. That score, combined with our informal observations in small groups, will determine if that student has mastered the standards for equivalent fractions.
And, since we l-o-v-e spreadsheets so much, I also created a color-coded spreadsheet to keep track of where students are at in the progression.
The next step is to give students their own copy of the progression. Each student will check off what he/she has mastered, and focus on the standard she/is is currently working on.
What do you think of this progression? Would you like to see something similar for other standard strands? How do you use formative assessments and grouping in your classroom?
Give us a shout-out with your answers on Facebook, Twitter, or in the comments! Moving along, Christi
Recently, my husband and I began the ever-so-fun challenge of house hunting. We are outgrowing our little home, and my husband (a country boy at heart) would love more land than our city dwelling allows.
We looked at homes with updated, modern everything... but terrible floor plans. We also looked at homes with outdated everything but perfect floor plans. And we came to the realization that it's the structure that matters. Everything else can be changed, modified, or updated. But the wrong structure leads to all kinds of major renovations.
It's the same with your math instruction -- it has to have good "bones." 
Once you have a good structure (*ahem* ZONES...) in place, you can find, create, or adapt any materials to fit within the framework and meet the needs of your students, your teaching style, and your curriculum. There is no curriculum or set of instructional materials that will free you to be responsive to each of your students. It is the "floor plan" of your time that makes the difference.
ZONES is a structure - so use it as just that. Use it as the "bones" to your instruction. Be flexible with it. Try different ways of implementing ZONES in your classroom to see what works best for you. And, as always, contact us if you have questions, need ideas, or want to work through what implementation could look like for you.
We are excited to see how you make ZONES uniquely yours!
For the love of learning,
Christi
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