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

Bring it February!  The longest shortest month is in full swing here in beautiful Michigan.  I may count it as one of my spiritual gifts to make it through each winter here; but alas, spring break is on the horizon (48 days... if you're counting  #thankyoujesus).

We kicked off the new year with some great site visits from other Michigan schools interested in starting ZONES which got me thinking about some of the common questions we receive. 

Here's the low down on how I've made the ZONES framework successful... and work for ME in my classroom.  I think that's one of the best things about the ZONES framework is its ability to be customized FOR you and TO your student population.  Our team always laughs when we discuss things about ZONES because we find each of us utilizing it slightly differently. 

So, here goes.  Welcome to Root's Room!  P.S. We love visitors!

First things first, I use the NY Engage Curriculum.   So when I sit down to plan each week, I focus on the overall skill/standard as my starting point.  From there I think of ways to plug it into each zone. So, basically I plan for the daily lessons, as well as how I can incorporate the standard focus through each zone.  This particular week the focus was developing the concept of multiplication using groups of 4.  The way I've found best to organize this for me and my students is through the use of a menu (which I customize each week). 

Exhibit A:

The expectations have been set when we launched ZONES back in September, so all I really need to do is a quick run through each week of what each center entails.  From here the students are put in charge of their own learning, while I'm freed up to conference or pull small groups.   They make their selection of which ZONE they want to go to, and I initial their choice on their menu.  Once everyone has chosen, I set a timer for 20 minutes and ZONES is off and running!

*As a side note, my literacy is taught through this similar balanced approach, which really makes it seamless for the kids.  ZONES aligns amazingly well to the Daily 5 choice board. #winning

This is an easy one... it pretty much stays the same all year.  God bless Reflex Math.  If you haven't checked it out, it's an amazing program for fact fluency and spits out fabulous data reports for teachers, students & parents!  Students also have the option of practicing fact fluency in other ways such as flashcards (with our handy dandy ZONES MemoriZe Mat), or power towers. 

On your Own is typically a worksheet practice of some sort.  I really push the use of their Resource Journal to complete independently. 

It's organized using a shoe holder.  Each week there's pages they MUST complete, and if they accomplish them, they MAY choose another extension (typically it's more of a fun activity or spiral review pages).  If they choose not to do a MAY do (and they are done with the MUST do) they can always work with their flashcards.

This is where the writing component for math comes into play.   I've found the K-5 Teaching resources journal prompts work fabulously for targeting this skill.  Because 18 of my 27 students are English Learners, this center can have its challenges.  One way to scaffold this is through the use of sentence frames to help walk them through the steps to solve.  When we launched the Notebook zone, we spent a lot of time building the expectations and modeling.  There's a page in their Resource Journal they can always go back to if help is needed.

{ Also see: Notebook got you in Knots? }

Each student MUST solve the problem of the week.  Early finishers MAY create their own story problem, or do flashcards.

This seems to be a favorite zone... I mean, what kids don't like to play with TOOLS (if I got a dollar every time I had to say "TOOL or TOY?" in September - ha!)?

I've found that the dollar bins are great for storing and grabbing manipulatives for this center.  At this center you want kids to use manipulatives to solve problems. 

Early finishers who complete the task get to work with any type of problem solving game.  Here are a few of our favorites:

- Head Full of Numbers (like Boggle for equations)
- Mobi (like Bananagrams with equations)
- Rush Hour Jr.
- Rush Hour
- Katamino
- Rubics Cubes
- Tangrams/ Pattern Blocks/ Pentaminoes [spacial shape games]
- Puzzles

Last but not least, there's play with Someone - another favorite.  Think of this center as utilizing a game to cement the standard focus.  Since we've been into multiplication, I found the best way to organize was with a bin and file folders.  I have different bins like this for each unit that I simply have to pull out! #winningagain

Supplies they need are right next to the bin.  If it's a new game, Mrs. Gilbert & I have lots of fun reverting back to 3rd graders to model how it's NOT played and have the kids tell us how we SHOULD play it.  #memoriesaremade

SOoooooooooooo.... clear as mud?
By the end of the week, the weekly menu looks something like this:

The key to ZONES it to remember it's a framework for the guided/balanced math teaching approach.  What works for me is to do the math lesson for the day and with the remaining math time allow the students to do ZONES.  Some days time is limited so we may only have time for one zone rotation (20 minutes), where other days we may have time for 2, or 3 rotations.  I've found for myself personally, 7 is the magic number.  Typically with that amount of rotations, students are able to accomplish weekly tasks. 

Another little tidbit is I color code chosen centers each day for tracking purposes -  as students aren't allowed to repeat a center within the same day (example: Monday I initial in red, Tuesday orange...).  It also helps me to see where they've been and what they've gotten accomplished.  Some students are able to complete a ZONE task in one rotation, while others may need to revisit (on a different day) to complete.  Early finishers who complete a ZONE can go back to do the MAY do options that particular ZONE offers.  

Friday's are known as "FINISH FRIDAYS" and they must complete and turn in the practice page, notebook, and explore work.  Depending on the week, I usually don't do any actual lesson on Fridays to allow for students to focus on completing their ZONES work. 

Here's how the data each week is tracked - it's kind of a hot mess, but it works for me.  Students turn in work as it's completed.  I'm able to document scores each night as I check it.   This also really helps with planning for small groups and remediation.

Annnnnnnnnnddddd.... for sticking with me through this crazy long post... here's your FREEBIE!  Like who wouldn't want a tracking form??  #livingthedream

Still have questions?  Drop us a note in the comment section below!

Rock on,
Kristin