Working on My "Flipped" Math Homework

One of the things I will continue to work on over the summer is my version of "flipped" homework. I began doing this in November last school year and want to start out the 2014-2015 school year with all of my weekly homework sheets ready to go.

"Flipped" math homework simply means that my students were given time in class (I had a 90 minute math block) to complete their HW. Why? Well, first of all they had support in the classroom if they got stuck. They could ask me or another student for help. Second, they got the valuable practice time they needed on the types of questions they would be having on their quarterly assessments. Third there were no more excuses for why homework was not completed.

Each Monday my students received their weekly math homework sheet which had problems for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday on it aligned to the CCSS (Common Core State Standards) for math that were being coverd on the next interval assessment. These included new standards and review standards. Below is an example of a weekly homework sheet. (Click here to see full size Google doc.)

Here is another example of one of my homework sheets showing new skills and review skills on it. 

During my math block, my students rotated through math stations. I used the word MATH to set up our stations. A and H were done every day by every student. M and T were done as needed or as time allowed, usually three times a week.

       M - Manipulatives - Students work with hands-on materials or play games to reinforce skills.

       A - At the Computer - Students complete work on websites such as IXL, LearnZillion, TenMarks

       T - Teacher Time - This is where they meet with me for small group instruction.

       H - Have a Go - This is where they work on their assignment and homework for the day.  

By allowing my students to work on their math homework in class, I was there to offer support and correct misconceptions that arose. If for some reason a student didn't finish their homework during class then it had to be completed at home. I had my students show their homework to their parents each night and had the parents sign it.  Each day we checked the previous day's work via our interactive whiteboard. I pulled up the Google document and we annotated right over it to show solutions. 

Using this type of formative assessment allowed me to see each day how my students were doing in math. It also eliminated so many of the stresses that traditional homework can cause. Each and every one of my students had their needs met on a daily basis. Once a skill was taught and tested, my students knew they would be held accountable to remember it. 

It will be great to start the 2014-2015 having all of my "flipped" math homework sheets ready to go. 

Have you considered, or do you "flip" homework? What do you use for formative assessment? Please share in the comment section below. 

Happy 2014

Happy New Year! I am excited to get back to blogging which I've sadly neglected this school year as I spent my free time learning how to properly implement Common Core State Standards (CCSS). While I thought I was prepared after a year of transition last school year, I soon realized that I had so much to learn. It was definitley a struggle during the beginning weeks of school and stressed me out a lot, to the point where I even stated out loud that this would be my last year of teaching.

Luckily after the disasterous first round of ANET interval testing, I found my stride with regards to CCSS and figured out how to teach my students math in a way that would make me happy and my students successful.  Read about my "flipped" homework here. I have settled down and there is no more talk of retiring!

Tomorrow I return to school after a nice two week vacation where I was able to relax and recharge my batteries. I also accomplished a few things that had been moved to the back burner of my busy life. I have missed my teammates and other faculty members, but most of all, I have missed each and every one of my wonderful students.

http://www.donorschoose.org/ 

I have exciting news to share with all of you. I finally got a DonorsChoose project written, accepted, and posted. But the best news of all is it was fully funded in less than 24 hours. (Thank you to those who made donations.) Shortly after we return to school we will be receiving a package - a new Chromebook! I can't wait to see all of the wonderful ways we will put this computer to use. (My second project is up and almost half of the funds have been donated, so hopefully a second Chromebook will arrive in February.) Happy New Year to us!!!

Hello Round 4 Quadblogging Buddies

Welcome to our class blog. We are so excited to be part of this blogging quad. We are a fourth grade classroom just outside of New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, and in Ms. Naugle's class we learn math, science, and social studies. Let us give you a peek into some things we are doing in our classes.

We are learning how to write short research papers in science class. Each one of us had to select an animal we wanted to learn more about and research it online. We wrote notes in our notebook and put down where we got our information from for our bibliography. We have a set of netbooks in our classroom, so we each share a computer with another student. Soon we will share our individual blogs with you. That is where we are going to write our final reports.

One of the things we love doing is connecting with others by using video-conferencing tools like Skype or Google Hangouts. Last week we were visited by author Jeff Rivera via Skype. Jeff read his new children's book to us and we definitely are fans. His books are available as Kindle books from Amazon. Guess what the title of his book is? Um...Mommy I Think I Flushed My Brother Down the Toilet.

In math class, we are learning about fractions and decimals. We have learned how to show a fraction as an area model, a set, and on a number line. One of the sites we use to learn about this is LearnZillion. Ms. Naugle also put a Google document into Edmodo for us that has some other websites on fractions for us to check out. 

Well that gives you some information about us. We look forward to learning more about you and reading your comments. We'll be checking out your blogs in the coming weeks. Happy Blogging!

End of the School Year

Well school is out for the summer. It is hard to believe this school year is over. As usual I ran out of time to accomplish all of the projects I wanted to do. But our last three weeks of school were so much fun as we finished our PowerPoint slideshows, Glogsters, and PhotoStory digital math videos. I loved how the students became experts on certain aspects of using the computer programs or Web 2.0 tools, and helped others as they ran into technical difficulties.

My principal enjoyed coming into my classroom and watching my students all working in pairs on their laptops creating their various projects. My student teacher for next fall was so excited when she came to observe and saw all that was happening with technology in my classroom. She said one of her classmates has been assigned to a teacher who only as an overhead projector (how sad).

Here are a few examples of their projects.

Celebrating Pi Day

On Friday, March 13th our math classes took part in Pi Day. What is Pi Day you ask? It is a fun-filled day that celebrates pi. It is usually celebrated on 3-14 at 1:59 (the first 6 digits of pi), but the 14th fell on Saturday this year, so we celebrated a day early. Pi is used to find the circumference of a circle. If you multiply the diameter (or the radius times two) of a circle by 3.14 (the rounded off value of pi) you get the approximate circumference of the circle. Pi is an irrational, nonrepeating number. The students learned if they printed the first one billion digits of pi it would take 370,000 pieces of paper and over eight days to print out on an average printer. It would also kill about 4.6 trees! They really enjoyed finding their birthday in the digits of pi. Watch the video to see more about our celebration.

We Took Part in World Maths Day

Measurement Olympics

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Valentine's Hearts Project

Valentine Hearts Project

I used a Valentine Hearts Project I borrowed from Laura Candler. My students had to estimate and then meausre the weight and the number of candies in ten boxes of Valentine heart candies.
They found the range, mode, median, and mean of their results. Using their results, they then had to estimate the weight and number of candies in an eleventh box.

Help Others as You Learn

I just discovered a website where my fourth graders can practice their multiplication facts and earn free rice for the hungry people of the world. The project is called Free Rice and is found at the following site: http://www.freerice.com/index.php?&s=Multiplication%20Table
I first found it on a non-teacher's blog and then about ten minutes later saw it listed again on Ms. Lay's (another JPPSS fourth grade math teacher) eBoard. There is a video you can watch which explains how the program works. In the video they are talking about vocabulary, which can also be practiced to help earn free rice. Click here to watch the video http://documents.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/newsroom/wfp152916.wmv

I hope all of my students will become multiplication masters as they do their part to help the less fortunate.

WOW Math