Tuesday 16 June 2015

Scrapbooks and Gloss Testing

After meeting with Dianne (quite some time ago sorry!) and discussing where to next, I decided that it would be ok to really challenge the children. I had originally thought I was asking too much of them by putting more than one problem to solve within each problem solving question, but Dianne said this was ok. So then I got all carried away and created a whole story about a chicken farmer with his eggs and this lasted all week because every day there would be a question relating to the solution from the previous day. This week it's a story about a party.

Some serious problem solving happening!
 The scrapbooks are working brilliantly, I can see at a glance who is doing what, and this made mid- year report writing so easy!
A few things I noticed...
  • the gloss testing provided interesting results for some, compared to what they do in class
  • the children are getting better at explaining their strategies
  • some keep reverting back to additive strategies, or earlier, when they are faced with trickier problems
  • 5 minutes silent time for problem solving at the beginning of each task is working well, it discourages the whole group from using the same strategy (this was an issue when we first began)
  • revoicing and repeating (talk moves) only seem to work when the children are really focused. Even though I use the ice block sticks, sometimes they just aren't listening! (But I do that too sometimes, just switch off for a bit, so I can't be too annoyed about it!)

    See! I can see the whole week, check out each child's strategies and progress, and make my own notes too! It is good!

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1 comment:

  1. Unknown17 June 2015 at 20:24

    Kia ora Mildred
    I've really enjoyed reading your posts. It is great to see you creating rich problems for the children that provide them with the opportunity to engage in deep mathematical thinking. And problems that last a week are super, as it lets the children realise that solving problems can take a long time. It is great that you're getting lots of information from your scrapbooks. I think the muesli problem is great - gives you rich information that covers multiple aspects of mathematics. I like the way you are adapting the process so that it works for you and your children. It is good to read that you're noticing the children are better able to explain their thinking. Keep persevering with the talk moves, it will be worth it. Perhaps try sometimes selecting a particular person to revoice or repeat as well as using the random system that the ice block sticks generates. Keep up the super work. Nga mihi nui, Dianne

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