Ice Cream

Lots of maths this week. I chose a problem from youcubed, the ice cream problem, where children were to figure out how many ice cream options they could choose from, with a 2 scoop ice cream and 10 flavours. Easy enough to extend, something that everyone is capable of solving, definitely low floor, high ceiling...
It was an eye opener!
It is true that they worked on it, and were completely focused, for a very long time. 2 sessions later...
3 groups found the solution. Two groups realised they had made "terrific mistakes" during the discussion/presentation of ideas and strategies used at the conclusion, and the other 2 groups could not see their error until we looked at Tekyllah's strategy. Hers was to use blocks to represent the different flavours. She set them out on the floor in order, mixing each two flavours and creating a very cool pattern. When she was satisfied that all combinations were represented, she counted them. This was interesting, because she counted 1 to 1, and got 56. When I asked her how she knew her answer was correct, she recounted, again 1 to 1, and got 55. So then she had to check, and started all over again! I had to ask if she could think of a quicker way to count them. We got it down to 10 in the first row, then counting in 2s.
But it made me think, the pattern is there, I'll put it to the rest of the class and see if they can provide some different strategies. The opportunity to write their ideas on sticky notes made this a success! I had so many children submit ideas, that we couldn't fit them all on the sheet of paper.
So the original lesson ended up extending to 3 sessions, along with an add on question

that I found online, and really liked because there is no right or wrong, but justifying choices was the point of the exercise, and the children came up with some very excellent reasons for their choices.
And the ice cream theme carried over into literacy, we read Bleezer's Ice Cream, a poem by Jack Prelutsky, which the class used as inspiration to write their own poetry. I was so happy, every single child in Room 7 finished their writing, and Will finished before some of the others! I set the criteria so that alliteration was used for each new ice cream flavour, and
Must do - 5
Should do - 6
Could do - more
I had several children try to do the whole 26 letters of the alphabet, and some attempted to make theirs rhyme as well! I was very impressed. When I told Will his brain must be growing because he'd challenged himself, he was so happy, he was bouncing up and down on his feet and had the biggest smile on his face! Then he went away to practise writing capital G, (I didn't even realise he didn't know how to do them!) and delighted in showing me he'd learnt to form this particular letter.

Tekyllah counting her "ice cream" flavours

The pattern that created a new "problem"

 

                                               

A Little Reflection and a Bit of Art

We had a Maths/Digital Tech meeting today, and I have a lot to think about. I'm not going to write it all down right now, but as things happen I will post them.
One thing that I will mention, and that I was thinking about in the early hours of the morning (along with a jury summons for a 9 week trial - good grief, what teacher could take that much time away from their children?) was how much my attitude towards mathematics has changed. Looking back, when we first began Maths PD, my biggest concern was how much paper I would be wasting! How ridiculous. I spoke of this today, and although it didn't really relate to what we were discussing, I just had to say it. Now I actually have the children and their learning and maths and my teaching as priorities. Yay, glad I got that sorted out!
Art - Extension Group, I could just do this all year and be a very happy teacher! I very quickly wanted say that the digital technology PD is crossing over into Visual Art, I have so many ideas and it's another way to extend/accelerate learning. Admittedly, this group are a capable bunch of artists, but I reckon I could do similar with any children within the school. I bought some frames for some posters, the posters didn't fit (that will teach me for assuming they were A3 and not actually measuring - less than 1cm out but I didn't want to trim them) so I used them for the Art Extension Group's artwork. The apps I used were Photo Lab to create the postage stamp collage of corrugated card artworks, and Book Creator for the comic strip dragon sketches. The sketches were designed to be photographed with the ipad, and the photo had to include the student's hand interacting with the dragon. These are the results.

Leni with the collage. I love Photo Lab!

This is a funny angle, but the photo I took straight on had my reflection in it!

A Bullet Point List!

So here it is, a list of what I am doing to accelerate learners in Room 7. It's late, but I have to do things immediately that I know they need doing, or else everything will get to be too much. You know how it is, and if I procrastinate I might get like overwhelmed, or something!

• Growth Mindset - obviously my top of the list, number one "thing" because it is so brilliant and I have already made drastic changes in the classroom. Changes include Maths (my whole programme has changed), homework, the language we use, my expectations... the list goes on!
• Class Dojo - is being used to promote growth mindset and the children love the little monsters, points rewards and the videos which have helped to explain how the brain works.
• Mixed Groups - for everything now! And the groups change from day to day. It's working really well, everyone is working with everyone else, and learning with and from each other. 
• Apps - I can't just focus on one, I have a whole bunch (funny word, bunch, rhymes with lunch) that I absolutely love, and the class are loving too. Most of them I have mentioned in previous posts, but a couple more that I am really liking are Book Creator (I bought the full version - so worth it), Photo Lab (great fun to use and am getting inspired for some art with it), Daily Monster (fun for the kids and can get creative with it), 123D Sculpt and Creatures (mentioned earlier and getting the hang of creating and using 3D), Pottery (since we can't afford a kiln and all, this app is pretty ok in the meantime!), Number Rack (like an abacus for maths), Think 3D Free (connecting cubes, tetrahedra and octahedra), Numberkiz (similar to Show Me, but a bit fancier, both are cool but you have to sign in and save stuff online - which I wish you didn't have to), Reading Eggs Spelling (awesome for all levels in our class),  and Sock Puppets (the children love presenting their ideas with this), Augment (AMAZING 3D stuff - you just have to check it out, possibilities for using in class are endless). That was more than a couple! Sorry!
• Aurasma (special mention app) - is just so cool, we've been going round in circles putting little videos (including sock puppets and tellagami explaining maths strategies) onto our displayed maths problems, and as we get deeper into our Mantle of the Expert this term, we will so be using Aurasma with that as well. Also the hologram maker app because it's a super presentation tool, and we like it.
• 10 x 5  - I will try again with a different curriculum area, and perhaps try what others are doing, using it with the whole class. Last time I saw progress from 1 child out of the 5 I worked with. This time I reckon I can do better! 

I know I should probably just choose one or two things and focus on doing them really well, but there are just so many new things to try and I want to try them ALL!