Literacy and Numeracy Rotations

I have launched into literacy and numeracy rotations for an hour a day. I do Literacy for an hour three times a week and Maths for an hour on the other two days. Obviously there are plenty of other whole class lessons, games and activities, but this is the time for direct instruction and ongoing assessment. I was going to wait until I had a bit more response from parent volunteers but I thought since I have such a variety of learners that I may as well get the routines ironed out as soon as possible.
I have only had the rotations for two days so far, but I am really pleased with this way of teaching and I feel much more effective than when I try to lock-step the whole class through a learning episode.
I read this scholastic site on Math Workshops a few weeks ago and I have implemented some of these ideas, particularly the order in which I see the students. I am really pleased with the logic behind the rotations and I think it is working.
Basically, the class is split into three main groups. (When I get more help I will try to increase the number of groups so they are smaller and they are getting through more work). I work with the lowest group first and basically go through the workbook activity, giving a bit more instruction and teaching explanation along the way. It is a good chance to work with hands on materials and really see that these students are understanding the concepts. During this time the middle group is working on a game or using the iPads on a related activity and the top group are doing the workbook independently. In the second rotation, I work with the middle group and do some small group teaching and a basic introduction to the workbook activity to get them started. The lowest group go straight on to completing the workbook activity that they started with me, and the top group play a game to consolidate the skill they just practised in the workbook.
In the final rotation I check the work done by the top group to ensure they understand it and then do a challenge or extension lesson with them. The lowest group are ready to play the game and the middle group get a chance to finish the workbook activity.

So far it is working well (after two whole days). I would love to differentiate the games a little more and make sure that the independent groups are working effectively but I'm sure this will come as we get used to the routine.

I am keeping the same groups for this week to make it simpler for me (and the kids of course) but once I learn more about the Daily 5 and CAFE system I would like to make the groups more flexible.

How do you manage rotations?

First Days

Well, the first day came and went and I was still excited about going back the second day. That's got to be good news!
I am blessed to have such a lovely bunch of "curious cats" in my class.

I think I did the lion's share of the learning in the first two days - having to learn all of their names and then begin to work out some personality and learning traits. At least they had some fun while I did some learning. When we return to school tomorrow it will be their turn to start some serious learning!
I tried a simple Mathematics Investigation to see if they had an understanding of place value, and also to see how they were able to work with a partner. Each pair was given a fistful of matchsticks and were challenged to work out how many matchsticks there were altogether.
As they tried to solve the problem I noted some of the strategies they used, and then stopped them after a while to discuss these strategies.

All of the children realised that moving the matchsticks as they counted in some sort of systematic way made the task much easier. Some students split the group into two so each partner had a turn to count, but funnily enough, none of them counted the separate groups first then added to find the total. They waited for one partner to finish counting, then the second started. Even the pair of boys who counted simultaneously and could tell me that one of them had 53 and the other had 58 still counted on from 53 in ones to get to the total. When I write "58 + 53" on the board, they could tell me the total, but it hadn't occurred to them that they could add.
Not one group used grouping to help them count, which surprised me, so I stopped them and we looked at a hundreds board and saw how it was in rows of ten and that made it faster to count to 100 because we could count in tens. After this guidance (and a bit more hinting) the students tried to count their matchsticks again, this time, grouping them into bunches of ten. THis was much easier for them!

On Friday I am going to keep working on place value ideas and then I will assess them next week to see how they are going.

Math Mats

A few years ago when I first taught Year 1 my sister put me on to the idea of using placemats for the students. This year I have adapted the template further to suit my Year 2s and to help them to meet the standards in Mathematics in the Australian Curriculum.

Making the placemats was fiddly and time consuming. My teaching partner tried to convince me that it would be easier to make one and photocopy it rather than make individual ones for 24 students (plus a spare just in case - and as a teacher model). I was afraid the colours wouldn't be as bright so insisted we make them by hand. After making 25 placemats each (printing, cutting, gluing, laminating) our fingers were tired and our minds were numb. She might just be able to convince me to make one and photocopy next time!

But don't they look lovely????

The front side has a handwriting model sticker (purchased from Young Ideas), left/right hand stickers (also purchased), a name plate (created using a table in MS Word with text box overlays), and a list of "No Excuses Words" which are a combination of a few high frequency word lists and a few other words that I wanted my students to spell well - including my name. ;-)

You can purchase placemats from various places that are similar to these but I like to be able to personalise them and include the bits and pieces I feel are important.

The back side has a hundreds chart which is sized to fit counters, a tens frame which also fits counters, some shapes and their names, the poem about the months (important for Year 2), the days of the week, a number line and some other maths things.

We found these great little containers (that are Decor brand - supposed to be for salad dressing) that fit 20 counters in neatly so each child will have their own set of counters and a hundreds chart at their fingertips for daily number awareness and games!

The placemats were great in Year 1 a few years ago. I am hoping they will get lots of use again this year.