Ninja Multiplication: Recalling math facts

Ninja Multiplication

I was having a hard time thinking about ways to practice basic multiplication facts that would be interesting for my students. I came upon something on the internet that caught my attention. The idea is to set up different colored belts for each multiplication fact. I created a chart to display in the classroom that shows each student name and each belt they can achieve. I would change the order of the facts for next year, but this is what I tried this year. 

To advance to the next fact, they need to be able to recall the facts at a reasonable rate. Students seem to be very engaged and have been working hard to advance to the next belt level. 

After they have mastered all the black belts, students will be given a black, cloth belt to wear on their heads during math class to reward them for their hard work and to show the other students that they are the classroom genius for this content.  :) 

The Science of Happiness

I came across this feel-good video this weekend while I was procrastinating on Twitter and I thought I would share it. 

        

Prodigy Math Game

If you are looking for a fun math game to use with your students that is engaging, but actually requires them to solve math problems, look no further than prodigygame.com

This awesome online platform aligns with the ideas of game based learning. You create a class, and then students create a wizard avatar. Through solving math problems, they build up their avatar's skills and talents as they play the game. 

Cool features of this site include:

• You choose the grade level of your class
• The problems require students to use mental math and problem solving skills
• You can create assignments that line up with certain topics and you can differentiate the level by individual student. When you create an assignment, it pauses the natural flow of the game and gets the students to do those questions
• It collects assessment data on how the students do on the assignment questions 

I would say that the game could be played for sure down to grade three, but possibly even at the grade 2 level. Check it out! My students LOVED it!!

Plickers

This week I came across a really awesome formative assessment tool I thought I would share. It is called Plickers. I had attempted to type out an explanation, but then I found the youtube video above that explained it way better than I could have! Essentially, you need to go to plickers.com and create an account. You also need to download the app on your phone. Each student is linked to a card number, which is shown below. You take a photo of them holding up the cards in the app in response to a question and it gives you a graph of responses. 

 

If you try it out and have questions feel free to come see me. We used it for science today and the kids thought it was really fun! 

Should Teachers be Replaced by Computers?

So...in grade 6 I have been driven slowly insane by students not writing in sentences.  As a vehicle to teach proper paragraphing and sentence writing, we decided to use persuasive paragraphs on a variety of interesting topics. Using topics kids were interested in to cover some rather boring grammar issues was actually enjoyable. We have had some very interesting conversations (including social media, sports, homework, etc.), but one that most amused me was the one about whether we should replace teachers.

It all started good.  Dallas wrote the following:
I think teachers should not be replaced by computers because teachers help you unlike computers who just say it’s not correct. Most of the time computers will be glitching and the batteries would die. Stupidly, the computer voice would get really annoying. If the computers taught,  it would probably be with no feeling or care. I would rather have a human as my teacher than a computer.

Zach also had a similar sentiment:
Teachers should not be replaced with computers. They shouldn't because the computers can't deal with emotional and physical problems. Sadly, computers can’t help you with work or your health. If teachers were replaced with computers, computer batteries can drain and they can glitch. Weirdly, computers can't move and can’t teach physical education. Teachers should not be replaced with computers.  

So, after reading these, I am feeling all good not only about the fact that the kids are actually writing in sentences and paragraphs, but also how kids appreciate the human experience.  Then I come across Taycee's paragraph:
I think teachers should be replaced by computers because they are smarter and have more  information. Computers have better and enormous memories. Also, computers are very, very interesting and smarter than teachers because they're at school every day. Computers  know more than teachers and they have way more searches than teachers do. Teachers don't really know much. Sometimes they have to look in books for something and can’t spell a word. But computers know everything.

JUST SAYING MS.KAM!!!

Really can't argue with that! I guess it's all a matter of perspective!

#HourOfCode

I decided that I would introduce my class to the hour of code. Basically, as the video above mentions, the idea is to introduce as many students as possible to Coding during this week.  After reading a lot about it on Twitter, I realized that even though it doesn't specifically align with our outcomes, it does teach students a whole bunch of essential skills that they need to learn, such as problem solving, communicating, patterning, enhancing their understanding of technology and engaging them at a difficult time of year. Below are the sites that we used for our hour of code:

www.madewithcode.com/projects
www.crunchzilla.com/code-monster
scratch.mit.edu
studio.code.org/s/frozen/stage/1/puzzle/1
codecombat.com

You know that it is a worthwhile activity when students say things like "This is a dream come true" when you tell them what you are doing an hour of coding. 

Building Numbers and Looking for Patterns--Good Times in Math!

After working with Jackie a few years ago, my class has been doing this activity each year.  We are currently working on number concepts.  Our focus at the moment is prime and composite numbers as well as factors and multiples.  Yesterday we undertook building all the factors for numbers to 36.  In the past I have had groups do the whole chart independently, but this year, in the interest of time and organization, we did it as a class...much less chaotic. Students were assigned numbers to build (avoiding times table sheets) and were given the choice to work independently or in partners/small groups.  They were challenged to make sure they had all factor sets for each number.  

After building the numbers, we created a chart to observe patterns, etc. Students were given activities where they had to look for patterns, find prime numbers and recognize the number of factor sets.  They also asked to analyze how they can use numbers to find out factors of other numbers.  For example, how can you use the factors of 12 to find the factors of 24 or 36?

In the new year, we will continue to use the chart looking at ratios, etc.  It also becomes handy with fractions when we need multiples and factors to find common denominators, etc.