How I'm getting 3rd Graders ready for Performance Tasks

Last year I began seriously looking at released items from Smarter Balanced, especially the performance tasks. "Wow!" I said to myself. "We've got some work to do!"

Although it is exciting to see that students will be using math seamlessly to solve real-world problems, it is daunting for classroom teachers. We have always focused on the learning of math, rather than the "using" of math. 

With a colleague of mine, we devised a plan. Every week, for an hour and a half, we would have students work on extended tasks that use multiple standards. We would focus on the process, not so much the answer, and we would praise, praise, praise students for their perseverance. 

Each week we would build a performance task a little harder, and a little longer as students built up their stamina and confidence. We wanted students to use different strategies to solve problems and to feel like although it was hard, it was possible to complete the task. 

Each Friday we worked with students, and each Friday at lunch, we sat and discussed what we had seen, and heard. We pondered why certain things were happening, like why students were using repeated addition for a problem that clearly called for multiplication. We thought about the right type of help to give students so as not to enable them right out of problem solving. 

So, a short recap of what we learned:  1) It is just as much about the process as it is the answer. As students actually see the improvement in "time on task" and their ability to stay focused, they become engaged in the task. 2) These tasks are hard! Our 3rd graders were using a lot of brain power to work through them. Therefore, when students kept using repeated addition until January, we didn't intervene. Repeated addition was comfortable for them, so that is what they used! 3) Scaffold, scaffold, scaffold. When we "threw" in graphs before they had worked with them and we asked them to do difficult tasks with the graphs, it was a disaster. Fast forward to a task after they had worked with graphs during class, and the task was no problem. 4) Celebrate the feeling of accomplishment when finally solving a problem - there is nothing better!

I've started bundling these tasks and putting them in my store. I'm really excited to see how these 3rd graders do on their state test!

                                               Math - It Works

Math - It Works

The Best Place Value Experience for 2nd Graders!

2nd graders need lots of experience decomposing numbers as they work with place value concepts. I often see these guys carefully pulling numbers apart: "167 is one hundred, 6 tens, and 7 ones". They are correct, but are they truly understanding place value with this exercise or just memorizing hundreds, tens and ones?

To check whether students are really thinking things through, I introduce an activity with brown paper bags. Inside the bag are flats (100s), rods (10s) and cubes (1s)

I label the bag with a number and fill the bag with a different combination of base ten blocks. Students are not allowed to open the bag!

They can pick it up to feel the weight, they can shake it up a bit, but they can't look inside. They need to make an educated guess about what combination of blocks are inside the bag. 


The bag labeled 147 can be composed of different combinations:
147 cubes
1 flat, 4 rods and 7 cubes
1 flat, 3 rods and 17 cubes
1 flat, 2 rods and 27 cubes
1 flat, 1 rod and 37 cubes
1 flat, and 47 cubes
14 rods and 7 cubes
and so on...........

It is a lot of fun for students, and as they record their guesses, they begin to really delve deeply into the concept of place value. 

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