Make it Concrete
Share the PURPOSE
Practicing Multiplication

Are your students reading 15 minutes a day? If not they should be! Research shows that
reading for 15 minutes a day makes all the difference between a successful student and a struggling student. But why 15 minutes?A study comparing the engaged reading time and reading scores of more than 2.2 million students found that students who were reading 15 minutes a day or more got a higher reading score than the national average. Growth in a student's reading skills only happens when that student reads for at least 15 minutes a day.
In this same study it was found that students who read less than 5 minutes a day saw the lowest level of growth in their reading scores. Their scores were also well below the national reading average. Students who read between 5 and 14 minutes per day did a little better, but their scores were also below the national average. “15 minutes seems to be the ‘magic number’ at which students start seeing substantial positive gains in reading achievement.” Renaissance
Reading Linked to Student Success in School
According to a study of the Programme of International Student Assessment (PISA) scores of over 174,000 students around the world, there is a connection between a student’s reading practice and performance. Talentnook
So what is the difference between a student who reads for less than 15 minutes a day and a student who reads for more than 30 minutes a day? It can’t be that big of a difference, right? Wrong. There is actually a huge difference. The difference is 12 million.
By the time a student graduates high school, a student reading for 30 minutes or more a day will encounter 13.7 million words. And the number of words their classmates who aren’t reading 15 minutes a day will encounter? 1.5 million words. It is so important that our students are reading 15 minutes per day because it will greatly impact their success and achievement in school.
SO WHAT SHOULD YOU DO WITH THIS INFORMATION?!
1. Encourage Reading in Your Classroom, in any way or form.
It is so important that we encourage our students to read. Some of the ways we can do this is to invite them to reread, or read it again and again. Rereading builds speed and accuracy and helps students gain confidence in their reading skills.
For our youngest readers, teaching them that reading the pictures is also a form of reading. This will help them to feel capable of reading and begin a love for reading at an early age.
2. Teach Students to Find Just Right Books
Teaching students to find books that are a good fit is also extremely important. If students are reading books that are too difficult for them and/or not of interest, that is surely a way to discourage them from wanting to read more. By teaching them how to properly shop for books, we can help to build that love of reading.
When teaching students to book shop, have them open up a book and read through a few paragraphs. Can they read and understand most of the words? Is it too easy? Does what they are reading interest them? Is the type of book interesting to them?
If so- this is a good fit. If not, they can return it and find a new one. I also like to let students know that it's totally okay to start a book and decide that you don't like it.
3. Organize Your Class Library to Make Book Shopping Easy
Let's be honest- finding books in a library are rather difficult if you are just browsing and don't have a specific author or title in mind. I believe it's important to organize your own classroom library so that it's easy for students to find books they love reading. We don't wan't students to get discouraged from reading because it's too difficult to find a book!
Book bins are a great way to keep books organized and the best thing about it is that students can pull a bin out and easily look through to find a book they like. Students often check out books by looking at their covers. They are much more likely to pull out a book if they can see the cover versus just the spine.
The other great thing I love about the bins is that you can choose different ways to organize your books to make book shopping easier for students. In my own classroom library, I had my books sorted out by popular chapter series, favorite authors, and genre. This way, students could stick to the books they love, discover new books by their favorite author or even explore new books in their favorite genres. You can grab my library book bin labels here.
4. Host a Book Drive
Another great way to make books accessible to students is to host a book drive at your school!
If you have never heard of a book drive, it is where students bring in gently used books and swap them out for a new one. The great thing about a book drive is that it provides new books to students and also makes reading more accessible to those who may not have books at home. It also helps to encourage reading at home. I held one at my school a few years ago and it was a total hit!
5. Make Time for Read Alouds, Daily
As educators, we want to do all we can to ensure that our students are successful in school and later on in life. One of the best ways we can do this is to make books accessible and ensure that they are reading the magic number of 15 minutes a day.
Sources:
https://www.renaissance.com/2018/01/23/blog-magic-15-minutes-reading-practice-reading-growth/
https://talentnook.com/blog/the-15-minute-magic-elevate-your-childs-reading
Teachers around the world are picking up the pieces and filling in learning gaps caused by school closures, distance learning, and concurrent teaching. Students haven’t had a normal school year in 3 years. Sadly, this means a loss of learning time for many and teachers are having to fill in those gaps and address those needs.
Despite planning stellar lessons to teach your grade-level standards we must not forget about checking for student understanding. This simple act of checking up on learning throughout your teaching will make a huge difference in your students getting it. Let me say it now...Do NOT worry about your pacing. Instead, worry about making sure that your students understand what you are teaching. It’ll all pay off in the end, I promise.
Let’s dive into different ways on HOW to check for student understanding.
Why hello, there teacher friend! I'm back this week to share about the last 4 Standards for Mathematical Practices. If you missed my previous post that included information about the first 4 practice standards, you can find that here.
Let's jump in, shall we?!
Standard 5: Use appropriate tools strategically
Standard 5 is all about students being able to select the most appropriate mathematical tools to be able to successfully complete a math task. Typically when you hear the term math tools one might think of a ruler, protractor, or calculator right? While that isn’t incorrect, the term math tools have a much broader definition when we’re looking at Standard 5. Tools are anything that can support students to perform a task. This could be concrete materials such as base-ten blocks, connecting cubes, counters, a number line, etc. Calculators, paper and pencil, and mental math are also math tools.
Often times there is more than one tool that can be used for a task, but some tools are more efficient than others. This standard is all about students choosing the tools that are MOST efficient in solving their math tasks.
Standard 6: Attend to Precision
This standard in particular is referring to precision in calculations and performance of math tasks as well as precision in communication.
In math, there are times where estimation works. There are other times when precise calculations are vital (balancing a checking account, ordering window blinds to fit within a frame, calculating hourly pay, etc). Initially, precision may be answers expressed in whole numbers, but as our students get older and progress in their understanding of math, that precision is refined with answers expressed as decimals to the tenths, hundredths, or thousandths.
In addition, students must also be precise in other math tasks such as constructing graphs, determining the probability of events, using a ruler, measuring angles, etc. As primary students learn about measurement, they may start with lining up cubes to measure an object. They might notice gaps between the cubes whereas their neighbor doesn’t have any gaps and their measurements differ. As students develop their skills, attention is placed on moving the cubes together to eliminate gaps, and in turn, their measurements become more precise.
When we talk about precision in communication, we expect students to thoroughly describe math ideas, precisely explain how they solve a problem, and give specific examples as they construct their mathematical arguments. In order to do so, students must know the words that express their thoughts. This is where math vocabulary comes into play.
If a student is explaining that they measured “around it” rather than talking about the perimeter of the figure, this student doesn’t quite have the vocabulary to precisely explain their thinking.
How do I get my students to be able to do this?
Model precise communication by using grade-level appropriate vocabulary.
Discuss important math vocabulary and explore the meanings of math words through familiar language, words, pictures, and examples
Expect precise communication and ask students to elaborate on ideas, choose specific words, specify units of measure, and explain symbols they use.
Orchestrate ongoing experiences for students to talk and write about math.
Require students to label units, quantities, and graphs
Expect students to justify labels (e.g., what area is labeled as square units and volume is labeled as cubic units
Model specific and thorough explanations
Allow students opportunities to work with partners to come up with explanations
Standard 7: Look for and make use of structure
Standard 7 focuses on understanding the structure of mathematics and using this understanding to simplify things! For example, when adding up how much your grocery list will cost, you don’t worry about the order in which you add the items. If your students understand math properties, they know that the order in which numbers are added will never change the total. Another example of this standard in real life is when baking. If you can’t find the ¾ measuring cup, you could simply use the ¼ cup three times because you know it’s the same amount or quantity.
This standard is where conceptual knowledge is necessary. Students must truly understand how math works to be able to apply properties and see patterns. The goal of this standard is to get students to see the flexibility of numbers, understand properties, and recognize patterns and functions. Below are a few examples of each.
The flexibility of Numbers: This is the understanding that numbers can be broken apart and put together in a variety of ways. Using this understanding can help students to be more efficient in how they choose to solve problems. This also helps students tremendously with mental math.
6 x 8 is the same as 5 x 8 plus 1 x 8. 6 x 8 is ALSO the same as 6 x 4 + 6 x 4.
53 + 18 could be solved by adding 53 + 20 = 73 - 2 = 71. Here the student understands that it is easier to add 20 to 53 and knows that 18 is 2 less than 20.
Understanding Properties: Understanding the different properties helps students to be able to solve problems more efficiently.
If a student was asked to solve the following problem:
The cafeteria had 14 rows of seats and 8 seats in each row. How many people can be seated?
A student that understands properties can quickly and easily solve this problem in their head. They will immediately break the 14 rows apart into 10 rows and 4 rows. In their head, they would figure out 10 x 8 = 80 and 4 x 8 = 32 and 80 + 32 = 112. This understanding of how distributive property works helps the student simplify the task.
Recognizing Patterns and Functions: When students are able to truly make sense of math, they can look at the numbers to find patterns. Look at the table below.
1/2 = .5 | 1/3 = .33 | 1/5 = .20 |
1/4 = .25 | 1/6 = .167 | 1/10 = .10 |
1/8 = .125 | 1/12 = .083 | 1/20 = .05 |
1/16 = .0625 | 1/24 = .0467 | 1/40 = .025 |
In this table, we see that as the fractions are being halved, their decimal equivalent is also halved. Using this knowledge students can solve other types of problems.
For example, if you don’t know the decimal representation for 3/8 but we know that 1/4 is .25 and that 1/8 is half of that or .125, you could triple .125 to find that 3/8 equals .375
Standard 8: Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.
Standard 8 is all about students seeing and finding patterns and repetition in what they are doing in math. By recognizing the repetition, students are then able to develop shortcuts- like algorithms or formulas to make tasks easier.
In Kindergarten students notice repetition in the counting sequence, always following a 1 to 9 sequence. Once they recognize this, they are then able to continue their counting with “twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three….thirty-one, thirty-two, thirty-three….forty-one, forty-two, forty-three…..”.
Standard 8 is where you as a teacher help your students to discover patterns and make sense of them to gain a deeper understanding of math as opposed to just telling them. Letting students discover on their own will make the learning stick.
How do I get my students to be able to do this?
Set up learning opportunities for students to gather data and observe repetitions to find shortcuts.
Ask students to explain shortcuts
Frequently ask “What do you notice?” “Do you see any patterns?” “Have we seen this before?”
Pose problems that draw attention to repetition
Ask students to think about how new problems are like previously solved problems
Ask students to use familiar problems as a way to decide on an appropriate strategy