Using Learn Zillion during Daily 5

I am always looking for different activities my students can preform independently during daily 5. A few years ago, I introduced my fifth graders to the LearnZillion app. Because my fifth graders loved using the app, I decided to try using the app with my third graders.

LearnZillion is a website that contains videos that are based on common core state standards. There are videos in English Language Arts and Mathematics. I like to use the ELA videos during daily 5 because I can use the videos to review what was taught during the reading mini lesson. Sometimes the videos have worksheets that go along with the videos. These worksheets can keep students accountable during a time where they need to be independent. I could also see teachers using the videos to front load content for students. This could be a valuable resource for English Language Learners (ELL) or students in a special education program.

LearnZillion is a great resource that is free of charge and easy to use. In order to get started using the website, you must create an account. Luckily if you have a google account already created you are good to go. The next step to using LearnZillion is to enter your students into your classroom. If you have a copy of your class list, you can use this to quickly enter everyone in your classroom. Unfortunately for me, I didn't discover this feature until I manually entered in twenty-five names into the system.

Once you have students in your classroom, students must log into the website to create their own account. Students must have an access code to create the login. I printed out all the access codes for my students so that they were accessible and easy to find. I would recommend doing this step in smaller groups. I call four to five students to my table to help them get set up.

Once students have an account, you can assign videos to the students to watch. You could also differentiate your instruction by assigning different videos to different students. When I was a fifth grade teacher, there were some students who struggled with parts of speech. Instead of looking at the videos designed for fifth grade common core, I looked in the third grade videos. Because the videos were labeled by common core state standard, the students never figured out that they were watching a video designed for third graders.

Here is a link to the video I used in my classroom today. Try out LearnZillion out for yourself! 

The First Six Weeks of School

The beginning of the school year is always a hectic time for me. First of all I spent the whole summer waking up naturally to the sunlight, reading a few good books and going for a run whenever I please. This schedule comes to an abrupt stop as soon as September 1st rolls around. All of a sudden the beginning of the school year slaps you in the face in full force. 

Late last week, I couldn't help but feeling frustrated. The students went to recess and I slumped down in my chair by the computer. I had just retaught how to get started during daily five for what seemed like the millionth time. 

"How many more times am I going to have to teach this" I thought to myself. "I have all of these assessments to give, and students keep moving around the classroom and talking to each other"

It was at that moment when I glanced over to my morning message for the day. 

"You have finished your second week of school." I wrote earlier that day. The frustration seemed to die down a little. My school uses a responsive classroom approach where teachers are expected to reteach expectations during the first full week of school. The theory is that if you spend time teaching expectations early on in the year, you will not have to spend time later on in the year when you are trying to learn content. If this was the case, this means that I still have four more weeks of teaching expectations before my students are expected to learn them.

I think many teachers are like me and easily get frustrated because students "should know what the rules are by now." I need to remind myself that these are twenty-five eight year olds who just had three months to do what they choose. Of course it is going to take some time to establish the rules. 

Tomorrow, not only am I going to reteach the rules of Daily 5, I am also going to reteach coming in from recess, voice level in the bathroom and how to pass out folders. What are some expectations that you need to reteach in your classroom? 

Math Talk

One of the most powerful tools I have, to promote learning in math, is the use of math talk. Math talk creates a classroom environment where students have to collaborate in order to solve a math expression. I have seen many benefits from incorporating math talk in the classroom.

The first thing that I have noticed inside my classroom is that students are able to clarify their understanding by using math talk. Students must explain their ideas to others. This helps deepen each students understanding of the concepts. When a student is confused, another student is there to help clarify. The more a student explains their understanding to others, the deeper their understanding is of a concept. I think this concept is great for the math student who is able to quickly reach an answer. By requiring the student to slow down, and explain their thinking they are able to think more critically about why a concept works.

On the flip side, if a student struggles with a concept, they are able to receive help from another student. Students are able to work together to find errors in their work. I always teach my students that if you reach the end of a problem and get different answers, you need to go back and check both students' work.

Another reason math talk is so beneficial in the classroom, is because students are able to solve a problem using multiple approaches and still reach the same answer. When students talk about different ways to solve a problem, they are promoting flexible thinking. Flexible thinking is beneficial when a student is trying to solve a problem and their approach just isn't working. Students need to build perseverance and continue to work until the answer is solved. Solving a math problem multiple ways also helps students realize what methods are more efficient than others.

Lastly students are able to ask questions and critique others in a respectful and safe way. I have
pictures of sentence starters for students to use while they are math talking. These sentence starters encourage students to think critically how they solved a problem. Sometimes I have students focus on using one question during a problem. Sometimes students look back to the sentence starters as guidance for how to help a friend.

Overall, I think the use of math talk is a crucial part of math instruction. By using discourse, students are able to solidify concepts. Teachers are able to take more of a facilitators approach rather than give direct instruction to students. I am to have sixty percent of my lesson containing math talk. How much math talk do you have in your classroom?

Flexible Seating in the Classroom

The beginning of the school year is usually rough. It takes a little bit of time to get to know each individual student. Some students need some time to figure out the rules. (Some students need to test the boundaries of the rules) This year was different for me because I was looping with my second grade class to third grade. I was so excited because we didn't have to start at zero learning all of my rules and expectations.

I learned about flexible seating this summer and was eager to try it out. Because I knew the abilities of my students, I knew they could handle the transition. I also know that my students love it when they are given a choice in the class. Quite frankly, I hate making seating charts. For some reason, making a seating chart takes me hours because it is never perfect. If I do get a good seating chart, I usually feel guilty leaving students in their spot too long. Because of all these reasons I decided to try out flexible seating in my classroom.

I decided to buy six yoga chairs and six wobble chairs for my classroom. I also knew that I would have a counter that students could sit at for some extra space. Every classroom at my school has two Hoakie chairs, so I was going to use them. A parent also wanted to donate a bike desk for the third grade classrooms. My main goal of the room was to create around thirty seating options so that students could spread out without having so many desks getting in the way.

On Welcome Back Day, I was a little worried about flexible seating. All of my students little brothers and sisters found the yoga balls right away and started bouncing uncontrollably on them. Also when students first started sitting on the yoga balls, they started bouncing uncontrollably. We quickly enforced the rules and everything has started working out.

There are a lot of things that are going well using flexible seating. I think students are quieter during work time. They know they need to be, other wise they know I will move them to a different spot. They also seem to be getting more movement in during the day. I think this contributes to less behavior problems over all. I believe that when students have the ability to make choices, their learning is positively impacted.

Things that you should consider when adapting flexible seating in the classroom:

1. Think about the classroom procedures that you have in your room. How are the procedures going to be different once you utilize flexible seating? How will you pass out items quickly to all students? In my room, I assign 6 people to be the paper passer-outers. Their job is to quickly get 4-5 folders and pass them out. This way everyone isn't moving around the classroom and we can quickly move on to the next item. 
2. What are the rules you will have with flexible seating? What happens when students break the rules. In my classroom, the students know that they need to have less than four people at an area. They also know that they need to have at least one girl and one boy. Everyone is responsible for choosing a good learning spot. If they cannot make a good choice I will make it for them. There is no warnings in this case. 
3. What about classroom supplies? Will you use community supplies? I knew from the beginning that students would not have their own space to call their own. I had to create spaces where students could store their items. I also bought each student a coloring box to store their art supplies. I have also spread out their math notebooks around the classroom so students are all going to different locations instead of crowding into one small area in the classroom.