Observation 22/2/17 - maths in Room 21

Today I observed Lilianne teaching maths in Room 21 with Year 5s.

They were working on the problem “Team Matai’s classes were using 3579 ipads and Team Manuka’s were using 1756.  How many were they using altogether?”

I liked the way Lilianne got the children to read the problem then flip their papers  over while she clarified parts of the problem.  

Another group was working with Niu in the back room on working out what ⅜ of the number of ipads was.  An important message I noticed Niu giving the children was “You must always give a reason for your answer.”

The first group that explained their answer split the numbers into thousands, hundred, tens and ones and added those.  

Takeaway: I liked the way Lilianne made a link back to the context of the problem at the end, saying “That was a lot of ipads to add up.”  That was a good reminder to me to do the same, so that the problem remains meaningful in its context.  

Observation 8/2/17 - maths in Room 21

Maths in Room 21
Today on my PRT day I observed a maths lesson with Year 5 children, as I have been learning about the 'Bobby Maths' approach.  To start with the teacher, Niu, got the children in pairs to talk about the maths norms - they clarified what some of these meant.  For example, for "Depth is more important than speed" one boy said "Depth means going deep into your brain." Niu also clarified the expectations for the maths programme - that children need to contribute to their groups - "No passengers" and need to ask questions if they don't understand.The problem they were working on was one they had done for homework "If 297 people attend a church and 229 stop attending, how many will be left?"  There were a few variations on this problem and the children were able to select which one they wanted to answer.  The teachers in this classroom had identified subtraction as an area that needed work so were focusing on this. The children got into small groups (4 is the ideal size) and worked on solving the problem.  They had a range of strategies - some split the number into hundreds, tens and ones and subtracted using these, one group used an algorithm, one group used materials, one used a number line...After about 10 minutes the groups got back together and each one had to demonstrate their strategies.  The other groups were encouraged to ask questions if they needed clarification and the teacher asked them to check that they could add their numbers together to check that their equations were correct. The main learning I took away from watching this was that children were discouraged from putting their hands up so that everyone was engaged, not just those who wanted to put their hands up.  I need to check whether this was the policy in all curriculum areas in this class or just in the maths programme.  I noticed that this increased engagement and the idea of 'no passengers.' I will be interested to see how this approach works with my Year 2s.

Takeaway: Encourage children not to put their hands up at maths time - emphasise the idea that anyone can be called on and that everyone needs to be engaging with the problem.

Observation - maths in Room 4 15/2/17

It was interesting today watching a maths lesson with children the same age as my class, after watching Lilianne teaching maths with the older children.  

For Shabnam’s warmup she got the children skip-counting in 2s by getting them to clap one quiet clap then one loud clap.  

She also got them to show her numbers with their hands and was then able to check their understanding quickly.  She got them to make doubles with their hands.  

She then set up the group norms - “How do you work as a team?”  While the children talked about that Shabnam settled the other group, who were working on equations in their books.  

The problem Shabnam was working on with her group was “At church lots of people came.  There were 17 boys and 10 girls.  How many people came to church.”  She connected it to the children’s prior knowledge, asking “Who goes to church?  What do you do at church?”

She then asked “What is the question asking you to do?” One child said “put together” and Shab asked “What are we putting together?” She asked some children to repeat others’ answers and got them to agree/disagree/say they’re not sure with their thumbs.  

I found it really helpful seeing how Shab set the problem up and connected it to the students’ own lives, and her use of the think/pair/share strategy.  

She brought the children back to the mat when some of them were not coping with the problem and asked them “What were you counting?” - linking back to the context of the problem.  She reinforced listening to others “What did Irma just say?” She drew one pair’s explanation on the board - they had drawn each person - then explained there is an easier way to do this - to count on from the bigger number.  They held their heads to practise putting the bigger number in their heads then practised a few examples with this new technique.  

4. demonstrate commitment to ongoing professional learning and development of personal professional practice

i. identify professional learning goals in consultation with colleagues ii. participate responsively in professional learning opportunities within the learning community iii. initiate learning opportunities to advance personal professional knowledge and skills

Balloons

For our language experience today we blew up and played with balloons.  Unfortunately some of the balloons popped!  This made for great writing material and this is an activity I would like to try with a class again. 

Bubbles

I have been wanting to try out some language experience activities with my class and decided to do bubble blowing as an activity to spark descriptive writing.  I bought some small party favour bubble wands and gave out one between two, with the instruction that one was to blow bubbles, and the other could catch or pop them.

I was struck by how engaged the children were in this simple activity and how positive their behaviour was (I have been finding transitions to outdoor activities challenging).  Afterwards we brainstormed adjectives we could use to describe the bubbles and the children wrote stories about the bubbles - I was impressed with their attention to detail when describing them.  This reinforced the effectiveness of using language experience activities and made me excited to plan my next one...making sticky slime.

Maths in Room 21

Today on my PRT day I observed a maths lesson with Year 5 children, as I have been learning about the 'Bobby Maths' approach.  To start with the teacher, Niu, got the children in pairs to talk about the maths norms - they clarified what some of these meant.  For example, for "Depth is more important than speed" one boy said "Depth means going deep into your brain."

Niu also clarified the expectations for the maths programme - that children need to contribute to their groups - "No passengers" and need to ask questions if they don't understand.

The problem they were working on was one they had done for homework "If 297 people attend a church and 229 stop attending, how many will be left?"  There were a few variations on this problem and the children were able to select which one they wanted to answer.  The teachers in this classroom had identified subtraction as an area that needed work so were focusing on this.

The children got into small groups (4 is the ideal size) and worked on solving the problem.  They had a range of strategies - some split the number into hundreds, tens and ones and subtracted using these, one group used an algorithm, one group used materials, one used a number line...

After about 10 minutes the groups got back together and each one had to demonstrate their strategies.  The other groups were encouraged to ask questions if they needed clarification and the teacher asked them to check that they could add their numbers together to check that their equations were correct.

The main learning I took away from watching this was that children were discouraged from putting their hands up so that everyone was engaged, not just those who wanted to put their hands up.  I need to check whether this was the policy in all curriculum areas in this class or just in the maths programme.  I noticed that this increased engagement and the idea of 'no passengers.' I will be interested to see how this approach works with my Year 2s.

PTC 4

4. demonstrate commitment to ongoing professional learning and development of personal professional practice

i. identify professional learning goals in consultation with colleagues ii. participate responsively in professional learning opportunities within the learning community iii. initiate learning opportunities to advance personal professional knowledge and skills

Restorative Practice PD