Welcome to Term 3!

Welcome back to all Victorian teachers who, this week, have kicked off Term 3. We hope you have had a great start and are settling back into your school routines (or even starting some new ones!).

 

Planning has been a key emphasis this week and I (Kerry) have enjoyed spending time with staff - crouched over laptops, undertaking professional reading, exploring resources and text books, and discussing all things 'curriculum'. A special shout out to our 1/2 Team (C, A & J!) for their efforts on Tuesday!

 

In preparation for this term, we are adding extra units of work. 'Shaping Up’ is a unit of work for Year One and Two students, on 2D shapes and 3D objects. Students explore the language and features of both 2D shapes and 3D objects, as well as look at these in their environment. It includes a variety of graphic organsiers, along with a range of independent/small group problem solving tasks. 'Shaping Up' covers all iSURF elelments...

individual goals     problem Solving     Understanding     Reasoning      and     Fluency

 

Keep your eyes open for an accompanying unit of work on shapes and transformation - coming soon!

 

 

 

 Feel free to contact us with feedback, comments and requests at kpisurf@gmail.com

 

Workshop options for iSURF(c)

During a planning meeting yesterday where we spent time looking at our next units for publishing we also looked at some workshop options for delivering the message for iSURF(c).

 

This is our response to the new Australian Curriculum initiative that uses the four Proficiency Statements to cover the content.

 

We have a free overview and some samples of work that are free when you visit our digital stores. Download them and see how you could use iSURF(c) to assist in the delivery of your own maths program.

 

We are offering workshop options to assist schools and teachers to use our iSURF(c) Maths.

Contact us - kpisurf@gmail.com and we can develop a program for you.

 

Making Sense of Percent - Level 6

We thought it was time to add another unit of work.

 

Here is 'Making Sense of Percent'

 

This one is for Level 6 - (Year 6, Grade 6) and is from the domain of Number and Algebra and is reliant on all four proficiency strands - Solving Problems, Understanding, Reasoning and Fluency.

 

The unit is planned using the philosophy outlined in our Manual and our Editable Planner. The plan is documented using our 'weekly planner' but the tasks are open ended and may go beyond a week.

 

The idea of this structure is to allow you to work with a group as a focus group and then send them back into the open ended task.

 

 

 

 

Planning for success

Each element of the four proficiencies (Solving problems, Understanding, Reasoning & Fluency) are critical in their own way. Each leads to students developing a deeper understanding of the content we are trying to help them to learn. Being aware of, and planning to include each of the proficiencies in our teaching – leads to success for both students and ourselves.

Below is a simple, yet effective, counting game to increase students’ fluency with numbers. Research is clear about the need for students to develop a deep understanding of and ‘automaticity’ with numbers – to ensure that, as tasks become more complicated, they are not bogged down in the basics but are able to apply their knowledge to the more complex skills needed to solve problems.

 

Fluency is not only related to the use of numbers but also to the use of mathematical language and developing efficient strategies. Fluency tasks are a critical element of Mathematics that we believe is worth investing time in every day.

 

We would love to hear from you about your beliefs around Fluency and if there are any specific requests for fluency tasks, in any area of mathematics, please feel free to contact us at kpisurf@gmail.com

Adding to the collection...

 

We are really pleased to be able to add to our collection of resources, specifically designed to match the components of an iSURF lesson.

We are taking great delight in seeing iSURF come alive in classrooms and being able to share our thoughts with you.

See below for a new set of AusVELS Level 4 - Muliplication Loop Cards, useful in the Fluency component of a lesson. These are designed to encourage improvement of students' basic fact automatic recall, while fostering class discussions on strategies and efficiency.

We hope you enjoy them - if you have any Loop Card requests - please send them through to

kpisurf@gmail.com.

 

We have been featured

Thanks Katie @ Teacher's Marketplace for putting us as this week's Seller in Focus.

 

Click here to read about us (below is a small screen grab).

 

We are working hard behind the scenes to add to our store - so keep checking in on us.

 

If there is a partcular unit of work you would like - leave a comment for us and we will see what we can do for you.

 

 

Thanks Teacher's Marketplace

We have been facebooked!

This is a screen grab of a post I came across on my facebook page sharing one of our products.

We would love you to have a look - click on our stores to the left and see what we are up to.

There are free products and two for sale.

Our Editable Planner is online

Welcome to planning Mathematics… the iSURF way!

 

 

 

The iSURF planner is specifically designed to integrate the four AusVELS proficiency strands:

·     problem Solving ·             Understanding ·             Reasoning ·             Fluency

with the three content strands of:   ·        Number and Algebra ·        Measurement and Geometry ·        Statistics and Probability.

For further information regarding the philosophy behind iSURF

 and to see a completed sample planner with glossary, view our

Teacher Manual iSURF© - available in our digital stores

The included template provides a structure for teachers to develop their weekly maths planning in. It specifically focusses on integrating mathematical content and the proficiencies. The planner also allows you to see, day by day, how your week is connected to not only your selected content and the proficiencies but also to AusVELS, individual student goals, essential mathematical language and any resources you may need.

Use this template to compliment your term/topic planner and add in the details you need for your own grade. This planner is adaptable for all year levels and allows for differentiation within your class.

To assist you with your planning, you will also find the AusVELS Mathematics curriculum (for Level Foundation - 10) broken into the four proficiencies. See our Teacher Manual iSURF© for more detail on each of the proficiencies and suggestions for how each of the four proficiencies can be implemented in the classroom.

See our Teacher Manual iSURF© for more detail on each of the proficiencies and suggestions for how each of the four proficiencies can be implemented in the classroom.

We are live!

It is very exciting, we are now live!

Visit our Teacher's Marketplace store and view our four freebies and our Teacher Manual.

Join us in our new approach to our new Australian Curriculum AusVELS.

These items will be available in TPT and TN late tomorrow.

 

     

 

 

Let's go iSURFing

iSURF©

is an attempt to create a mathematical structure that will

 support the implementation of AusVels and the Australian Curriculum for Mathematics.

The acronym  SURF©

(Problem Solving, Understanding, Reasoning, Fluency)

comes from the four Proficiency Strands

that underpin the three

 

 Content Strands of

• Number and Algebra,
• Measurement and Geometry and
• Statistics and Probability

 

We have added an i to represent and acknowledge the importance of

individual goals

Why use the Proficiency Statements as the foundations for iSURF©?

The four Proficiency Statements of Problem Solving, Understanding, Reasoning and Fluency represent what we knew in VELS as Working Mathematically.  This is how the curriculum is explored and developed, as well as the ‘thinking’ and ‘doing’ of how mathematics is delivered. Without them, the level of proficiency within the three Content Strands will not be as sophisticated.

In the ‘Framing Paper: Consultation Report Mathematics 2009’, which helped shape the Australian Curriculum, references are made to ‘working mathematically’ being reflected in the four proficiency strands. This paper signposts the importance of the proficiency strands, as they provide an explicit way of working and representing thinking in mathematics.

There are many research papers that support the need to have strong mathematical understanding, fluency, problem solving and reasoning. They often attribute students’ success in Mathematics to rigorous mathematical investigations that lead to strong mathematical knowledge.