Returning to school...

After the school holidays, it is lovely to return to school and see happy smiling faces.

At our school assembly, we regularly celebrate student achievements and look for ways we can encourage our students to be the best they can be.

 

A young Foundation (Prep) student was recently awarded a 'Student of the Week' certificate for bouncing into class on the first day back and proudly telling his teachers he can now count to 109 (no small feat for such a young man!). However, his teachers did not stop there... in conjunction with recognising his efforts in front of the whole school, they had also given him the opportunity to show off his new skill in front of the class and encouraged him to count on even further (which he could!).

 

http://www.uniqueteachingresources.com/achievement-award-certificates.html

 

Our love of mathematics is contageous!

(Or as the old saying goes... if you don't feel that way - fake it 'till you make it!).

Our enthusiasm for the growth we see in our students makes them glow!

I am sure you have many creative ways of appreciating your students' many talents in all areas of the curriculum. If you feel like sharing... feel free to leave a comment or email us at kpisurf@gmail.com.

 

Crossing the Decades

As students develop their ability to count, a common problem often occurs when they begin to explore numbers that 'cross the decades'. This refers to moving from a digit ending in a 9 to the next group of 10. For example: 29 to 30 or 79 to 80. 

 

When counting, students can struggle to identify the next number in the sequence, not know what number comes next or select a random number that they think might work!

 

There are lots of counting and place value games that support students to build their skills in this area. The use of 10s frames and counting charts are a great place to start, along with bead frames in groups of 10.

 

Next week we will be publishing a concentration game that can be used to support students to learn and practise these counting sequences. This game will include concentration cards in 3 different formats: written numerals, digits and a number representation (10s frames for smaller numbers & base 10 blocks for larger numbers).

 

 

 

If you have any great tips for supporting students to successfully 'cross the decades', please feel free to leave a comment or let us know at kpisurf@gmail.com.

 

Welcome back!

In Victoria, our students, families and school communities are about to begin Term 3... welcome back!

We hope everyone has had a restful break (no matter where you are!) and are ready to go, in what is sure to be another action packed term!

One way to get our students back into the swing of school is to ease them back in with an engaging and fun game. Here is a throwback to one of my favourites to get student's maths brains ticking over again...

 

 GREEDY GOATS

(also known as Greedy Pigs).

This is a whole class game that develops student's mental addition skills and thereby improves both fluency and accuracy. This game also provides great opportunities to to discuss strategies (reasoning) used for mental computation - counting on, building to 10, doubles and near doubles etc.

 

What you will need...

• Students - paper and a pencil
• Teacher - six sided dice

 How to play...

• The class decides upon a 'Greedy Goat' number (for example... 2)
• All students stand up (at their tables), the teacher rolls the dice & calls out the number
• Students record the number that has been rolled (for example 5)
• The teacher rolls again, students mentally add this number on to the first number and record the result (for example, if the teacher rolled a 3, students would now have 5, 8 recorded)
• The teacher continues to roll the dice and students continue to add on and record their next answer (for example, 5, 8, 12, 18, 19, 22...)
• Students can choose to sit down at any time - when they sit down they put a circle around their tally and cannot join back in that round
• If the Greedy Goat number is rolled - any students still standing are out and their tally does not count - their total score for that round is 0
• Play three rounds and all students add up their three final round scores - the student with the highest overall score is the winner

Variations...

• When introducing the game - play together and teacher also records numbers for students to see
• Stop after every 5 rolls and check what number students are up to - anyone who is not correct, is out
• Use a dice with larger numbers (eg 10 sided dice/20 sided dice)
• Select two Greedy Goat numbers
• To support students who find mental calculations difficult - allow them to use a calculator
• Only say the number once (if students are not listening - they will miss the number and will be out)
• Choose a starting number (for example 100) and get students to subtract from this number, rather than adding on. Students with the lowest number at the end of three rounds will be the winner
• For extension - use a dice with fractions/decimals

 

 I am sure we all have a favourite maths game! If you would like to share - feel free to email us at kpisurf@gmail.com or leave a comment below.

To all of our followers who are about to start back at school - have a great week!

 

Bundles for the start of school

This is our last week of Term Two and on Friday we will  break for two weeks. 

We will be taking a break from blogging over the holidays and will be back for the start of Term Three. 

As we think about directions for next term or the start of the school year - you may want to look at our bundles...

Maths bundles for you - if you haven't already checked out these resources - you will find them a great set of resources for your grade this year. Each pack contains multiple resources at a reduced price as they are bundled together for you. 

The link to see all four bundles - please click on the images below and it will take you to the resources. 

Happy setting up your classrooms and we hope these resources help you throughout the year. 

Have a safe break - winter break for our Aussie followers and summer break for our USA readers. 

What's my angle?

This new pack is aimed at Year 5/6.

Introducing - ANGLES....

This pack aims to help your students discover the types of angles and the names we give them.

Share the two photos with your grade and ask what sorts of angles they see.

Use the ANGLES page to record what your grade knows or what individual students know. 

This can be added to as you progress through the tasks.

The first set of cards are to determine if the angles are acute, obtuse or right angled. Print the cards (either blue background or black/white). 

Students record the type of angle by checking the correct box on the answer sheet. 

There is an answer key.

The second set of cards are to determine if the angles are acute, obtuse, right, complete, straight or reflex angled. Print the cards (either yellow background or black/white). 

Students record the type of angle by writing the name of the angle in the correct box on the answer sheet. 

There is an answer key.

Click here or on the image to go to the pack on TPT

Anchor chart inspiration

Anchor chart inspiration from Pinterest

Click on the the image to go to the original pin and the  author of each one. 

There is so much inspiration out there - just make sure you always give credit back to the author and share accurately. 

Fav pin for pie graphs

This is one of my favourite pins to share when looking at what our day looks like. 

It is great for introducing and reinforcing what a pie graph is all about. 

The original pin came from - click here or the image 

Mathematics Yearly Planners Bundle

iSURF Mathematics Yearly Planners

Foundation to Year Seven

This product is designed for the Australian Curriculum

 

To compliment the Yearly Mathematics Planners we recently published, we have bundled these together to cater for primary schools planning for students  from Foundation to Year Seven.

 

 

This item is designed for classroom teachers, teaching and learning teams and curriculum leaders to assist with the yearly planning of the Mathematics Curriculum. This bundle includes planners and Mathematical content from Foundation to Year Seven.

 

Teachers can divide all of the Mathematical content (Australian Curriculum content descriptors), over four terms, into manageable and easy to monitor sections. These Yearly Planners allow for repetition of high need areas (such as number and place value) as well as connecting assessment tasks to specific terms and topics.

 

Included in this document are the relevant proficiencies (Understanding, Fluency, Problem Solving and Reasoning) as well as the relevant Mathematics standards – all in one easy to use document.

 

Teachers/leaders can simply cut and paste the content descriptors directly into the relevant term – laying out the entire Australian Curriculum for the year. Teachers working across more than one year level, and catering for individual needs, can coordinate topics so they are taught together, providing a scope and sequence for learning.

 

This item is designed in Microsoft Word and is able to be edited and modified.

 

As always, we welcome your feedback, requests or sharing of success!

kpisurf@gmail.com

 

Automaticity... everyday!

Automaticity... an unusual word with a powerful meaning.

We are familiar with the term automatic but take that term a step further into the world of students and mathematics. At a whole school level, we have recently been discussing the power of developing each student's automaticity - the ability to know and use all basic number facts automatically, so the brain can use it's ability to focus on more complex tasks.

 

I first heard this term when learning about QuickSmart - an intervention program for students who have not mastered the basics in their younger years. It is an intensive program where students work in pairs (with a QuickSmart instructor) to develop automaticity in all four processes, as well as problem solving later on in the program. Students attend lessons with their partner (a student with similar abilities) and complete a highly structured program - only moving on when showing a pre-determined level of success.

 

For further information about QuickSmart:

https://simerr.une.edu.au/quicksmart/pages/qsmathematics-intervention.php

 

Students can make huge gains through this program but it does make us question why are there  students who need this??? Are there simple steps we could all take in our classrooms to ensure that every student has the opportunity to learn the basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts? Our school has been considering our lesson structures and the key components that are critical to support student's success. Where, when and how often does the notion of deliberate practice of these basic facts fit in??? The response seems to be everyday! If we consider the range of tasks that are available to challenge students when learn these facts, couple this with the explicit teaching of strategies to support student's learning... the potential for growth is enormous.

 

Is there a time when your students are working on the basics? What tasks do you use to support students and how do you target these to meet individual student's needs? What strategies will you focus on this week? How will you encourage students to take up the challenge to develop their automaticity???

If nothing else... something to think about as you plan your lessons this week!

 

Yearly Planners

iSURF Mathematics Yearly Planners

This week we have added yearly planners (in bundles) to our store. They are designed for classroom teachers, teaching and learning teams and curriculum leaders to assist with the yearly planning of the Mathematics Curriculum. These products are based on the Australian Curriculum.

 

      

 

 Teachers can divide all of the Mathematical content (Australian Curriculum content descriptors), over four terms, into manageable and easy to monitor sections. These Yearly Planners allow for repetition of high need areas (such as number and place value) as well as connecting assessment tasks to specific terms and topics.

 

Included in these documents are the relevant proficiencies (Understanding, Fluency, Problem Solving and Reasoning) as well as the relevant Mathematics standards – all in one easy to use document.

 

Teachers/leaders can simply cut and paste the content descriptors directly into the relevant term – laying out the entire Australian Curriculum for the year. Teachers working across more than one year level, and catering for individual needs, can coordinate topics so they are taught together, providing a scope and sequence for learning.

 

For curriculum leaders who may be looking to support school wide planning - a bundle with all levels from Foundation to Year Seven will be added to our store soon.

 

This item is designed in Microsoft Word and is able to be edited and modified.

We hope you find these documents helpful when exploring and planning your class/school  Mathematics curriculum.

As always... all feedback, comments, suggestions or requests welcome!