Data Matters

I really love our math curriculum. We use Investigations. However, being a teacher-researcher leaves me constantly looking for how something good might be great. In the past our data analysis units have been good, but not great. It repeatedly was the unit I was least satisfied with as a teacher. This year I've taken on the challenge of helping data to matter to third graders. I want them to generalize the information. I want them to think about the big ideas behind the information.

 

The curriculum has the children survey other classes. They LOVE it. However, it usually has them ask questions like, "How many teeth have you lost?" It is interesting to the children but doesn't hold their interest long term. It became more of a fun fact rather than a useful set of information.

 

In my efforts to make data matter, I asked the children to develop a survey question to ask that would help them make an informed decision about something. Many turned to our recess economy, others focused on our class community sculpture and some on music circle.

 

What is your favorite song in music circle?

 

Do you prefer handmade things or natural resources?

 

For our community sculpture, do you think we should use more man-made materials, natural materials or both?

 

Do you value paper money or natural resources?

 

 

 As the children present their work to the class, the conversations have been much more lively than in the past. These topics are things in which the children are invested. The information will impact their lives. We asked each group questions like

 

What question did you ask?

 

Why did you ask that question?

 

What decisions will you make based on your results?

 



"Based on our survey I think we should focus more on natural resources because that is what more people like."

"I don't think you should ignore the results of handmade things. It is less than natural materials but it is still a lot of people."

"Maybe you should have a variety of products. Some could be handmade and some could be natural."

"There are already a lot of people focused on natural resources so you might actually stick with the handmade to get the business of all of those people who aren't being taken by the natural resource companies that already exist."



"If we were going to make a music circle that the Kindergarten would really enjoy, we would make sure to include "Make New Friends" and "This Land is Your Land."

"And if we wanted to make a music circle that first grade liked, we would need to make sure we sang "The Shark Song".

"If we wanted everyone to have a good time, we should probably include the top song from each grade. That way every grade would have something they liked."



 

 

So far I am pleased with the difference. We've moved past the technical aspects of titles, keys, categories and labels (all still important, just not the star of the show) and are putting our energies into representing our research in a way that makes it matter. It drives us to look are more subtle aspects of the information and go far beyond which was the least popular and which was the most popular. I think it was crucial that the information be something that would guide a decision in the children's lives. Decisions are nuanced--not always black and white.

Learning Pond Visists Sabot

Check out the blog written about Sabot.
http://learningpond.wordpress.com/2012/10/26/students-know-why-and-how-they-learn-at-sabot-at-stony-point-richmond/

Launching Into Space

Dear General X,

We have completed our science boot camp. We are ready to launch on our expedition to Earth. We need to plan our route to get there. Can you help us? We have all the tools we will need to understand how the Earth changes.

Please Write Back,
The 3rd Grade X-lings



Dear X-lings,

Well done! I have received reports that your science boot camp was a success. Hopefully your observation skills are primed and ready to go. We are expediting your launch. Your launch will be moved forward to today at 11:30

Safe Travels,
General X

Science tools packed.

Load the ship

Space suites on.

Prepare the ship.

Study the map of our route.

Blast off!

Investigating Earth for the first time. And trying on our role of scientists.

Predictions about what might change on this foreign planet called Earth?

• Grass- might change colors, go away, start growing again
• temperature of water
• water will change into something hard
• land changes to adapt to water
• dark spots on the ground
• things poking out of the ground with frilly things we will call leaves
• temperature of the air
• water- evaporates, gets dirty, gets clean
• some invisible force was sometimes blowing on me and sometimes not blowing on me

Messing about with Measurement

Figuring out how stop watches work.

Experimenting with displacement to measure the volume of objects.
The term "graduated cylinder" gives us the giggles as we imagine the cylinder
wearing a cap and gown and collecting a diploma.

Using a triple beam balance to determine the mass of a can of glitter.

 

Measuring the length of the rug in centimeters, of course,
because that's what scientists use.

 

Blog Writers for Hire

Ever since "Money Town" started (that's what we decided to call our 3rd grade economics project), the children have been trying to find ways to earn money. They have been watering the plants in class, putting up and taking down chairs, but I was looked for another way to get some funds flowing in class.

I've been wanting to find a way for the children to tell you more about our learning in class from their point of view.

Two birds, one stone-- I'm having the children blog for hire.

So far so good. The children are very focused... VERY FOCUSED.

Stay tuned for their articles.

 

Science Boot Camp

Later this month, the children will launch from their home land of Planet X through space to visit the foreign planet called Earth. They have been given orders from General X to investigate changes on Earth in order to anticipate what x-lings might encounter if they ever moved to Earth. This mission is vital but also very expensive. As a result, General X is not willing to launch the space explorers until she is sure that their scientific observation skills are sharp and ready to go.  

 

 

In order to help the children prepare, Dan Dan the Science Man came to help the children run a science boot camp. They practiced using their senses to observe various objects and substances. Making detailed observation is harder than it initially seems.

Their discussions about their observations have also helped the class to develop the beginning of a packing list for the trip.
We will need a camera, paper, notebooks, pencils and colored pencils in order to make accurate observations.



"This object is very heavy."

"It smells strange... kind if minty."

 

"I can bend this rod."

3rd Grade Economics

This past week a parent contacted me to let me know that children were making and planning to sell homemade posters and wooden toys at school for money. We admired the initiative of the children starting these businesses but felt uncomfortable with the exchange of money at school. Was there a way to keep the interest alive with an alternative like play money? I gathered the class for a discussion.

K: We could make play money.
M: But if just anyone can make the money then it is pointless. I has no value.
G: Maybe we could have a mint that makes the official kind of money like our government does.
M: It just seems too easy to copy.
Me: I have access to a copy machine and more unusual colors of paper up in the office. It is paper that isn't just in all of the classrooms.
K: You could use the money from math. It looks really official.
R: We could just pay in things like rocks and sticks like we did last year in the garden.
Me: I remember that. Is it going to be a problem that you are out on the field now? There aren't as many rocks and sticks out there.
M: That is even better because they will be more valuable.
H: If we use the money, how will it get out into the world?
F: We could just have a bank. You could go get money at the bank.
H: In the real world you don't just get free money.
Me: If I go to the bank to get money I would have already had to put that money in the bank earlier. They just hold it for me. Maybe you could all start earning it by doing extra jobs around school.
M: I would rather just trade natural resources. Rocks are much more valuable to me than fake money.
R: But if you do natural resources, what is the work you have to do for that?
H: You would have to go mine it out of the ground.
Me: Right, you spend your precious time and energy gathering those things and people are willing to trade or pay you for it because they don't want to spend their own time doing the work.

The conversation went on and on. The children thought about trading product for product. Or natural resource for resource. Could they set up a trading post? What jobs could they do? How would we make the money earning opportunities even?

We voted on a currency. The children chose natural resources. One student asked, "I still like the idea of money, I just liked natural resources better. Can we just do all of them?" We decided no to limit ourselves to just one form of currency.

That very day during Spanish I got busy printing official money. By lunch the children were harvesting resources, making trades, forming business partnerships and making plans for their future fortunes.

A stick with more unusual characteristics may be more valuable.

Harvesting rocks to sell to rock smashers for money.

Money is kept in the watchful care of bankers while work is done during recess.

Smashing rocks makes them more valuable.

"Is crushed rock more valuable than a whole rock?"
"Yes, especially if you can get a piece that is just pure crystal."

The game allows us to substitute more authentic
questions into our math unit on data analysis.

Through out this process I am thankful to be in an environment where I have permission to slow down and give time to the things that are important to the children. Not an hour passes without me hearing whispered business plans. And never have the children so eager to pick up trash from the far corners of the playground. 

What's so special about vowels anyway?

In an effort to strengthen the children's foundational understanding of our written language, we have gone back to the basics. It lays the foundation for understanding syllables and how they work to form our words. Is there a way to construct this knowledge rather than try to take it on the teacher's authority. Spelling is not really my strength, anyway. I'm working on it, like they are, but I certainly don't qualify to be an authority on the subject.

"Why don't we call all of these (pointing to our letter cards) just letters of the alphabet? Why do we need the special names of 'vowel' and 'consonant'?"

No one seems to know. We start to think about it.

"Maybe because they all say two different sounds."
"What about c? It makes two different sounds but isn't a vowel."
"Every word has to have a vowel. I know that is a fact."
"Is that true? Can you think of any words that don't have a vowel?"

We sort through dictionaries and books in our room. We think of words like Mr. and Mrs. or Dr. but then we realize that they aren't really the word, they are abbreviations. What about hmmmm and shhhhh? Are those even really words or are they just sounds we make?

A child comes to school the next day with a word. "What about the word Rhythm?" It seems like maybe we found one.
"But it DOES have a vowel. The Y says /i/ like igloo so it is making a vowel sound," another child responds.

We repeat the discussion with nymph and sky.

To gain more information we say the sounds of each of the letters. We pay special attention to the shape of our mouths.
"What do you notice?"
"With the vowels my mouth was wide open."
"What about the consonants?"
"My mouth was a lot more closed."

We take some time to write what we are starting to notice:

• It is like notes on a piano. Vowels sound like half notes because you hold them out longer. Consonants sound like staccato notes on the piano because it is one short little ding.
• A vowel tells you how to open your mouth and a vowel tells you how to close your mouth. Your lips or your tongue touch.
• A word without a vowel would be weird because your mouth would be closed all the time.
• Without vowels words would not make sense. It would just sound like "ct".

Advice for Readers

Before we embark on a genre study or delve into thinking about character development in a story, we are spending our time getting to know ourselves as readers. We are trying to bring more meta cognition to our reading.

 

Can I tell when a book is easy, just right or too hard for me? How do I know?

 

As a teacher, I am wondering what role images can play in helping children understand advice for good readers. We recently discussed Lucy Calkins advice for reading "Faster, Longer, Stronger." Will creating images for each point of advice bring more understanding? Will the time it takes to translate the advice into images allow for more processing? Will the images stick with the children longer than the words alone?

So far I am noticing that when I reference the advice I can point the children back to the images. It instantly reorients them to our previous thinking with minimal amounts of discussion.

We've been focusing our attention on the image of fire and ice. It reminds us that in order to be a really good reader there are times when you speed up to read more quickly and times when we slow down and read more slowly. A good reader does both. Working to notice when we slow down is a form of self-monitoring.

When did you slow down during your reading today?
How did that make you a better reader?

The image of a towel soaking up water is a powerful instruction for how our hearts and minds need to  soak happiness, sadness, joy or suspense out of words. The thinking of a child brings more understanding to me as a learner, too.