Continued on with the science lesson from yesterday. After they got back from music class, I tempted them with challenge tickets - 5 review questions, 5 challenge tickets. The questions were:
1) How many poles do magnets have? (2)
2) What are the names of these poles? (north and south)
3) (active question) Using the down and doughnut-shaped magnets, demonstrate how the poles repel each other. (like poles = hovering magnets)
4) (active question) These two magnets are stuck together - why? (opposite poles attracting each other)
5) What is the name of the stone that ancient Greek and ancient Chinese farmers discovered was magnetic? (lodestone)
They then watched a BrainPop video that reviewed the information that was covered in yesterday's lesson. Love BrainPop!
In today's lesson, the students got to experiment! The tables teams were given random objects (paperclip, popsicle stick, steel nail, aluminum foil, paper, plastic disk, etc.) and had to find out if the items were attracted to magnets. The students used my new graphic organizers to log their predictions, write out their procedures, categorize their results, and answer a reflective question. I used the X-Men character, Magneto, to jazz up the document. We talked a little about Magneto, his powers, how magnet is in his name, and how he attracts metals. It was a nice connection to their pop culture lives - and students loved talking about comic books in an academic setting! (Next stop - ComicCon!)
I was observed by my BC Supervisor in math - teaching how to use "mental math" with division. I got to practice with the class before mine so that I was prepped and ready to go for my observation. Good thing that I did, because I made a couple of mistakes - I really wasn't as familiar with the subject as I would have liked to be, but I didn't know what I would be teaching until yesterday morning. Yikes!
I did use the SmartBoard well throughout the lesson - PowerPoint presentation, and graph paper to demonstrate the concept. I used the term "friendly numbers" when describing numbers that are products of our multiplication facts, and "landmark" numbers - numbers ending in 0 (10, 20, 30, etc.). The idea is to take a division problem and break it up into easier parts so that you can do the math in your head. Example:
72 / 4
Break the number into 40 + 32. Friendlier.
40 / 4 = 10; 32 / 4 = 8. Add 10+8, and you have your answer: 18.
In the PowerPoint slide show, there was a picture of cartoon smiley faces - one with braces. I told the class about my orthodontic journey (from 2nd grade to 10th grade) and how I loved it the whole way through! They got a kick out of the story - but I think that some were just happy to hear that an adult survived having braces!
I broke students up into working group pairs. To do this, I looked back at their math MCAS scores from 4th grade. I partnered "needs improvement" students up with "proficient" or "advanced" students. They worked together on workbook pages that had practice problems for mental math.
My supervisor loved the lesson and had lots of accolades! We also had the three-way mid-term conference with my CT and supervisor. They both agreed that I was ahead of the curve and producing high-quality work! I write this not to boast, but to add perspective to me being hard on myself. When it feels like I'm drowning, I'm actually flying high in the eyes of others. I and take a deep breath...
...for a few minutes.
It was then on to PLC groups where I was to work with the group of students who had a difficult time with 2 digit divisor problems - all three of the students I'm working with were put into this group this week! So, it is true what my CTs told me at the beginning of the year - students of all math levels will bounce around in to the various PLC groups throughout the semester! We didn't do anything fancy in the group - just put an example on the board, worked it out as a group, then gave them another problem to work on. I noticed that the advanced student flew through the problems - he understands the concepts, so his mistakes come from rushing through the material. My needs improvement and proficient student benefited from the help. They need to see the process and repeat it a few times for extra practice.
After school, it was back to work! Correcting spelling homework and reading response logs well into the night. But, I must say that my shoulders did have less weight on them.
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