I was fortunate enough to spend some time in a Kindergarten classroom today, demonstrating the use of ten frames. A ten frame is a 5 x 2 array, usually positioned sideways, and filed with counters arranged from top to bottom, left to right. Ten frames are wonderful creations that can be used to teach number recognition, counting, subitizing and beginning addition and subtraction skills. Today I introduced ten frames to the little Kindies that I was working with. We practiced counting the blue and red counters that we were using, being very careful to match one-to-one as we counted. Then we practiced recognizing numerals on flashcards, filling our ten fames, and saying how many more we needed to make ten. Once we had the hang of how ten frames work, we were ready for some centres. One group worked with me. We turned a flashcard over, identified the numeral and counted out counters as we filled our ten frame with that many counters, all the same colour. Then we estimated how many more we would need to fill in the rest of the ten frame. After we agreed on an estimate, we filled it up using a second colour of counters. We talked about how ten is a very special number, and we need to know how many make ten. In the picture above, we learned that 8 and 2 make 10! I love the ten frames set that I purhased last year. They are made of foam and have a magnetic backing in case I want to demonstrate to the class using the magnetic whiteboard. The foamy counters are blue on one side and red on the other. I purchased these from Spectrum. One of the other groups was working with the Hot Red Ten Frames that I purchased from Teachers pay Teachers. This set comes with car cards that may be placed on the mats, but the kids prefer using "real" cars (they're more fun)! So long as the cars aren't zooming around the carpet, I'm fine with that. At this centre, the students rolled a dice to see how many cars to start with. Then, just like the other group, they stated how many more cars they needed to fill the "parking lot," and then proceeded to park the cars while they confirmed their estimate. The third and final group of students was playing Memory with another set of ten frame cards that I purchased from Teachers pay Teachers. Today we just used ten fames and numerals from 1-10, but you can see from the picture that double ten frames are included in the set as well. At the end of math centre time, we practiced some subitizing. I flashed a ten frame card to the students and challenged them to name how many dots were on the card without allowing enough time for them to count the dots. This recognition of knowing how many at a glance is called subitizing. if you are interested in using ten frames with your class (recommended for use with Kindergarten to Grade 2), here is an excellent resource: It Makes Sense! Using Ten-Frames to Build Number Sense by Melissa Conklin. Click here if you would like to purchase this awesome book from Amazon.
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This was the best week in the whole year, probably, as far as a travelling teacher's job goes. The fall colors were absolutely stunning, and I was in 7 different schools this past week, so I had many opportunities to marvel at this beautiful country we live in.
Today I'd like to discuss screencasting. A screencast is kind of like a screenshot, except that screencasts contain video and/or audio. Explain Everything is a screencasting app available for iPad and Android. I have heard teachers say that if you could have only one app in your classroom, then Explain Everything is definitely the one you would choose. At only $2.99, it's a real bargain, and you get lots of bang for your buck! There's a little video on their site that explains how it works. My colleague Amanda Smith (@Mandy_S_24) created an awesome tutorial that I also recommend checking out. Here are some ideas for ways to use Explain Everything in your classroom. 1. Assessment: Ask your students to create an Explain Everything video to explain which personal strategy they would use to solve math questions or solve problems. 2. Projects: Students create a screencast to showcase their learning on a particular topic (animals or habitats biographies, science experiments, etc). 3. Flipped Classroom: Teachers create screencast for students to watch at home as part of a flipped classroom assignment, or for students who were absent from class and missed a lesson. 4. Portfolio: Students can create video on EE to save to the digital portfolio. Take a picture of the book they're reading in Guided Reading class and record themselves reading, using decoding and/or comprehension strategies, and timing fluency. One of the best features of Explain Everything is that the project can be saved as a photo or video, uploaded to Dropbox, YouTube, or Evernote, and then you may use the links to embed the project into a class blog, wiki, etc. I'm sure there are many more applications that I haven't considered yet, and I'd love to hear feedback from others on how they've used screencasting in their classrooms. |
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Lori EmilsonTravelling Curriculum Support Teacher Archives
April 2017
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