Scary Division Strikes My Class

We started division this past week in math class. Oh my.....My students are scared of it! I think it is such a new concept and new way of doing math that they just freaked out a little bit and began to think they couldn't do it. We used manipulatives. We did group practice. We did individual white board practice. We even divided the students in our classroom by standing up and moving around the room. They had confidence doing it with me leading them through the steps, but then we got to individual practice time and the hands went up all around the room in confusion.

After this first day of panic over division in my class, I talked with the other third grade teacher, researched online and in books, and got ready for the next day of math. Somewhere along the way I found a teacher who had put hand motions to the steps of division. I took what she had, added a few little touches to it, and our division chant was born!

The second day of division I taught them the division chant. It goes like this:

- Divide (Make a division symbol with your two fists)
- Multiply (Make an "X" with your arms)
- Subtract (Fold your arms form the X into a straight line)
- Bring it Down (Wiggle your fingers down and wiggle to the floor)
- Repeat! (Jump up in the air and start the division chant over again)

After doing this about 20-25 times that first day, not only were my leg muscles sore from a nice work out but, I think it was starting to click. We did it the next day as well and will continue to do it. It is a fun way to practice the division steps and also gets it in their heads (It is catchy after a while!).

However we got to individual practice again on Friday and once again panic arose in my class. I stopped class, gave them a pep talk on how I knew they could do it and they needed to have the same confidence in themselves. They looked hesitant at first. They also complained, "This is hard....it makes my head hurt...I don't like to think this hard..." My reply, "Yes it is hard. Yes it does make your brain hurt. But guess what, not everything is easy! You can do this. I have confidence in you!" I then banned asking me questions for five minutes to force them to conquer the math on their own with me standing there doing silent cheerleader motions every time a sad "its hard" face looked at me. Well...some refused to work for these five minutes so it increased to 10 minutes working by yourself without asking me a question. And guess what? They did it!! :-) We celebrated their success of doing it on their own and I pointed out that they didn't need me to think for them afterall.

Their confidence grew a bit after that! We shall see how they did on this weekend's division practice homework... :-)

What Do YOU Think???

I think I said the phrase, "What do you think?" at least 15 times yesterday. 

My students were refusing to think and wanted me to give them all the answers to everything. They wanted to take the easy way out. I had several students come up to my desk after finishing their morning "Wake Up Your Brain" journal entries and ask, "What should I do next?" I just looked at them and said, "What do you think you should do?" They stared back blankly for a minute and I returned their stares. Finally they said, "Read the board...?" "Good idea." So they would go read the board and then come back. "So...what should I do?" "What do you think you should do?" "Seat work...?" "Good idea." 

One of the assignments was to write their final copy of their planet summary paragraphs on a nice piece of lined paper. We have done this before - it was nothing new. It was listed under seatwork and had an arrow drawing down to our music stand holding the papers for them to write on. I had one student come up and say, "What should I do with that paper?" "Did you read the board?" "No..." "Read the board." Then several students came up and asked me "What should I put for 'title' on my writing paper?" "It isn't my paper...it is yours. What do you think?" 

Ahhh! I was about to go crazy.....this was nothing new. Everything was clearly written on the board for them to read. And yet, they just didn't want to take the effort to read it. They wanted me to do that for them. Sorry, dears, that's not how it works....

I started seriously reflecting while they were gone to PE on what I have done to make them so dependent. Honestly, I do not think that I have spoon fed them or held their hand every step of the way during the year. I have been trying to consistently teach them responsibility. I direct them to where they can find answers for themselves. We have established great routines. We have clearly labeled posters in the room for each routine. We even have a poster labeled "What Do I Do Next" for when they are done with their seat work and need to figure out what to do. Nothing that we did that morning was out of the ordinary. And yet, they were feeling very dependent on me to tell them everything they should do right down to giving them a title for their paper! It was very frustrating and a little disheartening....Perhaps I have helped them become dependent on me but right now I just can't put my finger on what I have done to instill that in them. Perhaps I haven't done anything and it was just one of those days - it was Friday after all. I don't know....

Has anyone else experienced this with their students before? If so, did you find it was something you were doing? I certainly want to fix it if it is something I have done. They should not have been that dependent on me, especially this far into the year....

Keeping Quilt

Our reading story for this past week was called "The Keeping Quilt." It was about a family from Russia who came to America. To help remember their country, the women made a quilt out of fabric that reminded them of the people and places they left behind. The quilt was passed down from generation to generation until it ended up in the home of the author of the story. It is a great story and we loved reading it as a class!

To go along with the story, we made our own "Third Grade Keeping Quilt." Since I do not like to sew and that would have taken way too much time, we made it out of butcher paper and construction paper. Each student made something from construction paper that represented a memory they will keep from third grade. My plan is to laminate the "quilt" and display it next year for our open house night. That way my third graders from this year can come back and see their quilt. It will also be neat for the upcoming third graders to see what other third graders have liked about our class.

Here is a picture of our keeping quilt:

Loving Our Planet

As a follow up activity from our field trip, I had my students write on a paper heart what they learned from the field trip. These went under a wall display called "Love Our Planet." The hearts seemed to fit well for the heading as well as for the month of February. :-)

Here is a picture of the wall:

Field Trip and Upcoming Happenings

Well we survived the week! Valentine's party went well and our field trip was a success! We had a wonderful time learning about recycling at our local Sanitary District. My students especially loved making their own piece of paper. (I wonder how those turned out...They took them home to open over the weekend after they dried. I will have to ask tomorrow.)

Here are a few pictures of the paper making process:

(The parents loved this part of the field trip too since they were able to help with the process! I really do have an awesome group of class parents!)

This upcoming week our school will be starting our fundraiser for the year. The school does a Jog-A-Thon in March and the process begins now. We will be having daily afternoon assemblies for it. From what I have heard about it from other teachers it is quite an event. There is always "something else" going on at school, isn't there?

Valentine's Party and a Field Trip - Oh my...

Between our first field trip and a Valentine's Day party this week, I'm pretty sure I will not be teaching too much....My students' thoughts go back and forth between the party and the field trip and I just don't think they are able to think about homophones, reading, or multiplying 4 digit numbers...*sigh* but that is okay. 

Today we were invited to make Valentine bags with our Kindergarten friends! It was a fun time for all! :-) Here is a picture of us in the kindergarteners' classroom. Part of the project was to tie string through holes to make a pocket. I am amazed at how many of my third graders do not know how to tie.....Is this true for everyone out there or is is just something that got lost for my students??

Tomorrow we will have our Valentine's Day party - just a small little thing as I am in no way an expert party planner, but it should be enjoyable.

Wednesday looks like a normal day as of right now!

Thursday we take our first field trip to the Sanitary District. I found out that my students have never been on a field trip before...That makes me a little nervous. It is my first time leading a field trip. And the other third grade class could not come on the same day as us so it just me. Thankfully, I do have seven parents going so that should help things. The parents are wonderful too so I'm sure they will be a marvelous help! I have begun the whole "how to act on a field trip" speech with my students. Today (since they couldn't think of any thing else) I told them who was riding in who's car, we made a list of things to do on a field trip and things to not do on a field trip, and I told them they were going to be learning on the field trip. This last one came as a big surprise to most of them. I told them they would have a little assignment on it afterwards (nothing big - just a response type thing) and they looked shocked! I then continued to explain that field trips are not just for fun, but for learning too - FUN learning, but learning nonetheless. They were shocked once again...I think the excitement level went down a bit (which was fine for me because they were out of their seats excited before hand). Welcome to 3rd grade, dearies...this isn't like the pumpkin patch in kinder. It will be a fun easy field trip but I'm a little nervous about it. 

In other news: Wall decorations are going up. I'm not a 100% happy with how they look right now and so have not taken a picture of our solar system wall and recycling wall....Hopefully inspiration will strike soon. Here is a picture of our reading corner ready for Presidents' Day. The not under our crazy face picture says "Is there a future president in our class?" :-)

February Decorations Going Up!

For the past 3-4 months my church has been studying 1 John. We are on chapter four right now. What a great chapter about God's love. And so, for the month of February my class's focus is going to be on God's love for us and because of His love, our love for others. To help our minds focus on it, I put up a giant heart with 1 John 4:10-11 written on it: "This is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and send His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear Friends, since God loved us we also ought to love on another." 

I love having my students illustrate Bible verses and so on Friday, my students illustrated this verse. Most drew crosses showing God's love through sending Jesus. 

Glad it is Saturday

This week was a full week and just plain wore me out. I'm thankful it is Saturday!

Monday was a typical day with no huge surprises.

Tuesday had a surprise in it. One of my students threw an all out temper tantrum..Unfortunately these are one thing that makes my patience disappear quicker than anything...I'm working on that.

Tuesday was also Parent Night. I stayed up at school without going home because I live about 30 minutes from school and didn't see the point. I brought a Mountain Dew with me and stopped by Chipotle with a fellow teacher for dinner which helped me make it through the night. :-)

Parent Night was a great success! I had 11 of my 15 families come by! There were also a lot of second grade families that stopped by to see who I was and to check out my classroom. It was a fun night to see all my parents and to meet potential future parents as well. I had a projector going with pictures from the year - which was a huge success. Everyone who stopped in loved seeing the pictures. I also had a science table set up where my third graders could share with their parents how to make a compass. We learned that last week in science and they were eager to share their knowledge with their moms and dads. Everyone loved seeing that as well! I laid out the books my students have written and their morning "Wake Up Your Brain" journals so their parents could see what they have been writing in school.

Wednesday included a second temper tantrum. Thursday did as well....But, Friday there was none! I'm thankful for that. I am praying that this student will continue to make progress and that we (myself and the administrators) will have wisdom as we work through this with this little one.

The twins in my class are out until Wednesday and so I only have a class of 13 for a few days. Amazing how much smaller it seems with two students missing.

I started working on switching out wall decorations for February on Friday. I will post a picture later!

Enjoy your weekend!