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Craft Lessons, pages 14-43

This portion of the book was quite helpful because it was broken down into mini-lessons that you can use in your classroom to teach writing. It starts off with a listing of suggested literature to use in grades K-2. Many of these I am familiar with, but some are new to me so it's alway helpful to be exposed to new literature. Each lesson is broken down into resources you need, a discussion topic, and how to teach that topic. Lessons vary from teaching about sequencing, writing creative details about the character and setting, writing pattersn, and story elements such as setting and plot. I hope to try some of the lessons out soon in my classroom.

Craft Lessons:Teaching Writing K-8, Pages 1-13

In the book, Craft Lessons:Teaching Writing K-8, the authors talk about shortening the steps for writing that teachers have traditionally used. They advocate using a three-step process -- conceive, craft and correct. They say teachers traditionally have spent a lot of time in pre-writing and editing activities, leaving little attention to the most important part of the writing process -- the writing itself (the craft). Students need time to write in order to become better writers.

The book also talks about four major components of teaching writing -- time, response, responsibility, and literature.  As stated above, children need time spent in writing, just as they need time spent reading, in order to develop their skills. One of the most important pieces of the writing experience is the response -- by the teacher and by peers. Key learning can take place while the teacher conferences with students. The responsibility aspect has to do with allowing the writer to make choices in writing, whether it be about topic or what type of paper to use. Lastly, students need to be exposed to good writing through literature in order to become good writers themselves.  Literature can expose students to story elements, varying points of view, styles of writing, rich language, and much more.

Chapters 9-12, Teaching Student-Centered Mathematics

Chapter 9 deals with the various ways that you can teach measurement concepts to students. The author talks about  how important it is that students understand the attribute that is being measured. Students must also understand how they will measure each item to ensure success and what measurement tools will be used to measure each item. I found this chapter interesting because in second grade with deal mostly with using rules to measure with inches and centimeters. This chapter was helpful -- this book in general -- because there are loads of learning activities that you can try out in your classroom. I was especiallyed interested in the activities that help with estimating measurements because this is a difficult skill for the young child.

Chapter 9 deals with early fraction concepts. Students must be able to understand that fractions are part of a whole and consist of equal-size portions. We use a lot of the hands-on activities from this chapter already in second grade, particularly using pattern blocks, rods, models, etc. Many of the activities in this chapter went beyond what is carried out in second grade, such as adding and multiplying fractions.

Chapter 10 covers helping children use data. I feel like we do a pretty good job doing this through our math program, especially collecting data and graphing information. I like several activities, such as Activity 11.2 called "Guess My Rule." Students love to learn through learning games and riddles.  Chapter 12 talkes about developing probability concepts, which is something that we don't addresss until the end of second grade. This is a hard concept for second graders because they think in such concrete terms.  It is hard for them to understand that "chance has no memory and that the outcomes of prior trials have no impact on the next trial." Some second graders undrestand this, but others do not.

Chapters 5-8

In Chapter 5, there are lots of activities for teaching place value and base-ten concepts. This is very helpful to read because it is such am important skill for young students to master. If they don't have this concept, it becomes difficult for them to complete higher-level computations using two- and three-digit numbers. We use many of the activities outlined in the chapter and there are some others that I am interested in trying in my classroom. I wish I had had this informations at the beginning of the year.

Chapter 6 was interesting because it gives flexible methods for computing whole numbers. I have always tried to teach students a variety of methods for solving problems, but this chapter takes that idea a bit further. The only problem I have with this is that some students will still have trouble "constructing" the answers for themselves. They will need a lot of guidance. Also, assessment does not match this. We assess students of getting the right answers (CRCT) and not how they come up with those answers.

Chapters 7 and 8 deal with geometric concepts and measurements. Again, there are lots of helpful activities in these chapters to help teach these skills. Lots of activities we already use and many I am going to try in my classroom.

Entry 1, Teaching Student-Centered Mathematics, Grades K-3

The book I am reading is "Teaching Student-Centered Mathematics Grades K-3." Chapter 1 deals with the idea of student-centered mathematics, which is different from the drill-and-practice form of teaching math. Lessons deal with problem-solving activities and children are challenged to construct their own meaning to the lesson -- a work-it-out-in-your-own-way deal. In other ways, there is more than one way to get to the understanding of the skill. This way of learning helps students understand why they do a process a certain way, not just how to do it. One thing I found interesting in this chapter was about using manipulatives in the correct manner. In second grade we frequently use manipulatives, but we oftentimes teach the students how to use them. Therefore, are the students really understanding the concept and constructing meaning for themselves or are they just learning the process that you teach them?

Chapter 2 deals with developing a number sense in students. This is so important because oftentimes kids learn how to do the math, but they don't understand basic number sense.  Just watch a second grader who can't find page 55 in his English book or doesn't know what one more than 8 is without counting on his fingers, and you know that kid doesn's have basic number sense. This chapter gives loads of helpful student-based activities to use to develop number sense.

Chapters 3 and 4 talked about helping students learn about how to solve story problems and master basic math facts. I really enjoyed these two chapters because we spend a lot of time onthis in second grade. We attended a math in-service earlier this year where we participated in many of these activities, such as using a ten-frame to solve math facts. I was intriqued by these activites and how I could implement them in my classroom so reading this portion helped me revisit and learn more about those activities. 

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