Children are never too young to learn about treaties and their significance. In primary grades we can introduce students to the importance of agreements or promises, discuss how these agreements come about and the implications of breaking them. If we start the discussion by exploring what these ‘treaties’ or promises look like through their eyes, we can begin to deepen their understanding of their significance.
Use a simple text to provoke conversation among students in order to develop a broader understanding. For example, teachers could use the videos provided here as a starting point.
English:
French:
Teachers could also use mentor texts as the conversation starter.
English
French
A Promise is a Promise Robert Munsch
Turtles Race with Beaver Joseph Bruchac
Racoon’s Last Race Joseph Bruchac
Franklin’s Promise
Une promesse c’est une promesse Robert Munsch
After watching the video or reading a book, you could ask students questions such as:
English
French
What types of agreements or promises do you make?
Who did you make those agreements with or promises to?
How did the agreement come to be?
Can you think of a written agreement that you have been a part of? (i.e. class agreements)
What happens when that promise is kept?
What happens when you don’t keep that agreement or promise?
Quelles promessesfaites-vous?
À quilesfaites-vous?
Comment est-cequel’accorddevient?
Est-ce que tu peux penser d’un accord écrit duquel tu faisais partie?
Qu’arrive-t-il lorsque vous tenez votre promesse?
Qu’arrive-t-il lorsque vous ne la tenez pas?
Where to Next?
Create a promise together as a class. This could be a promise to treat everyone nicely at school or a promise to pick up litter and take care of the Earth. Whatever the agreement, discuss its importance with the students and how that agreement will be upheld.
Math Strategy: Anchor of 10
Math Strand: Numeration
Making 10 Concentration:
Overview:
This game is a variation of the concentration or memory game. This variation, from the original game, helps strengthen students’ understanding of the Anchor of 10 strategy. To begin place 16 cards face down between players. Players take turns flipping over two cards in an effort to find a match that adds to 10. If the two cards add to 10, the player collects the cards. If the cards don't add to 10, they are turned over again. When a pair of cards are removed, they are replaced with two new cards from the pile. At the end of the game, the player with the most cards wins. The game can also be adapted for the five anchor strategy, the same rules can be used to play Make 5 Concentration, using these cards: aces, 2s, 3s, and 4s.
How this activity supports learning:
Making 10 Concentration provides students with an opportunity to practice making 10. It is important for students to build a foundation of numbers using 10 as an anchor. It is a valuable strategy for computing basic facts and later larger numbers. With a solid anchor of 10 students will see that in 7 + 6 we can find a 10. They would take a 3 from the 6 to join it to the 7 to make 10. The remaining 3 is then joined with the 10 to make 13.
This strategy will later be carried over into multi-digit numbers such as 270 + 360. Students will see that in the 70 and 60 there is 100 with 30 left over. They would then be able to combine 500 + 100 + 30. Essentially, this is "making 10" which is an efficient way to solve computations, especially when doing mental math.
Where to next?
Laying the foundation of learning what makes 10 helps students move towards using up/down over 10 strategy. Look for more activities that support this strategy by looking in the book "What to Look For" page 174 - 184.
Share your classroom experiences with Making 10 Concentration with us on Instagram and Twitter at @LKelempro #EngageLK!
The main vision of the FSL curriculum is for students to “communicate and interact with growing confidence in French”. We know that in order for students to successfully learn a second language they need to use it. Second language teachers are always looking for new and engaging ways to get students communicating in the target language in order to purposefully practice the language in meaningful and purposeful situations.
Some of the best activities are ones that can not only be used to scaffold the language for students but then can be transferred to a variety of different learning contexts to provide these meaningful guided opportunities. Once students feel confident with their abilities and no longer need further practice, they can apply this newly acquired language to authentic situations.
Talking JENGA is one of those types of activities. It can be used as a way to give students a chance to practice necessary words and expressions, it can be used to create opportunities for students to ask and answer questions spontaneously in small groups, it can be used to as a prompt for conversation.
What do we need:
• Purchase one or several Jenga sets. Get them at garage sales, or pick up the smaller (more portable versions) at the dollar store.
• Number the blocks individually.
• Create a Talking JENGA Card to support the learning context of your choice. You can access a blank template here.
How to Play
The activity is best played in small groups to promote increased talk time during class. It is recommended 2-4 students per group. Students play JENGA as they regularly would, however, every time they pull a block, they must look at what number is drawn. From there, they will look to the provided Talking JENGA Card for the question they must ask their group members. Each player in the group must answer the question before the player puts the block on top of the tower. Then, the next player takes their turn and the process repeats.
This type of activity works great in small groups if you have enough JENGA sets for the whole class, or can be used for centres. It is a great activity to provide students at the beginning of class to get their Minds On in French. It can also be used as a challenge for those who finish their work early.
It is recommended to spend 5-10 minutes max on this type of activity, to maintain student interest and participation.
What do Talking JENGA Cards look like?
Practicing Necessary Vocabulary, Words or Expressions
The JENGA card could have each number linked to different images of the words and expressions that students are working towards internalizing. See the example here of colours and animals.
The numbers that could be linked to ‘picture sentences’. Essentially, images that you want the students to talk about in complete sentences with their group using focused language structures. For example, here students are learning to describe things. We are starting very basic with just colours and animals. The group could come up with the two sentences to the left. See the Describing Animals Set here.
If students are working on asking and answering questions more spontaneously, the numbers could be linked to a variety of questions related to the learning context. For example, if we are working towards students being able to talk about their families, a set like this one could be used.
A question set could be created based on an image that the group also has access to. For example, if they have a map in front of them like the one here and the question set could look like this.
The opportunities for this type of activity are endless. It is also great because the activities can be provided in a way that many entry points are possible. The activity can also be accommodated by providing students with a question set with sentence starters for prompts.
What other ways have you used this activity with your students? How would you adapt this to your students? Have you used this before? Tell us about how in the comments below.
Overview:
Playing games, like “Dot Plate Pattern Flashes”, is a great way to support subitizing to discover what strategies our students are using and where they are on the continuum of learning. The goal of this activity is for children to recognize the number of dots in front of them so that children can begin to identify the number by using familiar patterns, rather than by counting each dot one by one. By using a game to teach the concept, students will be engaged and this will allow the teacher to have a quick look into where each student is at with this strategy. If you’re looking for additional information around subitizing, check out our blog link below for the previous video “What is Subitizing?”
How this activity supports learning:
With students continually practicing their subitizing skills, they will start recognizing larger numbers by noticing small familiar patterns within the larger number. The more comfortable they become, the easier it will be for them to transition along the Student Continuum of Numeracy Development, from the “What to Look For” resource by Alex Lawson. There are also many variations that could support learning, such as asking students to tell you “one more” or “one less”.
Overview: Popular board games can be used to develop oral language skills with students. Game playing can be done with peers or teachers. It is also a great way to have fun and build relationships with both new students and more advanced learners.
Games can be purchased second-hand or brought in from home. Instructions for playing are the standardized ones that come with each game but can be modified to make the game quicker or easier to play. Cards could be chosen in advance based on targeted learning goals. New cards could also be found online, or developed for individual use.
How board games support students: Any early board games allow for peer tutoring and support oral language development and conversational skills. Some more advanced games also include some literacy.
Early Vocabulary building- Candyland for colours and numbers
Math Strategy: Various Addition and Subtraction Strategies
Math Strand: Number Sense and Numeration
Overview:
This game, located in the Guide to Effective Instruction (K-6, V.5, pg. 48), is used to support students development of multi-digit computations. As seen in the video, students need to determine how much is required to meet the target number. The game should be played whole class for a few rounds before students move to playing it independently. When learning the game, students should begin by playing with decade numbers. Once they are ready, move towards more challenging numbers.
How this activity supports student learning:
This activity would qualify as a "Where to Next" activity. If your students are developing an understanding of a subtraction or addition strategy they can use this game to practice. Most students require 3 to 5 interactions, with feedback, on a new skill/concept to develop an acceptable understanding. This game allows for students to practice a strategy while also receiving feedback from their peers. When it comes to a game, peers will be sure the feedback is given as it puts them in a better position to win!
Depending on the playing card numbers and the target number, this game could support the development of many addition and subtraction strategies seen on Lawson's Addition and Subtraction Continuum. It would work great with strategies like counting on/back, jumps forward or backward of 10/100, overshoot and return, constant difference, and getting to a decade number and taking jumps forward or backward. For subtraction situations, it would work well with splitting the subtrahend (2nd number in a subtraction sentence).
Students can use hundred charts, base ten blocks, and number lines to support their calculations. Remember, as students understand a strategy well they may begin to move away from concrete representations and move towards visual and numeric representations only. A calculator could be used to verify answers but not to find them.
Where to Next:
While students are playing the game observe the strategy they are using. If they are understanding the demonstrated strategy well then modify the game by giving them more challenging numbers. If appropriate, a student could be prompted to try the strategy without the assistance of concrete materials. Once students are using the strategy with grade appropriate numbers encourage them to learn a new strategy or combine it with a different known strategy for more efficient computations.
Good feedback contains information a student can use.
That means,
first, that the student has to be able to hear and understand it. A student can't hear something that's beyond his comprehension, nor can a student hear something if she's not listening or if she feels like it's useless to listen.
The most useful feedback focuses on the qualities of student work or the processes or strategies used to do the work.
Feedback that draws students' attention to their self-regulation strategies or their abilities as learners is potent if students hear it in a way that makes them realize they will get results by expending effort and attention.
Effective descriptive feedback focuses on the
ntended learning, identifies specific strengths, points to areas needing improvement,
suggests a route of action students can take to close the gap between where they are now and where they need to be,
takes into account the amount of corrective feedback the learner can act on at one time, and models the kind of thinking students will engage in when they self-assess.
These are a few examples of descriptive feedback:
You have interpreted the bars on this graph correctly, but you need to make sure the marks on the x and y-axes are placed at equal intervals.
The good stories we have been reading have a beginning, a middle, and an end. I see that your story has a beginning and a middle, just like those good stories do. Can you draw and write an ending?
You have described the similarities between _____ and _____ clearly, and you have identified key differences. Work on illustrating those differences with concrete examples from the text.
