Number Rack

One of my favorite teaching tools is the number rack which can also be referred to as a bead rack, or Rekenrek.  I was fortunate to win mine in a drawing at a workshop. Teachers have stopped me in the hallway to ask me about this interesting tool, how I use it with students, and if I really felt it was helpful.  I too was skeptical of this teaching tool and really didn't appreciate all the ways this rack can help students with math.  However, now after using the bead rack on a daily basis for about 2 years now,  I couldn't imagine teaching without it.  Students often ask if they can use the bead rack to help them solve math problems so they too have come to find this tool very useful.

The bead rack is perfect for developing and reinforcing one to one correspondence with counting objects.  The rack I use has 100 beads and is a convenient way to carry around 100 objects.  It is great for skip counting by 10's, 5's, and 2's.  The rack provides a constant representation of quantity.  I can quickly assess students understanding of quantities as I ask students to move say seven beads.  Some students may count and move seven beads one at a time.  Some students will first move five red beads and then two more white beads.  Eventually, students will be able to visually find the seventh bead and move it with just one push.  How students move the beads tells me a lot about where they are in their development of mathematical thinking.  

In the classroom, the curriculum encourages teachers to use the base ten blocks to reinforce place value and quantity.  These manipulatives work for some students, but I've noticed that many students have a difficult time just accepting the fact that a stick is equal to ten cubes.  I watch students count from 1 to 10 all the time to verify that the ten stick truly equals ten.  This is an algebraic idea which asks students to have faith that 1 stick represents 10 cubes.  I now realize why this is such a challenge for students to internalize this concept.  On the other hand, the bead rack structures the beads in rows of ten.   We can move ten beads in one motion and when necessary students can recount and pull apart the ten beads to verify that each row is equal to ten.  The beads also structure the number ten as five red beads and five white beads in each row.  A downside to the base ten blocks is that the ten sticks cannot be pulled apart. Most base ten blocks have ridges to make the cube, but I have seem some that are just smooth ten sticks and student have to place ten cubes in a row to verify that yes it equals ten.

After working with students over the past four years in math,  I have realized that one of the main difficulties that seems to affect all students is the ability to compose and decompose numbers.  It seems that some students become stuck in their thinking about how to break apart say the number seven.  All the various parts of the number seven seem to not exist for some students.  The realization that seven has small numbers inside is a foreign idea and not easy accepted by students.  When I ask students to show me seven fingers and they can only show three fingers on one hand and then four on the other hand.  The inability to show me a different way is evidence that they are stuck in their thinking.  They are stuck because they don't understand that two and five also makes seven.  Keep in mind that some students are reverse of this example.  Whatever the case, the bead rack can provide structure to these numbers.  Very easily the bead rack displays various combinations of all numbers.

Math racks can be purchased online at http://mathrack.com/.

There is a free app and web version of the number rack at the link below.

http://www.mathlearningcenter.org/web-apps/number-rack/



Below is a video I created to help students learn doubles addition facts.  The red and white beads help to provide structure to the numbers so that students can quickly perform mental math.

Math Recovery emphasizes teaching math with a bead rack.  Below is a video that illustrates how to use the bead rack with students.

Click here for more math lesson activities using the Rekenrek.

Quick Formative Assessment App

Plickers is a free app that allows you to create your own question sets and easily poll an entire group of students while they use QR codes to select an answer.  I was super excited when I first heard about this free technology, but I also questioned whether or not primary students would be able to easily respond correctly with the QR codes.  I was surprised by my second graders when they quickly understood how to use this technology and how excited they were to use Plickers.  After the first session, they continue to ask every day if we could use the Plickers.  I used Plickers as a warm-up or a closure to math lessons.  Within five minutes, I quickly assessed math concepts that informed the lesson for the next day.  I thought the initial excitement would fade, but after a few months of occasional use, students were still excited to use Plickers.  Active engagement of learning is unavoidable when you use Plickers as each student is accountable for responding to every question.  There is no daydreaming allowed.

Recently, Plickers added the option to upload images to use as part of the question.  Below is an example of how I used images with Plickers.

Plickers archives questions along with student responses under the report tab.  Items are stored chronologically and filtered by class.

Each question that you create is stored under the library tab.  My only wish is that I would be able to organize the questions into folders.  I emailed this request to Plicker and they replied that they are currently working on this feature as they have heard from many other about this same request.  It is great to know that they are open to suggestions and are trying to create a very useful tool.

All of my second grade students are so familiar with using Plickers that they could create their own questions.  Next year, I will plan to continue to use Plickers and allow more opportunities for students to be the teacher.  This could become part of a daily routine as students create a question of the day.  Most students love the opportunity to be the teacher and Plickers makes it easy.

Plickers App

Visit plickers.com to learn more.

This photo is posted on the Plickers website.  When I was cutting out the codes, I just cut them in half as they print two codes to each page.  After thinking about this, I cut the codes into squares because I really want students to respond based on their own thoughts, not other classmates.  If codes are printed on rectangle paper, students may start to look around the room before they respond.  In my opinion, the best think about this technology is the anonymity and I believe this photo is just an oversight by Plickers.

SMILING MIND

Students who struggle to learn math seem to have difficulty with learning in general.  I question how to help them.  I have often thought so many of my students just need to relax and calm down so that they can learn.  As a society that is constantly multi-tasking, mindfulness has become the new buzz word. What does mindfulness mean and how could this help my students?  In search of yoga and mediation practice for young children, I came across an elementary curriculum specifically for mediation.  So far, I have just printed the materials and listened to some of the breathing exercises.  I have also downloaded the app. I am excited to try this with a few of my students.  I believe many of my students live with chronic stress and I am hopeful that this could help them focus to learn math.

Smiling Mind website

The Bubble Journey for 7 - 11 years old audio download

Below is a photo and caption from the Smiling Mind website.

As much as I am excited to begin to use this program, this photo gives me some concern as it appears students are praying.  I am somewhat concerned that parents might become upset as meditation could be viewed as crossing the line with spirituality.  So far, the audio recordings that I have previewed just focus on breathing and finding calmness within.  In any case, I plan to get prior approval from my district before I implement this program.  Below is a parent letter that I will share with my building principal and parents.

The intent of this program is to help children learn how to manage stress and live a healthier life.  I have experimented with playing various types of music in the classroom.  When the music stops, students always ask for me to play more.  I have witnessed the positive affect of music. If music can help students to focus, I am interested to learn more about the possibilities of meditation. The Smiling Mind program also claims that children may display an increase in levels of empathy with fellow students.  As I plan to implement this program in full next year, I am thinking about how to monitor the levels of empathy with my students.  Teaching empathy has been a long time goal of educators without specific lesson plans.  How do we teach empathy and could this program really increase empathy?  I am hopeful that self-reflection could lead to greater compassion for others.   

Read an article from the Huffington Post about how a first grade classroom is using meditation.

Discovery Education: Board Builder

Discovery Education is a paid subscription.  Last week I attended a workshop to learn more about how to use Discovery Education in the classroom as a learning management system as well as the Board Builder feature. Board Builder is similar to Google Sites.  In fact, Board Builder was intended to be used by students in kindergarten and therefore it is very easy to use. Teachers and students can create multi-media boards on any topic.  There are several sharing options which allow students to share their creations with one click.  Below is an example of a board about multiplication.

Board builder is very easy to use.  There are options to upload images, video, and documents.  The text boxes can appear as post it notes, an index card, or just blank.  I like that there are not too many options about how to design the boards so that students really focus on the content of the materials they are posting.  Boards can be shared with the school, district, or discovery education community. The various sharing options make it easy for students to learn from each other.  Next year, I would like to use Board Builder for students to create a personalized board titled All About Me to post on their e-portfolio page.  This technology tool replaces posters with an interactive and engaging way to display evidence of learning.

Discovery Education Techbook app is a series of digital textbooks in science, social studies, and math.  Again, this is a paid subscription for K-12 classrooms.  The science content includes access to videos, virtual labs, and explorations.  This techbook supports an inquiry-based design to curriculum and instruction.The site claims that it is transforming teaching and learning.



The video below is an excellent resource to view as an introduction to Board Builder.  Teachers and students will benefit from the information in this video.

Click here to view step by step instruction about how to create with Board Builder.

Read this article, 50 Ways to Use Board Builder with Your Students to learn more about all of the possibilities with Board Builder.