A few months ago I attended a workshop where a math teacher shared a strategy that she uses with her students to help them solve word problems.

The strategy involves a paw outline using the title "I P.A.W.S. for Word Problems." This is what the acronym P.A.W.S. stands for:

Problem Key Words
Analyze the Steps
Work it Out
Solve! Does it make sense?

Then on the actual paw part of the outline, the students would work out their problems. This area is called the "Work Pad."

This was such a creative idea that I decided to create a document for it. Attached you will find the PDF I created for "I P.A.W.S. for Word Problems." Let me know what you think.

Update: I realize that some of you were not able to access the attachment due to restrictions on your member level. I uploaded the document to my website and if you are interested, you may find it by following...

For the 2010-2011 school year my classroom is going CAMPING! Well, we are not going to any place in particular but my entire class will become a Camp Site! Welcome to Ms. Sanchez’ CAMP WANNALEARNALOT! Here are some of the ideas I have gathered for the camping theme:

BULLETIN BOARD IDEAS

READING
"Warming Up with a Good Book" (use a campfire graphic on the board)
"Camping Out with a Good Book" (use kids in a tent graphic)
"Pack of Reading Strategies" (backpack with reading strategies coming out of it)
"Camp Read A Lot"
"Hiking Up the SuccessMaker Mountain"
"Hiking the AR Trail"
"Climbing the AR Mountain"
"Climbing the SuccessMaker Mountain"
"Rafting the AR River"

WRITING
"Campfire Tales"
"Campfire Stories"

WORD WALL
"A Forest of Words"...

I would like to thank my fellow PT'ers for sharing their comments, thoughts, and info. on the Rick Morris' Clip Chart behavior management system. This system has given me new insight on how to manage behavior. I'm going to be implementing it this upcoming school year with a few minor changes.

To start, I decided to flip the colors and not use pink or purple. Instead I will be using the following colors (in parentheses you will find the conduct grade I will use for each level):

BLUE: Outstanding (A)
LIGHT BLUE: Great Job (A)
LIGHT GREEN: Good Day (A)
GREEN: Ready to Learn (A)
YELLOW: Think About It (B)
ORANGE: Teacher's Choice (C)
RED: Parent Contact (D)

I will only give an "F" in conduct if the student is constantly and severely disruptive. Also, if a student moves their clip down to Teacher's Choice and/or Parent Contact, he will complete a small slip with his name, date, and check...

I just wanted to share that Melissa Forney's Young Writer's Survival Guide is still available for download throughout this Summer 2010. Go to:

www.forneyeducational.com

Find the link on the homepage below the information on Writing Camp and How You Can Become an Author.

Best wishes!

I was recently trained in the new Florida Math Standards which we refer to as the Next Generation Sunshine State Standards (NG SSS) for Math. Basically, elementary grades are no longer going to cover all aspects of Math in each grade level (i.e. Number Sense, Geometry, Measurement, Algebraic Thinking, and Data Analysis/Probability). Instead, each grade level will focus on a few Math concepts which are referred to the Big Ideas.

In fourth grade for example, we will be covering Multiplication/Division, Area, and Decimals. We will also cover three supporting ideas which will help students review previously learned concepts and concepts they will learn in future grades. The state is moving from teaching a mile wide and an inch deep. Long gone are the days when we used to teach Math just to cover a topic without the students understanding it in depth. Now we will cover less but go much more deeper in the topic so students know it inside and out.

...

I wanted to post on my blog the reward coupons I created for my students.

There are eight coupons per page and a total of 27 pages (27 coupons) to use. I created them in black and white so they are easier to copy. I copy my coupons on various sheets of color paper. The color of the coupon matches a price category the coupon belongs to.

My students are able to use their "Fin" dollars (earned in our classroom economy) in order to purchase coupons they want. I also award free coupons to students who consistently demonstrate super behavior and consistently turn in their homework.

Since the file is too big to attach to this post, I am providing a direct link to the PDF file of the reward coupons. I hope other teachers may find these coupons useful in their classrooms. Enjoy!

I wanted to post some additional information I gathered from Melissa Forney's 2009 Writing Conference. Here's her 12 Steps of the Writing Process.

1. Think It
2. Talk It
3. Do It
4. Draw It
5. Explain It
6. Gather Vocabulary & Put Money in the Bank
7. Watch Modeling
8. Write It
9. Revise It
10. Read it Aloud
11. Edit It
12. Share It

To explain the process a bit further I'm going to combine my notes from this summer's writing conference and last summer's writing conference.

Step 1: Think It
Students need some time to think about what they are going to write, so we must give them time to think about the topic.

Step 2: Talk It
Thinking and talking go hand in hand. Kids need to talk with their peers, with older kids, with younger kids, and with adults. The more opportunities we give them to talk about what they are going to write the better prepared they'll be when they start writing. Talking gives them an opportunity to brainstorm....

Last summer, I had the great priviledge of attending my third Melissa Forney Writing Conference. She is a dear friend and an inspiration to me as well as other teachers. I learned a great deal from the conference and I would like to share some of that information on this blog.

Day 1: Writing a Beginning, Grabbers, Middle, Ending, and Zingers

WRITING A BEGINNING
Melissa had us practice writing a beginning to different topics she gave us. Each time we wrote a beginning to a topic, she asked us to share it, and then share out. She helped us differentiate between a grabber and a beginning and told us to only write a beginning for the sake of this activity. Afterwards, she asked us to write a new beginning to the same topic. She had us repeat this process about two to three times. It was a great revision activity and a great way to help students learn that there are different ways of saying the same thing.

Here's an example of...

Here's some resourceful information about reciprocal teaching.

I initally learned about the Reciprocal Teaching Strategy while completing one of my reading endorsement courses a few years ago. Reciprocal Teaching is a reading comprehension strategy meant to help students become more independent during reading. The strategy is first introduced by having the teacher model each step in the process and doing it along with the students until students are able to take ownership of the strategy and use it independently. The Reciprocal Teaching strategy has four parts which are: Predication, Clarify, Question, and Summarize. My school district added a fifth part to the process called Visualize or Make a Picture.

As a result of my reading endorsement class, I created a set of reciprocal teaching cards that are used by the students while implementing the strategy. Along with the cards, I created a reciprocal teaching worksheet which the students may...

Here's some information on Word Walls to refresh my mind and keep in my arsenal of references and resources.

The following is based on information about Word Walls that I acquired after attending an incredible Reading Institute for teachers at the University of Miami back in 2006.

Word Walls are an essential part of the literate classroom environment. Word Walls foster and support the development of written language. Word Walls should also be interactive by allowing students to complete Word Wall related activities on a daily basis.


Word Walls may be organized in various formats. A common organization for word walls is placing words in alphabetical order. In the upper grades, however, word walls may be organized based on parts of speech for example. Regardless of the organization of the word wall, teachers should include words that are meaningful to the learning content of the classroom. Some suggested word listings...