Lessons 3-6

I taught on Friday using whole class inquiry methods to get my students to regroup.

What Went Well
My mid-range students got it. They understood.
The students are getting better at answering my 'why' questions and being respectful.

What Didn't Go Well
The students are at such DIFFERENT levels that the whole class left half of them bored, and the other half day dreaming.


This was an alright lesson. I don't think I want to do all class inquiry again though. The problem with that is that I know inquiry doesn't go well the first few times and I have to train the kids to think about their thinking. I'm understanding WHY so few people actually use this tecnique.

Lessons on the Virtical Frame
I used centers to teach the virtical frame and just get the kids thining about how addition and regrouping work.

What Went Well
The students (with the exception of two) were 100% engaged in every center.
I have some solid data to say who is struggling now. Namely, El, Mal, Pr.
I was able to have a little one-on-one time with every student.
Every student was able to explain regrouping to me.
They started explaining their work with words and making those verbal connections.

What didn't go well
Basically, nothing went so badly wrong that I would change anything. The students were engaged, they loved the virtual manipulatives, I only had to remind them twice about their voice level... Yes, some of them struggled with some of the centers, but all in all I believe they did REALLY well.

I loved using centers. Yes, it was a bit harder to think out the centers, but I think If I was a teacher of second/first grade I would have centers made to reinforce the concepts I wanted to teach already so much of that work would be done. I really, really, really like how self directed the kids were and I enjoyed being able to work with them one-on-one.