Motivation - where can I find some?

Hello to all of my 74 followers!

I feel like I have not posted in ages. I have been enjoying some scrapbooking time and have been at the YMCA quite a bit. (Hard to blog on the treadmill)

I also feel like I am in a little slump. We have been doing a ton of assessments at school and I don't feel like I have had the chance to be creative. :( I am also getting ready to host a student teacher at the end of this month. I have never had a student teacher and am a bit nervous. It will be FINE. Megan is AWESOME and has been with us since September (once a week) so we ALL know each other.

One of the projects that we did this week that was a HUGE success (compared to the 4 other classes that I have done it with in past years) was a survey question project. We use the Pearson Math Investigations Program in our district.

I like this program very much and have taught it since the district adopted it. In book 4 we look at data and representations of data. One of the projects is that they have to create their own survey question, survey the class and represent their data. I also have them make some kind of observation about their data.

Fun, right?

The first year we had this program I totally skipped this lesson. First graders? Seriously? Each year, I change something in order to make this a little more manageable/successful and I think that I got it right this year!

Here are some photos of our project.

Step #1-- was talking with their partner and deciding on the question that they were going to ask. (Actually the HARDEST part was that they had to agree)

Step #2-- was to "Make a plan". They had to record their question, decide who was going to be the "asker" and who was going to be the "recorder". They also had to decide how they would record their data (we all used a T-chart) and figure out how we were going to know how we asked everyone.

Above are pictures of the sheets provided by the math program. Below are the additional sheets that I created for the kids so that they could record their information and check off classmates names.

Step #3 -- Let the chaos begin! We were roaming surveyors. The HARDEST part was reminding them that they had to stick with their partners! This was a great time....so proud of them!

Step #4-- The children regrouped and we caught the people that were missed during the roaming session.

When they were all done they had a sheet to complete where they had to write about something that they "noticed" when looking at their data. They also had to count the number of answers and compare it to the number of students. We brainstormed some ideas as to why the numbers would not match.

This unit carries across the grades and after talking to a 4th grade teacher in my building, I learned that they do the same type of project. My kids will be ready!

Thanks for taking the time to listen to me brag about my smarties! I feel my motivation returning! I am doing a fun persuasion writing activity this week so stay tuned!

Bee the Change~