Coastal Plains Blogger Site #2: June 2014

Friday, June 27, 2014

Elementary Math with Ms. Colette Bell

This webinar explained some misconceptions in geometry that students and parents may have. I liked the way Ms. Bell used standards in grades 3-5. As she explained these misconceptions, activities were included for students to get hands-on practice with the various skills. I liked the way this webinar benefited teachers in 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th grades. There were also at least two activities included for each grade level to incorporate in the classroom. I think the activities are going to be great with helping students gain a better understanding of geometry concepts.

Students' Misconceptions About Space Activities with Mr. Eugenio Gant

This was another science webinar that I plan to share with other teachers at my school because I do not teach science. Mr. Grant discussed the seasons and the phases of the moon. The activities were set up to appeal to different learning styles. I especially liked the make and take foldables. Anchor charts were also suggested for student learning and retention. Although this webinar was related to science, the closure activity Mr. Grant shared could be adopted and used in any class. I took notes so I can refer back to them when the new school year begins.

Elementary Science with Mr. John Roberts

This webinar discussed several things relating to heat and electricity. I liked the hands-on experiments. Through these experiments, students will be able to learn while testing hypotheses. One important thing that Mr. Roberts stated is that teachers should try science experiments first before having students try them. This will allow the teacher to see what works and what does not work and also allow for changes to be made before having students try the experiment. Although I do not teach Science, I can see the benefits of the experiments to help students grasp the content. I plan to share this information with science teachers at my school.

Elementary Math with Mrs. Jacqueline Burns

I really enjoyed this webinar because it discussed a concept that is really difficult for students to grasp. Ms. Burns stated that teachers should start with concrete and give students time to play and explore with manipulatives before direct instruction. I liked the way the webinar was set up so the groups used the color tiles to represent fractions in different ways such as arrays, equivalent fractions, and number lines. As I was taking notes from the webinar, I thought of so many ideas on how I could use the examples from the webinar.

Day 7 - Felicia Allen

This is my picture!

This is my friend.

This is my video

MSP Day 7 - Lauren Carter

This is me!

This is my friend, Sharon!

This is my video.....Just a Smile and a Song........

MSP Day 7 - Montez Curbeam

This is me

This is my friend

Here is a video

MSP Day 7 - Tonya Stalvey

This is me

This is my friends

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Amy Ruffo - Collete Bell's Misconceptions of Math through Hands-On Geometry

In this video Ms. Bell provided tangible experiences (hands-on activities) to help break many Geometry misconceptions that students have. The first misconception that she attacked was the idea that students do not recognize that a square is a rectangle because it has all of the properties of a rectangle. They see shapes as separate, distinct shapes and not see the interrelationships between the shapes. She then guided the audience through an exploration of shapes using two activities: Mystery Grab Bag and Attribute Pyramid. I really like the pyramid idea made out of a hanging folder which allows multiple students to be working on the activities on the tower at the same time! The second misconception deals with angles. Sometimes students think that the length of the lines affects the size of the angle. She had two activities to help break this idea: Patty Paper Activity in which you trace the shapes to compare it with another shape's angles and Popsicle Stick Angles where they create angles quickly using two sticks. The third misconception is that the coordinate grid only has one quadrant (the positive one) since elementary students do not go into the negative numbers yet. However, it is important that the students at least get exposed to the fact there are four quadrants. The fourth misconception is that students reverse the points when plotting on the coordinate plane. Instead of plotting x then y, they plot y then x (something my kids do a lot). For these two misconceptions that dealt with the coordinate plane, Ms. Bell again had two activities: the Street Map Activity and the Coordinate Grid game with dice.

In my class this year, I did make sure to incorporate ideas from this video when teaching coordinate planes. In order to expose my class of all four quadrants on the plane, I created an activity call Spit Ball Graphing. I created a large plane on butcher paper and posted it on the outside wall of my classroom. I then had the students spit spit balls through a straw at the grid and plot where it landed. The kids had a blast!