A Great Day for Running!
Library Studies
Division 21 benefits from two blocks weekly with Mr. Wong, our teacher-librarian. During this time they have time in the library to learn and practice library skills, search for and check out books they would like to read and work on interesting activities. This week Mr. Wong had students create their own countries complete with flag and national anthem. There were some very unusual countries!
It is not always easy for our students to transfer the skills they are learning in our classroom to another teacher in a different setting. Mrs. Perri and Mrs. Leone help students to remember the expected behaviours; positive attitude, follow the rules, listen, work effort and finish their work and encourage them to use their strategies to self-regulate.
It is not always easy for our students to transfer the skills they are learning in our classroom to another teacher in a different setting. Mrs. Perri and Mrs. Leone help students to remember the expected behaviours; positive attitude, follow the rules, listen, work effort and finish their work and encourage them to use their strategies to self-regulate.
A Big Day for Reflex Math
Reflex Math Class Statistics We have continued on with our Reflex Math program and are so pleased to see other teachers in the school joining in as well.
Fluency is important for higher order math skills and problem solving. In fact, MRI research shows that the brain actually changes as untrained facts are learned. We were very lucky to obtain another classroom grant this year through the Reflex Educator Grant program. The Grant program gives us 35 licenses to use ExploreLearning Reflex free for one year. Mrs. Dettling's classroom has joined with us and they are also working hard. Reflex is an online game-based system that helps students of all abilities to develop better recall of math facts. The facts are presented in number families of addition-subtraction and multiplication-division from 0 - 12. The families are presented at the start of every session and then practiced through very fun and engaging games. Stars, points and certificates are earned along the way to keep motivation high! Practice sessions last for about 15 minutes and significant results can be obtained in only three sessions per week .
Our classroom has solved over 48,000 total facts since starting in September and three students have now reached 100% fluency. Our classroom started with an average of 22% fluency and has now reach 61% with an average total usage of 40 days per student. The average student gain has been 95 facts! Quite an accomplishment.
This program has also been important to demonstrate to our students how using strategies to lower their anxiety and arousal level (remember the amygdala!) helps their brains to function better. Many students have difficulty not only with learning the facts but retrieving them under stress. Taking a deep breath, a break or saying a green thought can help a student get back on track. We have also found that chewing gum is a useful tool. There is a growing body of research to show that providing internal feedback through the temporomandibular joint reduces stress and increases focus and concentration.
Congratulations to all our students! Imagine - having FUN and LEARNING!
Fluency is important for higher order math skills and problem solving. In fact, MRI research shows that the brain actually changes as untrained facts are learned. We were very lucky to obtain another classroom grant this year through the Reflex Educator Grant program. The Grant program gives us 35 licenses to use ExploreLearning Reflex free for one year. Mrs. Dettling's classroom has joined with us and they are also working hard. Reflex is an online game-based system that helps students of all abilities to develop better recall of math facts. The facts are presented in number families of addition-subtraction and multiplication-division from 0 - 12. The families are presented at the start of every session and then practiced through very fun and engaging games. Stars, points and certificates are earned along the way to keep motivation high! Practice sessions last for about 15 minutes and significant results can be obtained in only three sessions per week .
Our classroom has solved over 48,000 total facts since starting in September and three students have now reached 100% fluency. Our classroom started with an average of 22% fluency and has now reach 61% with an average total usage of 40 days per student. The average student gain has been 95 facts! Quite an accomplishment.
This program has also been important to demonstrate to our students how using strategies to lower their anxiety and arousal level (remember the amygdala!) helps their brains to function better. Many students have difficulty not only with learning the facts but retrieving them under stress. Taking a deep breath, a break or saying a green thought can help a student get back on track. We have also found that chewing gum is a useful tool. There is a growing body of research to show that providing internal feedback through the temporomandibular joint reduces stress and increases focus and concentration.
Congratulations to all our students! Imagine - having FUN and LEARNING!
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