Saturday, April 9, 2011

Math Journal

This is something new I hope to add to my math class for the 2011-2012 school year.  So many times I've had parents tell me that their child does not bring home their math book so they are left with not knowing how to help them.  For the 2011-2012 school year, I want to have students keep a math journal.  This will be a composition notebook they will keep notes in, reflect on their math day, and all other things math! 
I hope to end each day with a short 1-2 sentence reflection about what we did that day in math class.  This way, when parents ask them, "what did you do at school today?" they can have a response other than "nothing."  You can use this as your summarizing strategy and have 1-2 studens share each day. 

Summarizing at the end of each lesson is something I need to get better at.  Most of the time we are in such a hurry to clean up and go that it's often left out.   It's such an important piece of any lesson and should NEVER be forgotten.

1 comment :

  1. This is my 4th year to teach (all in 4th grade) and I used math journals for the first time this year. I am so glad I decided to use them because they have been a HUGE help. The kids love them too and are excited to take it with them to 5th grade next year. I'll have to make a post about mine so you can see what we do.

    Like you, I haven't done the best job of making sure we summarize what we have learned every day. Each second is SO precious and it is often overlooked.

    I can't wait to see what ideas you have for math journals!


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