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Archive for September 6, 2008
Planning and Timetable Docs
53 years ago
Last year it was in the Summer term that I finally got my act together and began using more cloud based computing and relying less and less on my memory stick. This year has started with barely a shred of paper in sight and I actually do not know where my memory stick is. I have been pleased to see that Google Docs is beginning to deal with imported Word files containing tables much better and so in this post I share a couple that I use.
The links I have provided to the docs should give you access to your own copy – what you see will be yours and not a shared or published version. If you have problems with the link I have added another link where the document is currently published online.
Those of you in the English primary schools will appreciate the fact that we have new literacy and numeracy frameworks to work with and this is an example of a weekly literacy planning document that you could use.
You will of course have to remove the information that doesn’t apply and it is currently filled with a few days of planning from last week just to illustrate how it is used- this is the general style of planning we do for a week.
I like the fact that a digital document that remains as such can take advatage of the links that you can add. Once it is printed those links are dead.
Get your copy – Weekly literacy plan. If you have trouble with link you can view the document here.
Our timetable changes every week, as well as we accomodate different things going on in school we deal with staff absence, courses etc. Rather than use an online calendar we use a simple weekly timetable that outlines what we are doing – this year we have also added links from the subjects to their respective planning documents too.
Get your copy – Weekly timetable. If you have trouble with link you can view the document here.
Rick my teaching colleague and I are using Google Docs to organise, author and share our planning for this year and it is already proving useful as we make changes during the week to planning. But the person you share it with will of course always have access to the most recent copy.I look forward to the further development of the template resource currently in it’s infancy within Google Docs so that I can make a template from my Docs home screen and generate further copies from that.
I hope you may find some of the Docs useful – let me know if they are and if you have any of your own to share.
Addressing the Balance: Multiflyer Times Tables Challenge
33 years ago
I have written about Multiflyer before as it qualifies as one of my top 5 Times Tables resources. We begin the year with a test of the children’s multiplication knowledge to ascertain their strengths and where they need to focus their practice, we also like to be able to see how quick they are. Using Multiflyer we can do this all and have it marked within 15 minutes.
Previously we used to give the children a paper test of 100 multiplication facts, but timing did not come into it. Although it did when we had to manually check 3000 answers from the whole class! Using Multiflyer addresses the work life balance we all battle with.
Here is how we do it.
- Access the site and choose Practice from the options.
- Select what you want to test the children on – we choose 1-10 from both sides.
- Ensure that the children choose to have the Table OFF otherwise they will be able to find the answers using a multiplication grid.
- Clicking START will display a practice question – ensure the children know what they need to do.
- Remind them that they do not need to move the mouse and that the quickest method is to enter the answers and press enter on the keyboard.
- We give the children 15 minutes to answer as many questions as they can. We find that this gives us a really deep picture of their times tables ability.
- You might like to ask them to turn their volume down before they begin as the sound effects can be off putting for children trying to concentrate.
- When the children have had 15 minutes, or however long you have given them, ask them to click on End MISSION.
- This will display a chart displaying how they got on. We ask them to choose PRINTABLE CHART from the top.
- They enter their names and the date of the test and print if needed – this could be filed in their folders or with their other maths work.
We use the information provided in the report in a number of ways. The individual tables results reveals to us the level of understanding for each one and so we can tell the children what they need to work on. This week I have told the children their own targets for practice, the weakest of all of the results.
The overall percentage is important but perhaps the most important is the number of questions answered correctly. We enter this into a spreadsheet and divide it into 900 (the number of
seconds in 15 minutes) This calculation provides us a per correct answer time in seconds – we can basically see how fast they can recall their tables. We will complete this every month and involve the children in tracking their own progress.
No marking means we can focus on the diagnostic side of helping the children improve the speed and accuracy of their times tables – I would urge you to take advantage of this resource or others like it to do the same. We completed the task with the children using the class laptops but it could be easily done over two sessions in a computer suite.
Not only will it help you address the balance but also stop you getting bogged down with marking and allow you to focus on helping the children improve.
A little help from my network…
53 years ago
by tombarrett
in Twitter
A new term a new start and I kicked off the first few days of the term with an upper key stage 2 assembly on Thursday morning. I wanted to talk to the children about the prospects of a new term and what it meant to us all. Twitter was buzzing with well wishes as the US schools returned at the same time as most English schools, so I thought I would invite my network to help contribute to the assembly with their own thoughts about the new term and the new beginning we were all about to take.
I asked for responses from my network a few hours before the assembly and then retweeted with a quarter of an hour or so to go and was so grateful, as I always am, to receive teachers thoughts from around the world.
After talking in the assembly about new beginnings for some people in my own family, I invited the children to explain their feelings and reflections on the first few days of school. We discussed what they were looking forward to and any apprehensions they had.
With a global twist I shared the thoughts from my network on the beginning of a new term and what it meant to new people. I finished with Ian Usher’s reflection that a new term is “like a fresh piece of paper with nothing bad from last term written on it.” They really liked that thought and it ended the assembly on a positive hopeful note. Thanks to Ian and everyone who helped it was lovely to be able share your reflections in our assembly.
Why not ask for reflections on a topic or assembly subject from your own network and give the children a global perspective.
