Understanding By Design Success and Unknowns Assessments

Anyone who knows me professionally knows that I'm very passionate about curriculum planning and Understanding by Design.  I was introduced to UbD about 3 years ago and each year I have learned more and more about the process.  

This year I took on a huge project of introducing the UbD process to 50+ teachers at my new school.  Most of the teachers had never heard of it before and were scared to make this change.  I understand that change is scary but I tried to reassure them that the process really does work.  

The UbD process allows teachers to teach content developmentally and with rigor to ensure that every child meets or exceeds the required content.  The most important thing about UbD is to "begin with the end in mind".  If you know what you want your students to learn...then lay it out!!  Show your students what you want them to know!  If you see that they already know a specific skill, then you don't need to spend as much time teaching that content.  You can spend more time focusing on the skills they are lacking and have plenty of time for remediation and enrichment. 

The next unit that we are working on is for Missing Numbers (Unknown Equations).  My students took the pretest this past week and there were several students that knew the simple equations and word problems.  The majority of the class struggled with "start unknown" equations and word problems.  Analyzing this data will show me what I need to teach in order for every student to master the concepts that I want them to know by the end of the unit.  Once students master those concepts, then I can enrich them with advanced content.  The pretest that I created in pictured below.  Click HERE or on the picture to download the pretest and post test.

At the end of the unit, it's important to reassess your students using the same format or types of questions.  You want to see if your teaching really worked and that your students really mastered the content that you taught.  I like to keep the test format the same and just change to numbers or words.

If your school is contemplating the implementation of Understanding by Design, please accept the challenge!!  It really is beneficial for teaching and learning!!  

GOBBLE! GOBBLE!! I'm back!!

HELLO ALL!!  It's been a very long time and this post is LOOOOONNG overdue!!  So...where have I been???  Well...I started a new job (at a new school of course...still teaching first) and I expected it to be an easy transition but I guess I'm just too hard on myself.  I've been slowly getting back to creating products to use with the current programs at this school and have finally found a way to balance it all.  Thank you all for being so patient with me!!  I'm so excited for the holiday season because I get to go home to see my family AND I will have the chance to whip up some really cute winter products!

As promised, since I have been away for so long, my two new products will be FREEBIES!!  Here they are:

This is a super cute, fall themed problem solving smart board presentation that focuses on addition word problems.  There are strategies like drawing picture and using a part-part-whole mat included. Click on any of the pictures to download!

 

 

 

  This FREEBIE will only be available until Dec.1, so get it now to use for this year or next! 


Next, is a subtraction mini book that focuses on different ways to solve subtraction word problems.  This is a true FREEBIE and will be available in my TPT store!  Check back soon for the matching subtraction word problem smart board presentation...it's almost done!

 

 

Have a wonderful week!!!
HAPPY MONDAY!!

Phil, Polar Bear's, and a SUPER SALE

Growing up in Pennsylvania, Groundhog Day was an extra special celebration because the famous groundhog, Phil, was just a few hours away.  When I was in high school, some people would even head to Gobbler's Knob for the day to catch Phil's prediction first hand.  We have been working on missing number word problems in math, so I decided to create a groundhog craftivity that incorporates missing subtrahend word problems.  I actually used it as an assessment tool to see what my students knew and what they needed to work on.  You can click HERE to download Phil's Blackberries.

  Even though Phil saw his shadow this year, which means that Spring is right around the corner, you can still get in one last winter animal activity.  Polar Bear's Missing Numbers is a math game containing  missing number and simple addition/subtraction word problems with matching fact cards. Click HERE to download.

 

We used "Polar Bear's Missing Numbers" as a cooperative learning team game and I helped my students create their own learning teams.  I had students volunteer to be the group leaders:  First, I chose 4 "readers" (they read the story problem)...they chose a table for their team.  Next, I chose 4 "writers" (they record the work for the problem)...they chose reader to sit with.  Then, I chose 4 "walkers" (they walk the answers to me to be checked)...they chose which team they wanted to join.  The readers from each group then chose the team "helpers" from the remaining students in the class to join their table.  Everyone had a role on each of the learning teams and they worked together to solve the problem.  The reader read the word problem to the group:  they worked together to find the answer, the writer recorded the work, and then the walker walked to the back table to find the matching fact card.  We had a race to see which team could answer the most problems correctly.  This activity was both fun AND eye opening because it really let me see what true team work looks like.  It helped me learn more about how to help my students be better team players as well.

You can be a team player this weekend!  Check out my TPT store for some amazing deals and get up to 28% off everything on Sunday.  All of my products have a reputation for being very reasonably priced, so you're getting a HUGE deal when you shop during this SUPER SALE.  

A big thank you to Ashley Hughes of "The School Supply Addict" for creating this SUPER cute sale button for us to use.  Check out her graphics on TPT...they're so cute!!  Have a safe and fun Super Bowl Sunday!  

Happy Shopping!!