So far, all of the maths lessons have been whole-class instruction, but now we are working on making maths groups. Yesterday, we did split into groups and did five rotations. We have been working on odd/even numbers for a few days, so one of the rotations had cards with numbers (10) and words (ten) and the students had to sort them based on whether they were odd or even. This worked well because the lower level groups could just use the number cards instead of the words and the more advanced groups could use both sets of cards and also order them from smallest to biggest (2, 4, 6, 8, etc.) Another rotation was playing the game "Snakes and Ladders" because we have been working on the 100s chart and counting. The third rotation consisted of the numbers 0-100 each on their own card. We told the students to sort them however they wanted, which allows room for differentiation between the groups. However, all of the groups ended up making a line of numbers starting at zero and going up. The fourth rotation was playing a card game called "Snap" where the kids have to decide what numbers are higher or lower than others. The fifth rotation was going onto the Mathletics website and working on their counting.

Many of the kids kept coming up to Tanya or me with problems because their group wasn't working together as a team. For example, they argued over who went first in the games, they grabbed a pile of number cards for themselves instead of letting the whole group look at them, they didn't like the color of the game piece they had, etc. This was interesting to observe because we haven't had the same problems during our reading and writing groups. In the maths groups, they actually have to share the materials, take turns, and listen to each other's ideas. In the reading and writing groups, they don't have to depend on each other to get anything done - they just have to do the same activity independently (most of the time). Teamwork is something that they really need to work on and that we need to discuss as a class. We could make a brainstorm list of what a good team looks like, what a good team member says/does, and why it is important to work as a team. I could also give them specific conflict-resolution strategies so that they can solve problems in their groups without the teachers. Some of the strategies are to give everyone a chance to say how they feel without being interrupted, listening to others, talking quietly, and then brainstorming a list of possible solutions. It won't be easy, but I believe that my students will be able to learn how to solve their own problems in a civilized manner if they are given the right tools to do so.

I have been planning all of the reading/writing groups and activities for week 6, which is exciting!