Differentiating in Counting BIG MONEY

In my field work I was teaching second grade students how to count money. 
I laminated a quarter, dime, nickel, and penny but made them big so all the students could see which one I was holding up. Within just a couple of days with working with the students I could figure out which students needed extra help and what kind of help they needed. Some students it was just them wanting my approval of their answer. Others they did not know the name of the coin but knew how much it was worth and vice versa. 
Before I started my lesson every day we go over the name of coins and amounts. I would then call on students to tell me how much I would have if had a certain amount of change. With my students who I knew I could give a bit more of a challenge to I would make sure make the amount of change greater. For those who were struggling a little bit I would make sure to make it easier for them to solve and I knew that would get it correct.
It can sometimes be embarrassing for students if they get the answer to a question wrong. I wanted to make sure that none of the students got the answers wrong when we were using the BIG MONEY. 

Towards the end of teaching this unit all of the students were able to independently count money on their own. 

Finding Ways to Differentiate

You never know as a teacher at the beginning of the year what kind of students you will have in your class.
What happens if you get a student who will not listen and cooperate?
What will you do help struggling readers?
What kind of discipline will you have to come up with for your students?
Sometimes the discipline you have planned out for the year will not work for some students. Sometimes you will have to find another way to help those students cooperate.
To help struggling readers you will have to find their strengths and weaknesses. You will most likely do this for all of your students. You will then have tier some of your lessons.
What happens if you get a student who is of a certain religion and cannot participate in some activities?
This happened to me as I was student teaching. I was teaching my lesson and was about to read a Christmas story and a little came up to me and said that she cannot read stories about Christmas. I had to think fast of what to do. I did not know this before, but because of her religion she cannot celebrate any holidays. I had the little girl choose her own book from the classroom library to read and gave her choice to read it in the hall or on the other side of the classroom. She went out in the hall to read. After we had finished reading the book I went to help her understand the meaning of the lesson that we were doing.
I feel like this is a hard situation for the teacher to deal with. The girl cannot celebrate birthdays, holidays, say the pledge or sing the National Anthem. If I were the teacher I would try my hardest to respect her religion but it sometimes hard for when students bring treats to share with the class for their birthdays, she cannot have one.
The teacher and the parents found a way to help this, the girl has her own bag of treats that her mother provided for her and it kept in the teacher's desk. Whenever someone brings a treat for their birthday the girl can have her own treat from her own bag that her mother provided her.
It is definitely hard to differentiate for this little girl especially during the holiday seasons, but I think my cooperating teacher has done a great job so far figuring out how to differentiate for the girl.

Differentiation Course 4620

In my Differentiation course I learned that it is important to make changes for students at all times when in need. I found this many times in my fieldwork. The students had different reading groups and would all be on different levels. I learned that students could move up a level very quickly once they catch on to something. To see these improvements in students is such a great feeling. I taught my math unit in about a week and half and I saw such a great difference in the students learning. Most of the student’s scores went higher once we took the post-test. It was great to see that differentiating for each student had helped him or her to succeed and understand. Sometimes differentiating a lesson needs to happen in different ways. You can differentiate the content, process, or product of the lesson either for students’ interest, learning profile, or readiness. What a great experience I had in field and a great way to find ways to differentiate. 

Tiering

To tier is a lot like differentiating. For example: 

As a teacher I could plan a lesson that includes all of my students but teir it so that it will fit each students needs. 

I could put students into groups according to what level they are on. To makes this easier I could copy their worksheets on different colored paper. This way they know where their groups are (if you are doing groups) or it helps me to grade their papers quicker. 

On the worksheets I could make them all look the same  but teir or change them to fit the students needs

Other Blog on Teaching Differentiation

This is a blog that I read just recently from my cohort friend Leslie. In her blog she quoted,

"Aiming high means, at least, that all tasks require serious thought, that they deal with important ideas, and that they cast students as problem solvers." 

It is great to read about other future teachers blogs and what they write about. It is great to hear how everyone thinks and how they understand things differently. It is great to read about different view points this helps me to expand my thinking and how I feel about things.

Just a Few Tips For Morning Meeting

Ideas from Jentry Youd.

• Do bell work after lunch. (2 math problems)
• Make school fun for them. That part is important.
• Character Ed. Lessons- These can be stories that students share that go alone with the theme for the week such as being drug free, bullies, love one another treat everyone the same, etc.
• Make it easy, make it fun, make it simple.
• If students are really chatty and loud in the morning when they walk in plan for them to play a quiet game. If they are sleepy and quiet then plan for a more outgoing game that gets them to talk out loud and excited for the school day.
• If the students are rowdy after morning meeting have them: Silent read, heads on table, have the students stand up and give three people a high five and sit down and be quiet. 
• Some extra ideas on morning meetings- Go online to Misses Golds Morning Meetings.

I think these are really great ideas and tips for morning meetings. I think that when I start my own class I will start to find some things here and there that can help with morning meetings. I will also find some things that will not work out as well and throughout the years that I teach with all of my experience, each class will be different so I may have to change some things about morning meetings here and there to fit each students needs. 

Morning Meeting Activities

In my opinion Morning Meetings are very important. I came up with some ideas for activities to do with the class for morning meetings.

Morning Meeting Activities 

Everyone hold hands in a line.  Take one hula hoop and the kids have to figure out a way to fit their body through the hoop without letting go of hands. The hula hoop has to go to everyone. The person at the end has to hold up the hula hoop with his free hand for the timer to stop. 

This can be practiced the first time or have it be timed at first time and then see if the children can beat their time. 

Play four corners

If class is loud and talkative play a quiet game. If they are quiet and tired play a louder game to get them excited for the day. 

Class stands in a circle, 

Class Chants, 

Hey Kylee, hey Kylee, what's something interesting you can do?

That person makes up an action such as patting their head and rubbing their belly while talking through the actions explaining to the class how to do it. 

Ex: "I pat my head and rub my belly!"

Then the class has to copy what that person said and did.

 And they chant:

"We pat our heads and rub our bellies!" Then move on to the next person in the circle. 

you can choose if you want every student to take a turn or choose just a few then let the rest of the students have a turn on different days. 

Class claps the syllables of each student's name. Go around in a circle.