DMIC Lessons Week 8

This week we had two lessons - one on Tuesday and the other on Wednesday, where both groups (each group is half the class) solved  the same problem on each day.

I mixed up the groupings so they were very mixed and students were grouped with people they aren't normally with. While the first group solved the problem, the first group worked independently on skills-based basic facts drills/practising, and then they swapped. Not following the DMIC protocol, I didn't get the first group to share back before inviting the second group down. So the first group solved it (didn't share back), then the second group solved the problem, then ALL the children sat together and we took turns to present together.
I was really pleased with how this maths went this week, as it got more complex each day and most of the class was able to grasp the big ideas that were being presented to them.

My personal goal was to facilitate more discussion/practise with the small group before they got up to present, so that their presentation went better and I didn't have to intervene while they presented.
On Tuesday, only one group presented and then I facilitated the second headphones price with the whole class (this was due to time constraints).

On Wednesday, a different group shared each of the four 'shops' price solutions then I lead a discussion about how percentages/fractions are the same (half is 50%, quarter 25%, etc) and students could understand what I was talking about.

Overall I was really pleased with how changing the groups, and only sharing back once at the end (when both halves of the class solved the same problem). I found the discussion was a lot easier because we weren't limited by the number of kids, kids confidence levels, spoken English ability (or lack of), etc. It ran much smoother.

This was Tuesday's question -
"Miss Ashley is buying a fathers day present for her dad. She looks at two headphones at different shops. The first headphones are $19.99 with 15% off, and the second are $24.99 with 25% off. Which will be cheaper?"

 This was Wednesdays question

Miss Ashley is looking to buy a new TV for her house. She went to different stores, but needs help to figure out which is the best deal. 

The Warehouse has a TV for $199.99 and has ¼  off the price. Noel Leeming has a TV for $199.99 with 20% off. Harvey Norman has one for $229.99 with half off. An online store has a TV for $249.99 with 30% off. 

Which one will be the cheapest and by how much?

Our solving/sharing together..

Finding 10% first, then halving it to get 5%. Then subtracting to get the sale price.

Rounding to the nearest whole number to make it easier for themselves.

Students were able to use place value knowledge to find quarter - they knew quarter of 20 was 5, so they knew that quarter of 200 was 50.

Three lots of 10% makes 30%. Then subtracting to get sale price.

two lots of 10% makes 20%. Then subtracting to get the sale price of $160.

Using place value to find half. 

Difference between most expensive TV and cheapest TV.

PB4L Conference - Takeaways

For teachers/readers of this blog, I understand that reading notes from a conference when you weren't there, usually makes absolutely no sense at all. So here are a few things you can take away and use straight away, without any context..

1. Read this article about anxiety in children. It is a real, on-going issue with serious consequences for children that affect them daily. We should all be conscious of childhood anxiety and depression. See my notes about it here. 
2. Sparklers  - pre-made activities to help facilitate social and emotional development of children "Sparklers is a free wellbeing toolkit full of fun and simple activities to help tamariki learn about their own mental health and wellbeing. Sparklers actively teaches tamariki how to manage big emotions, draw upon their strengths, connect with others and be ready for learning."
3. I didn't get this link from this conference, but I still have the tab open and its awesome, so will share it anyway. Really cool digital art activities.
4. This image and its explanation are probably the most fundamental mind-shift from this conference. Read more here.