I posted the picture above on Instagram of one of my students working during Math Workshop and received many messages about how I use this activity! I decided that a blog post with pictures of how I set this up should help anyone who is interested in doing something similar in their classroom.
Before I begin there are a few things you should know.
-I teach 5th-grade math in South Louisiana. The problems I use in this activity are found from our test bank on LouisianaBelieves.com Of course, 5th-grade skills are often very similar and these questions can very well work for your state or area as well.
-I have roughly 30 minutes of RTI (response to intervention) time built into each of my 3 Math blocks. I have used this activity in my classroom in my previous district where I did not necessarily have this time built into my schedule. This activity served as an early finisher activity for many years in my classroom.
-I have multiple activities going on at once during RTI time. This is just one. I can go into depth in later posts about the other options I have during Math Workshop in others are interested!
-I sometimes have between 2-5 students assigned to this activity. They can work by themselves or with someone else.
What is Basic or Better?
I titled this activity “Basic or Better” due to the scoring of our state testing. Our state has different levels of achievement. The different levels of achievement in order of high to low is, Advanced, Mastery, Basic, Approaching Basic, and Unsatisfactory. My school strives to have our students be proficient or better by scoring “Basic or Better.” Our students are very aware of their scores and are active in setting goals for themselves.
After grading tests, I began to realize that my students needed more practice with earning ALL point in constructed response questions. I created a binder where students can practice grading sample responses.
This is the binder that holds all of the questions. My students know to come to this binder, grab what they need and leave it there for any other students assigned to this activity this day.
What is inside the binder?
When students open the binder, they are greeted with a self-explaining directions page along with student worksheets that will be filled out during the activity.
The directions page is motivating and placed in a sheet protector! I try to make the directions as easy as possible to follow. This makes life easier after a long break or if I receive a new student!
The student worksheet is a simple worksheet that students use to reflect on points earned. It also encourages students to state how out each response can always be improved! I love seeing how they improve the given responses!
I keep the copies of these worksheets in the front sleeve of the binder. My students know to let me know before they use the last copy so I can make more copies.
Sample problems
After creating the directions, I printed each task and completed the tasks similar to the patterns my students show when completing constructed responses. When completing the tasks, I tried to make the same common errors I see when grading assessments.
At the top of each task, I wrote the name of a fictitious student. Students u
Many of my students choose to work on this activity as a pair. They often grab a sheet protector like shown above and go back to their desks. They each have a recording sheet and discuss the points earned.
Last, once my students finish with the activity they come to this binder to file their work among the sections for each math workshop activity. They simply file their work in the “Basic Or Better” section. I often encourage visitors in my room to view what is in this binder. I pull work from this binder to put on my bulletin board outside my room.
Interested in this activity?
As I mentioned, this is created from my states released practice test items that can be found on their website. All that was done by me was to re-type the problems and attach the rubrics.
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