I taught 3rd grade in Texas for 15 years.  I had the opportunity to administer several Texas Assessments....including the STAAR.  Each year, teaching geometry to prepare for the assessment seemed a bit of a mystery.... especially the 3 dimensional shapes. As I taught the attributes of the 3 - D shapes, I had unanswered questions.  Let’s just say that I didn’t feel that I was knowledgeable in this area, and the information given to me to teach the skill was not much help.  I did the best I could and even did some outside research, which helped a little bit, but didn't clear up my main questions.  I have changed grade levels since then and hadn’t given it much thought until now.  As a 1st grade teacher, I have recently began having the same questions that I had as a 3rd grade teacher.  We are going to be introducing Geometry soon, so I am feeling the need to make sure I am teaching my first graders correctly. So... more research to see if I can find the answers this time.

Here are the questions that had been perplexing me:

•Do cones, spheres and cylinders have faces, edges and vertices?  If not, why do all of the worksheets ask questions about it?

•Do you treat cones, spheres and cylinders just as 3 dimensional figures with polygons as faces?

I had always thought that 3-d shapes with curved edges should not have the same types of questions as the shapes without curved edges.  I thought that asking for the faces, edges, and vertices on shapes with curved edges was confusing.  But, it seemed like every product I could find asked those very questions.  Including my own! 

Finally, I found my answers.... on a Released STAAR Assessment. As a 3rd grade teacher, I had noticed that the questions on the assessments never asked about faces, edges and vertices on shapes with curved edges. 

So, I decided to look at what questions were being asked about 3-D shapes.  I thought that finding questions about 3-D shapes might clear things up.  I was so RIGHT! Here is a snip of the questions that answered my questions. 

(3rd Grade STAAR 2016) As well as a snip about the vertex of a cone.  Click the link for more information.

CHECK THIS OUT!

The answer is "F".  Just as I suspected  The 3-D Shapes with curved edges do not have vertices.  Look at answer choice "H".  They also do not have edges.

Clearly these shapes have edges, but the edges they are referring to are straight edges.  The same goes with vertices.  (See snip above.) So... we need to be teaching our students that when we look for faces, edges and vertices, we are looking for flat faces and straight edges.  And also, we need to  share the information above about the vertices (vertex) of any shape.

 

So, with this finding, I will stop asking the wrong questions about 3-D Shapes with curved edges.  And I will pass this information along to my coworkers.

 

 

I hope this has helped you in your quest to be the Best Teacher possible. 

I know I will be teaching differently now!

 

I am working on a product for primary geometry at this time.

I will be posting it within a couple of weeks.  :)

Here's a sneak!!

This page is part of an anchor chart for teachers to build.  Notice, I have added some clarifying adjectives about the attributes of the shapes. (Flat Faces and Straight Edges) I feel that this will make it easier to understand and answer the questions. 

 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Carrie

credits:  Whimsy Clips, KG Fonts

 

 

 

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#Smashingstrategies on TpT!

The word study portion of a guided reading lesson should be quick and easy.  Just a quick jumpstart to your lesson.

This can feel very rushed...... sometimes only hitting the surface of what my students need the most!

AND.....Sometimes, I want to spend more time on word study.  Sometimes.... I want to spend the entire time on phonics because I know my students really need it.

To determine who needs this type of phonics session, I can use a quick assessment (see below)  or just use my anecdotal records.

When I do this, I call it a Phonics STRATEGY GROUP.

This is when I pull a group of students that need help in one specific area of phonics such as the CVCE rule.

I could certainly do sound boxes or flash/picture cards with dry erase boards and lots of other activities, but I really want my young learners to be reading sentences and using comprehension skills while practicing phonics.

How do I do this?  I use Phonics EMERGENT READERS.

I can get my students reading, answering questions and learning new vocabulary while doing  fun and engaging phonics lessons!  Repeated familiar text gives students the confidence they need to want to keep reading.  Pictures for the target sound makes the work easier to remember for a better chance for success later.  What a great combination to make word study time a huge success!

Before you begin, you'll want to know who needs your Phonics Strategy Group. See below a Pre-Test with real and nonsense words to assesses the needs of your students in the

CVCE Phonics Rule also known as Magic "e".

Student reads from this page.

 

Teacher Records onto this page.

Save this page for your records.

Use the Pre-Test to determine this.... or just use your great teacher judgment.  We know our kids best.  Students will read from the student page while you are marking on the recording sheet. To save copies, place the student page in a plastic sleeve and use over and over. These pre-test and post-test make great records for RTI and Parent Conferences.  You can use the post test to show growth or lack of growth.

 Once you have determined who needs the

STRATEGY GROUP, use the Phonics Emergent Readers

to practice learning the target sound.  Check out this

Magic "e" Emergent Reader for Long I!

 Using the Emergent Phonics Readers, you will be able to build a solid phonics foundation while giving your students confidence and enthusiasm for reading.

Here's how they work:

After students have read the page, they must

answer a simple yes or no question about the pictures.  They should also be able to justify their answer by telling why.

The picture support really helps if students are having trouble with the targeted phonics rule.  The more practice they get, the less they will need the picture support.

 If you copy the readers in black and white, students
can write right on the page.  They love this!

If you copy the readers in color, you can laminate them before using them and students can write right on the page, too.

 Sometimes the questions are tricky ..... just to make sure students are paying careful attention to the pictures.

This is a great way to start conversations about why the answer is "no."  Students need to know their prepositions to answer correctly.  (Great for ELLs)

At the end of each EMERGENT READER is an activity page.

Students can go back in the book to find how to spell each word if necessary.

Once the Emergent Reader has been practiced for a minimum of 3 to 4 times, you will want to give each student the Post-Test to see if they have made progress and hopefully mastered the Targeted Skill.

Because the rule is the same for all of the vowels in the CVCE family, you should begin to see growth by the end of this Phonics Emergent Reader Series.

These Phonics Emergent Readers are so easy to put together.

Just copy the pages you need using two sided copies.

Simply cut the pages in half and staple on the side.

Bam! You have 2 Books ready to use!

When I pull strategy groups using these

Phonics Emergent Readers,

my students have so much fun learning.

They are always on task and highly engaged.

I run this strategy group just like a guided reading group.

I have each student read their Emergent Reader to themselves and I listen to each child read.  If they have been successful, I allow them to complete the activity page and then color the pages using markers.  (Mr. Sketch or other smelly markers give a great incentive and make learning fun!)  The book then goes into their folder to take

home to read to an adult.

They feel confident and successful.

I usually do a strategy group once a week while having regular guided reading groups the other 3 or 4 days.

Click to Check out these other EMERGENT READERS.

 

 Each Emergent Reader has 8 pages including the activity pages.  It takes approximately 20 minutes to complete the book and activity page.  Students should read the book at least 3 times to have sufficient practice to master the skill covered in the readers.

Free! A fun companion product to 

Magic "e" Emergent Readers!

         

Enter to win! a Rafflecopter giveaway

Check out the other ladies that are participating!



Thank you for stopping by!

Carrie