The Goodrich Way

Math isn’t just about the paper and pencil work here in second grade!

We have been having fun all year working together to solve problems, justify our thinking

and moving from passive listeners to actively participating!

Let's take a look at one way we have been engaged and helping to make sure

we all understand what we are learning!

Our last module in math focused on shapes, fractions and time. To review for

our upcoming assessment we used a Kagan Structure called numbered heads

together. However, to amp it up students were in a

competition to build a puzzle. The first team to complete their puzzle was the

winner…. but…. what they don’t know is that they are all winners!

A question was given to students. They had to write the answer to question on their whiteboard or make the time on a clock. During this time students have to come up with their own thinking and not allowed to talk or share.

Students then put their heads together and share their answers. However, they are not allowed to just say my answer is _____. They always have to explain how they reached the answer. During this time it is important for all to come up with a consensus. This is the part I love listening in on. I can really tell if students really understand the concept or skills we are working on. They must work as a team to teach and make sure they are all accountable for the answer.
During this time I heard some students say:
"Well, I think you mixed up the hour hand the minute hand."
"Remember the hour hand is the small one who has all the power!"
" I think it should be a quarter to 4 not 3 because...."

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 Next, I would randomly call out a number from 1-5 using a dice to decide who has to answer.  All of the numbers called out from each table have to stand to show me their answer and be ready to explain how the team reached their finale answer. At this point they are no longer able to discuss or ask a team member for help! At the start this is where we had to have some good conversations about team work and making sure we are all accountable to knowing not just the answer, but being able to speak how or why they have the answer on their board. They learned to quickly work together and make sure they were all taking part. It was not fun to let our teammates down.

                                                 
                   Once a team found out if they had the correct answer they did a team cheer! 


If they had the answer correct, the person who answered for the team was able to go back to the back table to grab a puzzle piece.  May times we couldn't wait to go grab a piece and found ourselves jogging to grab the piece to add to our puzzle!