Common Planning in Action

Show What You Know!

On the first day of school, the students at LBS had no problem showing that there was no summer slide!  Ms. Stennett's 4th graders were already getting down to business with place value and Mrs. Holness-Joseph's 3rd-grade students were taking a brain break right before the start of their math lesson.  It looks like they all mean business.

Back to School Give Away!

Can it be any clearer, that Billy the Marlin LOVES LBS, Ms. Batist and Math (yes, in that order)!  We had a great time as Billy the Marlin,  our friends from Marlins Ayudan and members from Kiwanis of Little Havana spent the morning giving school supplies to  our boys and girls.  We are very grateful for their generosity, love and support.  We look forward to another awesome year with our wonderful partners.

 

We Are Anchored in Excellence!

As August sets sail and September emerges, the teachers and students at Lenora B. Smith Elementary are Anchored in Excellence for the 2016-2017 school year.  We are a "C" school and the mathematics department is expecting great achievements this year.  Are you ready?

A Model Day

I was very excited that I had the chance to model a lesson with our 3rd graders. We will spend two days on estimating and the break apart strategy to add 3 digit numbers.  During today's lesson we reviewed rounding strategies and watched a Brain Pop Jr. video on the topic.  The children then had the chance to make their own meaning of the break apart strategy in cooperative learning groups using Base-10 Blocks and dry ease boards and makers. We then set sail on the day's objective in the TLC.  Days like this are truly some of the most enjoyable days of coaching, I love teaching! 

Math Lab @ LBS

Charting New Waters

As the first week of school comes to a close, I am very excited to see our Math Department on course for a successful school year.  On the first day of school our wonderful 5th grade teacher math and science teacher, Ms. Esposito made a huge splash with her students; as she led the students in a lesson on laptops, provided by Miami-Dade County Public Schools. 

DAY...

Well, I had to really put the petal to the metal and get the lab to a good place before the teachers came back.  Here's what I came up with so far... more work will be done later.

Day 3...

PROGRESS!

It may not look like much, but I made GREAT progress today! Really, I did, I promise:)

Soon, I will have new cabinets to store our materials. 

Day 2 :)

I was pleased with the progress I made on my first "unoffical" day back.  I was able to change all of the boards giving them a fresh start and take out lots of staples too :D.   My goal for day 2 was to get started with the details...take a look at what I came up with:)

After a little research on Pinterest, some outlinng done in my pad folio and shopping at a few stores, I gathered my supplies start the work of Day 2. 

 Since our school's theme is 'Sailing into "A" Bright Future," I decided that I wanted the Math Department's focus to be "anchored" in a few ideals. The letters are unfinished wood for about $1.30 each and the paint was $0.50 from a local hardware store (it's Oops Paint).

Here's the finished product. I'll show you what I did with this in a later post. :D

I added some sail boats and anchors as accents to the boards. 

I really liked this sailboat, so I couldn't leave the store without it. It's most likely going to be near my desk. 

And just in case anyone was wondering what L.B.S.'s destination is...we are headed for SUCCESS! 

Time to get to work.

This year I've decided to get a head start and set up my room.  Since our theme has changed I wanted to make some changes in the math lab as well.  I'll be blogging about the setup and the grand re-opening of the lab.   

 This is my desk area before I started removing the construction themed decor. 

 

It's great to start with a clean slate. 

I didn't take a before picture before I started taking things down. 

The fadeless butcher colored paper is the backdrop for all of the bulletin boards. The boards are trimmed in blue and white chevron pattern/ waves with sailboats and anchors as accents. 

My plan is to rearrange this area. I'm going to need a little help. 

All Aboard!

As we prepare for the 2015-2016 school year, I am very fortunate to have spent the last three years building the mathematics program alongside our awesome teachers, staff and students at L.B.S. During those three years we laid the foundation for solid work and established practices to help us build above "C" level.  

This year we are ready to meet the challenge of 'Sailing into "A" Bright Future.'  Where we are firmly anchored in solid practices, results and excellence.  

All Aboard as we set sail for a wonderful voyage of learning.  

STEM is Flying High at L.B.S.

The students in Mrs. Neblett-Williams, Ms. Pierre, Ms. Esposito and a number of other classes are ready for take off as they prepare and test their model paper airplanes for November's STEM competition.  Keep your flight plans open and check-in with us next week as we will crown a winner.

Math Teachers Love Storybooks Too!

On Wednesday night, we hosted our 3rd Annual Spooky Literacy Night and as you can see, our 4th grade math teacher, Ms. Esposito loves to read.  She pulled out her PJs and shared a Halloween Story with the students.

Creating Authentic Learning Experiences

One of the most fulfilling moments as a math coach is seeing a teacher delivering a well planned lesson that the students will remember for a very long time.  I am so excited that I had the pleasure of witnessing this first hand with Ms. Dixon and her 3rd grade students a few days ago.  During last week's common planning session Ms. Dixon, Ms. Cardona (Math CSS) and I wanted to ensure that the children had a lesson that would really break down the often difficult concept of line plots.  After a mini think-tank session about how we would tackle the task, Ms. Dixon researched a wonderful activity to extend what we discussed during planning.  Although I am always on the look out for wonderful classroom happenings, I was pleasantly surprised at what took place during Ms. Dixon's Line Plot Lesson, so much so, that I whipped out my iPad and started to record. Please take a peek for yourself. 

Fantastic Factors in Fourth Grade!

Students worked in cooperative learning groups to successfully arrange various layouts for a party using their knowledge of factors and arrays. The teacher reviewed the rubric and expectations for the lesson at the beginning of the activity.  The students naturally took ownership of the task, assumed job roles and worked diligently to complete the project.  This activity was a great way for students to use objectives taught in class and apply them to the real-world.  Kudos to our wonderful 4th grade teacher Ms. Esposito for showing the children that math is truly all around us.   

Music & Math Make Beautiful Music

We all know how much children love music. Why not teach challenging math skills through songs like our fabulous 5th grade teacher Mr. Ditzler?  Take a peak at some of our 5th grade students as they perform for their parents at LB.S.'s 2014 Open House.

What's the Chatter?

If you walk into any L.B.S. math classroom, you are sure to hear students discussing and justifying their answers with just about anyone who will listen. And how did we get here you're wondering... by using 'Math Talk Sentence Starters'. The teachers of L.B.S. explicitly instruct the students on how to use these accountable talk stems to bring their mathematical thoughts to life.

At L.B.S., we are definitely building a solid foundation for strong verbal math communication and we will soon begin construction on our next level... WRITING.

About Ms. B

Marijo

Introspective, understanding, loving and strong

Lover of teaching decimals, fractions and order of operations

Fearful of students not learning, manipulatives not being used and quiet classrooms

Wants to see more girls who love math, lots of technology infusion and roaming math classrooms

Taught math in Miami, Sweetwater, Hollywood, Miami Lakes, Liberty City and Allapattah

Born and raised in Miami

Batist

Laying the Foundation

At L.B.S we are off to another exciting school year where we are: Building Above "C" Level! The math classrooms are all abuzz as the students and teachers continue to construct the content rich environment that is quickly becoming known as the L.B.S. way.  So, please grab a tool and stay tuned because there is surely more to come! 

Happy Hammering, 
Ms. B