Engage NY Homework Calendar and GIVEAWAY!!

My first big Teachers Pay Teachers project is FINALLY finished! I worked really hard to get all of the calendars for 2015/2016 updated and ready for purchase. The students really loved my calendars last year and they were one of the most frequently mentioned items in my end of the year student survey. If you want to know more about why I use these homework calendars instead of the regular engage homework please see my earlier blog post that talks ALL about it HERE. 

My completed calendar bundle includes....

• 10 editable homework calendars for the 2015/2016 school year along with extras and answers keys.
 
• 1 show your work page that can be printed front to back and kept in the classroom for students to use as needed. 

• Parent Introduction Letter

• Student/Parent Expectations Letter and Online resources page. 

If you would like to check out my completely editable calendars for yourself visit my TPT store. 


The first 10 people who follow my blog and leave a comment with an email address will get the August calendar pack for FREE.

Engage NY Stations - A Station: Assessment

Objectives/Resources Used: The focus at A station is to assess previous learned content and allow students to use math talk to build strategies and reinforce skills learned. At this station I use the Engage NY Exit Ticket from the previous day's lesson. Depending on the skill I may have them work alone or with their groups using math talk. If they are working alone they can discuss the answers together after. 

Classroom Set Up: 

On my Station Board under A I write the page number of the Exit Ticket they need to complete and I write Alone or With Groups. For this station students use their own materials and must sit at a seat to work away from other stations. I do have a table area just for this station so when they are working in their groups they know where to go. 

Examples:

• For Engage NY Lesson 1 the Exit Ticket is 1.A.12 so students will complete the exit ticket and then discuss their answers with their group. 

Accountability/Assessment: One quick check I have in place is level checks. We use level check a lot in small group by holding up fingers to show what level they feel they are on. Level 3 means that they feel they have mastered the skill and are ready to move forward no problem. Level 2 means they feel they understand the skill but need a little more practice with it before moving on. Level 1 means they are stuck and don't know how to move forward on their own. 

For A station students turn in their Exit Ticket in to the basket level they think they are. Level 3 is a green basket, 2 is yellow, and 1 is red. I can try to quickly check the work when stations are over and students are doing their problem set. 

Engagey NY/ Guided Math Stations: Updates and Details

My first station post was WAYYY back from last October. As always I have changed and tweaked some things since then. I just wanted to share some of those updates here. If you missed that first post you can read it in all it's lengthyness(not a word..) HERE. 

My first project for Summer was to redo my station board for back to school. I really love how it turned out just need to keep it safe (which is hard in this wild house I live in) until I can get it to a laminator. It already had tomato juice dropped on it which will bother me forever and no one else will probably ever notice....

How I use this board in my classroom:

I teach 3 rotations of math so I needed something that I could easily use to organize my students for all of my classes without taking up too much space. My 4th grade team and I gave each rotation a color since we do not switch by homeroom but by mixing the students up as needed. Those are the colors you see at the top. Green is my first class that comes in, then blue, then red. 

Within each rotation I do 2 groups for centers/small group instruction. Those are indicated by the lighter and darker colors and the 1/2. Group 1 comes to small group for the first 30 minute rotation while group 2 starts in stations then they switch. I put all of my students names on the board with white board marker (I change them as needed usually once a week). Wherever there name is on the board that is where they start stations. I usually have 23-30 students per class and try to evenly split them for each group so in each station I have 2-4 students max. This has been the key to successful stations in that they are small enough groups that the students are quiet and stay on task. 

The bottom row with the colored boxes is where I write the objective or task for each station. I go over the stations but having the tasks written out allows the students to see what they need to get done without having to remember everything. They can go to the board if they forget or were maybe distracted when I explained things. 

Behavior: 
The most important thing in implementing stations is establishing clear norms and expectations from the beginning. The first week of school we practice each station as a whole class and we create norms together. What things do we need to do in the station? What do others need to do so that it goes well? How do we use the materials and tools? 

Once we have created all the norms students get a copy for their math notebooks and I post a large copy next to our station rotation poster. The students LOVE stations and I use that to my advantage. I give and take away class points ("smilies") for class behavior and we have a competition each week. The class that gets the most earns the title "Classy Class" and they get a reward like extra recess, dance party, pick their seats etc. Any class that fails to earn points or loses a lot of points will lose stations for the week. They hate this! Many times when a class loses stations they come back with a bang and earn that Classy Class title right away. 

Accountability: 
A lot of people ask me how I know the students are completing the tasks at the stations and that they are getting them done correctly. I have had students turn in their station work or keep it in their binder. I created a station tracking and reflection sheet for students to use. It allows me to quickly see if they got their work done and that they understood the tasks. I made some aligned to each Engage lesson but I also made a general one that could be used for any lesson. You can grab your own copy HERE. 

I do not think it is necessary for students to write down and turn in all of their work but it is good to have something that you can check periodically to make sure. For the most part the students do what is expected in stations. There may be only certain students who have to use the sheet until they can prove they get their work done. I know I will never be able to check the station work every day for all 80 students but checking weekly or randomly keeps the students on their toes and getting things done.

I have created a short blog entry to explain each station and have given an example of what it looks like. I am going to add pictures and more info. as the year goes on.   

M - Math Mastery

A - Assessment 

T - Toolbox Builder

H - Hands-On

S - Self Study

Engage NY Homework

While the engage homework is great I hate sending it home the day of the lesson. Homework shouldn't be a household burden it should be work students are confident in to practice. It also can be hard assigning the homework especially if you don't assign the whole thing (which I feel is a punishment to the kids after a long day of school!). My homework board would look like this Monday - HW Page 1.A.27, Problems 1 a,e,g and 2, and 4 ALL < That is confusing even for me! I also struggle with sending home old homework as students lose the worksheets before we need them or they lose the problem set so they do not have that direct model. In my class I have a few different things going on instead of the actual Engage Homework sheets. 

***I am very lucky to have very few students without internet at home. For students without access I do assign old worksheets and we create the packets together at the end of each week.

Tenmarks.com - I LOVE this site! It gives online practice that really challenges the students. It also gives great reports on their progress through specific standards. I teach different levels of math so I can assign other grade levels of work if necessary. Best part is it's FREE. There is a paid option but I love the free option so I haven't needed to look much further. My students are required to complete 2 tenmarks assignments each week. I assign way more than this and they can pick areas they want to work on. Many students do way more. 

xtramath.org - I need my students to be practicing their facts outside of school because the fluency mastery is just terrible yet I do not have the time to spare during the day. My students are expected to sign in to xtramath at least 4 times a week to do fluency. I start them at addition! Again this site is free! 

Spiral Activities - Along with these online requirements I give out a math spiral each week. I actually made a booklet for each quarter and only 3 students have lost it during the quarter(not bad!). The spiral covers all CCSS Domains each week this way even though we haven't taught fractions yet in Engage my students are using the vocabulary and practicing it all year. They also have weekly tests you can give that match the work students completed that week. I do not give these weekly and when I do it is not for a grade. I use it for our data folders. Students log how they are progressing through the standards and select one area to focus on while also listing one area they feel confident in. The kids actually really like the spiral and it is easy for parents to understand as well. If you want this amazing spiral you can get it HERE. I even got our 5th grade math teacher to buy it! 

Engage Practice - Okay so with all of this going on I still want my students to practice that Engage level work. I also needed a way for families to easily understand the different math homework requirements since obviously this is not just a worksheet each night. I created a monthly calendar that has all of this information along with a problem to complete each night Monday - Thursday. Students complete the work on a separate sheet of paper and turn it in at the end of the month. We still discuss the nightly problem each day in class. October is actually the first month I have tried out the calendar and parents are really loving it! I put it on TPT for free and am in the works of making more calendars. The questions are from Engage but they are review. Most of the questions for October Review Module 1 and 2. November will have Module 1, 2, and 3 and so on. Check out my calendar and give me some feedback please HERE!!

How do you do homework with Engage NY?