Math Journal: "Tools for your Toolbox"

I have been asked time and time again about math journals… How do you use them?  What is the most effective way to structure them?  Can First Graders really use them as a tool?  How do you not get overwhelmed when using them??

The great thing about math journals is that there is not just one way to use them… they can be modified to fit your style and organizational preferences.

A few summers ago, I was lucky enough to attend the National Singapore Conference in Las Vegas.  One of the sessions I attended was taught by a third grade teacher.  She told us that every time she presented a new strategy, she would tell her students “it’s just another tool for your toolbox!”  Well, I don’t know if you have ever had this experience, but the more times she said that, the more it resonated with me.  I had an idea of how to help my students understand that strategies are tools. I decided to make my tools more literal.

Instead of just having a “Math Journal”, I transformed them into “Math Toolboxes”.  When I introduce them to my students, I make a big deal about how these will be something they can keep and look back on, add to, etc.  I tell them that every tool they add this year makes them more powerful. I also let them know that some tools they will use more than others and that some will be easier for them than others.  And that the best part is that they get to choose the tool they use when solving a problem.  By the time I am done talking about it, they are DYING to get their hands on one!
With each chapter we add something to their Toolbox.  I went online and found clip art tools and labeled them with each strategy that we cover. 

 To help build number sense, we make a chart that connects the numeral, word, and picture for each number.  (It is a lot of writing, but we make it fun by cheering them out as we write!)

 Here’s an example of cheering out the number word “two”:

Cheer Leader: “Give me a ‘t’”
Class: “t!”
Cheer Leader: “Give me a ‘w’!”
Class: “w!”
Cheer Leader: “Give me an ‘o’!”
Class: “o!”
Cheer Leader: “What does that spell?”
Class: “Two!”

We also mix it up by using different “voices” as we cheer… like a monster voice, a chicken voice, a football player voice, a crying voice, a sad voice, a happy voice, a British accent, a duck voice, a mouse voice, a ballerina, etc. (They will come up with some pretty fun ideas once they get going!)  I start as the “Cheer Leader” but once they get the idea, I have students take on that role. (They are always welcome to use a model!)

My students also do word problems, bar modeling, math journaling, and more all in their "Math Journal/Toolbox". The pictures below are just of the guided part of the process. We always come up with the definition and the example together as a class… it has allowed for some pretty powerful discussions! 

I hope they give you some ideas!!

 

This can be done with any shape... just another way to remember the concept of "whole" and "part".

When we start the teen numbers, we add in the ten frames.  We want to reinforce the idea of TENS and ONES in every way possible!!

  We start with a 50 Board.

  Amazingly, every single year, as we are filling in the chart for numbers 20-40, someone notices that the rows on the hundred chart match the number of tens and the individual boxes match the number of ones... YAY!  (Some years I start to get a little anxious, worrying that no one will say anything- but it never fails!)

 

For numbers to 100, we pretty much have the pattern figured out, we justdo a few to make sure we really understand how it works. (Some years we roll two dice to get the number we are working with, some years we have two different students just say a random number-- it doesn't really matter how you get them, just try and have a few of each.

You may also notice that on the last chart, I colored the lines vertically and on these, they are colored horizontally. First Graders should be exposed to both-- after all, they mean the same thing J

 

 

 

 

 

If you are interested, send me an email and I can share some of the fun with you! semvm0816@gmail.com

Just leaving a comment will not enable me to share the documents with you-- so be sure to send me an email! Teacher sharing is what makes this crazy job possible!!

After you try it out, come back and leave a comment to let us know how it went! :)

Have a SUPER day!
Sarah