Oh The Journey Continues

My Fosnot adventure continues to roll on and we are moving forward. I would like to share a few stats for you.

I did a test based on an investigation and the kids stunk the joint out. They did poorly and were confused by some of the wording. They did do well using the ratio tables but struggled to understand the whole picture. I have made a reflection of this test part of a Growing Post the students are doing. What a great way to review a test!!

Then I gave the students a test on the Strings we have been using in class. Strings being clever mental math strategies to add and subtract fractions. I was pleasantly surprised to see that most students achieved a higher level than in previous years. Most of the 50%ers now were in the 65%range and some questions were done properly where hey had never been done before.

2 3/5 - 1 4/5 always used to be a stickler. Kids needing to borrow or change the mixed number. Kids realized the values of the fractions and figured it out. I am impressed with their conceptual knowledge.

I have the kids creating voicethreads on the 2nd test. They are learning the powers of the tools this new web is giving to them.



We are playing with multiplying and dividing of fractions and will be doing this into January. Then the rest of the curriculum will come into play.

My message is that Fosnot Strings WORK.


Learn about them and start using them with your classes.

Ahh Voicethread how thee helps me ......

Reluctance to talk. There has been an epidemic of quietness in my classes this week. Time to break the silence or atleast make the silence work for me.


Enter voicethread. We just finished an investigation using Ratio tables and other methods to solve a problem about Frank's Farm Produce. The students attacked it well and we needed to congress. This is when the quiet disease struck. Reluctance to talk was rampant in all 4 rooms. How to get them to talk. I spent time last night posting their investigations to voicethread. We used them on the smartboard during the congress. This was cool due to the zoomability of voicethread. The kids loved the novelty of the new technology and have started leaving comments they should of... some did some didn't.. spoken during class at the voicethread.

I made a small competition out of it and am curious to see what happens. If there is full participation 150 comments should be at each of the voicethreads.

Here they are my faithful readers. Comment away if you dare but please tell the kids where you are from in the world. Oh yeah and since it is a competition between the rooms... comment 4 times or pick your favourite number.

Room 73



Room 41



Room 17



Room 16

Ah it is fall and my K12 is done!!

I decided to go out for a run and this is a trail close to my house. It is called the Harte Trail and was an old railway line. Hope you enjoy the pics and please leave comments behind at the voice thread.