I have always struggled with bell-ringers/warm-ups. There. I said it.
The last couple of years I have tried to incorporate daily spiral review using a product I purchased, but I found editing and compiling each week's daily problems extremely time-consuming. And then I would get so frustrated when kids just sat there waiting until I went over the answers.
I have read Sarah Carter's Weekly Schedule, and I decided I wanted to incorporate something similar.
I knew I wanted to be alliterative. So this is what I came up with.
Magnificent Monday
I got this straight from Sarah's "Good Things Monday." Through a prompt in Google Classroom, students tell me something positive that has happened recently. Then I ask for volunteers to share.
I'm learning what matters to my students. I learn things I can use to kick off conversations with individual students. I also learn things that are challenging for them, such as when one said, "Well, there's not anything positive right now; we just learned my grandmother has cancer."
24 Tuesday
I learned last year that students enjoyed "24" and bought a set of cards from Amazon.
Students are shown a card with 4 numbers; they have to use all 4 numbers and any operations to equal 24.
They get to use their dry-erase pockets for this! We get to talk about expressions and the order of operations and grouping symbols.
Right now our cards have been a little simple, and I think they're ready for more of a challenge.
WODB/Would You Rather Wednesday
Our first day of school was a Wednesday, and I did a "Would You Rather..." Cheez-It activity. This website has lots of mathematical ideas. (BTW, I learned "Would You Rather" can also be an inappropriate game played among middle schoolers. Can't anything stay clean?!?)
Since then, I've done "Which one doesn't belong?" on Wednesday. There is a website with lots of options. I also purchased this ebook from MashupMath.
I think kids like an activity where there is no wrong answer and they can share their thinking. Some like sharing their thinking a little too much, LOL.
Two Truths & a Lie Thursday
I have always loved Two Truths & a Lie. Students are shown three mathematical statements. They have to determine which one is a lie and explain why it is the lie. TT&L is wonderful at exposing misconceptions.
I have a few TT&L slides from the MashupMath Instagram account. I also purchased the ebook.
Eventually, I will have students create their own TT&L statements to exchange with other students, using this idea from Sarah Carter.
Fall Back Friday
This was the hardest one for me to alliterate, LOL.
I wanted one day a week to include some spiral review.
The teacher who created the spiral review product I had been using developed a digital version! The review is now done via Google Forms. It is so much easier for me to edit, delete, or add questions.
I choose 5 questions. I tell students to do what they can; the 5 questions are "for information only," and I want to see what they remember and what we need to review. Since it is now no pressure and no stress, everybody tries SOMEthing. Even if they have to make a guess. They also like using their dry-erase pockets for "scratch work," so that makes the whole thing fun!
Then, over the weekend, I look at the results (I LOVE Google Forms) and pick two or three questions to talk about on Monday.
The process is so much less painless than what I was doing before.
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I really like my new schedule. Kids come to class knowing there will be something low-stress and maybe even a little bit interesting and fun to do. In the Back-to-School reflection I asked students to do, at least one student mentioned enjoying the different themes for each day's warm-up.
I am having to prep each week's activities, but they're not time-consuming, and next year they'll all be ready to go.
I feel like I'm addressing lots of different thinking processes and that students will benefit from the varied activities.
Thanks, Sarah Carter, for the idea!
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