I don't know about you, but I feel like everything I had planned for this summer did not happen! The summer flew by and life happened!
At the beginning of summer I started "Mommy School" with my boys. My oldest is going into 2nd and my middle guy is going into Kindergarten. I found Jamie's (aka Diary of a Not so Wimpy Teacher) Second Grade Math Journal Freebie for Xavier and immediately fell in LOVE with it!
I praised Jamie on FB for how awesome her problems were and how much I loved seeing my guy challenged just enough on the few samples he completed. She then asked if I would like to do a review of the product....um...YES!! I haven't gotten to whole punch and put it all in a binder yet, but our large clip is doing a great job thus far.
Xavier checked out the cover page, there is one for girls as well. He LOVES math and it is his strongest subject. I was impressed with his ability to answer many of the prompts, he only needed a few vocabulary words reviewed in order to complete some of the prompts.
These are my favorite two pages in the whole packet! First as a classroom teacher I often forget what prompts have been completed and what still needs to be addressed. The Math Prompt Checklist page is a life saver! It makes keeping up with the prompts and planning so much easier...it's the little simple things that help us stay organized :)
The Math Journal Sentence Prompt page is AMAZING! As a parent and as a teacher this page is extremely helpful to both the parent and the student. I would require my students to keep a copy of this page in their homework folder so parents can have a better understanding of how students are to explain their thinking or reasoning. Everyday we worked on the journal prompts he completed 1-3 (like I said he LOVES math) prompts and I required him to use a different sentence started for each of the day's prompts.
Each journal prompt includes the CCS, a workspace to work out each problem, and a place for students to explain their thinking.
Xavier is also a strong writer (I'm not just saying that because I'm his mom :) ) and doesn't mind explaining his thinking in writing...now I am dreading this moment with my rising Kinder...that's going to be painful!
For those kiddos who struggle with writing the Sentence Starters will be a great place for them to start. I have to give a KUDOS to his first grade teacher, I was very impressed with how well Xavier used the question to help him write his answer. He knew to go back to the question to find words for spelling help and for phrases to help him write his complete sentences.
Jamie also has a 100 Prompt Math Journal for 3rd Graders. I am going to HIGHLY encourage my third grade team to purchase this product! It will be beneficial not only to them, but to their students as well! I will be purchasing this one next summer :)
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