The Language Arts Mind Builders have really revealed to me the need to cover grammar terms. The questions often have grammatical terms that the children aren't familiar with, like possessive noun. I know that can identify these words, they just didn't know they had a "name." The students have a reference book available to them during the work time which they are learning to use.
We did another evaluative thinking activity during our PETS time. Today they were give three pictures that belong in a set, then from another three pictures they had to pick one to go with the first set and tell why in a clear, concise sentence. Almost everyone got tripped up on at least one problem. The bases of criteria is that it must be factual and in this case must also fit ALL the pictures put into the final group. The explaining part is what was so difficult for the children. Many found it hard to put into words what they were thinking. After they told me out loud they were better able to put it in writing. There are a couple of students still struggling with the concept, which is ok as this is their first introduction to the idea of explaining with a factual basis on what could be abstract or random groupings.
Last, I shared the student written division problems with the whole class. I wrote the problems on the overhead and then the students had to solve each others problems. This was fun. Some were very challenging and others straight forward. This type of activity allows each child to rise to their ability level. It's a great way for me to see where they are in their mathematical understanding. Most of the students that didn't include division didn't because they missed that part of the assignment when reviewing the directions. We will wrap up the division unit next week and then move on to a Lewis and Clark Unit.
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