I just finished grading the math test we gave yesterday at the end of the first 3rd weeks. This was a short, 5-question test that covered a few pretty basic topics that we've been going over. One question was about place value, one was expanded form, one was word form, one was a number pattern, and one was completing a piece of a hundreds chart.

Overall, I can't be too displeased with the grades. There were several 100s, which is always nice. I made a HUGE deal while monitoring the test about how I would be taking off points if work was not shown. We've talked about making place value charts, displaying the rule for a number pattern, etc. I did have to CONSTANTLY remind certain kids of this possible point deduction throughout the course of the test, but it does seem to have sunk in with several of the kids. Nobody made a 100 who didn't display their thinking and work.

Usually, at the beginning of the year, getting the kids to show their work is like pulling teeth or catching a leprechaun. VERY difficult and arduous. It's been no different this year. The homework situation has NOT been pretty. But this test I graded shows me that the tide IS turning.

That's always a positive note.

Fate can be a fickle thing. Sometimes it showers you with money, sometimes it drenches you in... well, let me take a step back.

Today was an average Friday. One kid out for truly bizarre reasons, one kid tattling on another for something he didn't even witness, one horribly written math common assessment.

First of all, when a question says, "How many miles do Mr. Pride still need to drive?" somebody needs to call out the grammar police. But when the very first question doesn't even have a correct answer choice to go with it, I just get really upset for even having to waste my time giving the test.

The question read, "Donna invited 20 friends and 6 relatives to her birthday party. Only 13 of her friends could come to the party. Which is the best way to find the total number of people who came to Donna's party?"
A) 20+6-13
B) 20-6-13
C) 20-+6+13
D) 20-6+13

Nevermind the fact that Donna herself would be at the party, the correct answer should have been 13+6. To get answer A, which is undoubtedly the answer the writer was going for, the question should have said that 13 of her friend could NOT come to the party.

Ugh.

Anyway, after the school day was over, I was treated to the discovery of two quite opposite findings.

First, as I reached the bus that I have duty at, I noticed an election sign lying on the grass. Several kids were standing around it, pointing and gibbering, and some of them were stomping on it. I went over to move it, but as I grabbed it and picked it up by the paper portion, one kid started shouting, "NO NO NO!!" I thought, ooh, maybe somebody put it there to mark an ant mound, I better watch out. But no, as I looked down, there were no ants. Merely 4 of the biggest, beefiest dog turds I had ever seen. Apparently, the sign had been holding back the smell as well as the sight of these cylinders, so I carefully put the sign back in place.

Later though, on my way out of the school, I found a dollar bill lying in the middle of the hallway. The only teacher nearby laid no claim on it, so I seized it as my own!

From dog poop to greenbacks, all in the course of a school day. What a life.

Well, we gave a subtraction test this past Thursday, and MOST of my kids did pretty well. Which is a good thing, since we've been practicing subtraction pretty extensively for the past 2 weeks!!

The good news is that I started the year with about 4/5 of my kids thinking that 2-8=6 (not regrouping), and now I only have 4 or 5 kids that still do that on a regular basis. In fact, one of the questions on the test was "How do you know when you are supposed to regroup on a subtraction question?" I am pleased to say that all but about 3 of the kids answered something to the effect of "When you have a tiny top and a big bottom."

Of course, some of my kids who still don't regroup got that question correct, so they KNOW when they are supposed to regroup in theory, they just don't put it into practice...

What disappointed me was the other short answer question. Much like on our addition test, where I was looking for the word 'SUM,' I posed a similar question on this test:

What is the math word that means "the answer to a subtraction problem?"

The answer, of course, is "Difference." This is something that we have talked about repeatedly, used in word problems, and it was even up on the board on a Clue Word list. However, I only had 16 kids (out of 40) that got this question correct.

Wrong answers included the following:

Sum (I guess they missed it on the last test and hoped to jump on the bandwagon this time)

Check your work (Good advice, but does not answer the question)

How many more

Take away

Compare

Left (These words at least are subtraction clue words, but still don't answer my question)

Subtract (Too obvious, kid)

And my personal favorite (*SARCASM ALERT!!*):

Addition.

Yeah, the answer to a SUBTRACTION problem is called "The Addition."

Just when I thought we had mastered the concept of opposites...

Our first 6 weeks grading period ended last Friday, and the grades are officially locked in place. We gave a cumulative math exam on Friday, and I was pretty pleased with the results overall. In my morning class, all 22 kids passed (above 70), and in the afternoon class, I still had a 30, a 45, and a few in the 60s, but the others did well -- and that one kid went from a 17 to an 80!

I'm starting to think there's hope yet.

This week has been rough, as we've given benchmark tests every morning. However, for the limited time we've had, the kids have done pretty well each day. Granted, we are going over 2 and 3 digit addition with regrouping, something that should be pretty easy for them. But they are all showing their work and making the effort, so that's nice to see.

Tomorrow is the math benchmark. Typically, these things are atrocious, especially the first one of the year, but I have high hopes. My kids know place value. They know how to round. They know how to write a number in word form and expanded form. Most of them understand how to find a missing number in a pattern. These are the things that should be tested. The problem usually arises in the wording of the questions. Some of them are ridiculously over-worded or use vocabulary that nobody outside of Harvard would ever use.

I seem to recall a question one year that asked, "What time does Tommy go to folklorien class?"

What The Folk-lorien???

After several months of hot, hot weather, a still-hasn't-ended rainstorm started late Friday night. This brought the temperatures way down and made things a lot wetter. It also maybe (?) curbed some behavior problems I've been having.

Actually, I think it has a bit more to do with some other things I've been implementing. I've started a table competition, where each table (there are 6) starts with 10 tally marks on the board at the beginning of the day, and they lose marks through bad behavior, not showing work, etc, and they gain marks through participation, doing homework, etc. The table with the most tally marks at the end of the day gets an extra blue ticket per person.

My second class is slowly but surely shaping up. There are still a few talkers and kids who don't pay attention. But where it had been around 18 out of 22, now it's down to around 5 out of 22.

Academics is a slightly different story. I was not pleased at all with the scores on the test that the kids took last Friday. It was not a hard test at all, covering place value, number patterns, and number words. But out of 44 kids, only 4 got a perfect score, while 13 scored 50 or below. Most of the incorrect answers were made due to really really stupid mistakes. (Of course, I say "silly" mistakes in class -- but they are stupid mistakes like not adding correctly, or writing the wrong number down to add).

Oh well, I'll take what I can get and keep plowing the road ahead...

I was just looking at the Pre-inventory math test that my kids took last Wednesday. 20 questions that are supposed to be a review of 2nd grade skills that my kids (theoretically) learned last year. Realistically, there are 2 really hard questions on there, 2 others that are kind of tricky, and 16 that are practically no brainers.

I'm pleased to say that I DID have one student who scored a 90. He rocked the test. The next highest score was 60, and the average was around 40.

As if I didn't already know it, I really have my work cut out for me this year.

I never really expect much out of this test (which is why I'm so stoked about the one kid who scored a 90). Most of the kids are still shaking off the fuzz from the summer, they don't want to show any work or think about any of the problems, and so they tend to miss easy questions. But still... Some of the questions were just SO obvious that it still bugs me when they miss them.

For instance, one of the questions shows a picture of a rectangle (the question calls it an aquarium) and a square and asks how the two shapes are alike. I had 5 or 6 kids who picked, "They both have exactly 3 sides." THREE sides??!??

Another showed 4 fish and 3 birds and asked what fraction was birds. Only about 3 kids out of my 22 got this one right. Most of the others picked 3/4. Note to self, work extra hard on fractions this year...

One question showed a couple of base-10 block models and then asked which statement was true. The entire question could have been ignored, as the answers said 342>245, 342=245, 342<245,>342.

3 kids said these numbers are equal!!!!! What were they smoking????

Oh well. They are very well behaved this year, and there are not a whole lot of them, so that should make the intense work that is required that much easier.

Benchmark tests are being given this week, and they are always an annoying interruption to our instructional schedule. We have to rearrange our rooms, proxy another class while they test, and lose hours of valuable class time.

Today was the math benchmark. There was a question on this test that asked, "What is the best estimate for the height of a table?"

A) 30 yd.
B) 30 ft.
C) 30 in.
D) 30 mi.

The majority of kids in the third grade chose B, 30 ft.

This reminded me of an afterschool jam session I was present for last year. One of the math department people from the district had come to our school to talk to all of the math teachers. One of the specific examples that she referenced was a question on a previously given TAKS test that said, "What is the best estimate for the length of a boot?"

A) 7 yd.
B) 7 ft.
C) 7 in.
D) 7 mi.

Of course we all knew that many of the kids had chosen 7 feet as their answer.

The lady asked us, "So what do you think you should be asking a kid who chooses 7 feet as their answer?"

I responded, somewhat reasonably I thought, "Can you show me how big 1 foot is?" My thinking was that they probably didn't know how big a foot was compared to how big an inch was.

How very foolish of me.

The lady practically ignored me and shouted, "You should ask that child, 'Whose foot are you measuring?'"

Like some kid is actually going to picture Big Tex in his mind and think the question is about him.

But, I am of course a district drone, so I suppose tomorrow I will be asking a lot of kids,

"Whose table are you measuring?"