Writing in Math

How do you integrate writing throughout the curriculum?

I try to have my scholars do some type of writing during each subject each day.

One way I do this in math is by requiring my students to complete a math journal each day. For the math journal students are required to copy the problem of the day off the board, solve the problem, and provide a written explanation explaining how they solved the problem and why they solved it that way. We have been studying fractions for the past three months. (About half of the fifth grade End of Grade test will be fractions so it was definitely necessary to spend so much time with it.)

For the last few weeks we have only focused on solving fraction word problems. After spending a lot of time looking at different types of word problems, I wanted my scholars to create their own story problems and then model how to solve it. Of course, the final step was to write an explanation.

My students love creating posters that they know will be displayed in the hall.

Here are a few of their work products.

I think they did a pretty good job with their posters.

I also love these type of activities because I can assess my students in more than one subject. With this activity, I was able to test their understanding of a math concept as well as assess where they are in writing. There are definitely some writing skills that we need to review.

How do integrate writing throughout the curriculum?

Slavery Tear Ups

Last summer, I attended a workshop presented by Margarita Calderon. The focus of the workshop was teaching English Language Learners. During the workshop we did an activity called Tear Up. The focus of the activity is writing. Students are asked to create an image using construction paper, however they can only tear the paper. (No scissors allowed.). After the image is created, they must then write a story about the image. The image serves as the brainstorming and helps them gather their thoughts. I posted about this workshop here.

My scholars have been learning about slavery in social studies. They learned about how Africans were traded to Europeans for guns, shipped across the Atlantic on slave ships, sold and bought at slave auctions, and forced to work against their will. As a wrap up for the unit, I decided to introduce the tear up activity. (I have a pretty creative bunch of students this year so I knew they would come up with great images.)

I placed them into random groups. Their instructions were to create a tear up image based on something they learned during the slavery unit. After the images I instructed them to take the perspective of the slaves in their picture and write a story from their point of view. This is what they came up with.

Slaves taken from slave ships to slave auction

Slaves chained together on slave ship

Slaves working on plantation

Africans being traded for guns

Slave auction

I love how each group naturally came up with a different scene. And their images turned out great. I will definitely be using the tear up activity again.