A Way To Group Student WITHOUT Talking and Math 7/8 Graphic Organizers

By Friday I surprisingly had everyone's names down. Now that's not to say that by tomorrow I will have forgotten every single one, but hey, it's a start. I could tell they were getting comfortable in their groups, so I decided to switch it up a little bit. In order to do this I had them line up in the back of the room by birthday, but there was a catch: they weren't allowed to talk. I also gave the stipulation that they couldn't text (their phones are supposed to be in their locker anyway). I said for this activity we aren't doing the unlimited talk text plans that they have for their phones, they thought that was funny. They came up with some pretty creative ways to do this. Some used their fingers to communicate, others wrote their birthday on a sheet of paper, and some even flipped to their birthday in their planner and starred the date. All very creative ways, AND there was absolutely no talking. LOVE IT! :) I then went down the line and grouped them by 4. I also demonstrated the "I'm getting a partner face". It looks completely neutral, because you don't want anyone to get hurt feelings if someone has a hissy fit when they hear they have to work with someone. Also I don't want someone doing their happy dance when they get to work with someone, and then not do the happy dance when they are working with someone else. So I told them they just have to suck it up and deal with whatever partner they get, because we will be changing partners all the time. I also said one of my favorite quotes/rules: I'm not asking you to be everyone's best friend, but I am asking you to be friendly to everyone.

8th Grade Graphic Organizer

The activity I had them do was make a graphic organizer for the particular class (7th grade or 8th grade math). They wrote the subject in the center of the paper and then they drew 5 spokes off the center circle, one for each of the standards: number sense and operations, measurement, geometry and spatial sense, patterns functions and algebra, and data analysis and probability. Then in green I had them write anything they knew about that particular standard. While they were doing this, I passed out their textbooks. I liked doing this because it gave them something to do other than just sit their while I pass them out. Once they got their books, they were then to look through the book and scope out anything they had never heard of before and write it in red next to those standards. They could look in the table of contents, index, glossary, or even scan through the book. It was cool to see their reactions to topics they had no idea about and hear them brainstorm about what they thought they were. Stem and Leaf Plots, and Box and Whisker Plots generated some pretty interesting ideas.  I did this activity last year and then at the end of the year, I got the graphic organizers back out and had them take a look at what the had written in red. Most of the students were able to tell me what the things in red were and what they were used for, so I let them highlight the topics in green. They thought it was neat because they remembered how they freaked out about not knowing the topics in the beginning of the year and it built up their confidence right before the state test because they knew the information! Once they finish the graphic organizers tomorrow, I will post a few pictures.

Some of the projects hanging in the hallway

Now onto the first full week! Hope I survive! :)

~Q.E.D.