A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

At our school we apply a lot of Baldrige Tools to our teaching and learning. This involves having the children chart their own progress and decide on what their individual plan (P), or goal should be. Then we come up with what we are going to do (D) to make that happen. Then after we do those things, we study (S) the results and choose how we will act (A) to improve even more. We also do this as an entire class. The class PDSA is on the wall and their individual plans are in their DATA NOTEBOOKS.


This is our MATH WALL. Notice the bar graph (on the left). It shows that 7 of my 21, 5th graders, know 90% (or better) of their 0-11's, multiplication, math facts. We celebrated because, if you notice, that is 3 better then last week. A lot of my kids have had their personal bar graphs (in their data notebooks) go up, but they decided they only wanted to show the 90% and better on the MATH WALL.


This is the reading group board. We are reading stories about NATURE'S FURY, which includes volcanoes, earthquakes and tornadoes. We use picture cue cards to help with understanding of the new vocabulary. So, as part of their PLAN for remembering the math vocabulary, they decided to make picture cue cards for the math wall too.


This is the math vocabulary for Unit 1. The ESL (English as a Second Language) kids helped me do this. The picture cue cards help them remember what the words mean and it relieves me from having to tell them every day. Now I just say, "Go look on the MATH WALL."