South Side Book Club Gets STUNG

"Fiona doesn’t remember going to sleep. But when she opens her eyes, she discovers her entire world has been altered-her house is abandoned and broken, and the entire neighborhood is barren and dead. Even stranger is the tattoo on her right wrist-a black oval with five marks on either side-that she doesn’t remember getting but somehow knows she must cover at any cost. And she’s right. When the honeybee population collapsed, a worldwide pandemic occurred and the government tried to bio-engineer a cure. " 

(http://bethanywiggins.com/?page_id=186)

Bird flu, swine flu, possible bee flu? The novel Stung by Bethany Wiggins finds its roots in headlines that have swirled around in the last few years. In this young adult science fiction tale, the sickness is actually better than the cure.  Fiona finds herself in the middle of two worlds.  She can turn herself in and become a specimen of the state, or she can fight the corruption within the government and search for the truth.

Students gathered during x-period to discuss the book.  We began with some honey themed snacks.

To explore the characters in this novel, my book clubbers participated in a "Read N Roll" activity that I found on Pinterest.  Students started with a stick figure of a character of their choice from the novel. They then worked in groups of 3 or 4 as we rolled dice to add words and objects to our stick figure. I was able to use a virtual dice website and we would all work on the same number at the same time.  They got 3-5 minutes per number to add to and decorate their character.

They ended up doing a great job at exploring and analyzing the main character, Fiona.  This was my favorite!!! No doubt an advanced art student was in this group...

Until Next Time,

Amy Hutto

Library Media Specialist

South Side High School

A Decidedly not Math-Minded Librarian Tackles Math Centers...Proving Anything is Possible

I struggled with math as a student. I mean, I STRUGGLED, for real.  If not for the kindness, enthusiasm, and compassion of math teachers like Mr. Mac and Mrs. Skrodenis, I don't think I could have powered through it.  As a part of the education field now, any opportunity that I have to help students see that math can be fun and practical and exciting is an opportunity that I will gladly take.  When our new math teacher last year mentioned the idea to do math centers in the media center, I immediately knew I wanted to be a part of it.

We made an earnest attempt last year.  It was a trial run of sorts to see what we could come up with and how the kids would respond.  Sure, we had timing issues, misjudgment with group size, and some logistical errors (all totally expected when trying something new), but overwhelmingly it was decided that what we were doing worked and we would definitely tackle this quest again the following year.

Our goal remains the same...Math centers that would be a "blitz" of sorts, highlighting specific skills that will be evaluated through the PARCC assessment.

Before I go any further, I have to sing the praises of the Math teacher who came to us last year.  Mrs. Smith is a dream to work with.  Not only does she relate well with the students here at South Side, she is not afraid to try something new and different if that means her kids will understand something better.  I have seen her kids using geometry to make structures out of cardboard boxes.  I have seen her students running around campus to complete a math scavenger hunt.  Clearly, she is passionate about what she does and goes above and beyond to teach her students.

What I especially love about Mrs. Smith is the IMMENSE amount of grace she shows to this librarian and former English/French teacher who definitely does not have a mathematical mind.  Far from it, actually.  I'm absolutely positive some of the ideas I bring to the table are total "eye-rollers" because they just don't "add up," but like the patient teacher Mrs. Smith is, she allows time to work through it until we come up with a feasible plan that meets the Common Core standards we are wanting to attack.

This year we are fine-tuning timing and activities so that 8th graders won't repeat everything that they did last year.  There are a few things that will overlap, but we are working to provide different stations (for the most part) for each grade-level in accordance with Common Core standards.

So here we begin our 8 week march to testing.  Each week we have committed to provide one day of math stations for our 7th and 8th grade students.  I will be documenting what we do and how we set it up as well as any and all resources that we used in the process.  The final week will culminate with Pi Day stations...and well, a little pie too. Oatmeal Cream Pie at least...I hope.

Week One

We conducted the stations during 7th period (7th grade) and 8th period (8th grade).  Each period has 45 minutes of instruction time.  We learned from last year that we needed to simplify and only do two activities or stations per class period and then have students switch at the mid-point to the other activity.

Take My Order

In this station we had 5 tables set up that would seat 4 students.  One of the students was to volunteer to be the waiter or waitress.  We had real menus for the kids to order from.  The goal of this station was to create a real-life environment where kids would have to calculate percentages such as taxes and gratuities. As an added bonus, they had to budget for their meal and make correct change. We gave each student a fake $20 bill to use and had a cash register and waiter/waitress station for them to do their totaling and calculations. Here is a list of what we gathered to make this happen:

• Fake Money (We borrow a set of Melissa and Doug money that is very real-looking)
• Various menus (you can google to-go menus and print them or gather them from local restaurants)
• Take My Order sheets
• Calculators

Versa Tiles

For this station, we used Versa Tiles.  If you have never heard of Versa Tiles, I encourage you to do some research about them.  According the the website, "Incorporating manipulatives into mathematics lessons in meaningful ways helps students grasp concepts with a greater depth of understanding. Physical and digital manipulatives tap into students natural curiosity. Using hands-on learning resources, students take ownership of their education like never before."  Mrs. Smith chose grade level appropriate Versa-Tile activities for both the 7th and 8th graders. While they were working with the same manipulatives, the activities were differentiated by grade level.  Students spent half of the allotted class period working through their math manipulatives.

As the bell rang to indicate the ending of 7th period, there was a audible gasp.  Mrs. Smith and I looked at each other, not believing what we had just heard.  Could it be?  For possibly the first time in the history of the earth, students were sighing because they were not ready to leave math class!  Had we been successful in tricking them into practicing important math skills? Had we been successful in sneaking in test prep with non-traditional math instruction? I can confidently say YES! VICTORY!

And there will be more victories to come.

Even though it takes lots of time to plan---meeting and collaborating and gathering and prepping---to pull off even one day of math centers,  hearing the positive responses of the kids and seeing them grappling with these concepts, and being successful, makes it worth all the effort.

Until next time,

Amy Hutto, LMS

South Side High School