… so little time.
One of the biggest challenges for me in transitioning from lower grades to upper grades is filling in gaps.
I spent years in 2nd grade. I feel like I got pretty good at differentiating and filling in gaps. If I started a unit and it was clear they didn’t know their Kinder or 1st grade standards, I was able to go back and catch them up.
In 5th grade, I’m finding that challenging, especially with fractions and decimals. Our curriculum assessments for fractions start with adding subtractions and ask them to simplify the answer. The kids can add. That is easy. Unfortunately, there are a lot of students completely stumped by simplifying and the don’t have the background understanding needed to get it with a quick review or a short intervention.
I’ve spent some time thinking about what I can do and I feel like the best thing for them is to start at the beginning and work their way forward. I don’t have time to do that through direct instruction so I’ve decided to make some early finisher task cards. I can tell students which task cards I want them to practice. I can have a mini lesson with them when they come to one they don’t understand and fill in the gaps.
I hope this task card plan works because I’ve been working on creating them for a while now. Sometime this week I’ll upload and share a bit more about them.
This is one of the pages I’ve come up with. I’m thinking they can record what they’ve worked on AND I can write in tasks for them if I notice a gap.
With my little guys, I could pin point a few things, have resources for them, and have them practice those skills. I feel like there are so many little gaps to fill with upper grade students.
I’d love to hear from upper grade teachers. How do you deal with filling in 5 years of background skills? Did you have a system for differentiation and gap filling? Do you think task cards could be helpful for that? Other suggestions?
Brandi says
I was just thinking about this challenge today. Upper grades can be hard when there is so much previous curriculum to fill in for some. I usually try to pull kids aside right when I see the deficit, but this log system seems like a great idea. I am so interested in how you will structure it. The task cards seem like a great solution. I have seen little bin or cubby systems on Pinterest too. Will you create the task cards for each skill you see a child struggling with?
Mercedes Hutchens says
Hi Brandi,
I'll keep blogging about how I organize it as I go. I'm still figuring it out.
I'm starting by making task cards for fractions. Then I think I'll head to decimals. I started looking at the common core fraction standards and breaking them into small obtainable skills. I actually came up for 30 different needs for fractions, which is overwhelming. I've been working on them for a while and hope to have some posted this week.
I'm glad to know that this challenge is something other teachers struggle with.
Thanks for the interesting comment!
Mercedes
Kate says
Just found you through the TPT forum! 🙂 I'm a new follower and I'm also in CA. 🙂 I'd love for you to stop by and visit my site!
Kate
Second Grade Sparkle
Mercedes Hutchens says
Welcome, Kate!
luckeyfrog says
I love this idea. Even in 3rd, I'm finding it's a lot harder than 2nd to catch up the low skills. I imagine in 5th the gaps are even wider. I think task cards sound like a great way to help catch them up. I would also look into videos, like those on BrainPop if you're lucky enough to have it, or Khan Academy- things like that might be able to help teach or reteach a lesson when you're with another group.
I'd love to see how you organize the task cards and hear how it works out for you!
Jenny
Luckeyfrog's Lilypad