Welcome to post #2 in the series: Hook Your Students! How to capture (and keep!) their attention. To read post #1 about Anticipation-Reaction Guides, click here.

This week I will share how I use the Consensus Placemat to motivate and prepare my students for learning. The Consensus Placemat is a cooperative learning tool designed to increase student engagement and individual accountability.

To complete the placemat, the teacher poses a question about an important idea, concept, or skill. Each student then takes time to think independently about the question and write their response in their own space on the edge of the placemat.

When every member of the group is finished writing, the team shares ideas. I like to use Round Robin to be sure that each student has an opportunity to share their ideas and hear the reasoning of their peers.

Once every idea has been shared, the team works together to create one answer with which every member agrees. The team then writes this consensus statement or summary in the center of the placemat.




Why Use a Consensus Placemat?The consensus placemat is an easy, low-prep tool that offers many benefits.

• It is a great way to activate students' prior knowledge and to see what students already know. 
• It encourages participation from every student. Students who may be reluctant to raise their hand or share ideas are able to actively contribute to the discussion in a relaxed setting. Because each member must construct their own response first, it increases equitable participation and individual student accountability.  
• Students must think critically to support their ideas and evaluate the reasoning of others. 

I typically use the consensus placemat as an opening hook to build student interest and readiness. Students are excited to learn from their peers and they are eager to verify their individual ideas and team summary. I have also used it as a closing exercise to reinforce key concepts and check for understanding.

Are you ready to give it a go? Here is a blank template and some prompts to get you started:

• Is a rectangle a square? How do you know?
• What are the steps of the water cycle? Show what you know using words or pictures.
• What is alliteration? Provide an example.
• Describe our rules for recess.
• Are all odd numbers prime? Explain how you know.

I hope this tool is of value to you and your students. What questions do you have? How do you use the consensus placemat with your class? Let me know; I'd love to learn with you!

Prior to spring break, I set up an interactive bulletin board for my 3-5 students. I have a small classroom, so my goal was to maximize our space and use the bulletin board as a teaching tool. So far, it's been great! My students race to class to check out and solve the new challenges!

As of now, it contains three activities, which change every week or two. The activities are meaningful and low maintenance, which I love, and highly engaging, which my students love. Read on to learn more (and grab a couple of freebies!)

One of my favorite math units to do with upper elementary students is Math Quest! I very rarely repeat units in my classroom (there are too many great new things to try, right?), but Math Quest is one I have returned to year after year. So, I thought I'd share some of the ways I use this AMAZING Interact Unit with my 3rd, 4th, and 5th-grade students.

Math Quest is set up like a game to engage and motivate students. (See the game board below!)




Students earn “travel dots” for solving math problems; each travel dot is worth one space on the game board. As students work their way towards the treasure chest at the top of the board, they earn special "powers" and gold. The team of students with the most gold at the end of the unit wins! SO MUCH FUN!

Now for the math . . . ! The unit is designed to help students become competent, confident, and creative problem solvers. Throughout the unit, students explore six problem-solving strategies:

• Guess and check
• Look for a pattern
• Work backward
• Make a picture or a diagram
• Use Logical Reasoning
• Make a table or a chart

Students work in teams and then on their own to apply each problem-solving method. The Math Quest unit provides all of the problems for team practice and individual application. Each set of problems is tiered to provide varying levels of challenge. I've found that levels A, B, and C correspond pretty well with grades 3, 4, and 5.

When introducing a problem-solving strategy, I follow an "I do," "We do," "Y'all do," "You do" approach. With "I do," I introduce and model the strategy. I select a different problem for "we do" and the students and I solve it together; the students record their work in their math notebooks, while I write on the board. If all goes as planned (ha, right?), then we move on to "y'all do." In this stage, students work in their teams of 4 to solve the problem together. We use Student Learning Teams to ensure meaningful learning. In a student learning team, each student has a specific "job," which promotes individual accountability, equal student responsibility, and positive interdependence.



And then finally, "you do," where students practice and apply the problem-solving strategy independently.

Due to the complexity of the problems, I require my students to use a problem-solving mat to guide and illustrate their thinking. The work mat guides them through the important steps of understanding, solving, explaining, and checking the problem. Prior to using the mat, my students tended to RUSH, particularly through steps 1 and 4, which seriously compromised the accuracy of their work! I've found that the mat helps my students to navigate and solve complex problems with greater independence and accuracy.



I then use a holistic rubric to score the completed mats. While it is not as descriptive as an analytic rubric, I find it more user-friendly for the purpose of scoring LOTS of math problems each week.



When I designed the problem-solving mats and rubrics, I wanted to emphasize the importance of the problem-solving process. Therefore, I wanted students to be rewarded for showing their work and thinking. As a result, students can actually earn more points for an incorrect answer where they have shown their reasoning, then if they simply record the correct answer. With that said, there is a lot of value in accuracy, as well! That is why there is such a large numerical gap (4 – 10) between the two highest scores. I want students to participate in and value the problem-solving process, but I also want them to recognize that accuracy is essential.

Putting an emphasis (and a score!) on the problem-solving process is a new way of thinking for many students. I've found though, that once students understand and use the problem-solving maps & rubrics that it dramatically improves the quality of their work and thinking.

In my experience, when my students take ownership of the rubric, they are more likely to understand and invest themselves in the process. Therefore, I enlist them to help me build the criteria. I provide the descriptors and we discuss each one. In the discussion, we address the value of the problem-solving process, the importance of accuracy, and our ultimate goal of accomplishing both! As a class, students then decide what point value each level of performance is worth. We record their decisions on paper and use this an anchor chart. It keeps the criteria clear and available and students can refer to it easily throughout the year.