Math Journal- Tips for Success
1. Glue or staple the topic into the math journal. I have each topic printed for the students. There is absolutely no reason to not have the entry attached to the journal. After all, if you don’t know the problem, you can’t go back and study the information. The math journal is set up to be a year long study tool.
2. WRITE YOUR DATE! This is the date the journal is issued (which should also be the date you begin working on the journal). Many students lost 5 points today just because they didn’t write their date. L
3. The large box is where the students should set up their plan. This is either done by using WIK/WINK ( What I Know and What I Need [to] Know), drawing a bar model, using pictures, or even writing a step by step plan in words.
4. The grid paper is where students will glue or staple their entry. Below it is where they will do their computation. This should be where they list their steps in order. They will also write their statement sentence at the bottom of the page.
5. The lines that are shown are for the explanation. This does not mean they should list their steps but this is where they explain their thinking. This is where student struggle the most and this is one of the main reasons we do math journals all year is to practice explaining our thinking through multistep problems.
· You will likely see your child become frustrated while solving a math journal. This is normal. These math problems are between 5 and 8 steps long and right now, our kids aren’t used to that much work to solve one problem. ENCOURAGE THEM! (I know you already do because you all are awesome cheerleaders for your student). In class, we read the problem three times. First-we make the movie in our head and make sure we know all the words. Second- We read once sentence at a time, pausing to highlight important information. Third- We read to develop a plan, which is deciding which operations we will use.