Building a Dog Kennel Sharing Day

The entire math class is spent in the important work of sharing. The children have been working for days to design their kennel.  This required them to work with spatial organization, arrays, area, multiplication, addition of large numbers, teamwork, trial and error, and their communication skills. It was a demanding, yet exciting, authentic assessment.

Now is a time for them to celebrate, explain, question, and possibly revise. Though I chose to work on the speaking and listening standards during this share and have it be a presentation of sorts, you might want to think about other forms of celebrations that would be even more authentic. Ideas might be:

1. Invite parents in to hear the presentations, acting as the City Planning Board.
2. Having school leaders and teachers come in to view the plans in a "booth" type set up where they can ask each group about their plans.
3. Invite your local kennel in.
4. Have students write letters to kennels or the Humane Society, asking for input on their plans. 

During this share time, I listen carefully to assess the application of student understanding. Even though we are done with the project, I can use information I obtain from this share time in future lessons. 

Consider the power of revision. In real life, isn't that the time we take what we've learned to improve our original work? In our classrooms, students aren't often given the gift of revision. Watch how this student learned from revision.

This segment is a team of students explaining their plan and the math to go along with it. Response to questions is a critical part of learning, and it is a thinking and communication skill we must assist our students in developing.