Getting to know your students

Robert Cooper August 2nd, 2017 Math Grades 6-8 1553 4

The first days of school are great for getting first impressions of your new students. Collecting information from students is interesting and fun when they are given open ended sentences to complete. You can gain insight on their personality (i.e.…

Solving with Multiple Methods

Joe Ratasky August 1st, 2017 Math Grades 3-5, Math Grades 6-8, Math Grades K-2 2203 8

If you are familiar with the Common Core Progressions documents, you may recognize the name Bill McCallum. He is a Common Core Standards author as well as an author of the Progressions. He frequently posts to the site Common Core…

Dividing Fractions for Understanding

Robert Cooper July 27th, 2017 Math Grades 6-8 1789 1

Student understanding of dividing with fractions is usually regulated to something to the effect of, "You need to flip the fraction and you need to multiply." As a teacher, I am usually excited if students can even recall that information.…

13 rules that expire in Math!

Lesley Lynn April 4th, 2017 Math Grades 3-5, Math Grades 6-8, Math Grades K-2 1742 1

Have you ever heard someone say, "When you multiply, your product is always greater than your factors", "When you divide, your quotient is always less than your dividend and divisor." Are these statements always true? Are we inadvertently teaching misconceptions…

How Does Teacher Language Affect Student Learning?

Joe Ratasky March 30th, 2017 Math Grades 3-5, Math Grades 6-8, Math Grades K-2 881 2

Quick, but interesting read on how our descriptions and language used to describe student learning and goals could potentially affect student learning. For instance, when we describe a certain skill as a "3rd grade skill" or say "a 4th grader…

Putting the ‘Fun’ Back into Functions

Lori Bartholomew March 16th, 2017 Math Grades 3-5, Math Grades 6-8 963 3

Functions can be overwhelming with all of the f's, x's, and f(x)'s. But in reality, functions are quite easy to understand once you know how they work. So what is a function? Well, a function can be described as a…

The Year Game

Joe Ratasky January 24th, 2017 Math Grades 3-5, Math Grades 6-8, Uncategorized 873 0

It's January, and the beginning of a new calendar year. The NCTM Math Forum annually holds a contest for students to determine if they can use the digits in the year along with any of the operation symbols, a decimal…

Hack Your Teaching

Joe Ratasky December 16th, 2016 Math Grades 3-5, Math Grades 6-8, Math Grades K-2 1084 0

Do your students look like they are filming a "mannequin challenge" when it comes to math interaction and discourse? Research has shown that children engaged and interacting with deep, purposeful tasks will have greater learning gains. So how can we…

Practice Evaluating Expressions with Battling Robots!

Joe Ratasky November 29th, 2016 Math Grades 3-5, Math Grades 6-8 997 0

Nora Oswald has created a cool Battling Robots game in which students draw cards to create robots with different battling powers combining expressions. Students must create a powerful robot, roll dice, and then use the value from the dice to…

Preparing for FSA – Content Complexities

Joe Ratasky November 28th, 2016 Math Grades 3-5, Math Grades 6-8, Uncategorized 1738 0

The Florida Standards Assessment for mathematics is months away, but the preparation can never begin too early. You may be aware of Dr. Norman Webb's model for Depth of Knowledge (DOK). Though Webb's model implies 4 complexity levels, Florida has…

No Homework? How else can I support my child’s learning?

Joe Ratasky November 16th, 2016 Math Grades 3-5, Math Grades 6-8, Math Grades K-2 1149 1

Want to connect to your children's learning experiences at school but they currently don't have any homework? Check out this post from Edutopia, giving parents 15 alternative questions for deeper inquiry into the learning and experiences of their children's day…

Putting the C and R back into exponents.

Joe Ratasky August 29th, 2016 Math Grades 3-5, Math Grades 6-8 1404 9

We are all aware of the CRA model of providing students experiences with mathematics content. In terms of exponents, students very rarely experience the "C" (concrete) or the "R" (representational) and usually begin with the "A" (abstract). So how can…

Stop creating a word wall for your students!

Shelley Fritz August 6th, 2016 Math, Math Grades 3-5, Math Grades 6-8, Math Grades K-2, STEM Grades 3-5 2125 0

How effective is it to have a list of math words on the wall? Who decides what words to place on the wall and who puts them up on display? Students benefit from building vocabulary knowledge. Teachers often create word…

Promoting Precise Mathematical Language

Jackie LeJeune August 5th, 2016 Math Grades 3-5, Math Grades 6-8, Math Grades K-2 2625 0

Why teach math vocabulary? The Standards for Mathematics emphasize that mathematically proficient students communicate precisely to others; however, the language of mathematics can often be confusing. Lack of knowledge of math vocabulary can hinder achievement. What makes math vocabulary different…

How do we find and fill the holes? – A Mathematics Learning Trajectory Tool

Jackie LeJeune August 2nd, 2016 Math, Math Grades 3-5, Math Grades 6-8, Math Grades K-2 2034 0

While the Mathematics Florida Standards (MAFS) were designed to incorporate the 3 major shifts of focus, coherence and rigor, it can be easy to get so focused on a grade level, that the coherence across grade levels can get lost.…

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