Student learning is no accident!
A while back I took stock of what we were doing as a math department to improve kids’ math fluency. It seemed that every year we had a chunk of kids who came up to sixth grade with amazing fact fluency. We had another chunk who fought with basic addition and multiplication much like struggling readers fought with multisyllabic words…. Read More
In the next few posts, I’m going to focus on Differentiating Instruction in the Math Classroom. I will give you three strategies you can use immediately in the lessons you already have planned- to reach all of those kids! I promise not to ask you to do ANYTHING that wastes your time. I promise to only save you time.
If you’re thinking about fractions, you might be a 5th grade teacher… Thanks to the Common Core State Standards, fifth grade now throws the wildest fraction party on the block! I taught 6th grade math back when that was fraction central, and I learned 3 key things along the way. They have been just applicable in the 5th grade classrooms… Read More
If teaching fifth and sixth graders has taught me anything, it’s that fractions and decimals can be ABSTRACT and TRICKY… and that kids have to be developmentally ready to perform operations on them. The good news is- the standards aren’t encouraging us to get kids to add, subtract, multiply and divide 5/32 and 16/71! We make equivalent fractions as a… Read More
We have moved on to subtraction with renaming (2.NBT.7). You might call this regrouping… but really- if we think literally about what’s happening- we’re also giving the values new names! 50+10 is a different name for 60. So, renaming, regrouping… you know what we’re doing! What’s Working I’ve been doing a lot of this work with students in small groups…. Read More
In my second grade classroom, I’ve recently identified a troubling gap in my students’ learning… Counting. I know how important counting is… and we have been counting all year. We count while we wait in line, we count backwards and forwards, by 2s, 3s, 5s, 10s and more. We start in the hundreds, we start in the teens… So, why… Read More
This is brilliant. I have had SO many students whose families just couldn’t manage laundry. They weren’t going to learn that skill at home. I would have LOVED to give them the gift of those life skills...💔
High school adds laundry room to help struggling students, combat absences
www.fox5vegas.com
After an Arizona principal found out his students were skipping school because they didn't have clean clothes, he decided to tackle the problem by adding a laundry room.😔
Smartphones, tablets causing mental health issues in kids as young as two
www.nzherald.co.nz
Smartphones and tablets are causing issues for kids as young as two years old.What a beautiful story❤️
Boy invites entire kindergarten class to his adoption hearing — and it’s adorable
www.nydailynews.com
A Michigan kindergartner brought his entire class to witness his adoption hearing Thursday in an adorable courtroom scene marking Kent County’s 23rd annual Adoption Day. The county’s official Facebook page posted a photo of the young boy, identified only as Michael, sitting next to his foster pa...How inclusive and welcoming is your school to families?
schoolleadersnow.weareteachers.com
Getting the community together can be a great way to develop positive school culture, but let's try to have more inclusive school events.The BEST part of parent conferences tonight was this:
A fifth grader brought her mom into my intervention room to show her around.
She and mom agreed fractions have been hard this year and mom said she feels guilty for not doing more to practice at home.
😍My student picked one anchor chart to explain to mom. It was how to make equivalent fractions. Then she went right up to the white board to demonstrate... like a PRO!🥳
🎲♟Then she showed mom the fraction games we’ve been playing. I explained to mom that there’s no need to work on anything but fraction sense at home. And ONLY if it’s low stress. She LOVED ❤️❤️❤️ the games and thought they would have fun playing them as a family.
They left with a deck of fraction cards with visuals and directions for all three of these games.
The positive energy and confidence coming from this little girl tonight made my heart sing🥰.
Link in comments for games!
