Student learning is no accident!
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
Jump to improve counting with Mental Math Bingo or Base Ten Games. We have been counting in second grade all year: waiting in line, backwards and forwards, by 2s, 3s, 5s, 10s. Sometimes we start in the hundreds, other times the teens… So, why am I observing students struggle to cross decades when counting in the midst of double digit… Read More
Here’s how we’re getting our senses involved as we determine the value of base ten blocks in second grade! Get the cards we use here! Try out this Place Value FREEBIE with your kids today! Happy Tapping!
Lately, many of the teachers I support have been expressing a desire to take risks with new and different teaching strategies. One strategy many teachers are investigating is station teaching. Over the next two weeks I will attempt to respond to their needs as best I can through group work sessions, classroom observations and modeling. Here are some videos from… Read More
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Librarians and authors are angry and seeking alternatives after Scholastic Book Fair change that requires opt-in for an add-on case of diverse books for elementary fairs. PEN America calls on Scholast...
