Student learning is no accident!
I’m always on the lookout for a handy student group work strategy. This one, Clock Partners, is one of my favorites! Sometimes when you prepare for group work, you stay up too late the night before making sure everyone has just the right partner. Have you been there? I have! And, honestly, even if it goes well- it leaves me… Read More
This is one of my favorite strategies to teach my classes- and my life as a teacher has become so much easier since I implemented a few key steps. My teaching partner and I experienced our very first Turn and Talk as participants in a workshop by Bobb Darnell in 2008 and we’ve been using it with students and adults… Read More
Do you want your students to behave or do you want more than that? If you spend all day managing behaviors, you are EXHAUSTED by 3:00. I know!!! I’ve been there. It takes so much mental energy, so much executive functioning to anticipate every fire that might start- and to put out all of the ones that do. So, take… Read More
“The ones that are doing the talking are doing the learning.” I know that. But, no matter how many times I say it, the impact on student learning in front of me is profound and somehow surprising. There is no example stronger than that of talking about fractions in math class. I’ve spent most of my career spending part of… 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
You know that buzz of collaboration and learning that you hope for everyday? It happens when we play this game. Every. Single. Time. If you like Boggle, you’ll love this game. Word Wrangle is a fun classroom word game inspired by my love of Boggle and also my love of quiet. Once upon a time, I bought SIX Boggle games… Read More
You never REALLY know what how they *think* about fractions until:
🅰️You ask them to order them from least to greatest
🅱️ You listen to them defend the order to their partner 🆎 A&B🤣🤣🤣 Yup! I had some 😳 moments today! But they were followed by 💡💡💡. We played all of my Differentiated Flashcard Games in fifth grade today and something awesome happened. ☑️While playing “Clothesline,” one student happened to flip over 5 unit fractions to order. He ordered them totally wrong. And he explained to his partner that he looked at the denominator to do it ... (blah, blah) 😳I stood there (kind of in disbelief, but also thinking- teachable moment coming!!!) thinking, hey- there are VISUALS on those cards!!! ☑️Most importantly, his partner said, yeah- but look at the pictures. 😉 (Way to coach, kid!) 🤩🚨The real magic came when this student, who had been wrong, changed the order of his cards and said “oh, so like- when there’s more pieces, they are smaller.” 🍕🍕🍕 💡💡💡💡💡💡💡 🐄🐄🐄Here’s the thing: YOU can tell kids about the “rules” of fractions until the cows come home🐄🐄🐄 🧠They need to MAKE the connections themselves. 🗣They need to talk about it to really make meaning. 🧠Brain research tells us we need lots of NOVEL experiences with new concepts to really learn. 📆So... 6 or 7 weeks into fractions, this guy had the right experience to make that HUGE conceptual LEAP. Be ready for it. Tomorrow might be the day for 3 of your students!! What are you doing to create the conditions for learning?? #brainbasedlearning #differentiatedinstruction #mathintervention
Omg. Such perfect timing for my ❤️. I saw too many backpacks like this during this short 4-day week. 😔It’s why we started our group IMPACT to support teachers helping all students feel SAFE, LOVED, & CAPABLE. www.tohavehope.com/classroombundle.html
Ph cr: Edutopia
Crushing writer’s block with simple protocols! Every Wednesday!
No More Reluctant Writers • Write Solutions
www.writesolutions.org
For years, the reluctant writers in my classroom were my biggest stressor when it came to teaching middle school writing. There were so many students in my class that just needed to pick up their pencil and write!! No matter how much I begged, some students just would not write... and if they wouldn...Leaving sub plans?? Me too! I just determined the best thing to leave as emergency sub plans for one particular class, is stations of math games.
📞So... after I got the call that one of my kids had a fever today, I made this sub tub. It was easy enough- and I put it together in one period.
⚽️I used games we already know how to play: Slides & Ladders, Fraction Top It (War), Fraction Memory, and Clothesline Comparisons. All of these are available in my Writesolutions TPT Store.
🎡(Link in comments for a FREE 7 table Slides & Ladders)
🧰All of the games include playing cards, student directions, teacher notes and recording sheets.
✏️I put everything needed for a game in a Manila envelope with directions on the outside so that everything is SUPER simple.
🤷🏼♀️Who needs extra stress when someone is sick??
🚧What’s your go-to sub plan??
#classroomsystemsthatwork
#subtub
#mathteachersrock
#5thgrade
I’m REALLY in love with this book! I got it through my preschooler’s @scholasticbookclubs order.
🌜🚜We read #goodnightconstructionsite way too much over here and I doubted anything could compare.
📔But this book, Three Cheers For Kid McGear, absolutely is in the same league.
🌈I was so impressed today when reading it with my boys. My oldest remarked, “that wasn’t very kind,” when Kid McGear was excluded from the group.
🌈This story has such a great message about the littlest truck having so so much to offer, despite the initial judgements of her peers.
#littlereaders
