A Different Kind of Gaming

Just came back from the Indian Casino with Mom. We like to go up and play Black Jack once in awhile. We promised ourselves "We must leave at 3:00 pm!". We did stick to our promise, which is good since you tend to lose all track of time. I managed to turn $100 into $150 which left me in fine spirits.

Since then, I've been working on a couple of different types of games. Classroom math games are an invaluable way to get kids to work easily with numbers while having fun. My second grade teaching colleague mentioned that her students needed more practice with adding and subtracting 5s, and 10s while working with 3 digit numbers. I created a gameboard where students jump "puddles" as they add or subtract 1, 10 or 100 to a number. Since everyone starts with the same number, they should all end at the same number if they have added and subtracted correctly, making it easy for teacher to see who may need intervention. To download this freebie, go to My Teachers Pay Teachers store. Check out Jumping Puddles 2, which has students adding and subtracting 5, 10, 15, 25, and 50.

 

This Calls for a Cup of Tea

I am working on a fractions unit for classroom teachers and with the weather being dreadful, I turned on the heater and prepared to spend time on the computer. In order to ensure our students have the depth of conceptual understanding  they need for the Common Core Math Standards, I thought about adding a few "rich" tasks to the fractions activities.

I thought to myself, "Well, what exactly is a rich task? I know when I see one, but I'm not sure if I can define it, much less create it." I sat down and made a list of things I know about rich tasks:

• All levels of learners can do something with the problem
• Promote different methods of solving the problems and has at least one efficient solution
• Students can have some initial success, or feeling of accomplishment
• It encourages creativity
• It deepens students' math skills
• It can be used independently but also lends itself to collaborative work
• Students are interested in it - it promotes curiosity

Pumpkin Spice - just right for the season!

After making my list, I knew I needed a cup of tea. I found an amazing new tea that would help me with the deep thinking part.

(A little while later) I think I have come up with a rich task for my 3rd graders. I just need a few graphics, a little formatting and reworking some of the language. When finished, I will download it my Teachers Pay Teachers Store and I will put a freebie right here!

Christmas Break and Fractions

I've been out of school for 5 days (including Sat and Sun) and I have just finished an assessment on Fractions. Someone told me about a great resource for the new CCMS - it comes from Kansas and it is a flipbook with all kinds of useful information.

After pouring over this document for a couple of days, I began to write some assessment questions. Check it out.

Finally, I was able to publish it. Maybe now I will wrap a few presents!

Teaching Math is Sometimes Like Using an Etch-a-Sketch

A recent chat with my sister-in-law (who I am extremely proud of) brought up the topic of Common Core Math Standards. Words and ideas were bandied about, like "high level of support for teachers" and "deciphering the students' depth of understanding" and "instructional strategies". One item suddenly caught my attention: CGI. Now, my sister-in-law is a Presidential Award Winner for California and so when she talks, I listen.
 
I did a little research about Cognitive Guided Instruction and a light bulb went off inside my head. In a nutshell, (hopefully I have the crux of it fairly accurate) CGI is understanding the preformed ideas that children come to mathematics with, along with identifying the developmental stages children go through as they learn concepts and to use this knowledge as a framework, or foundation, to teach on.
 
I love to create analogies, so here goes..... Remember using an Etch-a-Sketch when you were younger? You had an idea of a picture you wanted to create but you had to get used to the knobs and which way you needed to turn them to get the line going in the direction you wanted. Many times, you intended the line to go one way, but it went the opposite direction. It was impossible to back up or erase the mistake. Uggggghhhhh!!!! After a whole lot of work, you get something that slightly resembles what you want, but it is kind of crude. The fleeting thought crosses your mind that maybe the Etch-a-Sketch is not the right medium for what you had in mind.
 
Teaching math using the principles of CGI feels the same way. You know what the end result should look like. You are teaching and turning knobs like crazy, trying to interpret student thinking and depth of understanding. In the end, it never quite resembles what you were hoping for in the beginning. Childrens' developmental stages will limit you just as much as trying to use an Etch-a-Sketch to draw a masterpiece.
 
Then again, I have seen some pretty amazing art come from an Etch-a-Sketch!