It’s that time of the year when the ugly monster called “CAASPP” comes lurking about. (That’s the test we take here in California). Teachers are fretting that they may not have covered as many standards as they had wanted. Meanwhile, it’s spring time for students. They are antsy, edgy, and see that summer is around the corner……….or maybe I’m describing …
What Makes Math a Priority in a District?
I am going to be completely honest. I have been struggling with their vision and the direction my district has been heading. I have worked here since 2001 and never given much thought to where we’ve been headed. But ever since I jumped into the elementary world and been more invested in the math community (#MTBOS) and found like minded …
Paul Lockhart’s Lament
During the first days of summer, I usually catch up with my guilty pleasure TV shows and get a few projects around the house completed. However, I found myself jumping into my first book “A Mathematician’s Lament” by Paul Lockhart. It is sold on Amazon, but I also found a PDF here. Someone on Twitter had posted a quote from …
Mills, Bills, and Trill
The first week of school lesson plans usually consist of getting-to-know-you type activities. In planning, I figured it would be a great time for exploring in math. I hemmed and hawed about it. At first I thought I’d do a 3 act lesson. They are always exciting and engaging, but I couldn’t think or find one that these kids hadn’t …
What’s a Shape?
Back in February, I came across a blog post from Telanna about shapes. She saw a Twitter post from Sarah Caban asking a simplistic question. How would you define the word “shape”? Not wanting to miss out on the bandwagon, I decided to jump in. Considering that I have access to such a grade span, I patiently waited for the right time …
Sorting in Kinder (a 3 Act)
My kindergarten collaborator, Stacy and I recently attended a 2 day workshop with Graham Fletcher and it re-ignited our passion for 3 act tasks/lessons. She’s made it her goal to collaborate with me and create one task per topic. I happily accept her challenge and told her, “GAME ON!” The most recent topic in her curriculum was sorting. This is …
Much Ado about Watermelons!
Day 2 of #SummerMathCamp To feed our math brains at 8 am on a Tuesday morning in the summer, we showed this photo of some watermelons in the hopes of generating some conversation. How many watermelons are there? How do you know? This was just going to be 10 to 15 minutes of a notice and wonder conversation. Yea. We …
Number Talk Images
Can I just say that I can’t get enough of visual math routines? Or do you call it a number talk image? Some call it a visual number talk. It’s a picture that’s shown with a known quantity. Students may start by making observations and ask questions that are lingering in their heads (AKA Notice/Wonder–thanks Annie Fetter!) Once their questions …
It’s “Nacho” Business
It’s “Nacho” problem. How many nachos sold?