counting, Intellectual Need, Making Math Accessible, SMPs, Strategy Development, Teacher Content
Counting and cardinality is critical in kindergarten. Without it, all math fails. With that being said, counting can be extremely boring which causes many students to quickly lose focus. One thing I’ve tried to do this year is identify ways to engage students in...
Cheese Mover, Intellectual Need, Making Math Accessible, Modeling, Planning, SMPs, Strategy Development, Teacher Content, Who Knows?
I received an email from a principal in my district last Tuesday: Please send me info on why teachers should be careful about teaching kids to pull out keywords from word problems as a key way to define what operation to use. I went to my Virtual Math Buddies (VMB)...
Intellectual Need, Teaching in a Context
Grinding through testing season and I found a minute to get back in the classroom. Today, I was able to make it in a kindergarten class to wrestle with something Dan Meyer mentioned during his NCSM Webinar (my world rocked @ 7 minutes and 15 seconds). Dan said that...
Against the Norm, Intellectual Need, Measurement and Data, Teacher Content
I took some time last night to look through 3rd grade units from all over the map. I was amazed to see that about 95% of them suggested teaching perimeter first. Why is that? The two most common definitions 3rd graders give for area and perimeter are: Perimeter: you...
Intellectual Need, Patient Problem Solving
I cheated and got caught! Bottom line, no ifs, ands, or buts…I cheated. Some teachers were high-fiving, others were frustrated, some disappointed, and I was happy. Now don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t happy that I cheated, it was the reason why I...