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Now that routines and expectations are up and running I wanted to share a few things that you might want to think about during the month of December.
Now that routines and expectations are up and running I wanted to share a few things that you might want to think about during the month of December.
- One, technology use in the classroom..
- Two, a user friendly version of the Common Core Math Standards.
- Three, learn more about teaching students who struggle.
One: Matific is a web-based platform with student activities aligned to the K-6 common core standards. Alignment is such a big word that I want teachers to know it's true value. Alignment will be on EVERY publication you find for school mathematics. Alignment is not just a series of skills tagged to a standard and that is what EVERY product claims to have done. There are a few products that really do a nice job of aligning big mathematical ideas from the common core that are included in activities, lessons, and practice. Matific.com is one of those. It doesn't have everything but it is a great starting point. I created a short video for you to take a look at (click here if the video is not embedded).
The free version of Matific allows any student access of their activities. The trial allows a teacher to collect data on individual students completion and interaction with the activities. Check out either version with students. My own children seem to really like the activities.
Two: Our state math consultant, April Pforts, has been working tirelessly on the state's math website. I highly encourage you to use this along with other resources to support your understanding of the common core in mathematics. Check out page 9 of this document. It provides the scope and sequence of algebraic thinking for all grades.
Green Hills media center has worked along side of the math team to purchase HIGH quality resources for teachers of math. Math In Practice are professional resources for grades k-5. Each chapter is dedicated to content standards along side of the practice standards, click here for information from the publisher. I used this to learn more about the grade 5 standard NB.7 Add, subtract, multiply, and divide decimals to hundredths, using concrete models or drawings and strategies based on place value. The examples are clear helped me understand the standard.
Three: Karen Karp has spent her career working in special education AND mathematics. Her research and work has been focused at elementary. She was a keynote speaker at the NCTM Innov8 conference last week. Here are her slides from her keynote presentation and feel free to take a look at the slides she shared. INTERVENTION is all about creating "blue lines" or cognitive structures for students who struggle. How can you help to create blue lines for students? Looking for structure and patterns seems to be the constant strategy shared at the conference. In short, if a student understands strategies for multiplying by 7 (like using x 5 and x 2 and the distributive property) then we have to help them to make blue lines for 47 x 5 in the same way. Breaking it apart into 40 and 7 or any other way that make sense to the student.
