One of my goals as a teacher is to bring out the creativity and joy of learning out in students.  I like to pose questions, get them to think, and have them create.  I mean, that's what all of us want to do, right? But, honestly, it seems as though somewhere along the lines, the inquiry and ingenuity that kids should intrinsically show has disappeared.  They simply want to be TOLD what to do at all times.   I understand why.  In an age of testing and dog and pony shows and the need to "get stuff done", it has become easier for me everyone to just tell the kids what to do and be done with it.   But here is my problem.  The kids that sit in front of me have become regurgitators.  They wait for ME to give them directions.  They wait for ME to show them examples.  They wait for ME to lay everything out on the table for them.  Notice how it is ME that is doing all the work.  The kids need ME to do their thinking. ......

We are knee deep into our fractions unit and I wanted to share something that has been rather successful in getting my students to recognize landmark fractions and decimals:  Number Strings. What are number strings, you ask?  Well, they are similar to number talks in that it is a way to get the kids to *mentally* think about the math that they are doing.  What makes them different is that the number strings focus on ONE strategy to get the students solving problems, as opposed to the several strategies that number talks promote. Since we are working on adding and subtracting fractions, my math coach gave me this book Minilessons for Operations with Fractions, Decimals, and Percents: A Yearlong Resource (Contexts for Learning Mathematics) to help me get started.  The first number string that is presented shows the kids how to equate certain fractions with money.  Money is so common amongst the kids, that they instantly related.  Showing the kids that 1/......

One of the shifts we have tried to make using Common Core is incorporating real world problems into all aspects of our curriculum.  When I was first introduced to this idea that everything I was teaching needed to be totally different, that it had to be SO much more rigorous and SO much more difficult, I had a mild heart attack.  I thought things were going along pretty good.  And, really, they kind of were.  I just needed to tweak a bit.   Now, what I am about to share with you is probably something you have done many, many times before.  However, what I am finding with my own teaching is that looking at activities that I have done in the past with a new lens is causing me to shift just slightly and make the work a bit more rigorous.  It really isn't taking a lot of work on my part, just a different perspective. In class, we have been working on adding and subtracting decimals.  I wanted to break out my tried and true Book Order Math proje......

My classroom is an ever evolving entity (a Triple E if you will....).  I try something new and it may work or it may not.  Sometimes, things that I try actually grow even more from their inception.  That is what is happening with "The Answer Is...".   A few months back I posted about how I was using "The Answer Is" in my classroom (you can read about it here ).  I wanted to post an update to tell you how it has evolved and changed to become even more interactive. Each week, the students complete a "The Answer Is..." card, creating a good (usually multistep) word problem that goes along with each answer.  At the end of the week, I have been putting the cards with the problems into a little white container.  For a while, we didn't do anything with them.  But now, those little cards in the little container are a part of my problem solving station in the math rotation block. Now, each week, the students grab one of the cards out of the littl......

During Math Rotations, my students move through a Problem Solving station.  While I have them working on their Two Ways of Problem Solving , I also wanted them to think about how math works just a bit. So, while searching on Pinterest (of course!), I came across this pin and I just *knew* that I wanted to incorporate something like this in my room.  Here is my interpretation of what I saw. On Monday, I place an answer onto the pocket chart.  I have been starting simple so far and have done "5 hats" and "9 dogs".  Well....let me rephrase that....I started with what I *thought* was simple ;) To set up the board, I put the answer I am looking for at the top.  Each student has an index card with their classroom number written on it.  When they have finished writing the four different ways to come about that answer (using the four different operations), the students choose their "best" question, write it on the index card and turn it backwards on the p......

OK...so we just got home from seeing the Lego Movie and I just HAD to redo the title of this post.  Have you seen it?  Super cute!  Anyway...back to the regularly scheduled post. Do you ever have an AWESOME lesson idea at home, plan it out, knowing it will be super fabulous, only to have it fall short when you actually implement it in class??   Yeah...that is what happened at the beginning of this week. You see, I had this fabulous idea to have the kids construct buildings using the bazillion Lego bricks I had at home, then measure the buildings to find the volume of the entire thing.  Additive volume, measuring, problem solving....the whole shebang.  Awesome, right?? So I brought all of the materials into class, had the kids get into groups, explained what I wanted done, modeled it, and the kids were off. Here is where it all melted down.  The kids were building crazy thing with so many different levels that when they eventually went to fi......

Right now, we are learning about manipulating decimals in math.  We have pretty much mastered adding and subtracting and have moved on the multiplying them.  (although, truth be told, they are still having some issues with place value ;) )  After learning all of the standard algorithms for each operation, I wanted to give the students something to which they could apply their learning. I don't know about you, but my teacher mailbox is overflowing with Book Club order forms.  I LOVE that the students love to read, and that they want to order books for their own personal libraries, BUT the amount of magazines I receive can be ridiculous at times.  I usually end up throwing them away.  However, Scholastic recently went back to the un-round prices for their books (ie: it was $4, now it is $3.99)  Because of this, these magazines are PERFECT for a math project involving our decimal operations! To set it up, I told the students that they had $200 to shop......

We are learning about place value right now (as I suspect many of you are) and I wanted to share a quick little game I played with my students -- The Place Value Game. I got the idea for this game from my most favorite math resource from Marilyn Burns, A Collection of Math Lessons From Grades 3-6 .  She wrote about it using whole numbers, but since we are dealing with decimals to the thousandths right now, I switched it up.  The object is simple.  Using a die and a four space game board, the students compete to create the largest number possible.  Each student sets up the board like so: Then, they take turns rolling the die.  Every roll needs to be placed somewhere on the game board.  They can discard one roll, but that is it.  The students really need to employ a bit of strategy in how they are going to place the numbers in order to create the greatest number.  To push the math vocabulary a bit farther, I required the students to talk ......

The teaching of math is something that I am always trying to perfect in my classroom.  I tweak things from year to year to better suit the growing needs of my students so that I can more effectively help them access the standards.  Over the years, I have found that my biggest problem when teaching math is the lack of thinking that happens.  Students can memorize rules and facts, but applying those rules to any given math situation is so difficult for them.  To combat this, I have had to take a look at how I teach math and change it. Yesterday I told you about how I use Head Problems in my class to begin the process of getting students to think and talk about math.  Another thing I use, which I find VERY successful, are "Two Ways of Problem Solving".  The Two Ways Problem approach is something that I have used over the years and have found success with over many grade levels and many classroom makeups, so I thought I would share it with you here. Th......

A few years ago (well, more like 5 or 6), our math coach introduced us to the concept of "Head Problems" and I immediately knew that this was something I wanted to incorporate into my classroom.   Head problems are three step oral math problems which students compute in their head.  Sounds simple right?  What takes head problems to the next plane is the level of vocabulary, thinking, and discussion that must be done by the students. Click to enlarge for the complete "script" The basic routine of Head Problems is simple.  I give the students three steps in which they need to compute mathematical problems.  For example, Step 1:  Add the number of degrees in a right angle and the number of sides on a pentagon.  Step 2:  Subtract the digit in the ones place from the digit in the tens place. Step 3:  Multiply by the number of quarts in a gallon. You then debrief the problem with the students EVEN BEFORE THEY SHOUT OUT TO CONFIRM......