Vertical alignment - let's discuss how to vertically align curriculum in a professional learning community.VERTICAL ALIGNMENT FIRSTHANDIt was the beginning of my second year of teaching and my first year in sixth grade. I clearly remember thinking, “I should do a warm up to practice division so I can see where they are at.” Well, what I thought would be a quick warm up turned ...
Practical Math Homework
Math homework is quite the debated topic these days - we asked if teachers should even assign homework in this blog post. I worked at a school that attempted to standardize homework by assigning a different content area to each day of the week. Homework is something that schools are always trying to figure out.Today, I am sharing a few tips for math homework and how I have utilized it in ...
How to Create a Unit Plan
Creating any part of a curriculum from scratch is a challenge! Unit plans are no different. Changing standards, multiple preps, and a too-short planning period are not a recipe for success. However, creating a unit plan will save you time in the long run. Let’s create a unit plan that helps students learn the course material while also saving your sanity.What exactly is a unit plan?A ...
Teaching One- and Two-Step Inequalities
What I love so much about inequalities are the infinite solutions. For so much of students’ previous math experience, there is one exact answer. When it comes to inequalities, it is fun to push students to think of their answers beyond “x<4” and brainstorm all of the infinite solutions that x can be and then connect it to the graph.Below, I have outlined a few ideas and things to ...
Teaching Proportional Relationships
Proportional relationships are ingrained in our everyday life. While most students pick up on the process to solve fairly quickly, there is so much foundational, conceptual knowledge that we want to acknowledge and emphasize.Today, let’s examine how proportional relationships go far beyond just solving for a missing number and how to set a foundation for success in Algebra.THE ...
Student-Centered Math Activities
Planning student-centered math activities takes work! There is the actual planning and creating that takes time, but then there is also the actual classroom time to squeeze the activities into. I have five 7 favorite activities that are fun and engaging, but also help scaffold the learning. I think that is why I love math so much; it can be broken down into smaller components. The key ...
How To Structure a 100 Minute Class Period
Most math teachers would love a longer class period! I taught a 100 minute class one year, and it definitely had its pros and cons:Pros of a 100 Minute Class PeriodCons of a 100 Minute Class PeriodThings to ConsiderBelow is just one way to structure your 100 minute class period. Sometimes things do not go according to plan, but it is always a good idea to have a structured routine for ...
20 Must Have Teacher Supplies
If I had to draw one broad generalization about teachers, it would be that teachers love school supplies. To this day, I am exhilarated by walking down the school supply aisles. I have compiled a list of my favorite teacher supplies, all priced under $20. These are all supplies that I have found useful in my classroom, along with some great ideas for incorporating them. Some supplies ...
Concrete Representational Abstract Sequence
The CRA framework is an instructional strategy that stands for concrete, representational, and abstract; it is critical to helping students move through their learning of math concepts. To fully understand the idea behind CRA, or concrete representational abstract, think about a small child learning to count. They may learn counting to 10 by memorizing a song. Then, these numbers ...
Essential Math Manipulatives
Math manipulatives are some of the best ways to introduce a new mathematical concept and are the foundation of the C-R-A. They help to form a solid mathematical foundation as students move from concrete understanding to representational to abstract. By providing the opportunity to concretely work with the manipulatives, students are able to develop a conceptual understanding rather ...