The end of the year is upon us! While there is no tired like teacher tired, I would argue that there is no tired like end of year teacher tired. If you are reading this, hopefully, state testing is behind you and you are looking for some easy ways to make the end of the year memorable but doable. Here are 8 end of the year ideas for middle school. 1. Try Something ...
Strengthening Classroom Culture Through Projects
At Maneuvering the Middle, we are all reading Project Based Teaching by Suzie Boss and John Larmers. Throughout the next few months, we will be discussing what we are learning as we read the book. There are 7 best practices for Project Best Teaching, and today we are covering building a strong classroom culture. If you are interested in incorporating more projects in your classroom, ...
Volume Activities and 7 Teaching Tips
Volume is one of my favorite middle school math skills to teach. The skill is visual and concrete, requires sketching pictures (which is always fun to tease what a great artist I am), and the operations required for solving allow for spiraled practice. A real winner from this teacher’s point of view! Here are my 7 tips/ideas for teaching volume in a way that students will get the most ...
How to Teach Solving for Y
Solving for y is necessary for 8th grade math and Algebra 1. It is often a pain point for students and teachers. Let’s talk about how solving for y is important and tips for teaching it. Why Students Need to Solve for Y While “solving for y” is not mentioned in any specific standard, it is necessary for so many other standards: A.2(B) write linear equations in two ...
Teacher Appreciation Ideas
Teacher appreciation week is hands down my favorite school season! In fact, one year I was on maternity leave during teacher appreciation week, I actually considered driving up to school to get in on some of the fun goodies that were being shared. Check out some of the best teacher appreciation gifts I have received and some ideas for doing it on a budget. Who is Teacher Appreciation ...
Teaching Multiplication Facts in Middle School
Teaching multiplication facts is not often practiced in middle school. Do middle school students need to have their multiplication facts memorized? Regardless of your answer, I think most math teachers would agree that multiplication fluency helps students see patterns, relationships, and supports more complex mathematical processes. If you are covering middle school standards, you ...
How to Use MTM Standardized Test Prep Unit
Test prep and review season is upon us! Maneuvering the Middle’s test prep unit literally saved me for the 4 years I used it, so I thought I would share what’s included with some ideas for using it in your classroom.Hopefully, these components will help streamline your test prep for state assessments and keep students engaged at the same time. What's Included There is SO ...
Grouping Students in Math
Grouping students in math can be a very complex process. If you take all the factors that are necessary for a group to function…personality, math ability, and ability to work in a group together, then you may find that no perfect combination exists. Here are some reasons you may decide to group students: You may group students because you believe that students can learn from one ...
Teaching Math Vocabulary that Sticks
For math to be accessible to students, math vocabulary must be taught! Let's talk about teaching math vocabulary in a way that sticks! Let’s see how important math vocabulary is to understanding and solving this problem. Could you solve this problem? I covered up a vital piece of information needed to solve this problem to emulate what a student might experience without knowing ...
5 Statistics Activities for Middle School
Data and statistics is such a fun topic to teach in middle school math! The relevance and hands-on nature of analyzing and displaying data made it engaging for my students and myself! Data and statistics usually fell to the very last unit in my scope and sequence which meant I was tired, and the amount of creative energy I had to put into my lessons was waning. Just me? So I thought I ...