This week I am thinking about all of the things I love! Next week it will be two years since I started this blog and I have to say I love blogging! I love talking about what is happening in the classroom and the research I am reading. I love connecting with wonderful teachers all over the country and I love all the things I have learned on this journey. Today I am taking a few minutes to say thanks to all my followers and everyone who has been with me on this wild ride. I am linking up with some of my newest blogger friends to bring you the I {Heart} My Followers Mega Giveaway! I will be giving away 2 different prize packs containing some of my favorite things and then you can click on the links at the bottom of this post to check out more great giveaways.
Teaching With Music
I absolutely love teaching with music and some of the most read posts on my blog are from my Teaching Math with You Tube videos series. I have been using music in my teaching for years but You Tube has really stepped it up to the next level. Recently, I found Jack Hartmann's You Tube channel and added a few more to my repertoire. Here are a few of my new favorites
Numbercise
I have had the Every 1 Counts CD that this song came from for a few years but seeing it as a video really helped my students get the song!
Lets Get Fit Count to 100
A really fun way to get a movement break and counting practice together. Makes a great transition!
The Coin Song
My students' new favorite song for coin value and recognition!
These are my favorite math videos but there are also some great videos for teaching literacy concepts over on Jack Hartmann's You Tube channel.
Using Card Games for Classroom Instruction and Intervention
I love card games! I have created several decks of cards over the past 3 years and now I use these cards over and over again to play all kinds of games with kids. About 80% of my intervention time with students is spent using one of these decks of cards to play a huge variety of games. The best part is how much time, money and paper I save by using the same materials over and over again.
These 4 decks of cards help me take games and make them fun and engaging interventions that include visual models to support students who are still developing a conceptual understanding.
QR Code Scavenger Hunts
If I had not started blogging, I am not sure I ever would have thought about using QR codes with students. My QR code scavenger hunts have taken routine (and rather boring) practice and made it engaging, active and fun. If you haven't tried QR code scavenger hunts, read more about them here.
Now it is time to show how much I {heart} my followers! I will be giving away some of these things I love the most! I have put together 2 prize packs. One is best from primary teachers and the other for upper elementary. If you teach many grades or work with younger and older students feel free to register for both giveaways!
Primary Prize Pack
Digital files including 4 of my most popular decks of cards with activity sets. You get the 10 frame cards, 20 frame cards, numbers to 120 place value deck and the numbers to 1000 place value deck. Each deck includes a variety of activities to meet the needs of your students.
This week we are wrapping up our Mathematical Mindsets book study. I have loved reading this book and going deeper into the big ideas in my classroom. If you are just joining us, be sure to check out part 1 , part 2 and part 3 . Chapter 8: Assessment for a Growth Mindset Big Ideas -Teachers are being asked to test and to grade students to a damaging degree -Often what is easy to test is being assessed rather than valuable mathematics knowledge -It is common to start a math class with a pre-test to determine what students know. This gives students a message that math is about performance. -Research has shown that test scores demotivate students and convey a fixed messages that result in lower achievement -Boaler recommends assessing less -Use more formative assessment Impact in the Classroom Test Less I am happy to get on board with this one. We use standards based grading on our report cards so I don't have to worry about giving a percent score...
I use many computer games with my grades 4-6 students. I have shown you a few factoring games , games for practicing basic facts , and games from the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives . There are many other games I use with this age group and today I want to tell you about one of my favorite games to use during our geometry unit. Alien angles is a game from math playground that is quick to play but gives kids some great experience with angles. I want kids to have a good sense of the reasonableness of their answer when measuring angles and this game really helps develop this idea. Students are given a target angle and try to set that angle without the aid of a protractor. When I introduce this game on the SMART board or projector, we talk about benchmark angles such as 0, 45. 90, 135 and 180 and how they can help us estimate other angles. Students are given an angle to make When you launch the game you will be given an angle to make. C...
Welcome to our first day of a NEW book study on Whole Brain Teaching For Challenging Kids September 3 First Words, Chapters 1-3 September 10 Chapters 4-7 September 17 Chapters 8-10 September 24 Chapters 11-14 October 1 Chapters 15-18 October 8 Chapters 19-22 October 15 Chapters 23-26 October 22 Chapters 27-29 October 29 Bonus Chapters 30-32 Whole Brain Teaching for Challenging Kids (and the rest of your class, too!) I always take it as a good sign when I am only a few pages into a book and already nodding my head along in agreement. I have very much enjoyed reading the first few chapters of this book and already the wheels are turning about how to improve my own classroom management. I find the origins of Whole Brain Teaching to be fascinating and I particularly like the fact that the author shares his struggles and his process for improving his teaching. I think all teachers have been in a place before where they felt their classroom management was not adequate and t...
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This week I am thinking about all of the things I love! Next week it will be two years since I started this blog and I have to say I love blogging! I love talking about what is happening in the classroom and the research I am reading. I love connecting with wonderful teachers all over the country and I love all the things I have learned on this journey. Today I am taking a few minutes to say thanks to all my followers and everyone who has been with me on this wild ride. I am linking up with some of my newest blogger friends to bring you the I {Heart} My Followers Mega Giveaway! I will be giving away 2 different prize packs containing some of my favorite things and then you can click on the links at the bottom of this post to check out more great giveaways..JPG)
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