DreamBox Learning®» Elementary teachers

Tuesday Teacher Tips: Mailing May

Lisa W — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 19:20:41 +0000

Welcome to the Tuesday Teacher Tips series! Each week we’ll highlight teaching and learning resources, ideas to use in the classroom, as well as things to ponder as you go about your teaching day. Mailing May by Michael O. Tunnell (Greenwillow Books, 1997) is one of those picture books that can be used across the curriculum. It’s based on a true story of how five year old Charlotte May Pierstorff was mailed from Grangeville to Lewiston, Idaho. Her parents couldn’t afford the cost of the $1.55 train ticket to send her to see her grandmother who lived seventy-five miles away. So instead, her father took her to the post office and mailed her at a cost of fifty-three cents. This book provides a great way to work with your students on comparing numbers through weight, money, and mileage. Use the United States Postal Service’s website to develop an interactive math lesson for your students. First, have students enter the zip codes of where the “package” (May) started; Grangeville, Idaho is 83530. Then enter the zip code of where it's going; Lewiston, Idaho is 83501. I chose package as the shape. Enter May’s weight, 48 pounds and 8 ounces. To Express Mail May today would cost a whopping $94.45. To send her via Parcel Post would cost only $19.11. (However, she might be in that box a little longer!) Have students choose different locations to mail themselves. Ask them to compute how many miles they will be shipped and then determine the cost of shipping. You could extend it further and have students compare the costs of flying, driving, taking a train, or being mailed. Have students calculate how much each mode of “transportation” costs per mile. Have you used this book in your math curriculum? What did you do to extend the concepts of the book? Email and let us know. We’d love to hear from you!

September Math Activities Calendar

Lisa W — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 16:09:15 +0000

Our September Math Activities Calendar is jam-packed with trivia, observances, and math problems to get your students using real-life math this month.

Ideas for using the calendar in the classroom:

Home-School Connection

Make a copy for each student to bring home. Ask them to do 10-15 activities for the month (or all of them!). Students can write the answers directly on the calendar. Offer a math incentive for students who bring the calendar in at the end of the month.

Classroom Use

Make a classroom copy of the calendar and post it in the room. Use the trivia and activities as discussion starters for your math lesson or make it a go-to activity for those transition times when you need an educational filler right before lunch. As a class, look up some of the more interesting or unusual holidays and observances to find out more about them. How will you celebrate Elephant Appreciation Day on September 22? Teachers, how do you use the Math Activities Calendar in your classroom? Do you use any math-centered rewards or incentives with your students? Email and let us know. We’ll share your great ideas in a future blog.

Tuesday Teacher Tips: Small Gems

Lisa W — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 15:00:13 +0000

Welcome to the Tuesday Teacher Tips series! Each week we’ll highlight teaching and learning resources, ideas to use in the classroom, as well as things to ponder as you go about your teaching day. One of the best things about going to workshops is the unexpected “aha” moments that aren’t on the agenda. They are the little gems that prove to most valuable, because I “found” them accidently. Sometimes the presenter will use a management tool to get our attention and I’ll incorporate that into my own classroom. Maybe the presenter will off-handedly refer to a resource book that ends up being one of my go-to books for the rest of the year. This summer I was at the training “Introduction to Singapore Math Model Drawing” with Susan Midlarsky. She showed me an important step in the problem solving process. She told us that when she’s working on word problems with her students she always requires them to write a sentence that contains the answer before they begin solving the problem. This easy technique focuses students on what needs to be solved in the problem before they dig into it. It gets them thinking, “What do I have to find out in this problem?” This is not a radically new idea, but it's one that's easily skipped. Requiring students to actually write the answer sentence before working the math teaches them to stop and carefully evaluate the problem to decode what the question is asking of them. The sentence provides direction, as well as a concrete tool to use while solving it. For example, The ratio of average attendance at River Bats baseball games to attendance at the Dukes games was 4:1. If 4,000 people attended the River Bats game on average, how many attended the Dukes game? On average, _________ people attended the Dukes game. What is the little “aha” gem you’ve gleamed from a workshop this summer? Email and let us know. We’ll share them in a future blog.

Tuesday Teacher Tips: Model Drawing

Lisa W — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 15:00:29 +0000

Welcome to the Tuesday Teacher Tips series! Each week we’ll highlight teaching and learning resources, ideas to use in the classroom, as well as things to ponder as you go about your teaching day. This summer I attended the workshop, “Introduction to Singapore Math Model Drawing,” presented by Susan Midlarsky. Model drawing is a problem solving technique in which students draw bars to represent problems pictorially. This method easily moves students to solving problems algebraically, because they can visualize where the missing variable is and how it relates to the problem. My district does not use Singapore Math, but our new math curriculum does use a form of model drawing and contains a heavy emphasis on problem solving. This year, I found that using bar models proved to be an excellent strategy to use with most students. It allowed them to clearly visualize the problem, especially when we learned more abstract concepts like ratios and fractions. However, for those students who easily solve word problems drawing models was a challenge. These are the students who when you ask for an explanation of how they solved a problem tell you, “I just knew it.” Being able to translate and explain their thinking is difficult for these students, but bar models can help them process their thinking and grasp how they arrived at the answer. So in the future, when they are presented with more difficult problems that they don’t automatically “know,” they have tools to aid in solving them. Do you use model drawing in your math program? What benefits and challenges have you experienced in implementing it in your classroom? Email and let us know. We’d love to hear from you.

Tuesday Teacher Tips: The Important Thing About…

Lisa W — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 15:00:43 +0000

Welcome to the Tuesday Teacher Tips series! Each week we’ll highlight teaching and learning resources, ideas to use in the classroom, as well as things to ponder as you go about your teaching day. Use the book The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown (Harper Collins Publishers, 1949) to create math poetry. Use the words you are studying in your math unit and have students create a poem defining the most important thing about the word, the thing that should be remembered about the word long after the unit is complete. Then have students write additional sentences to describe other attributes and characteristics about the word. End the poem the same way you started, with the most important thing about the word.

The important thing about an equilateral triangle is that it has three equal sides. It is a three sided polygon with three congruent angles, each angle measuring 60°. But the important thing about an equilateral triangle is that it has three equal sides. The important thing about a clock is that it tells time. It has the numbers one through twelve on its face. The small hand points to the hour, and the bigger hand shows the minutes. On some clocks there is a hand that shows the seconds. The clock on my microwave has only numbers, it is a digital clock. But the important thing about a clock is that it tells time. The important thing about a penny is that it is worth one cent. It takes one hundred pennies to equal one dollar. Abraham Lincoln, our sixteen president, is pictured on the front. It is copper in color and larger than a dime which is worth ten cents. But the important thing about a penny is that is worth one cent. Write your own poem around a math word or concept. Email it to us and we’ll include everyone’s Important Poems in a future blog.

Face Value or Place Value?

Neal M — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 16:00:36 +0000

Throughout my teaching career, I’ve found that an understanding of place value is often at the root of a student’s struggle with math. Some researchers say we introduce place value too soon, others say we don’t do it soon enough. The Common Core Math Standards tell us to begin place value instruction as early as Kindergarten with increasingly sophisticated instruction through throughout the elementary grades. A major understanding to grasping place value has to do with understanding the difference between face value and place value of a digit. Try this with your primary students: 1. Show a child “16” on a piece of paper. Ask what does the “1” means? 2. Ask what does the “6” mean? 3. Put out a cup of counters and ask her to show you 16 counters. 4. Ask her to show you with the counters what the “1” means? 5. Ask her to show you with the counters what the “6” means. Here’s an example of the responses I often hear from primary children, even ones who consistently give correct answers to #1 and #2 1. Show a child “16” on a piece of paper. Ask what does the “1” mean? Child responds "10” 2. Ask what does the “6” mean? Child responds, “6 ones” 3. Put out a cup of counters and ask her to show you 16 counters. 4. With the counter show me what the “1” means? She points to one counter. 5. Show me with the counters what the “6” means. Counts out six counters. So what’s the teacher to do? First don’t assume that a child who can verbally identify the place value of numbers understands the structure of our base-ten number system. Students need to understand the role of 10s and learn to see 10 objects both as one group (the 1 in the tens place) and as 10 individual objects. Teachers can support a child’s conceptual learning by providing many opportunities to count quantities of objects by grouping them into 10s and ones, and recording the number. Teachers can help their students see the pattern that exists when they record how many there are---that the digit on the left represents the number of groups of ten and the other digit represents how many left over. The recording is very important; it connects the conceptual level with symbolic representations. This will help a child differentiate face value and place value.

Tuesday Teacher Tips: Two of Everything

Lisa W — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 16:00:34 +0000

Welcome to the Tuesday Teacher Tips series! Each week we’ll highlight teaching and learning resources, ideas to use in the classroom, as well as things to ponder as you go about your teaching day. About the Book I was recently introduced to the book Two of Everything: A Chinese Folktale (1993) retold by Lily Toy Hong. One day while Mr. Haktak was digging in his tiny garden he comes upon an ancient pot. He soon learns that the pot is magical and doubles everything that is placed inside of it. Mr. Haktak and his wife experience some difficulty with the magical pot. My favorite line comes after Mrs. Haktak falls in the pot and a second Mrs. Haktak appears. As the couple tries to figure out what to do with the new Mrs. Haktak, Mr. Haktak yells, “…If I put her back we will not have two women but THREE. One wife is enough for me!” (My husband would most likely agree with this sentiment!) Using it in the Classroom This book works well in introducing upper elementary students to input-output tables and expressing function rules algebraically. In the article, “Two of Everything,” from the October 2010 issue of Teaching Children Mathematics (available as a free download to NCTM members or $7.00 to nonmembers), Julie C. McNamara wrote of how she used the book in the classroom. After reading the story, McNamara created an input-output chart with picture representations of what happened in the story. Columns were labeled, “What goes IN the pot” and “What comes OUT of the pot.” Next, she drew another T-chart with only number representations. With the new T-chart the student were asked to describe in words what the chart represented. Students responded that numbers that were put in doubled, were multiplied by two, or “got a match.” McNamara furthered her students thinking by asking them to write the rule algebraically. For example, 2n or n x 2 or n + n. Later, she introduced students to another pot that yielded different results. For this new pot, when one item was put in, three items came out. After student predicted the rule, she continued by putting a new number of items in the pot. When three items were put in, five items appeared. She emphasized that a rule can’t be determined for sure after studying only one input-output pair. Students then created their own magic pot with an original rule and a corresponding T-table. The pots were used in an interactive bulletin board; students had to figure out the rule for each other’s pots. Further Application I think this would be a great lesson to start the year. It’s hands-on and concrete enough to pull your struggling learners into the lesson, but still challenging to your advanced learners, especially when students are asked to describe the rule algebraically. After this lesson, the “magic pot” could serve as a starter to the day. When students entered the classroom in the morning, there could be a picture of the magic pot with a corresponding input-output chart. Students could be asked to figure out the rule, describe the rule algebraically, and continue the chart with five additional input-output pairs. Have you used this book in your classroom? Tell us about it, we'd love to hear about other ways you used the book to teach math concepts. Related Resources Another book that could be used to partner with this book would be One Grain of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale, which was highlighted on an earlier post. In addition, check out an article in Teaching Children Mathematics (November 2007), “Developing ‘Algebra-‘Rithmetic’ in the Elementary Grades” that also uses Two of Everything in the classroom. References Demi. One Grain of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale. New York: Scholastic Press, 1997. Hong, Lily Toy. Two of Everything: A Chinese Folktale. Morton Grove, IL: Albert Whitman and Company, 1993. McNamara, Julie C. “Two of Everything.” Teaching Children Mathematics (October 2010): 132-136. Suh, Jennifer M. “Developing ‘Algebra-‘Rithmetic’ in the Elementary Grades.” Teaching Children Mathematics (November 2007): 246-253.

Tuesday Teacher Tips: Summer Reading

Lisa W — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 16:52:06 +0000

Welcome to the Tuesday Teacher Tips series! Each week we’ll highlight teaching and learning resources, ideas to use in the classroom, as well as things to ponder as you go about your teaching day. This month I was able to hear Beth Skipper, journal editor of Teaching Children Mathematics present on including literature in the math classroom. She brought in a cartful of her personal library of math-related literature, and I'll admit, I was excited; I love finding new titles to use in the classroom. Since the workshop, I’ve taken full advantage of my public library’s services and checked out a stack of picture books. (Don’t worry. I’ll share my reading lists in upcoming blogs!) I’ve also ordered a copy of New Visions for Linking Literature and Mathematics by David J. Whitin and Phyllis Whitin (2004). I’m checking my mailbox daily for its arrival! What are you reading this summer? Have you found any professional development books that have piqued your interest? What math-related literature do you use in your classroom? I’d love to hear about the books and highlight them in an upcoming blog.

Tuesday Teacher Tips: Gearing Up For a New Grade Level

Lisa W — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 22:39:18 +0000

Welcome to the Tuesday Teacher Tips series! Each week we’ll highlight teaching and learning resources, ideas to use in the classroom, as well as things to ponder as you go about your teaching day. One thing I love about teaching at the elementary level is that you’re not locked into one grade level. With my license I can teach first through sixth grade. Over the years I’ve taken advantage of that flexibility and have been a classroom teacher at the 1st, 3rd and 5th grades. There are definite pros and cons to changing teaching positions. I have colleagues who have taught the same grade level for many, many years. Those teachers I admire since I see them as the experts at a grade level. They know their grade intimately—the developmental level, curriculum, and standards. For me, these are the go-to people for expert grade-level advice. I believe I bring a different expertise to my grade level teams. I have the experience of the various grade levels behind me; I know where the kids have been in the curriculum and where they are going. When I teach a new concept and the kids look at me like they have never seen anything like it, I can remind them, “Remember in third grade when we did something similar?” And suddenly the light bulbs go off and they nod, “Oh yeah, I remember.” Next fall I move from 3rd to 5th grade. I’m excited for the change. Even though changing grade levels is difficult and its time consuming learning a new curriculum, for me, it keeps my teaching fresh and gives me a new perspective on the elementary experience. Are you someone who prefers to stay primarily at one grade level or someone who seeks out new grade-level assignments? Email and let us know. We’d love to hear about your teaching experiences.

Tuesday Teacher Tips: Summer School, Jumping in Feet First

Lisa W — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 22:27:50 +0000

Welcome to the Tuesday Teacher Tips series! Each week we’ll highlight teaching and learning resources, ideas to use in the classroom, as well as things to ponder as you go about your teaching day. You know its summer school as you navigate your way through halls crammed with stacks of chairs, desks and pallets of boxes. Any room not used for summer school is being buffed and polished for the fall. I love the relaxed setting of summer school. It’s down to the basics—reading and math—with no special programming or interruptions. Don’t misunderstand, I know the importance and appreciate all of the support staff I have during the year, I couldn’t do my job if they weren’t available. And events like track and field, special speakers, and field trips make school memorable for the students while providing learning opportunities outside of the classroom. But sometimes, you just want to teach. During the year, the school day is hectic and full of interruptions and someone is always leaving the room for something. It’s a rare time when I have my entire class in the room at the same time. So, for me, summer school is about kids and teaching. It’s about studying notes from their teachers, analyzing test results and diagnosing the best use of my time with this new group of students. And then just teaching. But with summer school also comes low motivation. The kids seem to drag in a little slower. It’s no wonder, as they left their house that morning for school they watched a group of neighborhood kids gather on the corner to organize a game of ball. As a teacher, it’s my job to keep learning as active, engaging and rigorous as possible, especially during summer school. I have to jump in feet first on that very first day to make their time away from friends and ball as worthwhile as possible. Check out our current educator’s newsletter for some ideas and resources for lessons and games to use during summer school, starting on day one. Do you teach summer school? What do you enjoy about it? What are your challenges? Email and let us know. We’d love to hear from you.