Choice Lit Topic: Choice Numeracy
Results
Using Mathematics to Connect Home and School
A frequently asked question from families when we start the school year is “Is there any homework for your classroom?” I always encourage reading outside of the school day and...
Listening and Learning: Using Conferring to Better Understand What Students Are Thinking
Feedback is part of the teaching and learning cycle. We receive feedback from our students as we teach, using their feedback to adjust our instruction to best fit their needs....
Still Thinking: An Opportunity to Pause and Think Deeply
Critical thinking skills are essential across all subjects and content areas. As we learn additional information, our brains find a way to create a new schema or adapt prior knowledge....
How Many? Counting Opportunities in Picture Books
I was excited to read Shh! We Have a Plan during the first month of first grade. It’s a humorous story with beautiful illustrations, a little suspense, and a sweet...
Listening for Conjectures
It was my second year of teaching fourth grade, and we were in the second week of the school year. The students were sitting in our meeting area where we...
Feedback Through Conversations: An Asset-Based Approach
We know the value of feedback and the importance of providing students with specific feedback to guide learning. When working with students, I am intentional in not only making my...
Routines That Normalize Mistakes
Lawrence slunk down in his seat, staring at his notebook. The rim of his eyes welled with just the faintest pooling of tears, and his knuckles gave away the telltale...
Math Debates: A Powerful Sense-Making Routine
In a bag of marbles, 3⁄5 of the marbles are blue and the rest are red. If the number of red marbles is doubled and the number of blue marbles...
Best Wrong Answer
“You want us to get the answer wrong?” Meera asks. “Yes, I want you to think about common mistakes a fourth grader might make on this problem. What is the...
Picture Books with Recipes to Foster Math Engagement
It never fails. The years when I read Thunder Cake by Patricia Polacco, the last page turns into a flurry of questions. What is in a thunder cake? Did you...
Math Is Everywhere
“Look, Mrs. Parks, there is math in my snack!” “There’s math in my snack too!” “That tree is math—it’s a triangle!” As I marveled at these noticings (and snapped some...
First-Grade Math Lesson: Introduction and Partner Work
Danielle French leads her first graders in a math lesson where they also build vocabulary and language skills.
First-Grade Math Lesson: Practice and Discussion
Students practice creating equations and using new vocabulary in this second installment of a math lesson in Danielle French's first-grade classroom.
Dot Images: Taking Time to Reflect Brings Out Mathematical Ideas
“My students just aren’t understanding how to decompose numbers,” Jessie, a kindergarten teacher, admitted at a team meeting. “I ask them to show me how numbers can be broken apart,...
Teaching = Communication
On a recent walk with a long-time friend, the topic of “math rules” came up. Lydia, a vice president of data analytics for a large corporation with degrees in mathematics...
Use Math Practices to Deepen Friendships
I found the perfect book for my kindergarten students in the recently published Friends Beyond Measure: A Story Told with Infographics by Lalena Fisher. Fisher presents math as a vehicle...
Going Deeper with Math Curricular Materials
My child is bored. How are you challenging my child? My child already knows how to do that. Many times these comments from families come from a place of wanting...
Searching for Patterns with First Graders
In my coaching role this school year, I have had the opportunity to be in a few different first-grade rooms. When teachers express a desire to keep all of their...
Unlocking Student Thinking: The Power of Problem Posing in Story Problem Contexts
As I watched my 16-month-old twins play at a local playground, I was struck by how they navigated this open area. It was fenced in, of course. Having two toddlers...
Magnifying the Moment
Like many educators, one of my favorite moments is the “light bulb” moment when a learner begins to make sense of the teaching point. The reaction might range from asking...
Intentional Consolidation and Closure
You taught a minilesson on the area of rectangles. Students have spent the last 30 minutes building different rectangles out of square tiles with an area of 36 square units...
