Friday Funny (11/29)

Friday Funny

A lot of truth sneaks in here.

Variables

Short Khan Academy Video introducing the idea of variables.



For a whole list of Khan Academy videos on a variety of topics that deal with different aspects of variables, click here.

Here is a video from Math Is Power for U that deals with like and unlike terms. It includes instruction about the distributive property and factoring like terms.



For more topics on variables from Math Is Power 4 U, click here and scroll down to the section on variables. It looks like this...

If you have any resources you would like to share, you can include them in the comments section.

Site of the Week

Sometimes the best sites are ones that are by teachers in the trenches. This site is from a 6th Grade Math teacher. If you look at what she is dealing with right now, a lot of it has to do with variables.

Here is the site: http://cindywhitebcms.blogspot.com/

Hope you find something useful!

I Can Statements (6th Grade)

Here is a site that has 6th grade "I Can..." statements. "I Can..." statements put the language of Common Core (which is sometimes challenging to understand) into a more student and teacher friendly language. It is helpful for understanding what the learning goal of the standard is and a great tool to post in the room. You can google "I Can Statements" to find other versions.

6th Grade "I Can..." statements.

Friday Funny

Problem Solving PD

Agenda and Problem Solving Sheets

PDF: Standards of Mathematical Practice

UPS-Check Video

Power Point File

Friday Funny - I know you've wanted to do this!

Site of the Week - Class Dojo

Check this one out. If you want more info on this site, get with Mr. Salyers, Mr. Malone, or Mrs. Stagman.

CLASSDOJO.COM

PS: It's free!

Formative Assessment

Neat idea for a formative assessment tool. Video is less than 60 seconds!

Problem Solving - UPS Style

Our 6th grade success time is working on Problem Solving. We are using a 4 point plan, teaching students to

1. Understand the Problem (restate in own words) 
2. Choose a Plan (What strategy will we use?)
3. Carry out the Plan
4. Look back at your answer (Does it make sense?)

In this video, they use also use a 4-step process, called the UPS process.

1. Understand
2. Plan
3. Solve
4. Check 

Sound familiar, or at least similar? Got 6 minutes? Check out the video.

"I believe that if you can think, you can work any problem!" --TeRaze Mickle

A new take on Vocabulary

Here is a video about teaching vocabulary. How do we normally teach vocabulary? We normally pre-teach vocabulary. But is this the most effective way, when very often students have no context in which to understand the meaning. In this video, the teacher uses an activity to "teach" vocabulary after the lesson has been taught. Now the students have a greater context to connect a word with its meaning. Interested in knowing more, check out the video of this 7th grade class in action.

Creating Mathematicians

Standards of Mathematical Practice (SMPs)

If you are not already familiar with the Common Core Standards of Mathematical Practice, you should be! They are 8 principals for that should be used to provide math instruction. They are as follows:

1.       Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them

2.       Reason abstractly and quantitatively

3.       Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others

4.       Model with mathematics

5.       Use appropriate tools strategically

6.       Attend to precision

7.       Look for and make use of structure

8.       Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning

In other words, we don’t just want our students to be able to do math, we want them to be mathematicians! We don’t spend 6 years teaching students words and definitions, and then start teaching them to read. Neither should we just teach math skills independently and then suddenly expect students to problem solve. Context is just as important in math as it is in reading. That is why one of the ten principles of Thinking Math is “Base instruction on situational story problems” (#3).

Look at the verbs in the SMPs, Make sense, reason, construct, model, use, attend, make use of, express. These are the actions of a mathematician. These are the challenges that face our students.

 So what might this look like in a classroom? Glad you asked. Below is a video taken from a 3rd Grade classroom, but this type of teaching strategy can be applied in every grade.

Friday Funny

Math Genius!

Vocabulary Skills

Can't leave out the music department! They do an awesome job.