GEOMETRY VOCAB Update

Hi everyone!

Happy Spring...or freezing, cold, windy, whatever this is :) I was pretty excited to see a little sunshine today as cold as it was. I'm on Spring Break! :) WHooo Hooo. One of my goals for break is to update some of my older products. My newest products look pretty snazzy, but my old ones need some of the dust knocked off.

And silly me, I thought updating things would be a fast task, but it's taking a lot to turn something old into something new. The first product I started working on was my Geometry Vocabulary Activities pack. I ended up doubling the size of this packet in my revising. I added a table of contents, common core connections, direction pages, and sample completed pages. (These activities are tried and true, but I added a few things and tried to spice up the look of some of the pages).

Here's a look at what's in the Geometry Vocabulary Pack.

This set of activities is based on the idea that students need multiple exposures to vocabulary in order to master unfamiliar words. While the activities might seem repetitive, using them with a variety of levels of support (whole group, partner, and individual) will allow you to see when students have truly mastered the concepts/definitions and to identify misconceptions that still exist after teaching.

If you have purchased this product before, you can go to your purchases and re-download for the updates.

3RD Grade
CCSS.Math.Content.3.G.A.1 Understand that shapes in different categories (e.g., rhombuses, rectangles, and others) may share attributes (e.g., having four sides), and that the shared attributes can define a larger category (e.g., quadrilaterals). Recognize rhombuses, rectangles, and squares as examples of quadrilaterals, and draw examples of quadrilaterals that do not belong to any of these subcategories.
4th Grade
CCSS.Math.Content.4.G.A.1 Draw points, lines, line segments, rays, angles (right, acute, obtuse), and perpendicular and parallel lines. Identify these in two-dimensional figures.
CCSS.Math.Content.4.G.A.2 Classify two-dimensional figures based on the presence or absence of parallel or perpendicular lines, or the presence or absence of angles of a specified size. Recognize right triangles as a category, and identify right triangles.
CCSS.Math.Content.4.G.A.3 Recognize a line of symmetry for a two-dimensional figure as a line across the figure such that the figure can be folded along the line into matching parts. Identify line-symmetric figures and draw lines of symmetry.
5th Grade
CCSS.Math.Content.5.G.B.3 Understand that attributes belonging to a category of two-dimensional figures also belong to all subcategories of that category. For example, all rectangles have four right angles and squares are rectangles, so all squares have four right angles.

Clutter Free Update (paper-stacking)

Hey all,

I just wanted to share some pictures from my "Clutter-Free" efforts and some awesome supplies I recently bought. I had a rough day two Tuesdays ago and it was a Tuesday with no after school staff meeting or other engagement...Guess what I did to relieve some stress---started cleaning out my desk. And it looked like: BAM! 

 

Look at that baby, shining in all it's glory! I even had time to wipe it down and clean off some dust. Those *cute* little flower trinkets are crafty gifts from some of my kiddos. And that spinning supply organizer is a little something I coveted all summer before I grabbed it from overstock.com.

In Week # 7's Challenge, the Clutter Free Classroom encourages us to work on our paper clutter. I like to convince myself that I don't have a paper problem. I saw her handy method for organizing and filing papers in the teacher bag--a file-folio with labeled sections, and I thought "I don't need that. It's ONE MORE THING to 'organize' me, and I don't really have a paper problem." Ahh-hemmmm. Begin DISTRICT COMMON ASSESSMENTS here...OPEN ENDED, lots of GREAT components, and ahhh-hemmmmmm...lots of paperwork. Not to mention, I also assign student work out of my own choosing and would like to think sometimes I have the time to read it, grade it, rubric it...all that jazz (are you reading my hint of toooooo-much paperwork, end of quarter sarcasm?)

 Not too bad, huh? (whimpering a little as  I type here :( If everything has a place, where is the place for this stuff? I feel like I have too many containers, too many shelves, what to do that will work? (and not cost more money?? and not take up more space??? This sounds like a clutter-free dilemma!)

 I call this pic "paper stacks".

 I call this pic "more paper stacks," still whimpering! And yes, I strategically placed the stapler there so that we could all see how tall this one-of-ten paper stack is. Needless to say, all of these paper stacks went in my bag on Friday as I headed off for a weekend of sifting, grading, and preparing report cards.

And, in walks my common sense. Yes, I do need a "filing folio" for all of my paperwork. Although paperwork (like everything in my education world it seems) EBBS and FLOWS throughout a quarter, I really need a method for handling my TO DO, TO READ, TO GRADE, TO FILE, TO COPY, TO HOLD ON TO piles. These just get stuck into my bag until I get a chance (read--evening-at-home-not exhausted-motivation) to sift through them--almost never. BUT, I do find that when I sift through the papers, I keep shuffling them to "I'll need that again later, I still want to hold on to that." These papers obviously need a labeled section so that I don't have to constantly sift a whole pile but will know where to start when I want something or want to clean out all the paper.

I was even thinking it might help to have one of these file folders at school to house stacks of papers that need to be returned to students or need to be corrected by students. Unfortunately, I don't have the classroom space for student mailboxes and don't really love the look of them, so I do need baskets or something for organizing student stuff. I think it is a sign of insanity that I constantly carry the same things from home to school and back and some weeks I go until the weekend before I actually open my bag. (You must be thinking I'm a terrible teacher!)

And, hence, at 5:45 on a Friday, I bust into my favorite designer store, Tarjay, to find the perfect file-folio. And, they had one that matches my home office--bonus awesomeness!

In other Tarjay perfection news, I found file boxes in the dollar spot for--you guessed it--1$ AND the design also matches my home office.

Excuse the not-so-pretty shelf. Those file boxes made me pull it out from the garage where it's been for a year now. I think I'm going to paint it a pretty coral to spice it up. (Those baskets came from the dollar store a few weeks ago.) Next, I just need to figure out what else to store in the file boxes and make some cute labels for them.

Have you embarked on the Clutter-Free journey? If not, you should hop on over and catch up on the challenges! (I myself need to catch up on a few :)

Focus Focus-Working on Behavior part 2

 

In my last post, I shared that my class was having focusing and behavior issues.  This is the time of the year when we should be getting a lot done, when I as a teacher am reminded of how much we just haven't got to in science and social studies, and when it's quite possible that the kids are ready to fall apart see how much they can get by with.

To solve our learning and behavior issues, I put students in teams of three to discuss ideas they had for improving our learning environment. I gave students the following criteria for their ideas:

It must be:

Simple and Quick (IE, not extra work for the teacher!)

Effective

Positive/Less Punitive

My goal was that students would help me find positive ways to motivate them. I explained that negative consequences (emails to parents, silent lunch, laps at recess, etc) would come if the positive method did not help them change their behavior. As students started working and discussing, I also had to add NOT HUMILIATING to this list. They were thinking of some embarrassing punishments that I would never be able to use (but might dream of ;)

Here are some of the ideas students came up with:

* Writing in a feelings journal that you share with someone you trust to help you deal with friendship issues like arguments at recess

* require students to play a team game at recess if people are unfocused in order to learn to work together

* class apologies (we did this in January and students wanted time to do it again)

* 3 strikes you’re out-sit out for 5 min--individual based with a daily reward

* Silent lunch and 5 minutes extra recess each day for good behavior

* class dojo

For a second, I thought Class Dojo might be a good idea. We could create a CLASS dojo based on our class values and behaviors and work towards a group goal. (I was pretty anti individual dojo's because I know I wouldn't be good at giving positive feedback and it would be hard to do it equally and fairly for 20 kids.) Interestingly, for the most part, students were against Class Dojo because it is being used in our special area classes and they mentioned that it is causing them to compete to be the first student to do the things that get them positive points. I would bet it is also not really improving the behavior of the few who need to improve. 

We decided that instead of the feelings journal, we could have a table in the lunch room that was for problem-solving and discussing issues you have with the person you are not getting along with. (For the most part, my kiddos are friends and get along--but being together for two years means they do get irritated with each other and have conflicts). If students go to the table to discuss a problem, no one (including me) is allowed to ask what they were discussing. A few students have already used the problem solving table.

Moving on to classroom behavior issues, I had a few students disagree with getting rewarded every day for good behavior (candy, extra recess, etc). One student said "I don't think we should get rewarded for things that are expected."~~Phew! I was holding my breath waiting for someone to say what I was thinking. My kiddos have been with me long enough to know my belief system--do what's right, work hard, expect nothing in return. And sometimes, you might be surprised with a reward "just because." I think they also realized that a piece of candy wouldn't necessarily motivate them every day and wouldn't solve our problems.

Next we moved on to discuss the "3 strikes" idea. I reminded them that I wanted to start with positive strategies so we had to find a way to make this idea motivating. In comes the RECOGNITION WALL. I said I like the idea of three strikes and then explained an idea I had come up with as I listened to a small group discuss "3 strikes."75% of students voted yes on this method, so here it goes:

I created a recognition wall outside of the classroom so that the "Hall of Fame" is visible by students as they come into class and by visitors and other staff members. I created student name plates and then attached velcro pieces to the name plate and bulletin board paper. This makes it easy to attach and remove names daily. (You could use push pins or staples, too).

Each day I review the recognition wall before I leave school or look over it in the morning before students return to class. I decide who needs to be removed from the wall and who may have earned MVP status for that day’s behavior. I use MVP status to recognize out-of-the-ordinary good behavior.

I also made little baseballs to use as warning cards throughout the school day. I place them on students’ desks when behavior needs to change.

Lastly, I considered a few of my students that perhaps wouldn't be too motivated by the recognition wall. I really tried to get into their heads and figure out why they behave the way they do (making extra noises, talking excessively while I'm talking, etc.) For these students, I think it comes down to a desire for more attention from their classmates. I decided that perhaps a reward that pulls in a few other classmates would be motivating--choosing 2 or 3 classmates to eat with at lunch. (We have these circular tables in the middle of our lunchroom that seem "special.") With NO strikes, students can pick three friends, with TWO strikes, they can pick two friends, with THREE strikes, they get no reward that day. (So it goes 3-2-1...3 friends, 2 friends, no reward). When behavior changes more regularly, we may move to once a week rewards.

I placed the 3 strikes card onto these students desks after negotiating the reward with them. Of course, you can use the score card for consequences, but I wanted to try positive motivation. You might also have a class of students that all need the cards on their desk. In that case, you would have to come up with a reward that is possible to give to everyone, but I have had the experience that it's a small few students that disrupt the class. Generally, most students are motivated by simple recognition. (Maybe students get their name in a jar for no strikes and you pull out a few at the end of the week to receive some type of reward).

I have worked on a few versions of the Recognition/Behavior Management wall.

I may come up with a few more themes, but these are the three I was able to get finished so far. Let me know if you have one you would like to see. I have decided to charge 1.20 for these. With a few minutes of printing and cutting, your recognition wall can be ready to go in no time!

Focus Focus (Easy as Hocus Pocus) Strategy

Rounding out 3rd quarter, coming around the bend. I think some of you all are already on Spring break. My 3 weeks break starts on Tuesday after one school day and a teacher workday. WOOT WOO :) 

Is this the time of year that it seems your students are in need of a break? A few weeks ago, I found that my students were having a very challenging time listening, focusing, and treating each other with kindness. COME ON GUYS!!! This is the time of the year when I think I am supposed to be getting the most done--3rd quarter, pre-state-testing, still have major things to learn, and hey, I show up to work hard! Why aren’t my students doing the same?

Well, one thing I realized is that I had dropped the ball on morning meeting. With so many snow days and late starts, we stopped reflecting on our behavior and stopped setting new classroom goals to work towards. (Honestly, my kiddos repeat themselves every day when reflecting on morning meeting goals, and we had achieved perseverance in math for the most part. And my kiddos are DARN NEAR perfect...But hey, isn’t it better to give them the time to repeat themselves each morning--what went well yesterday, what needs to be better today--than for me to constantly have to repeat myself?)

Let’s just say the trade-off of cutting morning meeting this quarter turned into a week’s worth of lengthy morning meetings focused on problem-solving the issues we were having.

First, I had students reflect on what they wanted out of the classroom. “When you show up to school at 8 am, what are you looking to get out of our day?” In one morning meeting, we discussed these hopes and dreams.

Next, students listed the main issues they felt we were having. Next, we went around our circle and told our top two. While students were reporting out, I was taking notes and tallies. These were our issues:

* socializing/side-conversations

* getting off topic

* talking out

* group not getting along

* having fun at inappropriate times

* joking/purposely bothering people

* learning time being wasted

* not wanting to learn-motivation

* not learning enough time

* too many noises

* rudeness to teacher

* too many distractions

Wow! Does this list sound familiar?

We were able to group the issues into two main problems:

Kindness (how we treat each other)--I learned we were having problems at recess that were spilling over into our afternoon learning time and focusing-issues like too many distractions, side conversations, people joking, lacking the motivation to learn, talking while the teacher is talking, etc. all relate back to a lack of focus.

In comes our FOCUS reminder sign. 

While students did most of the problem solving in our next class meeting, I already had the idea of our FOCUS reminder. When I say FOCUS, students know to get it together. This doesn’t just mean focusing on me, but focusing on the task at hand, focusing on anyone who is talking, and being motivated to do their best with their best focus.

How do I use the FOCUS sign? The class starts out at O. (I simply place the clothespin on O). With extremely great focus, they can move up to an F, but with poor focus, they move down to a C, U, and lastly an S. In a given subject, they can always move back up the FOCUS sign. They can move down to a C in one minute, and immediately be returned to an O with appropriate focus. So far, no tangible consequences or rewards come from this strategy. It is meant to be motivating within itself. Pride in our accomplishments and compliments from the teacher should be reward enough!

Now, what if the kiddos are just having a bad day? With my strategic, wise teacher thinking, I decided that the FOCUS sign would reset to O for every subject. Students might think I am just being forgiving or easy on them, but I am really using reverse psychology AND helping them REFOCUS for a new subject area. By saying that I know they are going to RESTART their focus, it isn't like they have to move back up from a U or C during a new subject. They already start at O and just try to maintain it. (I'm not sure if I am explaining the beauty of this well, but I hope you "get" it :)

I found that focusing at transitions (from quiet reading to a whole group math lesson) is one of our biggest challenges. Now, I feel dumb putting that in writing because DUHHHH! but sometimes I think we (I) forget to give students time to refocus because we (I) am rushing to the next thing we need to learn.

As I write this, I once again feel like I am doing "beginning of the year" stuff. But, I am starting to learn that kids need us to revisit "beginning of the year" lessons ALL YEAR LONG. When I'm frustrated with my kiddos (behavior, learning, etc) I eventually come around to "what can I change to help them change?"

OH.....AND I ALMOST FORGOT TO TELL YOU ANOTHER AWESOME PART OF THE FOCUS SIGN....It can travel with us!!! This week, it went to the computer lab with us :)

You can download the FOCUS templatefor free here. I hope you can use the FOCUS sign, and STAY TUNED for a MOTIVATING classroom management strategy that my students and I came up with, including how I am dealing with those "stinkers" who just can't seem to control themselves no matter what I've tried (or can they??? :). I am putting the finishing touches on multiple themes for my positive management strategy and can’t wait to share (something soooooo simple) with you. Look for it tomorrow! 

(PS-The cool chevron frames in my FOCUS logo are from Mrs. Dixon at Teaching Special Thinkers and the swirly purple frame is from the 3 AM Teacher. Be sure to check them both out!)

Reading and Viewing with a Critical Lens: Monday's Minilesson Magic

This quarter in readers' workshop, we have been working on reading informational texts (specifically opinion-based informational texts). We have focused on previewing, knowing whether a text is for, against, or neutral, summarizing, previewing to try to figure out the structure of the text, note-taking, and talking back to the text. Last week, we worked on reading and viewing texts with a critical lens. We learned to analyze the text with a number of critical questions in mind.

For our minilesson models, we have been focusing on the "chocolate milk in schools" debate. For my lessons on critical literacy, we analyzed two texts that we had previously used in other minilessons that have two opposing views on chocolate milk in schools,  an ad from the National Dairy Council and the Jamie Oliver Foundation.

We chose to read our Jamie Oliver article critically first because it would push us to think critically since we are leaning towards limiting chocolate milk in schools for our opinion essay. Next we analyzed an advertisement from the National Dairy Council titled "Five Reasons Why Flavored Milk Matters." We had previously used this text in our "talking back" to the text lesson. We realized that Jamie Oliver was biased (he says "chocolate milk does not belong in schools" AT ALL) because he is trying to fight the obesity epidemic and sees processed foods and extra sugar as a contributor to the obesity epidemic. The National Dairy Council is biased because their main goal is to get people to consume more milk and have specifically targeted increasing consumption of flavored milk. We discussed how the NDC uses fear to try to manipulate parents and schools into thinking that the main way to help kids get their nutrients is through flavored milk. ("Kids like the taste!") We discussed how this is the easy way out and does not require schools and parents to TEACH kids to like the taste of white milk and other foods that will provide them with the same nutrients.

For more practice, we used a commercial recently put out by Coca-Cola. I prompted students to think about what messages the Coke company was trying to send us and what they were trying to get us to believe. Next, I showed the video again and asked students to look for visual and auditory methods the authors of the text used to send us their messages. Through these lessons, I hope my students are getting more critically intelligent. I also shared with students the recent Fooducate blog post that brought this video to my attention. Fooducate is well-known by my students as we used the fooducate app in our science/nutrition unit last year. I explained to students that Fooducate typically does a great job with critical literacy. They are trying to help us navigate the world of food where food companies are trying to convince us that the products they make are healthy and nutritional for us.

I just found this video where someone has taken the Coca Cola commercial and put in the "real" information that we need to know in order to critically understand this video. Can't wait to show this to my kiddos this coming week to show them critical literacy IN ACTION!

For our unit, students have been reading opinion-based articles and blog posts on debatable topics (like athlete salaries, school uniforms, technology money spent in schools, e-readers versus books, single-gender schools, competitive sports for young children, etc.). Basically, they are doing the research for an opinion-based essay during our reading time so that writing time can be spent learning the techniques of essay writing and using evidence based terms within a researched piece of writing.

 I found a lot of the texts we are using through the Teacher's College Reading and Writing projects website if you are looking for Opinion-based articles. As students have honed in on their topics, we have also had to search for more articles on their specific topic through our handy-dandy friend named google.

For me, the whole point of critical literacy is to teach students to consider whether or not a text is trying to send them an ulterior message and to think about the goals of the author, company, or organization that has created the text. While I don't think critical literacy will stop us from having chocolate milk or soda now and then, I hope my students do not let the media convince them that these are HEALTHY choices.

By the way, you can download the chart above at my TPT store. It is in a one page format and 1/2 page format for student journals/reader response notebooks.

Math Practices Made Easy # 2

This is the second math practices made easy. If you missed the first one, you can find it here.

Today's teaching technique is one I found on the the teachingchannel.org. The teaching technique (routine graphic organizer) is called "Choose 3 Ways."

You can download the Choose 3 Ways word document from the teaching channel website. Check out the whole video below. This video is a solid example of how you could use the workshop model in math and I'm sure you will pick up on other useful techniques as you watch. Definitely worth the 5 minutes!

 

Why I LOVE Task Cards in Math: Top 10

Have you embraced task cards in your classroom? This year, I definitely have used task cards as one way to revolutionize my math classroom. Here is my Top 10 List of why I LOVE task cards in math.

10. Students think we are doing something fun because they get to move around the room. We are, but you'd think we were having a party sometimes. 

9. Students seem more willing to ask for help (maybe because the room is in action with everyone moving around and it feels safer than when they are only sitting at their desk).

8. ANSWER KEYS: easy checking! Immediate feedback!

7. If I am using them for two days, I can use the first day's results to create a small group for the following day.

6. My task cards usually provide two days worth of practice--easy, engaging, and effective lesson plans! I make more than enough task cards so that no one is able to complete them all in one session.

5. After using task cards in a whole group lesson, they are EASY PEASY to move to a station for more practice or review, use in an intervention group, or to differentiate for students who still need to work on the concept.

4.  Students seem more willing to persevere!

3. Self-motivated students have the opportunity to push themselves. (They often are less likely to do this when the instructional mode is...textbook pg...wait...discuss...next textbook pg...wait...discuss. Anyone else use Math Expressions and have this problem?) 

2. After I explain how to work a problem to one student, I can ask that student to be the expert on that problem.

1. When it's time to go to recess, the kids yell "No. I don't want math to be over!" So rewarding! I would love to skip recess and keep doing math, but they never agree to this trade-off :)

Click here to check out my engaging task cards (each on a theme that you can use all year long). Although task cards are great for centers and stations, I always use them in whole-group instruction first.

Tammy

All Over the Place-Linky's and Super Sale

Hi Everyone,

This blog post is going to be "all over the place" with Friday Funnies,Sunday's Super Sale, and some teacherspayteachers LoVe. Isn't teaching AWESOME?!?!

So my Friday Funny isn't exactly a funny, but an "awwwwww" that made me smile even more than a funny. So, I'll use Friday Funnies from Ashley over at Primary Teacherhood to share my warm-fuzzy moments from today.

1) My kiddos had to go to the gym today to practice "Man in the Mirror" with the rest of the 5th graders. (We have a partnership with Habitat for Humanity in our county and have a now annual Moms vs Moms basketball game. The game is NEXT WEEK!! Our kiddos perform a few songs during the bball game as their contribution to the kick-off). Anywayzzz---it was 11:50 on a Friday in a classroom and they were all "Michael-Jackson-white glove-hat down--turn around-gonna make a change--jazzed up," after practicing at their seats before heading to the gym, so I reminded them that our music teacher would be trying to lead 80 kiddos in the gym and would need them to listen and follow directions. I made the comment "and when we get in there, don't buddy up with all of your friends like it's mix-up time at lunch." As everyone who is still wound up keeps on being loud and rowdy, one of my sweeties said, "But we're all friends." Busted---then I had to explain, "I agree, but you know what I mean." Our community and kindness stuff IS WORKING! :) Love abounds in our class! Here's more proof:

2) I had a few helpful kids come in from afterschool today to help me grade the quizzes we took in math. (These are my future teachers and always great assistants). I was also meeting with a parent at the time in the room across the hall. About 15 minutes later they came in looking for a broom with a long handle. "We want to sweep." Okay, I'm not going to stop you. When I came back to the room, I asked "What's going on? Are you guys just not wanting to go back to afterschool?" What they said is the best. "Ms. Russell, you told us to pass it on so we are cleaning the room for you." Ahhh, that melted my heart.

So, no funnies, but definitely reasons to keep on loving kids and what comes out of their mouths.

And, I'm sure you have heard that TPT is holding a SITE-WIDE Super Sunday Sale. Remember, TPT only holds a few site-wide sales a year, so this is a truly big deal. Many sellers will be putting their entire stores on sale. I am putting all of my items on 10% sale which means you can save 18% off of everything in my store by using the code SUPER at checkout for 20% off from tpt. I hate to be cheapy and only do a 10% sale on my items, but I really strive to reasonably price my products for the work that I have done and the longevity of the product. Only my Words Their Way Word Searchers are over $5 at 6 bucks each (which means that through this sale you can get them for $4.32. That's a steal in my book for something that I use ALLLLLLL year long.) And, did I mention my paycheck went DOWN this month? (Probably yours too thanks to a social security increase, but MAN, I didn't think it could get any smaller.) So, tpt really supplements my income in that it allows me to pay for things periodically that I wouldn't have been able to afford otherwise. Did I mention that I bought a house last February (and I'm single:)? After a year of homeownership, I am feeling the crunch. (By the way, do you LOVE this Sale button by Ashley Hughes? He's squirreling away his footballs. How CUUUUUUUUUTE!)

I will be making some purchases on Sunday too and will be so happy to send some of my payday cash to another teacher. I LOVE teacherspayteachers and feel that it has totally revolutionized the teaching profession. I mean the time and energy we put into creating useful lesson materials that are also engaging and better-than-the-publishers is just amazing to me. I get so much pleasure out of purchasing your great products. I know you are on the other end checking your daily statistics just like me. And, I know we work hard to make amazing products because of the encouragement and feedback we get from being a part of teacherspayteachers and the blogging world. When I am making new products, I feel like what I do is worthy of my time because it will not only be a great lesson for my kids, but for lots of other students.

Anyway.....what if we all showcase what we are planning to purchase on Sunday? I am going to work on my wishlist tomorrow and maybe I will have time to post what I am looking forward to grabbing up.

And for a little INSPIra-cion, here's "Man in the Mirror" for you. Enjoy!

Wow, did I say this post would be all over the place? Hope you had a great wrap-up to your week today!

  

Math Practices Made Easy: Technique #1

Welcome to a new Life, Love, Literacy blog series, Math Practices Made easy. This series is inspired by the Common Core Standards for Mathematical Practices. The Standards for Mathematical Practices are important because they "describe the varieties of expertise that mathematics educators at all levels should be developing" in our students. While we have specific standards in each domain at each grade level, we should be embedding the standards for mathematical practices in all that we do.

In this series, you will find a simple teaching technique, the math practices that the technique supports, and links to helpful videos and resources related to the technique. I hope you find simple ways to ensure that the mathematical practices are being incorporated into your math instruction.

Do you need a quick overview of the Standards for Mathematical Practices? Earlier this year, I worked to understand the Standards for Mathematical Practice. I created a free resource that summarizes the Standards for Mathematical Practice. (I needed this resource for myself to help me wrap my brain around the Standards for Mathematical Practice so I hope it is helpful to you too!)