Beans & Cups!

Have you ever struggled teaching regrouping in addition and subtraction? Well, watch Jean Ann as she shows you a neat little trick using beans and cups!

Greg Tang

So, it's no secret that Jean Ann and I are BIG fans of games.  So, when she discovered that one of our favorite math authors and game creators had updated his website to allow kiddos and teachers alike to play online math games FOR FREE...well we had to let you know.

Greg Tang is AWESOME. He's written several books, including

and created the game Kakooma

Among many other fun games. The website offers teaching tips, alignment to CCSS, works with elementary to high school, and is just plain fun. So check it out! 

Box Cars & One Eyed Jacks Math

To say that we had fun this past Wednesday would be an understatement.  We were once again visited by the dynamic duo of John & Jane Felling who shared with us a variety of activities and games to reinforce and teach math skills.  From decks of cards, dominos, dice, to IKEA meter sticks they kept our brains working, our faces smiling, and our hearts happy with all the fun we can now take back to our students.  And...they already aligned all of their games and activities to the Common Core for us!!!!  The day flew by. Thank you to all who joined us and THANKS to John & Jane for traveling to see us!

Check out their website www.boxcarsandoneeyedjacks.com to get copies of handouts, resources, and VIDEOS of many of the activities!!!

Jane demonstrating several simple and effective activities  for elementary students. 

South Wilmington teachers having fun with dominos.

School Psychologist Laura deep in thought (and armed with caffeine).

One of my favorite suggestions of the night. Using fun foam for a placemat for dominoes  dice and other manipulatives.  Reduces the noise level in the room AND can be made for specific concepts.  

White Oak teachers showing us how to play Salute!

Two of the most competitive GCSEC teachers, demonstrating "Care, Share, and Play Fair" 

Domino math fact fun!

 Gardner teachers working fast and thinking hard! 

Nettle Creek & Minooka teachers discussing greater sums and place  value.

ICS Teachers working on math facts!

Place value and so much more with a deck of cards...but we may have to work on classroom management...right Samantha?

Quick thinking dice work!

John showing how to use an IKEA meter stick as a number line!

Clockominoes in a Starburst graph.

You know you've been to a fun workshop with there is manipulative and chocolate carnage at your table!

Do you KENKEN?

Anyone who has ever met Jean Ann or me, know that we love games. We think that teaching or reinforcing a skill or concept with a game or activity is far more effective that a worksheet or other "traditional" method.  Add to that the fact that with most games or activities also bring up great social skill teaching moments and we as educators can't loose. Not all games and activities have to be loud, done in groups, or take a lot of prep time from the teacher.  KENKEN is one of those awesome, quiet, easy to implement activities.  

Remember when sudoku was all the rage? We were all on board making copies for our students to try in class, even buying the sudoku rubics cube?  Sudoku is a great logic activity.  But, that's it. Some find it fun and entertaining, but I personally want more.  This is where KENKEN is magic! It takes the same concept of sudoku: if you had a 6x6 grid you would need to fill every row and column with the numbers 1 - 6 with no one number repeating itself in a row or column. Then, it adds the twist.  Within marked sections of boxes there will be a number with an opperation symbol. All the numbers placed within this section must equal the number using the opperation given.  Cool huh?

Here are the official rules:

Fill the grid with digits so as not to repeat a digit in any row or column, and so the digets within each heavily outlined box or boxes (called a cage) will produce the target number shown in that cage by using the operation (addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division) shown by the symbol after the numeral.

For single box cages, simply enter the number that is shown in the corner. 

So, for example, the notation 6+ means that the numerals in the cage should add up to 6, and the notation 48X means that by multiplying the numbers in the cage you will get 48. A 4x4 grid will use the digits 1-4. A 5x5 grid will use 1/5. A 6x6 grid will use the 1-6, and so on.


So for example, here we have a three by three grid.

So we know we are using numbers 1-3 in all the rows and columns. If we look at the first section in the upper left corner, I need two numbers that when added together equal 5 (2 & 3). Looking below that I see a 2 in a single section so I know that has to be a 2. So the first row would be 3, 2, 1 and the start of the second row would be a 2.  The final solution would look like this. 

We still have the logic of sudoku, but now with a basic math fact reinforcement.

The grids will get larger and the operations more involved. 

                            

How do you get KENKEN? Luckily there is a website that will send you a bunch of problems and solutions each week....FOR FREE!!!!!!

http://www.kenken.com/misc/classroom

All you have to do is sign up!

Model Drawing

 Jean Ann and I have taught two thirds of our Model Drawing class. If the class runs three Tuesdays, how many classes are left?

You got it! One Tuesday left!!!!  But, can you show it to me to prove your answer with an extended response? The teachers attending our class can do it easily.

Many of our students (and teachers as well) feel this way about word problems.

  What is Model Drawing? And why are teachers coming to do word problems for an hour and a half after teaching all day? Model drawing breaks down story problems into manageable steps that allow students to "see" the answer, bridging the gap between concrete and abstract concepts.  The strategy uses the same steps from kindergarten all the way up to high school and beyond.

Using the same problem, students in your classroom can go from drawing simple boxes to algebraic equations in the blink of an eye.

Attendees from ICS, Nettle Creek, & Aux Sable work on solving word problems together!

Armed with pencil, paper, and chocolate attendees will be ready to face our final class solving rate, ratio, percentage, fraction, and multi-step problems!