Friday, July 6, 2012

How Does a Teacher Spend Friday Night?

I may not be a K-12 teacher anymore, but I still prepare for classes in much the same manner. I'll be meeting a new group of teachers on Monday in a course called Improving Elementary Math Instruction. Here's the description.
This course will focus on improving teachers' content knowledge and pedagogical skills in teaching elementary math with a focus on differentiated instruction using developmental grouping (math workshop and work stations). Class sessions will involve participants in activities that address concrete, representational, and abstract stages of learning. Both manipulatives and children's literature will be used as essential tools for improving teaching and learning in math.
So, how am I spending my Friday night? Here's my dining room table.

See that HUGE bag of rice? I'm using recycled Vitamin Water bottles to make discovery bottles for math. Here's a discovery bottle for place value and expanded notation. It has 4 number cubes with one-digit numbers, 4 rods with two-digit multiples of 10, and 4 rods with three-digit multiples of 100. Students need to shake and find the numbers and then use them to build a variety of numbers according to specific attributes. For example, students might be asked to build the largest three-digit number, the smallest three-digit number, a number with a 3 in the tens place, and so on. As soon as I finish the recording sheet I'll post it. 


The beads and pipe cleaners are being used to make Rekenreks. All you need is some cardboard and duct tape. 

Here's the page I created for students to record their work.
Download Rekenrek Recording Paper.

Okay, break's over! Time for me to get back to work.

1 comment:

  1. These are great ideas! I love the Rekenrek recording sheet.

    Thank you

    ReplyDelete