How cold is it where you are? If you're near a sunny beach, I'm jealous! I'll just have to go back to my beach photos for some warmth. This one is from Belize.
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Wishing for Sunny Weather!
The cold front has hit, and it's brutal. I know my friends in the northern states might find it funny that 38 degrees (wind chill of 30) is hard to handle. Yikes! It's not usually this cold in November, here in Tennessee.
How cold is it where you are? If you're near a sunny beach, I'm jealous! I'll just have to go back to my beach photos for some warmth. This one is from Belize.
How cold is it where you are? If you're near a sunny beach, I'm jealous! I'll just have to go back to my beach photos for some warmth. This one is from Belize.
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Turkey Glyph Giveaway!
Let's have a giveaway! I am certainly thankful for my followers, so I want to give back.
Visit my Facebook page.
Like my page, leave your email address, and share the post about this giveaway.
I'll choose a winner tomorrow night.
***If I exceed 100 likes before the giveaway, I'll send the Turkey Glyph and Thanksgiving Sampler to EVERYONE who shares!***
Get clicking!
Visit my Facebook page.
Like my page, leave your email address, and share the post about this giveaway.
I'll choose a winner tomorrow night.
***If I exceed 100 likes before the giveaway, I'll send the Turkey Glyph and Thanksgiving Sampler to EVERYONE who shares!***
Get clicking!
Monday, November 10, 2014
Thank a Soldier - Flash Freebie
In honor of Veterans Day, I'm giving away my Thank a Soldier kit! It's a tiny gesture for the grand gestures of all of our armed forces personnel. I'm thankful for all the freedoms that I enjoy in the United States. I hope you find this freebie useful as you celebrate veterans in your classroom this week.
Let's Talk Numbers with Number Talks
Several weeks ago, my principal asked if anyone was interested in attending a math training. Loving math the way that I do, I jumped at the chance. I was not disappointed! Sherry Parrish was the presenter, and she was fantastic.
Her book, Number Talks: Helping Children Build Mental Math and Computation Strategies was the foundation of her presentation. She made several points that really had an impression on me. The most impressive one was that children don't have a problem-solving strategy in their tool box unless they ACTIVELY USE AND UNDERSTAND IT, even if we have taught it until we're blue in the face. So, all those times we've taught 'make ten to add nine' or use a near double to help solve a tricky problem, or even breaking a number into clean, friendly or landmark numbers, not to mention decomposing, could be said to be hopeful teaching, but in no way do they definitely make it into a student's tool box. A 5-15 minute number talk, each day, DOES really help students to put those suggested strategies into practice.
Parrish's book has correlation charts for grade levels, skills, and even Common Core State Standards. It also has classroom videos of actual number talks with real teachers and kiddos. The book is easy to use, as it is tabbed with information for each grade level (K-5). Tomorrow, I'll have colleagues coming to observe the number talk in my classroom. I'm excited to share this simple, powerful activity with them. The best part? My students love them and they're applying many of the strategies I've mentioned! Win-win!
Her book, Number Talks: Helping Children Build Mental Math and Computation Strategies was the foundation of her presentation. She made several points that really had an impression on me. The most impressive one was that children don't have a problem-solving strategy in their tool box unless they ACTIVELY USE AND UNDERSTAND IT, even if we have taught it until we're blue in the face. So, all those times we've taught 'make ten to add nine' or use a near double to help solve a tricky problem, or even breaking a number into clean, friendly or landmark numbers, not to mention decomposing, could be said to be hopeful teaching, but in no way do they definitely make it into a student's tool box. A 5-15 minute number talk, each day, DOES really help students to put those suggested strategies into practice.
Parrish's book has correlation charts for grade levels, skills, and even Common Core State Standards. It also has classroom videos of actual number talks with real teachers and kiddos. The book is easy to use, as it is tabbed with information for each grade level (K-5). Tomorrow, I'll have colleagues coming to observe the number talk in my classroom. I'm excited to share this simple, powerful activity with them. The best part? My students love them and they're applying many of the strategies I've mentioned! Win-win!
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