Ideas + Resources + More for the 5th - 8th Grade Math Classroom
Integer operations are truly a make or break middle school math concept. Students who “get” integers will be much better off than students who don’t, in terms of their future math success. That’s why I really take my time when teaching integers each year. I’m breaking up my blog post on teaching integer operations intoRead more about Hands-On Integer Operations (Part 1: Adding Integers)[…]
I take some time every year (usually around the second week of school) to send emails to the parents/guardians of all of my students. It’s a good way to open the lines of communication on a positive note. I don’t write lengthy notes, basically just a quick hello; something similar to this: Dear Mr. andRead more about Parent-Teacher Communication: Getting Off On The Right Foot[…]
With all the buzz on interactive notebooks lately, I thought I’d share how I do notebooks in my math classes for people who are looking for an alternative to cutting and pasting foldables into a notebook. I have gone back and forth a few times between having my students use binders or notebooks, but forRead more about Ideas for Setting Up Math Notebooks[…]
Organization has never been my strength as a teacher…(it’s a rare day when my desk isn’t covered in papers)…but every year I get a little bit better about it. It only took me 6 years to get my dismissal routine organized in a way I am happy with! I’m not sure how dismissal works atRead more about Tips for an Organized Dismissal Time[…]
“When am I ever going to use this?” It’s the question every math teacher is asked, and while it may be annoying to hear, it is a good, valid question. It’s important for students to understand the reasons behind the math they are learning and that they know how to apply it to real-world situations. Read more about Making Middle School Students Better Problem Solvers[…]
As it is almost time to start preparing classrooms for the coming school year, I thought I would share my top 10 list of things I couldn’t live without as a middle school math teacher. 10. Class sets of rulers, protractors, and compasses We don’t use these all that often but they definitely come inRead more about Top 10 Things Every Middle School Math Teacher Should Have For Their Classroom[…]
After a long break (due to craziness in my personal life and some technical difficulties with the blog)…I’m happy to be back blogging! I’m going to jump back into blogging with a post about Unit Analysis… I hate teaching customary system conversions the traditional way! No matter how many times you explain to students thatRead more about Unit Analysis in the Middle School Math Classroom[…]
Today’s lesson in my 7th grade math class was on finding the greatest common factor and least common multiple of a pair of numbers. I started by gathering background information about what the students already knew about the GCF and LCM. With a little bit of help the students were able to come up withRead more about Finding the GCF and LCM using the Cake Method[…]
One of the things that is new to me this school year is that my classes are now 1:1, as each of my students has their own chromebook. I love the fact that I have that technology available to me and there are lots of different things that I have students do online, but myRead more about Daily Warm-ups for the 1:1 Classroom[…]
After one week in school (well, actually 4 days), I thought I’d share how my school year is going so far. The first day of school was spent mainly with my homeroom. I did the “who am I” getting to know you activity with the class that I described in this blog post. The kidsRead more about First Week Reflections[…]
