For years I taught my students the same problem solving process. I wasn’t invested in it and I didn’t think it was the best. But, it was something I had found online for free. This year I spontaneously put a new twist on it, and it’s worked for my students better than ever before. As I was telling students they need to go through the steps to attack the problem, I added on that they
This is the time of year when it all comes together. The hours and hours of hard work are on the line for the big, important state test. Kids are not only practicing the skills they’ve learned this year, but also applying them with increasing difficulty. Early in the year, I shared this image of our problem solving wall. We start practicing problem solving very early on in the year. No matter how much we
We finished up our first round of state testing this week, and have our next test coming up the following week. As much as I felt I had given my kids enough practice with story problems, I apparently hadn’t, because many of them did not do as well as I had expected on the math test. Of course, this was just from over the shoulder peeking, but the first thing that jumped out was that
I’ve been busy as a bee the last few days. Bizzy. Bizzy. Bizzy. I found my mojo, I kept my ADD in check (self-diagnosed, of course). And I finished up two ideas I’ve had in my head, because no idea should be stuck in that craziness. First, I fiiiiiinally finished the final set of my 3rd grade story problems so I could upload and bundle. Sheesh! It feels like I’ve been working on these forever.
I’m heading back from California today. It was a great, but tiring, 6 days away. I managed to stay relatively unplugged while I was gone- shocking! I did some work in the mornings while everyone else was still sleeping since my body is still on Central time. I did some pinning from my phone here and there, and checked in on email as they came in. It was nice to get away, relax, and not
I’ve spent the last 15 years teaching in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades, and working beside elementary classrooms as an instructional coach and resource support. I’m passionate about math, literacy, and finding ways to make teachers’ days easier. I share from my experiences both in and out of the elementary classroom. Read more About Me.
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