Favorite Activity! Riddle Boards!

Recently had that moment we all love!  Former student talking about what he remembered from our year together!  To say that this student was a reluctant reader was an understatement......but the math activity that he just loved was my riddle boards.  He remembered that every month I put out a new set of  riddles.  You can tell how easy it is to make these boards.  All you need is a sheet of poster board and library pockets.

I am always collecting riddle books---garage sales, dollar stores, the library!  I look for riddles in themes!  Sometimes, I do holiday thematic riddles but I always do math riddles.  One board can work all year just by using velcro each month to change the questions.  Mine are all color-coded to make it easier to keep organized.  

The day I remember was when he went to the library and checked out all the riddle books to the surprise of our librarian.  Then he asked for post-it notes and started to flag the books.  I asked him what was he doing and he responded that he was finding next month's riddles.  Ah, reading all the while!  Children love riddles, the sillier the better!  Teach on my friends! 

How to Get Valentine Choices

Yikes, I was just too excited to explain how to get "freebie."  Go to my website, www.creativemathematics.com and to the Online Store.  Put the Valentine Choices into your shopping cart.  The code is valentine!  It is free!

Another Freebie!

Want another freebie?  Giving away my workstations for February!

Valentine Choices

Here is a freebie for the month of February!

Your link to Area and Perimeter Zoo!
I would love to see your students doing these amazing animals!

Welcome to February!

Yikes, how can it be February?  

I am excited because I love Valentine's Day!

Let's make this month fun and mathematically challenging!  Watch for new ideas coming!

View From My Classroom!

February 22, 2017

Got something new and exciting!  So many difficult areas of mathematics for elementary learners and one of them is fractions.  I preach at my workshops giving students the opportunities to work with three picture models of fractions—area, set and number line!  Now they can see number line models every day in your classroom  I am so excited to introduce my new poster in my lines of visuals.  It is double sided showing visually number line models of fractions!  One on side of the poster you will see fractions from rolling two dice.  The denominator will be one, two, three, four, five and six.  This poster is a great tool to be used with a game called “Race Track Fractions” from my fraction book, Fractions:  A Part of the Whole.  It is played with double dice!  (Reminder that we have such a great price on these!)

The other side of the poster shows fractions on the number line with denominators of one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine and ten.  It is used with the game called “Race Track Fractions” from my fraction book, Fractions:  A Part of the Whole.  It is played with decahedron double dice!  (Reminder that we have such a great price on these!)

This game can actually be played on the poster using markers and velcro.

This is the game board using the decahedron double dice and transparent chips. 

Torn Snowpeople Logic Problems!

How about celebrating the last week of January with a construction project that includes measurement and higher level thinking?  First thing to do is to go to my website, www.creativemathematics.com.  Find the button that says, "Free PDFs and Conference Files."  Register and download the three data sheets!  Remember the days of Project AIMS?  I was part of the original writing team.  We wrote an amazing book called Primarily Bears.  We wrote lots of logic problems.  Child ten had to think!

Here are the three data sheets!

Now get all the materials ready!  Get creative with ribbon scraps and other paper!  I always put the materials out and have the students pick up the paper they will need to tear their snowpeople!

Now the students are ready to tear (no scissors) the four snowpeople.  Each one is unique!

Here is Sweet Sally!

This is Herbert named after my grandfather!

This is Jollly!

Meet Froggy!

Now make a fence for the four snowpeople to order themselves.  Students can cut them out and tape together!

The students and teacher will read each clue set and place the snowpeople on the fence based on the clues.

Here is the solution to Clue Set 1.

This is the solution to Clue Set 2.

Work through the remaining two sets of clues.  Now the real fun begins, students can make up their own clues.  How many different arrangements can there be?  I just love that problem.......

More to come with a special tool next week!  Teach on!

Mathematically yours,

New Game for New Year!

Welcome to a wonderful New Year with high hopes for math in the air! (I am actually listening to Frank Sinatra singing the song, “High Hopes” as you read this! I just love the part about the ant!!!)

Some of you know that I live by the Pacific Ocean so we never entertain thoughts of snow here…..just doesn’t happen but every so often (every 7-10 years) we get some snow! January 2nd

was the day we got snow. Now imagine how that would shut down an area like ours. I was not there because I was on my way to Moore, Oklahoma but our neighbors kept sending picture of the snow! Beautiful in the Redwoods and on the beach! Even had frozen pipes one day after returning…..that is really not news to people in other places!

Have you ever wondered how you could bring more motivation into your classroom? If you have not tried the Double Dice, they really are “game changers!” Why not try to include more playful practice of basic skills for this new year! We, at Creative Mathematics, carry the Double Dice for the best price ever! $5.00 for a bag of 16! Can’t beat that.

Got a great game for the first week back in school whether it is this week or next! The game is called

“Rolling Equations!” It uses two regular dice or a set of the double dice! The object is to be the first one to have three different equations for each number.

Players take turns! Roll the Double Dice and the player with the highest sum goes first. Player A rolls the Double Dice and states an equation with the two numbers. That equation is written down in the box with that answer.

Any operation can be used. Before the next player takes a turn, Player A writes two other equations for that same answer. The numbers to be used in the other two equations do not need to be what numbers the player rolled. Player B checks each equation and gives the “thumbs up” signal.

Player B repeats the same process. The player who completes all the equations first wins! If an answer is rolled after a player has completed the equations, the player loses the turn.

To increase the difficulty of game, each player must use three different operations in the three equations for each answer.

To make the game more challenging for upper grade students, roll the triple dice and create equations using two operations with three numbers!

Simple but effective way to practice for five to seven minutes! You want the data sheet for playing “Rolling Equations” with your students? Go to www.creativemathematics.com and click on the Free PDF section (red button) and register and download! I want to run a contest! 

Tweet a picture of your class playing the game and share the blog with a friend! Your tweet and share by January 20, 2017 will earn a chance for a drawing to win $50 of my merchandise!

Mathematically yours,

Wow! Twitter Rocks!

October 11, 2016

We have been running our Twitter contest and I can not begin to tell you how much I have enjoyed ALL of the Tweets! Watching all the children engaged and loving math is so awesome! I am always humbled by the hard work of all of you! You make it so fun to create exciting math games and activities that push children towards mathematical excellence!

Please don’t stop! Send more and more!!!

Mathematically yours,

Kim

Gratitude and Sonic Cards

September 29, 2016

Gratitude for Teachers and Sonic Cards

Just wanted to extend my gratitude for all the wonderful folks who gave me Sonic Cards as a gift!  I live in a place without a Sonic.  Years ago I got addicted to the Diet Vanilla Coke Route 44 size while working in Texas.  Everyone has always told me that it is the ice!  I just know that I really enjoy them.  Teachers in my workshops have been so kind when they hear my “Sonic” story…….thank you so much for the Sonic Cards!  What kindness!

Another school year is on its way.  So many teachers ask me about subitizing numbers in my workshops.  Think that it is ironic the questions comes up because it is the word that is puzzling.  Subitizing numbers is a child’s ability to make a visual assessment of a picture of quantity without having to count.  Great practice of subitizing is my games of “Bump It!” from my book that have a bingo look.  In each square are pictures of objects.  Players roll the ones die from the place value dice placing a transparent chip on the picture of that quantity.  So much fun and yet such important practice.  

I also love to use pictures of quantities from my primary book, Let’s Get Started! and do “Flash Math” with the cards.  Pictures are placed on document camera and students shout out how many!  Wild times for math!

Couple more days of my Twitter contest!  Tweet out your classroom doing a “Kim Sutton” activity and you might win a very cool prize!  Update:  We decided on three winners to be announced on Monday!

Mathematically yours,

Kim

Charmed Life!

June  8, 2016

I am saying the mantra, “Patience is a virtue, a virtue is a grace.  You add them altogether and you get a happy face.”  Just trying to get home….

Trip started last week on Memorial Day.  Flew to LAX and our daughter, Halley, picked me up.  We set up for a fun workshop in Burbank with the staffs of two schools.  Shout out to Liz and Sandra and their wonderful teachers!  Great day on number sense.  Halley and I then flew to Nashville on Wednesday.  Just love Tennessee.  Two-day class in Franklin!  Those teachers rock!  We sang, we danced and we did intensive math content.  My friend Sherry was our point guard!  The workshop ran so well because of her. 

Halley and I were able Friday night to go on a fun field trip!  The author, Ann Patchett, has the most amazing bookstore ever called Parnassus!  She has made a roaring success of this venture.   (Just finished her book, Truth and Beauty!  Started her book The Magician’s Assistant.)  I have been reading on my iPad and realized during this field trip how limiting my choice of books has been.  Done with that.  One of the most amazing booksellers, River showed me all around pointing out amazing reads.  I have been limiting myself on the iPad to authors I know.  Halley and I left with our arms full and our hearts happy!  We met one of the bookstore dogs…..love it!  If you ever are in Nashville, this bookstore is a must!  I jumped into a recommended read called A Hero of France by Alan Furst!  A reader comes alive just holding these amazing books……

Halley and I then drove from Nashville to Springfield, Missouri on Saturday and then on to Wichita on Sunday.  Drove many back roads through lots of corn patches…. set up with my friends Lynette Sharlow, who hosted the workshop for District 259 and Rhonda Shook.  I have known Rhonda since my days with Project AIMS and Math Festival at Fresno Pacific College.  Love them both!

Finished an amazing two days in Wichita for the Roadmap class.  Great teachers!  Halley and I got to airport only to find delay, delay, delay.  When flight took off out of Wichita for Denver, pilot announced a door was open and we would return to Wichita.  Had to circle for hour……then delay back to Denver…..Halley and I both missed all connections.  Everyone has a story and the stories are never that interesting.  Mine isn’t either.  Needless to say, it is a day later and still trying to get home.  Guess I am not in Kansas anymore…..but there is still “no place like home!”  I need my bed……

Mathematically yours,

Kim

Rental Car Blues in Salmon, Idaho!

April 26, 2016

Ok, here is a new one!  Had a super workshop yesterday in Missoula, Montana.  We had never been here and just loved the people and the town!  We were looking forward to a great drive from Missoula to Boise.  Rental car blew up and we limped into Salmon, Idaho.  Waiting for Alamo to drive a new rental car from Missoula to us as there are no rental car places here.  Lessons in patience!

After being in several classrooms recently and watching students in grades 3-5 struggle with concepts of rounding numbers, it seems important to talk about why this occurs and what can be done!  It often feels that the rules of rounding numbers are just procedures that are taught without recognition of the prerequisite skills required that are essential in the development of number sense.

I have long suggested a simple routine of practice that can be established in the classroom with students grades 1-5 that will ease the understanding of rounding.  It all begins after students have learned the multiples of ten.  I introduce the multiples of ten by playing a game called “The Roller Coaster” game.  Chairs are moved to create 4 rows of 2 chairs.  One student is asked to sit on the roller coaster.  Students are asked, “What do you want to do on a roller coaster?”  They will gleefully respond, “Whee,” and throw their hands in the air.  The mathematical question is one person on the roller coaster, how many fingers in the air?  This introduces the idea of _____ groups of _____ = _____ .  Many of you who have been at my workshops know that this is an important visual that is a part of all the mathematical content that we teach in elementary grades.

Once students have the practice behind multiples of ten, the teacher will have each child tear a piece of adding machine tape the length of their arms from fingertip to shoulder.  They will label the left with a mark for zero.  (The academic name for zero is point of origin.)  On the right they will make a mark and label that 100.  They will bring the two marks together and crease.  They will mark that with 50.  The students will then put in the multiples of ten between 0-50 and 50-100.  Now this tool is ready to be used with my Random Number CD 0-100.  The teacher will turn on track 2.  Students will hear a number and touch about where that number falls on the number line.  Two to three minutes of practice is important.  Students can also write the number on the number line! 

Look for more helpful hints on rounding readiness soon including a new game!

Mathematically yours,

April 13, 2016

Had an opportunity to speak about math fact fluency at the NCSM Conference in Oakland held this week prior to NCTM Conference in San Francisco!  What a great conference!  It is getting to that time of year where our thoughts are centered on test scores and the limited time left in the school year.  It sure does fly.

It sure was fun creating a new class on proportional reasoning with fractions.  Packed it full of meaningful ways to supplement the “dry” chapters on fractions in the math textbooks.  One of my favorite lessons with upper grades is based on the book, If the World Were a Village by David Smith.  Makes percents easy to think about and understand as an extensions of fractions without calling them percents.  Every time I have done the lessons with classrooms of fifth graders the discussions are so meaningful!

Have you seen my new Bump It! book?  The games will change your classroom!  Watch the new game going up this week as a freebie!

More in a few.  Off to watch my Golden State Warriors go for the record number of wins tonight, making history!!!  Steph Curry for President!

Spring Update!

Had an opportunity to speak about math fact fluency at the NCSM Conference in Oakland held this week prior to NCTM Conference in San Francisco! What a great conference! It is getting to that time of year where our thoughts are centered on test scores and the limited time left in the school year. It sure does fly.

It sure was fun creating a new class on proportional reasoning with fractions. Packed it full of meaningful ways to supplement the “dry” chapters on fractions in the math textbooks. One of my favorite lessons with upper grades is based on the book, If the World Were a Village by David Smith. Makes percents easy to think about and understand as an extensions of fractions without calling them percents. Every time I have done the lessons with classrooms of fifth graders the discussions are so meaningful!

Have you seen my new Bump It! book? The games will change your classroom! Watch the new game going up this week as a freebie!

More in a few. Off to watch my Golden State Warriors go for the record number of wins tonight, making history!!!  Steph Curry for President!

January 4, 2016

Ok 2016!  Here we go, ready or not!  January is such a good month to start fresh with high expectations!  Why not kick Kim’s Number Line into action with a three-minute “Number Line Chat” three times a week!  Use the questions I wrote that are posted in the Free PDFs and Conference Files section (www.creativemathematics.com).  Those questions will make your life easy to have a intensive and meaningful conversation with your class about number sense!

Here I am in Franklin, Tennessee ready for two workshops tomorrow!  One for K-4 and one for 5-8.  I love the topic-“Classroom Management of a Balanced Mathematics Program.”  This topic is something I think about every day.  How can we maximize the time we have for mathematics and not waste a moment while including reinforcement of skills, drill and practice, teaching of content and small groups for a RTI model.  Watch for some future blogs taking apart this model of balance!

Excited to be previewing my new class locally (Fun with Fractions!) in February and then on the road in March!!!  I have taken the theme of proportional reasoning that accommodates all the standards of fractions starting in first grade and going through fifth grade!  Lots of new tools and games coming.

Holidays were so great with our daughter, Halley, home for almost two weeks!  Our world was right!  Finally had a month of much-needed rain!  Christmas was sweet!

Mathematically yours,

Blessings to Count! What a Great Math Activitiy!

At Hyde Park with the Roosevelts!

Happy Thanksgiving!  Counting blessings right now! Today we had a real rainstorm!  The trees are soaking it up!  Our daughter, Halley is home from graduate school for a break!  So happy to have her home!  

What a great trip Jeff and I just finished.  Started with a great day in Albany, New York on Friday the 13th.  Super fun group of teachers spending the day exploring math fact fluency.  

Jeff and I are on a mission to accomplish visits to all the Presidential homes and libraries.  On this trip we were able to visit FDR’s home and library in Hyde Park, New York.  Loved it and learned so many details about his four terms.  What a first lady Eleanor Roosevelt was!  Also visited the Vanderbilt mansion in Hyde Park.

The next day we took a city tour of Salem, Massachusetts.  What a darling town with an amazing history!  At one time, Salem was the third richest city in U.S.  We then visited the JFK library!  The view is so beautiful.  Disappointed that the Cuban missile exhibit was closed.  Still need to learn more about that time that was my childhood.

Math Fact Fluency class in Hartford!

Monday was the Math Fact Fluency class in Boston and Tuesday in Hartford.  Loved both groups.  I have really missed being in both those cities.  Used to spend more time there and it has been hard to get them in!  Loved the professionalism that I see with the teachers!  So wanting to do right by children.

The last part of the trip was the NCTM Regional in Nashville, Tennessee.  Wow!  What a conference!  It was so fun!  Got to spend an evening with Erin who is a friend of our daughter.  She is a Acquisitions Editor for Corwin Publications.  Had such fun connecting with Catherine Beals who started as a teacher in our area and now lives and works in Boise area in Idaho.  She delivered her research from her dissertation.  It was such a helpful session!  I had so much fun with both my groups!!!

Well, time to think about what we are having for Thanksgiving!  Love being home…….

Happy holiday!

Summer is here!

Just finished the third week of summer travel!  Started in Stillwater and Moore, Oklahoma.  Then on to Burbank, California.  Just finished Sublette and Wichita, Kansas!  Every workshop has been filled with happy, wonderful teachers giving up their precious summer days for staff development!  How blessed to spend time with such dedicated professionals!

Wrapping up my new book called Bump It!  The book is filled with Bump It games for every skill in mathematics.   I am so excited because children just love these games!  So many exciting things happen when you play the games!  Children become highly motivated to play which then improves their fluency with the skill!  Look for the book in time for the new school year in August!  If you have not played Bump It with your students, you will be blown away!  If you have attended my games class taught by me or one of my amazing Kim Sutton Associates then you have met this motivating game!

What summer plans do you have?  Hope that there is lots of rest and relaxation.  Make sure you set aside a half hour to make a class concentration board for the new year!  Concentration is another powerful class activity because it works on working memory, coordinate graphing on a Cartesian Plan and whatever skill you put on the cards!

These concentration boards can be purchased at Creative Mathematics CLICK HERE!

 

Mathematically yours,

New Year! New Attitude!

Happy New Year!  How can it be another new year?  Wow, feels like another year passed in the blink of an eye….about to have a big birthday at the end of the month.  It has really caused me to think!  Jeff and I have decided that we need to start taking some of our “bucket list” trips!  Went down the Grand Canyon in a raft for 7 nights in May and just finished a trip down the Danube River visiting Germany, Austria and Hungary.  Loved both trips for very different reasons.

I was thinking before Christmas!  What if 2015 was a year of fresh starts, new beginnings and a whole new level of gratitude?  What if we found a way to enjoy and be present each moment of time with our students?  I just changed the calendar in my classroom and thought about how easy it is to wish time would fly by and how that thought keeps us from thinking about the moment that is now.  

Are you rested and refreshed and ready to face this new year?  If you are go face it.  If not, pretend you are.  Sometimes we learn to fake it and soon it becomes real!

Mathematically yours,

Let's Go! No Time to Waste!

September 14, 2014

Happy beginning of the school year!  By now, everyone is back in school and establishing positive routines in the classroom.  I have to say that I am very worried about the British Columbia teachers who are out on strike.  As of tonight, an end did not seem near.  Our thoughts are with you and your students during this difficult time!

I had amazing workshops this summer.  Enjoyed them all and all the amazing teachers that I meet.  Finished my summer in a new state for me!  Got to present in Gardiner, Montana which is right by the north end of Yellowstone.  Loved the school and all the teachers.  Every day at lunch the elk came down and joined us!  The class was a two-class and we spent the rest of the week touring Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks.  Can’t wait to return.

By now you know that my new book, Dazzling Dominoes! is finished with lots of new games and activities!

This fall promises to be a wild ride….hope it is filled with great learning for all of you!

Visited Ashland Park-Robbins School on September 3rd and spent the day in wonderful classrooms doing lessons.  When I finished the day, Prinicipal Jan Martin presented me with the book, Wonder by R.J. Palacio!  It is an amazing book!  I highly recommend reading this book to your class, 3rd and up!  The message is for everyone!

I have lots of new ideas coming your way this year!  Watch for them!  Check out the free section of our website!  Lots there!

Mathematically yours,

Kim

Bucket List Trip! Happy Summer!

May 26, 2014

Happy end of the school year!  You are either relaxing or contemplating that summer vacation…..

My husband and I just finished a "bucket list" trip!  We traveled down the Grand Canyon on the Colorado River for a rafting trip.  We entered the river at Lee's Ferry, traveled 188 miles and left the river via a helicopter at the Bar 10 Ranch!  We went with the Western River Expeditions, two guides and 16 other brave souls.  It was the most amazing trip!  We camped for six days.  We had seen the Grand Canyon three other times but never experienced anything close to this!

The trip was great and it reminded us that vacations are so worth it.  This one challenged us in new and exciting ways!  So different from the kind of vacations we normally take!

The big news is my domino book is almost done after many delays.  The contest results will be announced soon.  I am so grateful for all the great title suggestions!

Mathematically yours,

Kim