Ornaments or Tools?

Ornaments or tools?  It hit me hard recently that our classrooms are exciting reflections of learning opportunities.  But if something like my number line is on the wall it should be more than an ornament.  Everyday use of this tool will change the learning environment for mathematics.  Every area of content that we teach mathematically can be reinforced with daily questioning on the number line.  As we count to the 100th day of school the number line can be a part of each exciting number along the journey.  The questions we ask students are so much more meaningful than the worksheets we run off.  Just some thoughts at 4 am………. check out the free section of my website for daily questions to ask students.  Those will be posted later today…..

Welcome Back!

Here we go, one more time and everybody’s feeling fine!  New year, new students new challenges!  Here’s hoping that summer gave you rest and relaxation to recharge your battery.  My summer workshops are drawing to a close but it has been a great summer.  I have enjoyed the challenges that summer brings for me…… lots of different kinds of presentations and great teachers who make it all worthwhile.

So happy to welcome my first group of Kim Sutton Associates!  Wonderful folks who will bring their own special magic to my presentations in places that I can’t get to.  Had the realization that time is passing quickly and there are so many places to go and we can’t get there without help!  They came to California for a week of training in June and it was amazing.  Last year we started with two special folks, Patti Launi and Cheryl Henjum.  What powerful presenters they are!  If you have been lucky enough to have heard them, you know what I mean.

Are you starting the year with the class number line?  I certainly hope so.  Check out the research about number lines under the Free PDFs and Conference Files.  The last three years have brought so many powerful experiences in classroom using this tool and then going into empty number lines for elapsed time, making change, rounding readiness, multiples, fractions and decimals.

Mathematically yours!

YIKES! What a mess! We can fix it!

YIKES!  What a disaster!  Just did the CAMT Conference in Houston and announced loudly that the handouts are posted on my website….. now we are having a huge problem.  Please email me for the handouts and I will zip them to you!  If this problem does not get resolved, we will be hiring a new web company and having to redo all of it.  Not our choice but this problem does not seem to get resolved.

Be patient and just email me and you will receive all of them!

Hot Summer!

Happy Father’s Day!  Been on the road for three weeks with one to go before heading home to the cool Redwood Forest.  Had wonderful trips that started right before Memorial Day.

Wonderful Math Camp for Barb, Paul and I in Apache Junction, Arizona.  The district was so great in hosting.  So many great teachers.

Then traveled on to Garden City, Kansas for two days.  Really enjoyed our first visit there and can’t wait to return.  We traveled from there to Nashville for two wonderful days doing one of my favorite classes.  Got to see our dear friends, John and Debbie and enjoy Fan Fest there.  Our daughter flew in and we had such a great weekend enjoying the best music.  Also visited the Jack Daniels Distillery.

Worked last week in Texas.  Love Texas!  Wonderful teachers who know so much about teaching mathematics that I am humbled.

We then flew to San Francisco to walk the US Open Golf Tournament with our daughter.  Wow!  That was truly amazing.  I am so sunburned.  Did not even think about sunscreen which is unusual for me….. way too excited about being there!

Time marches on...

Can’t believe that tomorrow is the first of May…..just finished a fun Parent Night at Jefferson Elementary in Omaha!  Just love the fun that games generate with families!

Been on the road for awhile and anxious to head home and then a vacation to rest.  Hawaii here we come!

It really does not matter whether you have 3 weeks of school left or 6 weeks, every day matters.  What are you doing with an empty number line?  Think of the possibilities!  Elapsed time, regrouping, making change, rounding practice and skip counting patterns…. you have it all!  Let me know if you aren’t sure…

Mathematically yours!

Common Core Standards in Mathematics

Is change hard for you?  Here is a change I am excited about.  The Common Core Standards are here for almost all states.  I am really appreciating how clear the Common Core Standards are about teaching place value.  If you have attended one of my workshops you know how passionate I am about teaching place value and teaching it well!  Most textbooks give it a “hit and miss” of several pages.  No depth and no practice.  I believe that my place value pockets and my Aerobic Place Value Cards are both non-negotiables.  Students need to develop basic foundational skills of place value to be able to do regrouping with the operations.

Try spending more time showing the picture of place value, the expanded form of the number and the standardized form of a number.  Just some thoughts!

Happy Easter!

Remembering My Sweet Mother

Back in the saddle….. so many messages of gratitude I have for many folks.  I had to cancel many workshops because of my sweet mother’s battle with cancer.  She passed away on February 4th.  We had a wonderful celebration of her life on the 10th of February.  We miss her terribly but know that her pain is over and she is in a better place.  I appreciate all the flexibility that everyone had for all the rescheduling that we had to do!

Let’s talk math!  I am ready to get going on a new book….. spring is almost here.  New beginnings!

Mathematically yours!