In These Uncertain Times...

The world is so unsettled now, as we try to maneuver through these scary waters. As teachers, we are doing all that we can to help our students feel safe even though we have to do this through technology. I think what unsettles everyone the most is not knowing how long this will last.  We hear different predictions and ideas every day about the length of this stay at home world.  We just want to see our students and have some closure to our school year.  However, this is not in our control either.

What is in our control is offering some normalcy to our lives and our student lives.  As we do this though, we may sometimes become overzealous and expect things from our students that they don't have the support to complete from home. Give yourself some grace.  You can't make up for the interaction that would have happened if we were in our schools. If you are meeting with your students online or giving them tasks to complete, keep it simple.  Read a book, write a letter, solve a puzzle, play a game, help fix dinner tonight...these are all appropriate assignments that keep our students and their parents from being overwhelmed by school as well as by world events.  

I hope this ends sooner rather than later.  I hope that a vaccine is found.  I know that when it is found, teachers are some of the people who helped to develop the doctor who finds the vaccine. This has always been true because teachers believe in their students. 

I also know that the entire world is holding its breath right now.  Do what you can to help your students feel safe.  Don't feel obligated to have them complete large amounts of work.  Believe in them and that they will be okay when this is over. All will be okay. 

Another Resource for Better Communication with Parents

As we work towards shifting our instruction from deliverers of knowledge to facilitators of learning, it is important that we keep parents informed about what students should know during the current grade level.  I recently came across this site  by GreatSchools.org that has videos for parents that are aligned to grade level expectations for students.

What I like about this site is that the video clips primarily focus on conceptual understanding rather than rote memory skills.  They reinforce the message that we should be sending parents:  Student understanding is the key to future math success.

Please, share this site with your parents!  Whether you just send a general email sharing the whole site or choose one specific video that aligns with a current concept, I think our parents will appreciate your efforts to help them make sense of the rapidly changing classrooms they find.

These videos would also be good to share at the beginning of the year or at conference time.  I hope you and your parents find them helpful!

Summertime Ideas

As summer approaches, we need to remember that this important time of rejuvenation offers students time to explore, play, and be a kid.  It is not about daily academic programs or workbooks to complete.  

It is good for parents to continue to offer their child ways to maintain academic skills while also helping them to enjoy the summer. Besides the list of ideas I have shared before, parents may want to consider using Bedtime Math. It offers short interesting math practice that parents and children talk through and discuss together.  The discussion is the important part of this app; not the answer.  It allows parents to engage children with math in a non-threatening, fun way. Another good site that is geared towards parents is called Table-talk math. The site is in conjunction with a book of the same name by John Stevens, but this site offers ideas and examples of concepts for parents to talk with their children about.

Consider sharing these sites or the list of the ideas from my earlier blog post with parents.  As a parent, I know I always appreciate when teachers give me ideas of things that I can do to enrich my children.  I'm sure yours will, too!

Area Model Thoughts

I 💗 the area model!  I think it is worth your while to watch this video if you teach this method! (and even if you don't)





 Thoughts?

A Parent Resource

I found this website recently, and have found some great resources on it.  It is intended to help parents talk math with their children, but I think it can give us some good ideas to tie math to the real world in our classrooms.

The site is called Table Talk Math.  This link will take you to the homepage, but the main place of inspiration for me is the Newsletters link.  In this link, Mr. Stevens shares everyday math examples and how we should talk to children about them.

Please consider sharing this link with your parents.  We need to continue to encourage parents that math is not about a set of problems on a worksheet or memorizing your facts.  It is real-world, and it is all around us all of the time.  I think this site will help them start to see that themselves!

I think the book by John Stevens looks like a good resource, too, so maybe I'll add it to my Christmas list.  It is only 11 weeks away, ya know? :)

Parent Involvement

With conferences around the corner, you might want to provide your students' parents with resources that will help them when working with their children at home.

For each grade, I created a sheet which highlights some of the goals for that grade level  as well as ways parents can help their children to sharpen their skills without just offering more worksheets and math problems at home.

I am also resharing the parent page that you were given at the beginning of the year that has QR code links for parents to use to help them better different concepts and algorithms of each grade. If you haven't had a chance to share this yet, now might be a good time.

Both of these handouts might be a good resource to share with  parents at conferences next week.

Kindergarten At Home                  Kindergarten QR Codes

1st Grade At Home                       1st Grade QR Codes

2nd Grade At Home                      2nd Grade QR Codes

3rd Grade At Home                       3rd Grade QR Codes

4th Grade At Home                       4th Grade QR Codes

5th Grade At Home                       5th Grade QR Codes

Let me know if there is anything else you are looking for!

Parent Resource

You should have received in the last two days a grade level handout that you can share with parents if you wish.  This handout was created to guide parents to a better understanding of  "new math."

On your grade level page, I tried to cover concepts and algorithms that are commonly introduced or used during your year.  Next to the concept, is a QR code for parents to scan which takes them to a video explanation of that concept.

These pages will be attached to the Unit 5 website, but you are also welcome to make copies to share with your parents if you like.  Here are the links for each grade's page if you need it:

Kindergarten

1st grade

2nd grade

3rd grade

4th grade

5th grade

I included at the top of each grade level's page a video by Dr. Raj Shah that I think does a great job explaining the changes in our math instruction.