Sorts

Sorts are a great way for students to make sense of things around them.  It could be images or numbers or objects or words....the point is to get them thinking about a subject and have them make sense of it in some way.

Here are some ideas for sorts.  Don't think that these are just for Littles.  Older students enjoy them.  They offer a non-threatening way for students to look at things, and they offer us good insight into our students' thinking.  Sorting is very mathematical even when it is not about numbers.  It is about looking at things carefully, finding patterns, and making sense--that's math!

SORT:
pattern blocks
doors
coins
book characters
drain covers
shapes--2D and 3D
numbers (odd/even) (prime/composite) (square/not square) (multiples)
vehicles
words
patterns
emojis
food
volume/area/perimeter
shoes
states
types of graphs (no numbers or titles are necessary)
expressions
angles

What Does the Data Tell Us?

In a recent conversation with some representatives from a major nationwide business company, we were discussing the needs in elementary math education to help lead students to be productive workers in tomorrow's business world.

The big question they said that students need to learn to answer is, "What does the data tell us?"  We also discussed the importance of probability and statistics,  but in the end, they said that they are looking for workers who can answer this question.

What would this look like in an elementary classroom?   I think it just reframes our questioning.  In many of our activities, we already expose students to real-world information.  We just need to be sure to be more intentional in our questioning in order to get them to look at data.

For example, look at this picture.  I took it thinking that it would be a good one for students to determine what was the best deal. What does it tell us?  What are some possible reasons a person would be willing to pay more for 3 Peep trees when they can get 9 for such a better deal?  

Noticing and wondering is a classroom routine that really benefits our students.  When they notice and wonder, you can ask them what the picture tells them.  Make them infer from the data that they have.  Numberless graphs are a good method of providing data that the students have to make sense of.  Here is a good example of a 2nd grade lesson regarding them.  You can find lots of examples and ideas for using them by reading some of the posts listed here.

What do you notice about this data?  What do you wonder?

We want our students to be able to compute and do basic math, but not at the expense of good math thinking and discussion.  These are the skills that will carry them into the future--not only in their career, but also in their roles as consumers and citizens.

How can you incorporate statistics and probability into your classroom (whether it is a K classroom or a 5th classroom) by framing your questions and your students' thinking around the question, "What does the data tell us?"

Valentines Would You Rather

I have shared with many of you the website wouldyourathermath.  It offers great opportunities for your students to reason with real math problems.  It also offers them opportunities to explain their reasoning--something that we know is difficult for students. We need to be sure to offer these opportunities to all of our students so they can begin to practice more math thinking.

You might want to offer these to your students and ask them to give verbal explanations for a while before you begin asking them to write their reasoning. Be sure to encourage the use math vocabulary as much as you can, and to explain to them that they need to use math reasoning.  (They might tell you they would buy the M & Ms instead of the Butterfinger because they don't like peanut butter, but they need to acknowledge which one is the better math deal.)

Here is a simple Valentines Would you Rather? that you might want to try with your class.  I have scaffolded the writing portion of it by offering sentence stems at the bottom.  

Would You Rather? Valentines Candy (easier version)
Would You Rather? Valentines Candy

I recommend you take the time to check out the website!  It has a lot of prepared problems that you can use, or it might spark an idea for one of your own!  If you make some and would be willing to share, send me a link or share below.  Enjoy!

Real World Math

Math@Work offers upper grade teachers some great resources to use in the classroom.  The website offers webisodes and downloadable lesson plans and resources which will help yo ur students begin to understand the connection between math and their future careers!

I watched the webisode with Ty Pennington in New Orleans building a sustainable house.  The connections and the math were real and would be great stepping stones for our students as they begin to think about the future.  In the video, a math "expert" talks through solving the problems, but I think it would be worthwhile to stop the video and have the students see if they can work together to solve the problem before revealing the expert's solution.

More Real World Math Errors

Kids love to find mistakes that others have made.  The attached file is full of errors found in the real world.  Can your students figure out what is wrong?  

Some of these are geared for older students, but there are some in here for the littles, too!

You can use these as a number talk, an opening activity, a collaborative problem solving activity...just be sure to get the best thinking, can they figure out how to correct it?

If your students like these, here are some from an earlier post.

Click for new file

The Solar Eclipse

I'm sure you are preparing for the excitement of the partial solar eclipse we will be able to share with our students on August 21st.  There are many ways you can integrate this event into all subject areas.

While this post shares a lot of resources for you and your students, I think it is really important to ask your students some big thinking questions:  What do you notice?  What do you wonder?  Starting simply like this will give the students some ownership and choice in what they hope to discover during this phenomenon.  

There are a lot of resources to be found to help your students better connect to and understand what is happening, and I am sure you have found many! Here are some more resources that may help you as you work to celebrate this event with your students:

Countdown to the Great American Eclipse  : Article that guides you through the eclipse through NGSS.

Eclipses across the Curriculum:  Article with ways to integrate this celebration throughout your day.

Total Solar Eclipse over Illinois: Information about the eclipse in Illinois.  Contains a lot of fun facts as well as an awesome table of data about the eclipse as viewed from different cities in Illinois.

Eclipse Resources:  This page has a variety of resources.  Some are geared towards K-3 while the others focus on 4-6.

NASA Eclipse Website: This site has a variety of information and visuals as well as data from past and future eclipses.

An Observer's Guide to Viewing the Eclipse:  This article is from the NSTA.

Southern Illinois Teachers Eclipse Planning Group:  Many science based activities to use with your students.  Many of these activities are grouped by student level.

Please feel free to share your own resources or ideas in the comments below.