Posts Tagged: Math Activities

Increasing Scores via Financial Literacy

How can you increase scores on a state test by teaching financial literacy? That was one of the questions asked by several teachers who were recently trained in M-Cubed: Meaningful Math Management. This resource is used nationwide to teach accountability and personal financial literacy at the same time.…

Math Apps Students (and their Teachers) LOVE!

“Do you use IPads in the Technology/Application Station of Tabor Rotation?” “What apps do you recommend?” “Could I write a grant to get more technology in my classroom?” These questions are frequently asked by Tabor Rotation teachers in math and science, since one of the Tabor Rotation Stations is the Technology/Application Station.…

“It’s the GREAT Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!”

“I’ve learned there are three things you don’t discuss with people: religion, politics and the Great Pumpkin.”     -Linus Out of all of the Peanuts comic strips and television specials, this one is my favorite. As a child I thought that waiting for the Great Pumpkin was much more fun than waiting for Santa Claus.…

Making Math Meaningful in the Home

“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, learning from failure.”     -Colin Powell Building conceptual understanding for math can be done through almost anything. I’ve witnessed the most powerful understanding of fractions by cooking with my children. When we double or half the recipe it develops fractional understanding at the middle school level.…

“We’re not allowed to use number sense.”

Go ahead and read the title of this blog again. I’ve been thinking about it for almost 24 hours. It’s what my 4th grader told me last night after dinner. He and his sisters were allowed to choose anything they wanted for dinner. They chose a famous chef’s ravioli concoctions.…

More Tabor Rotation Trainer Tips

Yesterday’s blog gave the first half of tips and “aha” moments from participants in Tabor Rotation Training of Trainers Institutes. Here’s the second half. may they encourage you to try using small-group, differentiated instruction in your school. Tip #16: Every learner ‘s brain craves moving from the concrete to the pictorial to the abstract.…

Tabor Rotation Tips from Trainers

  The following tips and “aha” moments came from participants in Tabor Rotation Training of Trainers Institutes. They allowed me to share them with you in hopes that they might ignite your fire for sophisticating the use of guided math groups, math stations, and differentiated instruction in math using The Tabor Rotation Framework.…

Readiness Groups in Tabor Rotation

“Every success is built on the ability to do better than good enough.” I’m beginning to understand Tabor Rotation, but what are readiness groups and why are they important? The Tabor Rotation Framework asks teachers to flexibly group students in a variety of ways. Each week includes partner work, whole-group instruction, teachable moments with individual students, small group work with students of mixed abilities, and working with small groups of students who are grouped together according to their level of understanding of the concepts that are being explored that week.…

Application Menus

“The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.” -Flora Whittemore “My basic principle is that you don’t make decisions because they are easy; you don’t make them because they are cheap; you don’t make them because they’re popular; you make them because they’re right.”…

Grouping Students via a Value Line & Folded Spectrum

How can a teacher ensure simultaneous interaction in their classroom? How do you easily and quickly group students? How can one assess the depth of their students’ understanding of a concept? One simple, interactive, and non-threatening way to do this is by using a “Value Line” and a “Folded Spectrum.”…