Ratios

In our math course at UCD, we take turns presenting some concepts from our textbook (pictured below). I have really come to appreciate how this book is organized. My favorite part is how each concept is discussed with common student misconceptions. I will be working with my 5th grade class soon to divide fractions, and this textbook gave me a heads up to some things to look out for. After discussing this with my resident teacher, she agreed that these were in fact things that students commonly struggle with.
 One group of my peers presented about ratios. They did a fabulous job, and even created a giant pencil to highlight an idea from the textbook. It was an intriguing idea, to have a giant pencil and then ask students what we could figure out about the giant that owned it, based on the size of the pencil.
The group presenting with the giant's pencil

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Narrative Input Charts (GLAD)

Image
 I'm so grateful that I was able to become a GLAD certified educator early in my career. This week long training I took several years ago has really changed the way I teach and stuck with me. While I have a lot to learn, there are some strategies that I use regularly in my classroom. Narrative Input Charts are one of my favorite strategies to get students excited, connected, and thinking to our learning material. Top Tips For Narrative Input Charts: 1. Choose a powerful text  Whenever possible use texts from perspectives that might be missing in your curriculum. At the beginning of the year I use Narrative Input Charts to show the perspective of the Indigenous People in Pre-Columbian North America. A Boy Called Slow by Joseph Bruchac is a great text to help students connect to what it was like to live in the great plains. 2. Include interesting pictures Students are hooked by good pictures in stories. Teaching the upper grades it is especially important to include images that ...
Read more

Primary Source Gallery Walk

Image
To get students engaged in learning about the Road to War (American Revolution), I had them do a gallery walk with primary sources. This is one of my favorite ways to get students to look closely at primary sources. These dynamic images really lend themselves to sparking questions and interesting observations. Students start with a stack of sticky notes and then silently walk around the room. They make observations, infer what the creator's purpose or intention might have been, and write any connections that they can make with background knowledge. I adore how students were fully focused on the primary sources and thinking deeply. They were excited to share their thoughts and hear their peers' ideas. 
Read more

Grumpy Dragon

Image
When my students are working on independent tasks, I have a screen display of things they must do, may do, and what they might have missed (catch up). It usually looks something like this: I also like to have a cheesy joke or fun image on there to be playful. One day, I added a picture of a grumpy dragon and the students loved it. I found myself wondering where the picture had come from. A few minutes later I discovered that it was a statue available on Amazon. I displayed the listing and asked my students if I should buy it. They said, "Yes!" and $30.00 later my very own grumpy dragon was bought and paid for. Here are some things I noticed as we discussed if we should get grumpy dragon: 1. The dimensions were listed and students had no idea how big grumpy dragon would be (this was during trimester 2, so my teacher heart was panicking that they didn't recognize the measurements or relate it to the volume project we had done this year). 2. While students were unsure how bi...
Read more