Here's a blog with great stuff!

There are so many blogs, search engines and link trees to pick from these days, but here's another one I like, mostly because it has my favorite fraction app games listed. But there are lots of great links to other math games, too! Try it out!

http://www.mathgametime.com/blog/2015/03/10-awesome-apps-for-teaching-fractions/

-Peter

No Child Left Inside

      No Child Left Inside is a Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (CT-DEEP) program meant to connect children with Nature. They run programs for children, many free, that are instructive about our Connecticut environment.
     

http://www.ct.gov/ncli/site/default.asp

So why is a math website promoting Nature? Life is a balance, between social, physical, mental, and moral, and this is a suggestion for myself as a parent and a sharing of great resource for others. We must remember to educate the whole person, not just the mind.  I find, the more sports we casually engage our daughters in, the more impressive they are becoming, both on the field and in school. 

Check out the calendar of events directly here:

CT-DEEP Children's Events Calendar

Are you confused by the Partial Quotient Method of Division?

Hi everyone,

Long time no see! But I found a great site to help children with the Partial Quotient Method of Division.

The Partial Quotient method is a transition for children who are not ready for the traditional method of Long Division. Some reasons are lack of basic multiplication skills and memorization, the traditional steps are proving difficult to memorize, the numbers being divided have gotten too large for a set of manipulatives, etc.
But regardless, it is a stepping stone to the Traditional U.S. Method.

I like Partial Quotients because students choose multiplication facts they are comfortable with, and do repeated subtraction 'ad nauseum' until they understand it is about taking away from the whole number in smaller sets. I like this tool because it has a "reset" button featured prominently before the "new" button, so kids can do the same problem repeatedly, until they tighten up their numbers. For example, the first time they do a problem, they might take away single groups, and the second time take away doubles, groups of fives or tens, but on the third or fourth time, they are using quotients that are similar to the most efficient numbers (which are the traditional method).
 
I like this tool because my students do. There are multiple characters, and multiple "things" that fit into sets, and a visual model which reinforces what division does, take away repeated groups. Dinosaurs, Penguins and puppies can eat apples, waffles and bones, and the student can choose. The animals pictured "take away" sets that the students can count if they need to. I do wish the example was easier to count, though.

The tool has a wide range, with using divisors from 1 to 50, and dividends from 1 to 500. The student can use it like a calculator, which guides them through the right method without giving them the answer.  This can be the perfect help for parents unfamiliar with the Partial Quotient Method. Eventually students will work on the traditional method, but this gives them a greater understanding of "Why" before "How"


Try it out and let me know what you think!

  Partial Quotient Method of Division:  The Quotient Cafe
http://illuminations.nctm.org/Activity.aspx?id=4197

It is from a trusted site, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, (NCTM)

If you prefer a video explaining it, watch this one:
http://everydaymath.uchicago.edu/teaching-topics/computation/div-part-quot/

And if your child needs help with the traditional method, try Snork:
http://www.kidsnumbers.com/long-division.php
The music is goofy, but meant to set a pace, and it asks the questions a person should be asking in their head.

Title I Math at Stark School

Hello to those of you who have stumbled upon this website, or maybe you were directed here by a teacher.

Thanks for Coming!  I post websites I like and find to be neat, or just helpful.  So check out the older posts for some great stuff.

Everyone can learn mathematics. It just depends.

Are you using manipulatives?

These are any little toys that can help students visualize the math. I use many different ones, each for a different reason. For explain, Hundreds Tens and Ones symbolize very different numbers, but to a little kid, 324 means three and two and four. A year later, the same child might say "thirty-two four" or "three twenty-four". This is not a mistake; it's the stage of learning mathematics that they are in. They may be taught to say the number correctly, but can they visualize it as 3 hundred 2 tens and 4 ones? Do they see that number when you say it, or are they struggling? The right tool for the right job. I was told this many times as a highschooler by a boss, and it rings true now as well. When students use and experience math with the right approach, they understand it at a deep level that will assist them later as they move on to algebra and more advanced mathematics.

Are they getting enough practice when and where they need it?

I'm coaching my daughter's soccer team now. Five year olds are cute, but this is their first experience with team sports, and they all come to the game with different levels of ability and emotional readiness. Some kids won't go out on the field; some won't come off! Some can kick well, others need practice.
     As a coach, it has been a joy to watch some players bloom. Every week, some of the kids get better and better, and it is easy to see.   Math is the same way. Math is Logic, and as students practice, they understand the pattern and begin to predict and anticipate and finally work with it successfully and drive up their timing and tempo until you hear them say, "That's too easy!" When a month ago, they were scared and upset.
      Things change, and classes move to the next topic. But what about the prior skills? Are your children still practicing earlier lessons, and building the confidence in mathematics, or are they moving forward so fast they are mentally exhausted?  Help your child pace themselves, and keep them practicing. Find five minutes in the day to review old skills. Go for speed on the 'easy' stuff, use friendly numbers for today's work, and build confidence for tomorrow's struggle.

Do they have the right attitude?

Do they think they are smart? Is because they feel they worked hard and learned it, or because everyone praises them? Research says some students who believe they are smart will shut down when faced with a frustrating task. Why? They have not built the persistence skills necessary to face a task that is not straightforward.
Now think about your day. Most tasks you do in a day (that have not yet been automated) are not straightforward. But you do them in an organized way until they become a routine task. So let's help our children work at tasks that are not easy, that might take time to finish, that they might have to ask others for help with to complete the task. Find those weeklong problems, those problems that you do wrong the first time, and you have to untangle and start again another way to try again.
(If you want one of these, look up Sally and the Peanuts math problem)

More questions to follow...

NYT: Why do Americans Stink at Math. A Rebuttal

I agree with the author's original thought, but I fault this article for merely reporting, without thinking 
or suggesting solutions. 
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/27/magazine/why-do-americans-stink-at-math.html?_r=0

I haven't even finished the article, and I am already starting my rebuttal list!

1. Mathematics teach basic logic.
Logic is the underpinnings of all the math we teach. The procedural steps also have a logic-based 
component. They teach students to create use and analyze a complex problem and decide on a way
 to resolve the issue.

2. Parent outreach is currently insufficient to help explain and justify to parents why we are changing, 
how we are changing and what their new role is. (This is part of my role as a Title I Math teacher,  
and while I reach out and invite all parents in each week, the response is not going to 
'light the world on fire'. I need help. The best person for me to learn from is someone successfully 
doing it, but I don't know anyone who is.

3. Technology can help. I could "flip" my class and record videos for each day, so students can review,
 parents can learn, and my colleagues can constructively critique me and suggest techniques for the
 future.  (I take critism well.)

4. NCTM is trying! But even math teachers don't know about all the resources NCTM has.

5. These methods being used are exclusively U.S. cultural methods. I also know that India's methods, 
called Vedic Math, are 3,00 years old, super efficient and beautifully simplistic, and yet few people use 
them.

6. Teachers will default to the methods they were taught as children, and parents may be demanding 
them too, as well! Any teacher may think, "Well, that worked for me, so..." but often, teachers are in that
 10-20% who 'get it' without any additional help, while most people will 'miss the boat'.

7. Reteaching time is not built into the schedule, and with twenty plus students, it's easy to run out of 
time.My job is to help teachers and provide that reteaching time, but again, time restrains me, too when
 we are discussing 600+ students in the school. 

The British Government STOPPED BECTA? WHAT?!?!!

I just found out that the British government, in a political move, (not sure which party) decided to stop funding BECTA.  (okay, in 2011).

BECTA stands for "British Educational Communications and Technology Agency" and it was a government established charity.

Their goal was "Becta leads the national drive to inspire and lead the effective and innovative use of technology throughout learning."  And LEAD they did. They were light years ahead of the United States, putting a spotlight on BEST PRACTICES in TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION! (Yes, I am shouting!)

Some of the most amazing work by students came out of Becta Awards, and the videos of students who won these national awards were amazing! I always wondered why the U.S. never had anything this amazing?

I read in wikipedia that it was a cost-cutting issue, but c'mon, really?

March, and Snowflake Station

So it's March, and you are wishing for more snowflakes?  Well why not make your own!  Here's a neat app that lets you design your own snowflake and even add a background that you can make snowflakes fall into!

Snowflake Station
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/snowflake-station/id496808131?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D4
 and here's the designer's website,  she has a few more apps you might like to explore:

http://www.mrsjuddsgames.com/
Frances Judd is a teacher who also designs games. Check out her website and blog!