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Teaching with What’s in Hand!
August 23, 2009
Wow, what a trip! By now, you know that my family and I had a very unique experience this last week. We sailed out of Miami on a Carnival Cruise. Our first! This cruise had two ports of call, Key West and Cozumel! We returned on Friday to land and spending the weekend in South Beach. While at sea, I had the wonderful experience of working with the Canadian Seventh Day Adventist teachers. I so appreciated this opportunity to work with the teachers and all their enthusiasm for my ideas. The conference was a huge success and Brandy and Betty did an amazing job of making this event happen!
There are so many options on a cruise. We were amazed! Seemed very cost effective in that there were plenty of food options and activities. We enjoyed the ports. We even returned by car to Key West after disembarking the ship. At Cozumel, we went on an excursion in beach buggies to snorkel at Punta Sur, a reserve with a small Mayan ruin.
The teaching of mathematics in this setting was amazing. It was a new experience for me. I usually “wind up” before my presentations but it was such a relaxed atmosphere to teach in and I learned that I can teach and be relaxed! Please know that I appreciate my life very much…..
I was able to listen to several of the other presenters and learned lots….. one of the messages was about teaching with what’s in hand. That really hit a note for me. Times are incredibly hard in many places. Teachers have been laid off and budgets cut to a bare minimum. This could translate into lots of whining. I don’t think that will happen. Teachers have long used their own resources and ingenuity to make their classrooms the best learning places for their students.
This year, get to the basics of number sense with tools that requires no expense to think of. The place value pockets from my book, Place Value with Pizzazz is one of the most important tools to use this year! Hopefully you have them run off in cardstock with at least two sets of digit cards. Remember to match the size of the pocket to your grade level standards.
You will need ones, tens, hundreds and thousands cut from the five mesh plastic canvas. One of my five recommended visuals to be used three times a week is “Aerobic Place Value Cards.”
Warmup with Ron Brown’s song, “Place Value Rap” from Math Concepts I and II. Teach my dance if you know it! Your students will love it and be motivated to learn place value!
Three times a week take your students through the three steps for place value understanding:
• On the overheard projector, make a picture of a number using the five mesh plastic canvas.
• Pass out the Aerobic Place Value Cards. The students with the cards for the picture will run up. The students will be in the expanded form of the number.
• Students will show the standardized form of the number.
This drill is essential for reinforcement of place value understanding. Please know students need repeated practice with this, not just the seven pages in textbook on place value.
If you are still waiting for requests from me, don’t worry. I am home all next week and will get them sent. If you still do not have them by September 1st, assume that I did not receive your request and send again.
Mathematically yours,
