Are you good at maths? How do you know?

The format of this reflection is wholly and unashamedly inspired by this post from @TAnnalet. As the end of the year is fast approaching, and I'm leaving my current school after 5 years, it seems like a good time to reflect on my practice. I feel I've come a long way in the past couple of years to …

Multiplication Grid Makeover

The teaching community on twitter has been a daily source of inspiration for me over the years. I follow a variety of educators and # but I particularly enjoy and use ideas from the maths teachers I follow. This image is courtesy of @the_chalkface, a high school maths teacher in the UK but that doesn't put me …

Last Counter Game

I try to create a playful atmosphere in my maths classroom but I'm not a big fan of maths games. I find the students are too caught up in winning to notice the maths. I think that comes down more to the way I structure the lesson rather than the value of the game itself. …

Factors & Multiples

Why is it that students always seem to get factor and multiple confused? In my search for an activity to reinforce these terms I came across a hundreds chart (as featured in the excellent TEDtalk by Dan Finkel). It is taken from the game Prime Climb made by the guys at math4love. The chart goes up …

Compensation strategy number talk

We've been using number talks a lot in the classroom, sometimes they are warm-ups for the lesson and sometimes they shape a whole lesson and more. This lesson started with what I thought would be a quick multiplication number talk. When I presented them with this multiplication one student tried to use the compensation strategy in the same …

Steps Inquiry

 

Fractions Assessment

I love using proofs as quick assessments be it formative, summative or a quick check-in. These students worked together to prove the statement is false using several methods - a range of manipulative is always on hand and the students are able to use them in flexible and often ways not intended by the manufacturer. …

Multiplication prompt

Flags Inquiry

I love this flags inquiry for digging into area and perimeter. The biggest challenge set was: Can I draw a different design with the same ratio of pink to yellow?

2D shape prompt

I slightly adapted this prompt for my grade 4 class by removing one of the shapes. The questions and comments generated kept us busy for a couple of weeks and by the end of the inquiry pretty much all the required benchmarks, and more, were ticked off.