Wednesday, October 16, 2013

KidsTV123

Working as a math coach, I have the privilege to work with many amazing teachers at various grade levels.  In as much as I am here to assist them on their quest to conquer math as effectively as possible, I often walk away learning something as well.  An primary teacher in Ogdensburg, NY shared a resource she uses in her classroom.  It is a Youtube.com channel called KidsTV123.  Here is a great video about shapes:


Here is one about measurement which could be used with older children:



Thursday, June 13, 2013

LIKE and Tweet...Math and Movement (An email request from Suzy Koontz)

Please help us increase our Math & Movement Facebook Likes and Twitter Following.
As a thank you for your LIKE and FOLLOW, we would like to offer you the choice of the Math is Our Future Banner or the Math & Movement Training Manual for Elementary Schools e-book.
Please go here to FOLLOW on Twitter
Please go here to LIKE on Facebook
Please reply to this email and let us know whether you would prefer the Math is Our Future Banner or the Math & Movement Training Manual for Elementary Schools e-book.
Math is Our Future Banner
Do your students complain and ask, “Why do I need to learn math?” The Math is Our Future Banner is the answer! It helps students to understand the value of mathematics when they make the connection that mathematics had a role in creating the car, flying astronauts to the moon and developing computers, cell phones, etc. The Math is Our Future Banner portrays robots doing the traditional teenage chores of washing the car, cleaning the house or raking leaves. Are these chores that students like to do? Study math because math is our future! The Math is Our Future Banner can be used to make posters or laminated cards.
Math & Movement Training Manual for Elementary Schools (eBook)
Do your students have so much energy that it’s hard for them to sit still? Children are naturally active learners, using their bodies along with their minds to practice and acquire new skills. Math and Movement is a supplemental program that harnesses children’s natural desire to move and gives them more opportunities to practice math skills until mastery is achieved.
Math and Movement is a kinesthetic, multi-sensory approach to teaching math that incorporates physical exercise, stretching, and cross-body movements. This manual includes over 250 movements for the six Math and Movement categories: Active Math-Whisper/Loud, Active Math-Skip Counting, Sit-Down Math, Tapping at the Table, Hallway Math, and Math n’ Yoga. Over 85 activities for the Math and Movement floor mats and banners are included and techniques using Math and Movement to recharge your students during a mental break or transition times.
The magic of the Math and Movement program is that children become so engaged they forget they are practicing math! Math and Movement strengthens numeracy and literacy and energizes students and teachers. This program fits into transition times, allows children to exceed state standards, integrates core subjects and offers children the opportunity to love learning math. Math and Movement is appropriate for pre-K-grade 5 or any student lacking math confidence.
We thank you for sharing this email.
Best Regards,
Suzy Koontz

Attend National Math Foundation Summer Institute – Tuition Free

National Math Foundation Summer Institute – Tuition Free
Movement-Based Learning for Today’s Children
The National Math Foundation (NMF) has a unique, creative solution to support teaching children entrenched in a sedentary lifestyle. We invite you to learn about our curriculum, Math & Movement and consider submitting an application for our Summer Institute, July 14th-19th in beautiful, Upstate New York.
Math & Movement is a multi-sensory approach to teaching math that incorporates physical exercise, stretching, cross-body movements and visually-pleasing floor mats that allow children to practice using visual, auditory and kinesthetic learning modalities.
We Invite You to Apply
The National Math Foundation invites you to submit your application to attend our Summer Institute in beautiful, Upstate NY.
We are looking for passionate educators who understand the value of kinesthetic learning and engaging the child through child-centered learning activities.
NMF Summer Institute Program Details
Location: Hartwick College, Oneonta, NY
Dates: July 14th-July 19th, 2013
Cost: $231.64 per person (participants pay only for meals in dining hall and to stay in a dorm room)
Steps to Completing your Application
1. Complete the individual application
MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE SUMMER INSTITUTE
National Math Foundation Summer Institute
Movement-Based Learning for Today’s Children
Today’s children spend after-school hours playing on the computer, i-Pad or cell phone, playing video games, or watching television. Yesterday’s children played outside and used their imagination. Our modern-day, sedentary lifestyle contributes to epidemic levels of childhood obesity rates, low academic achievement in mathematics and poor graduation rates among identifiable sub-groups.
Some changes are necessary to meet the demands of today’s children. The National Math Foundation (NMF) has a unique, creative solution. We invite you to learn about our curriculum, Math & Movement, and consider submitting an application for our Summer Institute.
Math & Movement is a multi-sensory approach to teaching math that incorporates physical exercise, stretching, and cross-body movements. The program uses visually-pleasing floor mats that allow students to practice basic skills while using visual, auditory and kinesthetic learning modalities.
Math & Movement leads students through a series of movement-based learning exercises that result in the mathematical competency and fluency necessary to achieve the requirements of the Common Core State Standards. Students gain math confidence and have fun while learning.
Math & Movement utilizes a kinesthetic, artistic approach designed to build number sense by including movement and counting with varied voice levels. The “math-movements” improve students’ basic math and reading skills, critical thinking and their ability to focus and learn. For additional information, please see the website (http://mathandmovement.com/)
Recent research
Research links exercise with brain development. In the book, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, the author, John Ratey, says that exercise works like “Miracle-Gro” for the brain.
NMF Summer Institute Program Details
Location: Hartwick College, Oneonta, NY
Dates: July 14th-July 19th, 2013
Cost: $231.64 per person (participants pay only for meals in dining hall and to stay in a dorm room)
We Invite You to Apply
The National Math Foundation invites you to submit your application to attend our Summer Institute in beautiful upstate, NY. We are looking for passionate educators who understand the value of kinesthetic learning and engaging the child through child-centered learning activities.
Steps to Completing your Application
The steps to applying are very simple! Complete your individual application.
Your Responsibilities
Your responsibility is to attend the NMF Summer Institute (July 14th-19th in Oneonta, NY), to complete follow-up professional development (monthly phone calls, online training and optional additional onsite training), to pre-and post-test your students and share the results with the National Math Foundation, and to create a learning environment that encourages your students to engage in 60 minutes of movement-based learning daily (this can include before school, after school, recess and during transition times).
Upon your return from the Summer Institute, we ask that you train the other teachers in your school, share the training with teachers in your community, organize evening Math Nights for your school and schools in your community and continue your involvement in the National Math Foundation initiatives.
Benefits
Have Loads of Fun
You will be a part of an enjoyable, fast-paced week of engaging, fun, kinesthetic, math activities. You will soar to higher levels in mathematical confidence, understanding and enjoyment. You will learn kinesthetic teaching techniques, collaborate with NMF participants on developing activities and actively engage in the math learning.
Have Time for Collaboration
After extensive training in the existing Math & Movement strategies, you will collaborate to identify existing best-practices for kinesthetic learning and to build a repertoire of movement-based learning activities applicable to individual students. Your contribution is crucial. During the institute, you will have opportunities to share best practices and creative ideas which will enrich and strengthen the movement-based learning programs for all the schools.
Integrate New Learning with Practice
The NMF Summer Institute training will integrate professional development with opportunities to teach children. The Summer Institute will work in conjunction with local day camps to provide young learners for our teachers to practice.
Self-Development and Miscellaneous topics
Additional topics include gratitude, positive thinking, integrity, creating a positive school culture, the benefits of exercise, and movement-based learning, health and overall wellness, increasing parental involvement and beginning a school garden.
Learn New Strategies
You will learn high-impact strategies for
  • Strengthening your students’ math and reading ability.
  • Boosting your students’ understanding of “hard to learn” math concepts including telling time, place value, money, Cartesian coordinates, multiplication, division, factoring, odd/even numbers, algebra and fractions.
  • Increasing math-confidence in students.
  • Supporting risk-taking in problem solving.
  • Helping your students achieve mastery learning in ALL math concepts.
  • Utilizing Math & Movement as “energizers” to wake-up the sleepy brain before school, throughout the day, during transitions and after-school.
  • Increasing critical thinking and problem solving ability.
  • Meeting the Common Core State Standards.
  • Increasing the health and well-being of your students.
  • Improving misbehavior and classroom management.
  • Boosting math retention.
  • Increasing focus, concentration and attention-span.
  • Reaching the kinesthetic learner.
  • Supporting students with special needs.
  • Decreasing the cost of RTI, and auxiliary services.
  • Maximizing learning readiness in students.
  • Increasing parental involvement.
  • Teaching your students about gratitude, positive thinking, integrity, and community service.
  • Promoting a positive school culture.
  • Utilizing the support of NMF corps members as teaching assistants.
  • Maximizing the help of parent volunteers.
  • Gaining parental support for a school garden
Receive over $20,000 of Math & Movement Materials (as funding permits)
In addition to the training, the National Math Foundation will work to either secure funding to provide your school the Math & Movement movement-based learning materials, write grants for your school or collaborate with organizations to offer unique fundraisers for your school to fundraise to obtain the materials.
APPLY NOW
Individual Application

Join the Movement!!!

Ever wish those students of yours could master those math facts?  Looking for some fluency activities to fulfill required components of the Common Core?  Wishing your children were more active?  Well, now is your chance to help your students shine!  Get them moving with Math and Movement!!  I have had the opportunity to attend workshops for Math and Movement.  Along with those workships, I had the pleasure of meeting the mastermind behind the Math and Movement program, Ms. Suzy Koontz!  Below is just a brief summary taken from Suzy's Math and Movement website.  To learn more, watch video clips or to download some of Suzy's free materials, please go to her website...Math and Movement.

Math & Movement™ is a kinesthetic, multi-sensory approach to teaching math that incorporates physical exercise, stretching, cross-body movements, yoga, and visually-pleasing floor mats designed to encourage students to practice math concepts. The Math & Movement™ program allows students to physically hop, walk, crawl, dance or touch the mats and banners as they learn thus using more learning modalities (visual, auditory, motor and kinesthetic) when practicing.

Math & Movement begins at pre-K and harnesses children's natural love of movement and creative imagination to master basic math concepts. The floor mats and banners cover the concepts of addition, subtraction, telling time, skip-counting, multiplication, division, fractions, factoring, positive/negative numbers, Cartesian coordinates, money, unit circle, place value, decimals, percents, rounding and probability.

The movements in the Math & Movement program help the student master math while simultaneously offering teachers and students an overall sense of well-being. Incorporating these exercises during the day, before testing or during transitions, allows teachers and students to feel energized, focused, calm, and prepared to learn.

Some examples of the Math & Movement movements are the Nine's Twist, Criss Cross for 7's, Sailboat Sway, Jaguar Tummy Rub, Gorilla Leg Lifts, Bunny Hop, The Letter "L" Laughs and Skyscraper.

The movements are divided into six categories:
  • Active Math:Whisper/Loud Movements - Designed to give your students physical exercise while simultaneously enhancing math and reading ability.
  • Active Math:Skip Counting Movements - Designed to provide additional physical exercise while learning the multiples.
  • Sit-Down Math Activities - Designed for quiet time and involve stretching.
  • Tapping at the Table Activities - Designed to be used in between other activities, while students sit at their desks.
  • Hallway Math Activities - Designed to be used walking in the hallway to and from lunch, PE, art, music, computer or library.
  • Math 'n Yoga Activities - Incorporate math practice into popular yoga moves.
The next couple posts will be emails I received from Suzy TODAY, outlining some wonderful opportunities for you!

Enjoy the day...and get MOVING!!

Kate

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Common Core Daily 5 Math

Daily 5 for our ELA blocks have become quite a popular structure!  Teachers incorporating the D5 structure are finding success...witnessing vast amounts of growth in the reading abilities and self-confidence of their learners.  This makes me wonder what kind of results we would see if we adapted the same concept for math! 

It really makes sense, if you think about it!  Short, whole group mini-lessons paired with fair amounts of 'small group/individual' work time (at each students' "just right" level) on a daily basis should result in greater growth in student mastery of math concepts.  Just as with the D5 for ELA, meeting with your struggling math students on a daily, more individualized basis, will not only allow you to get to really know your students and their needs.  This structure would also offer your exceptional math students the opportunity to investigate and solve real world problems, develop their higher level thinking skills, checking in, let's say, every other day or so. 

Many of us are quite familiar with the framework surrounding the Daily 5, having read the books, adapting the concept to fit our own classroom needs for ELA.  There are many resources floating out in cyberspace for ELA.  However, Daily 5 Math resources are limited.  I remember when I was a classroom teacher, I was enthusiastic to begin implementing this structure in my math class, but often struggled to narrow down the categories for our work stations.

I came across this example from one first grade teacher which could be adapted to fit any grade level.  She labels her workstations according to Common Core Domains - (1) Numbers & Operations in Base 10, (2) Operations & Algebraic Thinking, (3) Geometry, (4) Measurement & Data.  The fifth work station is called "Reading Math." 

Take a look!!
Click HERE to go to the blog "I'm Just Sayin...".

Give it a try and let me know how it goes!!  

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Greg Tang Math

We are ALL looking for fun and engaging ways to support the CCSS in Math!  Greg Tang Math supports the domain Operation and Algebraic Thinking.  Greg Tang is an author, educator and inventor.  He has published several books with a math theme and has created several interactive math games (online and apps).

I love KAKOOMA...click and give it a try.

Don't forget about all the materials and resources Greg Tang's site has to offer.  Although this site only mentions grades K-5, many of the games and materials available would be well-suited for fluency and maintenance of basic skills needed by ALL learners.

Enjoy!

Kate

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

New Math Modules Released!!

It's what we've all been waiting for...!!  The K-12 Module 1's have been released!


Below you will find links to the latest modules released from the state.  They are available on Engageny.org under the Professional Development & Network Team tab at the top of the Engageny.org page.

You should also notice they are ALL the first modules we will need to start the new school year in September.

I have spent the last two days in Albany training on the use and implementation of the modules.  Our 6-12 people are there today and tomorrow gaining more knowledge on the topic. 

Please know that the writers of the modules were VERY clear that the modules you will find at these links should NOT be copied off for ‘official’ use for the upcoming year, as there is still some slight editing to be done in order for them to be a ‘final’ draft. (It seems most of the editing left to do are minor ‘tweaks’, not major overhauls of what you will see here.)  However, they felt it necessary to release them to us in order to become familiar with the overall structure and individual components to the module lessons. 



 

Please take special note of the Materials List included.  Most of the materials needed for each module lesson are items most schools have already.  Don't be afraid to ask around your school, especially at different grade levels, in order to find the items you need.  Oftentimes, manipulatives are shelved when concepts are moved from grade level to grade level.

Enjoy the day!

Kate