Have you ever wondered if there is a better way to understand and remember mathematical order of operations than PEMDAS, BIDMAS, GEMA, or any of the other happy mnemonics that only go so far? It’s been a bugaboo for so many teachers over time. During a recent work trip to St. Croix, USVI, I realized I hadn’t written my thoughts about it in my book. So I wrote a chapter all about it. If you’d like to read the chapter, wonderful! Just sign up to my email list, and you’ll get a link to download it for free. Don’t forget…
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This was written as a serialized story, just for fun, in October 2023. It’s reposted here in one part. So I’m sipping my coffee and taking in the dry but hilly landscape from my faded old camp chair. I found this spot a few miles from Lewis Peak a couple of days ago, and I hiked the peak yesterday, so my body’s a bit achy. I stand up and stretch my arms up high, and then I fold my body in half to put my hands flat on the ground, stretching my back out good. It’s another clear, warm autumn…
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Many people aren’t aware that there are two different types of division. Even if you search the web, only one type mostly comes up. It’s the type we learn first: that when we share one quantity, we split it into equal parts. This is partitive division, or dividing a quantity into parts. When we divide a whole amount, partitive division tells us how many items there are in each group. Let’s look at a couple of examples. Jeanine bought 24 buns for a party. She wanted to put an equal amount on each of 6 tables.How many buns should she…
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I’m pleased to report that an independent non-profit organization, EdReports.org, is reviewing new Common Core math curricula. I sometimes get asked about my opinion about the different options, but it’s hard to respond when there are so many new materials that I haven’t seen, and I am only one person. While the reviews don’t address every curriculum, they do address many of the available Common Core options. If your district is considering adopting a curriculum, please consider the detailed reports here. They also have a graphic that shows the alignment in a visual format. Click the thumbnail to view it.…
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Would you like a fun summer writing project to do with your child? Why not create a comic? Comics and graphic novels are legitimate forms of art and writing, and for visual people, they can be more accessible or relatable. And they require thought and good design to be interesting. This spring, a girl I’ve been tutoring in writing for years made one with my help. First, we wrote the storyboard. Then we laid it out in ComicBook!, an iPad app, with dialogue embedded in bubbles we would edit later to fit the photos. Finally, we took the photos to…
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Or, Why Baby Animals Have It Better Than Schoolchildren UPDATE: Pediatricians say not to cut recess! “In order to learn well, children need a period of concentrated academic activity followed by a break that allows them to process information…” Back in the mid-2000s, when I was a newly-minted teacher launching my career, I interviewed at a number of different schools. One school – where they had us take a test and write an essay in response to a question – was a near miss: the teachers and other hiring team members loved me, but then I interviewed with the principal,…
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As National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) approaches, many people gear up for an enormous leap into creative writing. November has been one of my favorite months of the year for this reason, now for almost a decade, as my tenth year of participating in this program approaches. One of the areas young (and other) writers struggle with is descriptive writing. Now that so many young people spend a huge proportion of their time in front of screens, I think the other senses get neglected, and a corresponding decrease in the ability to express sensation in words comes with that. For…
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Nearly all writers have experienced writer’s block. There are many ways to overcome it, including by using a variety of prompts. I have used Rory’s Story Cubes, which the students and I love, writing kits, and more. Today an idea came to me to make a board game with writing prompts. My students have had fun and have written good stories while playing it. Please feel free to download the game and use it as you please. You may even find a way to use it in conjunction with the story cubes. Enjoy! Update July 2012: There are now Rory’s…
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While I work on a lengthy blog post with a book review, here is a poem from one of my young writing students. His name is Peter (Engish name), and he is a fourth grade non-native English speaker. He and his brother were born in South Korea and lived for two years in Japan before moving to the US a few years ago. They meet with me once a week for math and English tutoring. Peter has a great sense of humor, and I am honored that he let me publish his poem here. Fight at Bed I fight at…
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One of my pursuits this summer, when I wasn’t as active on this blog, was writing step-by-step articles on instructables.com. Projects included everything from a camp shower enclosure to a 35-cent book weight. This type of writing, the how-to essay, is great for students to practice order words (first, next, then, finally), as well as to understand how to organize their work so it makes sense. See an example of a second-grade student’s how-to essay here.
