Moore Math Messages
MPS Curriculum Update for February 2022
Grade Level OSTP Meetings (After Spring Break)
If you are a new teacher or new to your grade level, please make time to come to our OSTP math meetings. In the meetings we will be diving into the blueprints and item specifications so that you can be more informed about what can be on the OSTP. Please mark your calendars!
5th - March 22
3rd - March 24
4th - March 29
6th - March 31
All meetings will be held through zoom to make it easier for you to attend.
Zoom ID: 952 5483 7610 for all meeting
Passcode: Math
Math Stations for All Students
Stations are not just for littles. Upper elementary and middle school students need opportunities to practice skills through play and reasoning. Below are some stations you can include in your classroom. Valentine's Day is coming up. What a perfect day for station rotations in all grade levels for math - for the love of math. Stations are a great opportunity for students to teach and learn from each other while you are conducting formative assessment by watching and listening. No grades. No worksheets. Just math and fun.
Here are some tips about math stations:
1. Keep 2-3 students in a group, but the smaller number, the better. Once 4 kids are working together, it is easy for one to bow out and sit on the sidelines.
2. Worksheets are NOT stations. There. I said it.
3. Keep it simple. The longer the instructions and learning curve, the shorter amount of time there is to play.
4. Introduce a game in the whole class setting: odds vs. evens, boys vs. girls, teacher vs. student to allow time for students to learn the procedures of the games. THEN, put them in a station.
5. Do not kill yourself making stations by changing them all out every week. Stations are meant to give spaced practice. Start with one - everyone playing the same game. Then add another. Rotate a new game in every week and take one out. The point of stations is to practice. How can they practice by only playing a game one time?
Need to talk through the idea of implementing math stations in your class? Please call or email me. I would be happy to help.
6th Grade
Objective: Order fraction, decimals, and percents. (6.N.1.4)
Materials: fraction, decimal, and percent cubes.
Need some blank dice to make these dice? You can buy them here or let me know. I would be happy to order some for you and help you prep them.
Prep: If you have blank dice, create a die for each (D,F,P) with mostly benchmark numbers, but throw in some other as well.
Players: 2-3
Procedure:
Each student gets a die and rolls at the same time. The player that rolled the highest value gets a point. You can change this to look for the lowest or middle value as a way to change the game up.
Challenge: For students that need a challenge, give each of them TWO dice to roll instead of just one.
5th Grade
Objective: Compare and order fraction and decimals (5.N.2.3)
Materials: fraction and decimal dice
Need some blank dice to make these dice? You can buy them here or let me know. I would be happy to order some for you and help you prep them. (You don't need to spend your own money!)
Prep: If you have blank dice, create a die for each (fraction and decimal) with mostly benchmark numbers, but throw in some other as well.
Players: 2
Procedure:
To start: Each student gets a die and rolls at the same time. The player that rolled the highest value gets a point. You can change this to look for the lowest value as a way to change the game up. (Comparing Numbers)
Challenge: Once students are able to compare two numbers, give each of them TWO dice to roll instead of just one. Now they are ordering.
3rd and 4th Grade
Objective: Create concrete models of fractions or decimals (4.N.2.1) (3.N.3.4)
Materials: fraction dice and fraction models
Need some blank dice? You can buy them here or let me know. I would be happy to order some for you and help you prep them. (You don't need to spend your own money!)
Don't have fraction models? Please let me know so that I may get some for your class. Here is a printable that you can use so that every student can have a set of their own.
Prep: If you have blank dice, create fraction dice mostly benchmark numbers, but throw in some other as well, but make sure they students can use models to create them.
Players: 2
Procedure:
To start: Each student gets a die and rolls at the same time. Each student creates a model of the number they rolled using fraction models. The player that rolled the highest value gets a point. You can change this to look for the lowest value as a way to change the game up. (Comparing Numbers)
To increase difficulty (for fourth grade), each student must create an equivalent fraction to the fraction they rolled before getting a point.
1st and 2nd Grade
Comparing Roll
Objective: Compare 3-digit Numbers (2.N.1.6)
Compare numbers between 0-100 (1.N.1.6)
Materials: Dice. These could be the 1-6 dice (that came with your math kits), but the 0-9 dice would work better once students have experience with the game. Contact me if you need dice. Whiteboards and markers are helpful, but not necessary.
Prep: 3 dice per pair of students, white boards, markers (or paper and pencils) (2 dice for 1st grade)
Players: 2
Procedure:
The students take turns rolling the dice. One student uses the digits to create the largest number possible. The other student creates the smallest number possible. Students the write a comparison statement using < or >.
Option:
If students are struggling to compare numbers, have each student create their number with base-ten blocks before making a comparison statement.
Kinder
Comparing Roll
Objective: Compare numbers 0 - 10 (K.N.1.8)
Materials: Dice. These could be the 1-6 dice (that came with your math kits), but the 0-9 dice would work better once students have experience with the game. Contact me if you need dice.
Prep: 2 dice per pair of students
Players: 2
Procedure: Each student rolls a die. Using comparing language: Complete the phrases:
_______ is greater than _______.
_______ is less than _________.
Option:
If students are struggling to compare numbers, have each student create their number with counters before making a comparison statement.
Pre-K
Comparing Roll
Objective: Comparing between 0-5 (PK.N.3.1)
Materials: Dice. These could be the 1-6 dice, but you could use blank blocks to create dice that have 0 -5. Please contact me if you need these.
Prep: 2 dice per pair of students
Players: 2
Procedure: Each student rolls a die. Using comparing language: Complete the phrases:
__________ has fewer dots than ___________.
__________ has more dots than ___________.
They have the same number of dots.
Option:
If students are struggling to compare numbers, have each student create their number with counters before making a comparison statement.
The Shape of Things : Pk - 1st
Written by: Dayle Ann Dobbs
A Trapezoid is Not a Dinosaur: 2nd
Written by: Suzanne Morris
Shape up, shapes! Triangle is hosting auditions for all the best shapes to be in his play. Circle, Square, and Star each get a part. But Trapezoid just doesn't "fit in." Is he even a shape? The others think he sounds like a type of dinosaur. Determined to show off his usefulness, Trapezoid tries to act like the other shapes, to no avail. Eventually, though, Trapezoid celebrates his own distinct shape properties in order to become part of the performance.
Sir Cumference and the Great Knight of Angleland: 3rd - 4th
Written by: Cindy Neuschwander
Join Sir Cumference, Lady Di of Ameter, and their son Radius for wordplay, puns, and problem solving in this angle-packed math adventure. In the third installment of the beloved Sir Cumference series, Radius must prove himself on his quest for knighthood by rescuing a king. Sent off with the family medallion for luck, Radius dodges dangers and dragons. The ultimate challenge lies in a mysterious castle with a maze of many angles.
The Librarian Who Measured the Earth: 5th - 6th
The Librarian Who Measured the Earth is a beautifully illustrated biography of Eratosthenes, a Greek man who first estimated the circumference of the Earth over 2000 years ago. This is sort of two books in one. The first half paints a lovely picture of life in the ancient world and of Eratosthenes early years and how he rose to prominence. Then, the second half of the book shifts to focus on how he calculated the circumference of the earth so long ago.
Graph Paper Roll
Create a class graph that you can investigate for the entire week. Cut off the amount you need and viola! You have the structure for making a graph.
Linking Cubes Graphing
Unifix Cube Graphing
Fluent and Flexible with Addition and Subtraction: Strategies and Tools for Student Success
How often have you heard (or said), “but they don’t know their facts,” when talking about student progress in math? Every math teacher works to build fluency as part of instruction but so much of what happens in one grade doesn’t seem to stick when students move to the next grade. What does it mean to teach mathematics by building fluency with flexibility, so the learning sticks and students keep moving forward? How do we build procedural fluency from conceptual understanding?
In this first part of a two-part series, Sara Delano Moore, Ph.D. shares tools and strategies for putting research into action as you develop addition and subtraction fluency in your classroom. You’ll leave the edWebinar with practical strategies in these areas:
- Identifying effective strategies for students to use when adding and subtracting
- Using memorization as a meaningful strategy to consolidate learning
- Building alignment of strategies across the grade levels as students progress from basic facts
- Implementing an instructional sequence to support long-term fluency
Note: This webinar takes place from 3-4 pm. Even if you can't attend live, register to receive a recording.
Fluent and Flexible with Multiplication and Division: Strategies and Tools for Student Success
In this second part of a two-part series, Sara Delano Moore, Ph.D. shares tools and strategies for putting research into action as you develop multiplication and division fluency in your classroom. You’ll leave the edWebinar with practical strategies in these areas:
- Identifying effective strategies for students to use when multiplying and dividing
- Using memorization as a meaningful strategy to consolidate learning
- Building alignment of strategies across the grade levels as students progress from basic facts
- Implementing an instructional sequence to support long-term fluency
Note: This webinar takes place from 3-4 pm. Even if you can't attend at that time, please register to receive a recording.
Jenn Lowery
Email: jenniferlowery@mooreschools.com
Website: https://www.mooreschools.com/Page/553
Location: 1500 Southeast 4th Street, Moore, OK, USA
Phone: 405-735-4270