Top

The Teacher Studio

Learning, thinking, creating

New on the Blog

Fractions Day 4: Example–Counterexample!

What's next with our fraction unit? Fraction Warm Up Problem Our "fractionfest" continued Friday by taking our investigations a little deeper.  We started our day by checking our their homework--how they divided the 5 x 5 grid into halves.  I asked students who thought they had interesting explanations to share on the document camera. We had all sorts of fun talking about ... Read the Post

Fraction Concepts Day 3: Holy “Critiquing Reasoning”, Batman!

Wow...not really sure how to start this blog entry! Seriously . . . I wish I had today's lesson on video tape! It would be so much easier (and cooler!) than trying to explain it with words. If this lesson intrigues you, it is one of the lesson in my fraction unit. If you were with me yesterday, you know I left off with a challenge to my students--they needed to commit to either a "yes" or "no" ... Read the Post

We “Love” to READ Book Review and Bulletin Board Project

Today was a "late start" in my district...3 hours of professional development with the students coming at 11:00 (more on that later!)...then a quick hour of instruction, a different lunch hour, then a shortened afternoon...and this is coming off a "no school" Friday--and a snow/ice storm yesterday! A Valentine's Day Activity and Much Much More As you can imagine, the students were a little . . . ... Read the Post

5 Classroom Items You Absolutely Need!

Today was a work day in my district, and since I am not ready mentally or "organizationally" to work on report cards, I cleaned and rearranged my classroom. When doing so, I first thought "Why am I such a slob?" (Seriously--organization is WAY not my strength) but then began to notice some of the really cool stuff I have. Below I have listed 5 of my favorite "nifty things" and why I love them ... Read the Post

Reading Logs: The good, the bad, and the ugly

Tomorrow is a teacher work day for me...the end of the semester "work on report card" day that I always turn into "clear the piles and dump stuff in the recycling bin while eating copious snacks and drinking caffeinated beverages" day. Just thought I would follow up on my post the other day about how important I feel it is to take "status of the class" during independent reading. I love being ... Read the Post

Math challenge problems–another tip!

One thing that I always want to have easily available to my students of all abilities is work for them to do if they finish early or have some "down time"...they know they can always read or write, but I like for them to have math options as well.  My students have "Personal Challenge" folders that have a variety of problem solving activities in them...some of which are introduced whole class ... Read the Post

Another classroom “tip”–adding life to bulletin boards!

Here is another classroom "tip" that I thought I'd share...if you are like me, you have less and less time to create bulletin boards as you spend more and more time on curriculum, assessment, and other key teaching duties.  One quick tip that has added a little visual "pop" for some of my displays is simply to mount the letters I use on bright colored theme notepad paper...it only takes a few ... Read the Post