What makes geometry lessons challenging for so many students in elementary school? Many of us have our own preconceptions about geometry, possibly stemming from our own struggles in high school with geometry. In fact, many of us did really well with the "numbers" math like algebra but felt the walls crash down during geometry. The same is sometimes true for students experiencing geometry ... Read the Post
Teaching Geometry Lessons and Concepts
Teaching Geometry Geometry is often one of the trickiest concepts for teachers to teach—and so often our textbooks and other resources either present things too quickly or in a way that simply isn’t engaging enough or with enough practice opportunities. Geometry actually crosses content areas—both measurement and geometry! I have had SO many teachers ask me for support in teaching geometry, ... Read the Post
Angle Studies Part 2
So, yesterday I showed you how I got my angle studies kicked off with my students--how I solidified understanding of "right angle". We had lots left to accomplish--so I'll try to share some of the different lessons and activities we did over the next days! Tip 1: If you can get your hands on thin drinking straws....like the kind you might get in a school cafeteria...taking 2 ... Read the Post
Teaching Angles: Angle Studies Part 1
Teaching Angles This week was "Angle Week" in my classroom...a week of intense work with angles to help us prepare for later work with geometry! I love this unit for a bunch of reasons. One, many students who struggle with computation-based concepts shine with more "spatial" concepts. I love it! Another reason I find angle studies to be so much fun is that I LOVE watching students start to ... Read the Post
Teaching Tips for Math Concept Sorts
Have you used concept sorts in your classroom? If you have followed my blog for a while, you know that I use concept sorts regularly--and have posted a number of times about different ways I use them. Click HERE and HERE for two of those posts! Using Geometry Math Sorts to Build Understanding Today I want to talk about a geometry sort I did the other day to "take the temperature" of my class ... Read the Post
Geometry Sorts: Classifying Shapes
If you have followed me for very long, you know that I find concept sorts particularly useful in math and the content areas as well--and I really believe it helps students make connections among ideas and help them to see how things are connected. In fact, two of Marzano's effective teaching strategies--cooperative learning and identifying similarities and differences--are addressed with this ... Read the Post
Math In Real Life! Vacation Geometry!
It's the first Wednesday of April which means it's time for our monthly linky - Math IS Real Life!! If you want to see how the linky works, or just want other real world math ideas, check out our Pinterest Board of all the posts so that you can look back and find some great ideas and REAL pictures to use in your classroom! If you are linking up, please include ... Read the Post