Outside the "BOX"

Be encouraged to think outside the "box".

I wanted to share this lesson before school started in hopes that someone might find a way to incorporate it into their year.

When I began my unit on Geometry I was stunned by all the gaps and misconceptions.  I knew going home that night that I would have to think outside the "box".  After brain storming (and trashing) several ideas here is what came to me.

Make sure the students know the vocabulary and formulas. Then take it outside the box.  So after a brief note taking session on formulas and vocabulary we left the "box" (classroom). 

 

Luckily, at my school our main hallway has triangles, trapezoids and squares.  The students used rulers to measure the dimensions they needed in order to find the area and perimeter of each shape. I did not take pictures of their papers up close (in hind site, I should have).

 

 

My main concern was having them apply the formulas to actual problems.  The second was if my students could handle being outside the room to do an activity. As we tend to get loud inside the room, I had to have the discussion of voice levels.  I was so proud of my students they did wonderful! 

 

I apologize for not having more pictures and the noteable that went with this activity. As I go forward this year I will do much better. Continue to come back and see what's going on.  Leave comments as well.

 

 

 

CAMT 2013

Hello wonderful world of blogs!  My first ever blog.  Very scary I must say!  Any-whoo!

I wanted to blog about my experience at CAMT 2013. (Conference for the Advancement of Mathematics Teaching)  This conference is an experience every teacher should have.  You get to learn from fellow teachers, experts and vendor representatives.  Also, you can volunteer your time to help aid the thousands of teachers that attend.

This year it was in San Antonio.  (River Walk yeah!) I have attended CAMT for the last 6 years and I must say San Antonio is my favorite location.  The rooms are pretty much in a central location, the staff is friendly, and the FOOD is awwwesome!

Now to the Math of it.  I started my week with an Tracie Ezell. An energetic young lady with great ideas of how to really make pinterest work for you.  She told us to think of it as a large cork board that filled a room.  You pin all your favorite things on that cork board but at some point you forget where they are.  So you then have to take your cork board and make it a file cabinet!  I know it's a "yeah we already know that" bit of information but I walked away from her session ready to tackle my pinterst broads.

From there I 'interacted and engaged' with 4mulaFun.  Jennifer's session on INB's was great. I've been following her for about 6 months now and she is my FIRST MATH CRUSH!  Her session provided us with great tools.  Rather you are experienced or just a beginner like myself her material will work.  She walked you through what she does and how she does it.  But stressed that you must do what works for you.  She uses a 1 subject spiral notebook.  She was so gracious to provide us with all the material needed to get us started so that we could have a tangible item. 

Mead graciously provided her with FREE spirals for over 200 teachers!  Boy, gotta love Mead!

 

I did attend other sessions throughout the week.  However, if I were to share those this post could go on for days.  I will take the time to go through each session and update you on what and how I will implement the information in my class.  But before I go I want to share with you the goodies I brought home both free and purchased.

These are the freebies!  Curriculum CD, math button (it says Math 4 me), protractor, bag of ready made assessing sheets, how to assess your students step-by-step packet, foldable (made in a session), Graphing pads, two posters with math problem solving strategies, STAAR chart, fraction ruler, regular ruler, wikki stix, a giant pointer, and last but by far the least 1 MEAD spiral notebook with a 1 year guarantee!

These are the purchases.  Two wonderful, super cute math shirts.  Awesome word wall words from CATNIP's Word Walls , Algebra Builders homework book, and last a visual to help teach metric conversions. 

 

Thanks to all that have stopped by.  May your day be filled with peace, love and math!