“We’re Gonna Need a Different Denominator”

Check out this video from Andrew Stadel.  What do you notice?  What do you wonder? http://101qs-media.s3.amazonaws.com/videos/1772-black-box2–act-1.mp4 (Click here if viewing on your phone) I conducted a lesson study about fractions with some 5th grade teachers.  We used Andrew’s elegantly simple lesson called Black Box 2 to get students talking about adding fractions with unlike denominators.  This … Continue Reading

Making Desmos Elementary: A 1st Grade Card Sort

Hello math geeks!  Welcome back! I’ve been an advocate for using dot images and visuals as problems for number talks in the elementary classroom.  (You can find a great bank of visuals here.)  I’ve also been an advocate for using Desmos as an instructional tool for letting student thinking drive the classroom discourse. Traditionally, Desmos … Continue Reading

Numberless Word Problem 2: Data Exploration in 1st Grade

Have you seen the amazing visuals over at Number Talk Images?  These pictures are ideal for any teacher looking to get all students talking about numbers and mathematical reasoning, regardless of ability levels.  We used this image as a number talk to launch a lesson that focused on first grade students making statements about a data display.  Inspired by … Continue Reading