Math Newsletter - March 2024

🥧Pi Day (3/14)🥧 is approaching fast! Check out the resources and activities below:

• If you have any of the Sir Cumference books in your class library, Pi Day is a great day to read it! My favorite is Sir Cumference & the Dragon of Pi. - Grades K-5
• Circle Tool (Illuminations Interactive) - Grades 3-8
  
• Finding Pi (YouCubed) - Grades 5-12
• Mathigon has an excellent course with a lot of information about Pi - Grades 7-12
• Pi Fight (Illuminations Interactive) - Trig
• Challenge students to memorize the most digits of Pi! Click Here to see the World Record.

As many of you are gearing up for the PSSA Math & Keystone Algebra Exams, you may want to access the released test items on the SAS Assessment Center. Follow these steps and watch the video below to learn more:

• Navigate to https://pdesas.org/
• Create and log into your SAS Account.
• Click Assessment, then Assessment Center
• Under Build an Assessment, click Start a New Search
• Use the filters on the left for your grade level, subject, and standards.

You can also access the released test item files using the following links:

• Grades 3-8 Math
• Keystone Algebra

Consider starting 20 Days of Number Sense & Rich Math Talk – for all grades from K-12 by Steve Wyborney, the creator of Esti-Mysteries, Splats, and other engaging math routines. By downloading each day, you can have a clear pathway to presenting rich number sense and math discourse opportunities to your students.

Additionally, each day contains multiple levels, so that a 2nd grade teacher, a 5th grade teacher, and a high school teacher can all be using the same file – and can all have access to other grade levels. The opportunities to differentiate across levels abound in this series as well as the opportunities to see into other grade levels from K-12.

✨Click here to check out the free resources!✨

Do you know an outstanding math educator or math education supporter? Do you know a student who plans to pursue further work in mathematics or a mathematics-related field? Do you know an excellent high school senior who plans to go into a math-related field?

Nominate them for the annual PCTM awards! Nominations will close on March 30th. Information about each of the awards and a link to a nomination form can be found at pctm.org/awards. Nominations will require a link (or upload) of a letter of recommendation describing the candidate’s qualifications for the award. All nominators will be contacted about the status of the award on or around April 30th. Educator awards will be presented at the PCTM Annual conference and educator award winners receive a free conference registration

Combined Test/Answer Booklets Coming This Spring

Starting in the Spring of 2024, the Math PSSA Grades 3-8 and the Algebra Keystone will have combined test and answer booklets. Students ARE permitted to write in the test/answer booklet. They may underline, circle, and lightly highlight important information. Students should not use a dark marker when highlighting. There is one caution – students should not cross out the bubbles for answer choices as they eliminate incorrect options. Students may cross out the answer text (words and numbers) but not the actual bubbles, as the machine will read the cross out as a stray mark.

No More Red Stickers!

The transition to combined test/answer booklets for PSSA Mathematics presented an opportunity to reformat the non-calculator section that was previously in the test booklets. The non-calculator section in the new booklets will not need to be sealed with a red sticker upon student compleƟon. Instead, the section will include a colored border that will be highly visible to both students and test administrators and will alert both to any intentional or unintentional access of the completed section. ⭐Click Here to Read More About These Changes⭐

23/24 Updated Math Reference/Formula Sheets for Math PSSA & Keystone Exams

***We also have an updated Keystone Algebra formula sheet that now includes the perimeter of a rectangle formula***

⭐Click Here to read more about the specific changes and for links to the updated documents⭐

If you were not able to attend the webinar on Building Thinking Classrooms: The Little Things That Matter with Peter Lilijedahl, you don't have to miss out on the important lessons learned. The webinar recording is now available, which you can view anytime! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=368vvR6OXVw).

You can also use the code WEBINARS24 to pre-order Peter's upcoming book, Mathematics Tasks for the Thinking Classroom, Grades K-5 due to publish in May 2024.

*Grades 6-12 will be available for pre-order later this year!

Date: Monday, March 11, 2024

Time: 3:30 - 4:30 PM EDT

Virtual Workshop | Zoom

All Learners Network (ALN) is "program agnostic.” We know that it is not the math program that leads to math progress for students. We focus on supporting teacher pedagogy because there are high-performing and low-performing school districts using the same math programs. It is not which math program you use that makes the difference. It is the day-to-day instructional decisions that educators make to challenge and support their students that matter most. When teachers are expected to use a program with fidelity, we diminish the decision-making power of those teachers to be responsive to their students. In this workshop, we will share some concrete examples of what it can look like to support educators to use a program with integrity instead of fidelity.

Click Here to Register!

🌟There is still time to register for Enhancing Math Instruction with Desmos!🌟

• Desmos is an incredibly powerful tool for helping students make sense of the math they are learning by making math visual. This training will give participants experience on the platform with both the graphing calculator and the activity builder.
• April 10, 2024
• Audience: Grades 6-12 Math Teachers

"In Math-Ish, Boaler shares new neuroscientific research on how embracing the concept of “math-ish”—a theory of mathematics as it exists in the real world—changes the way we think about mathematics, data, and ourselves. When we can see the value of diversity among people and multi-faceted approaches to learning math, we are free to truly flourish."

Jo Boaler is offering two free book talks on May 8 and May 9. Click here to read more and register!

Mathematics can be anxiety producing for many children and adults. Why are so many students resistant to maths learning?

Deborah Peart offers strategies for a student-centered approach that helps students take ownership of their learning. Click Here to Read More