Moore Math Messages

Need some examples of mathematicians, scientists, or engineers who demonstrated the habit of Sharpen the Saw as examples for your class? Here are a few you can use. There are also some posters for students and for teachers about sharpening saws outside of schools.

1. Mary Anning – Fossil Hunter

What she did: Discovered important dinosaur and sea reptile fossils.
How she sharpened the saw:

• She kept learning about fossils every day.

• She studied rocks and bones carefully to get better at her work.
  Kid takeaway: Practice your skills and stay curious!

2. Lewis Latimer – Inventor and Engineer

What he did: Improved the light bulb so it lasted longer.
How he sharpened the saw:

• He taught himself engineering and drawing.

• He kept learning new skills while working with other inventors.
  Kid takeaway: Keep learning—even when things are hard.

3. Sonya Kovalevsky – Mathematician

What she did: Made discoveries in advanced mathematics.
How she sharpened the saw:

• She studied math constantly, even when schools would not admit women.

• She worked with mentors and practiced difficult problems.
  Kid takeaway: Practicing and asking for help makes you stronger.

4. George Washington Carver – Agricultural Inventor

What he did: Found hundreds of uses for peanuts and sweet potatoes.
How he sharpened the saw:

• He spent time observing nature and experimenting.

• He kept studying plants to learn more about them.
  Kid takeaway: Learning from the world around you helps you grow.

5. Granville T. Woods – Electrical Inventor

What he did: Invented devices that helped make trains safer.
How he sharpened the saw:

• He studied engineering in his free time.

• He kept improving his ideas through experiments.
  Kid takeaway: Keep practicing and improving your ideas.

6. Maria Gaetana Agnesi – Early Math Professor

What she did: Wrote one of the first math textbooks used across Europe.
How she sharpened the saw:

• She studied math, languages, and science every day.

• She shared what she learned by teaching others.
  Kid takeaway: Learning and teaching help everyone grow.

The poster below is linkable and printable if you would like to use it for your classroom.

Morgan Phelps (HT) created these wonderful posters that she has put in her classroom to help reinforce Leader in Me habits, and they are working wonders! Students have been examining these resources and commenting on how they didn't know the these habits were used in math. The students are becoming more focused and deliberate in their actions. Morgan has shared them for anyone to use. Thanks to Morgan and shout out for creating and sharing with all of us!

Summary

Teachers provide an artifact (preferably a graphic representation like a video, image, etc.) that represents a specific topic. Individual students brainstorm independently, collaborate in small groups, and share with the whole group.

Procedure

1. Provide an artifact that triggers students' memories.

2. Students have 3-4 minutes to create a list that represents their knowledge of the topic the artifact represents.

3. Arrange students into small groups.

4. Students collaborate with their groups to share knowledge and add to their lists.

5. When groups seem to be done sharing with one another, have each group share their knowledge with the whole class.

6. As groups share, write list items on the board or projector to create a whole-class product.

7. Using the whole-class list, address misconceptions and gaps in knowledge.

The benchmark will give you valuable data about how your students are doing, but don't stop at the score. Look deeper. Why did they miss it? What kind of wrong answers were given?

Just an example: Teacher A was concerned about her test scores thinking her students needed help with problem solving since so many students missed the word problems. However, when Teacher A dove into the answers students gave, most students were performing the correct operation, but just made some slight errors. Both kind of problems lead to incorrect answers, however how the teacher addresses each type is drastically different!

Forgot where to find the results? There is a video linked below.

Ever look at IXL data and see that your fifth graders spent 30 precious minutes on PK/K skills? We have all been there! IXL has created a way to combat this - The Focus Zone! This allows teachers to set a time period in which students can only access certain grade level material.

Teaching 4th grade? You can give access to only 3rd, 4th, and 5th skills! It is a lifesaver to keep all students on the right track and no Blocksi needed.

Engagement Tools -> Focus Zone -> Set your students, subjects, grade levels, and end time.

Emily Couch (CE) is the creator of all things spreadsheets, and she has gone above and beyond in sharing this document with everyone. She has created an IXl student tracker which contains a list of standards, focus, and the IXL codes that align with each skill for both reading and math for 3rd -6th. Take a look at this goldmine! Her students use it as a checklist and is part of their goals for LIM.

Did you know that we have some ways to make quick games and worksheets right inside IXL? It's called Spark Studio. You can quickly make Jeopardy, Take a Risk, Matching, and Rags to Riches games in less that 5 minutes! Note of caution: As with anything, check the answers before using with your class. AI makes mistakes too.

You can also make math story problems centered around a theme, crosswords to practice vocabulary, and more. Themed math story problems are always fun around the holidays. Below I have created some math story problems for 1st - 6th grades all about Spring (and that go with your pacing). Have fun!

For this quarter we will be meeting in grade level teams to discuss the OSTP - what to expect, how to prepare, best practices, etc. Bring all your great ideas and share with the whole group! Right now they are all being hosted at ASC. If you would be willing to host one of the meetings at your school, please let me know. We always love to meet in your classrooms!

We have only one meeting left - 3rd Grade. All 3rd grade teachers are welcome to attend, but I highly encourage teachers NEW to 3rd to attend if at all possible.

• March 24th - 3rd Math @ ASC 2nd Floor Conference Room

Breakout sessions cover topics relevant to teaching K-12 Math, Science, and STEM. A variety of strands have been added this year including classroom strategies, early elementary, and secondary engagement ideas.

• June 12, 2026;
• 8:00 am - 4:00 pm
• Fee $60 ; Early bird registration is $40 (by May 1)
• 6 hours of PD Credit (includes lunch)

Tentative Schedule
8:00 Check-in/Light Breakfast
8:40 Opening Remarks
9:00-10:00 Breakout Session #1
10:10-11:10 Breakout Session #2
11:20-12:20 Breakout Session #3
12:20-1:20 Lunch
1:30-2:30 Breakout Session #4
2:40-3:40 Breakout Session #5
3:50-4:00 Closing/Raffle

If you are interested in attending and need registration paid, you can ask your principal to send you. If that is not possible, please contact me so we can find a way for you to attend. I need to register all attendees before May 1. I can take 5 teachers to this event.

Here are some fun ways to increase fact fluency with just little prep! These can also be used as a way to get students' brains warmed up for math time.

This a version of the TRASH game that littles play with ordering numbers 1-10. This uses multiples of a number to complete the task. Check out the video to learn how to play!

Kristin Botello (PT) has created an engaging way for students to review all kinds of math!

From Kristin:

I made a packet for each table group - I had 8 groups. I posted menus on my board with drink and food items and their prices. Students had to find the prices from their packets and solve different math problems. They had to write the dollar amounts in expanded form, fraction form, add menu items to get a total, find change, and multiply dollar amounts ( Ex: 2 orders of Venti Carmel Macchiatos). When they completed two pages of he packet (each page had 4-6 questions) they came to me to place their order for their "Botello Refreshment" - flavored water or flavored lemonade.

Amber HIpschen (TC) shared a method she uses to have students show their work from IXL. This could work on the STAR too! Thank you for sharing, Amber!

Susan Colvin (SF) uses a fun way to encourage students to make good choices!

From Susan:

I choose a secret student every morning.This turned into “Larry,” a silly character I made up. This can be a stuffy, a desk goose, anything! This is done by drawing a student number.

I (Larry) will watch that student all day to make sure they make good choices. After morning announcements the next day, I will see who Larry chose! I do NOT show the children yet. If they made good choices the day before, they get a wobble stool all day, they get to wear a special lanyard in the classroom all day, and get to let a stuffy sit on their desk. These are all your choices. It started with letting them just wearing the special lanyard. By the end of the year, they will get to use fancy pens!

However, if they did NOT make good choices, I NEVER tell who Larry chose. Larry basically whispers in my ear. BUT, they have to wait until everyone’s number is called until they get a chance to get another turn. They are not allowed to speculate. Larry doesn’t like it!😂

My class LOVES LARRY!

Seeing some great things in your classroom or in your building? Snap a picture and let us feature it in this newsletter!

The Oklahoma State Department of Education is adding more Technology-Enhanced Items (TEIs) to the OSTP this year. Attached is a PDF of examples of those new TEIs. Each one of the new tools is preceded by a page listing the standard/grade level that will be using it.

• 6th - Placing points on a coordinate plane (pages 11 - 13)

• 5th - Drag and Drop to complete a table (pages 14 - 16)

• 4th - Drag and Drop to decompose a fraction (pages 17 - 19)

• 4th - Pop-up Protractor (pages 32 - 34)

• 3rd - Drag and Drop to order numbers (pages 20 - 22)

• 3rd - Click to model Fractions (pages 23 - 24)

• 3rd, 4th, & 5th - Pop up rulers (pages 26 - 31 & 35-37)

I have been looking for ways your students can practice using these tools since they aren't available online yet. Below are some tools/IXL lessons you can use to help your students. If a website is needed, I linked it and made a quick video showing how to use it.

Coordinate Plane

IXL Lesson VHQ

Ruler and Protractor

Polypad

Polypad Video

Ruler and Protractor

GYNZY

Gynzy Video

Model Fractions

ORYX

ORYX Video

3 Ways to Slow Down The Process

1. Avoid hitting multiple standards quickly. Quick test preparation without conceptual understanding harms learning. “Drill and kill” focuses on speed, not strategies and connections to standards. Slowing down benefits students’ comprehension. In addition, for students who are on the edge of understanding, it’s helpful if you slow down based on your observations of student work as you circulate the room.

2. Encourage students to lead the learning process and review sessions. Focus on standards that need more refreshing or clarification. Ideally, we can encourage students to showcase what they know through productive struggle to inform us on what we should do next. Have students be the tutors and math coaches in the room, and decentralize yourself as the only person with knowledge.

3. Realize that only some students need to work on specific question types, compared with others. Based on your data, informed intuition, and expertise, utilizing small groups and student interviews provides a good opportunity for you to slow down and hear students’ discussions so that you can determine if they understand a math topic. This helps you intentionally focus on what needs attention, based on their responses.

Encourage Student Confidence

Building confidence is key to lowering test anxiety, which is sometimes hard to avoid during testing season. Setting students up for success after tests is the goal so that they can be confident and competent about the math they’ll do in the next grade.

My former math coach shared a resource with me to make elementary math test prep more fun and less rigid without blitzing through questions. These activities can also be adapted to be more equity-focused and accessible for students with diverse needs. This is one way to rethink test prep and position students competently in a more humanizing, fun, and insightful way about what students know or don’t know.

The Edutopia article “Why Students Forget—and What You Can Do About It” has helped me tremendously with this work. It’s essential to understand that students, like us, naturally forget. Memory can be challenging, even if something is taught well in your math classroom. Some research-based strategies, like the spacing effect, revisit key math concepts throughout the school year. Students can review and master content over time and make connections to previous lessons rather than being pressured to master a standard within a few days

Don’t Stop Teaching

A colleague of mine shared an important point: “You don’t fatten the pig by weighing it.” You can assess, assess, and assess without moving the math needle at all for your students.

Practice tests, exit tickets, and quizzes can help prepare students for year-end assessments and evaluate teaching methods. They should be low-stakes and ungraded for informative purposes concerning next steps. It was easier for me to provide practice tests on days when my principal assigned review or flex days. However, excessive testing takes away from instruction, which is sometimes aided by school districts.

Prioritize quality teaching over daily practice tests. I used a data recording sheet to make notes and look for trends in student work to know how to proceed the next day for spiral reviews in my “Do Nows,” small groups, or computer enrichment programs. In an ideal world, state testing data would come back promptly to inform teachers of student progress rather than the next year, when the students were no longer in our care.

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Multisensory styles of instruction have been used for decades. Most of the time it was touted as a way to address the "type of learner" you are, but recent research is finding that the results aren't necessarily because it's addressing a learning style - it's successful because it is creating more pathways in the brain and more ways for students to remember. Check out some of the activities below.

From https://www.littlemisskimsclass.com/2019/09/structuring-math-groups-in-special.html

We normally have 3 teachers in our classroom, but at this time of day, we only have 2 teachers in the classroom (myself and 1 paraprofessional). This means we have to be super strategic about staff zoning. So many teachers say that being understaffed is the biggest barrier to running groups. Trust me, I feel and understand this pain, but we HAVE to find ways to work around it! I know it's SO hard, but you can find ways to make it work!

Our direct math instruction/ math rotations last about 40 minutes and we do them in the morning. During math rotations, we have students at three different round tables and we have 3-4 students assigned to each table. During the 40 minutes, each table/ group of students complete a total of three different math activities. Every group does each activity for about 10-12 minutes (there are a few minutes built in to allow for transition time between activities). Students stay at the same table for the entire 40 minutes and the materials move/ transition around the classroom. Here is a chart that explains how the rotations and staff zoning works.

Click the link above for all the details!

The Autism Helper has a wonderful post about math activities for small groups. These five are the following:

1. Math Meeting

2. Computer Time

3. Math Written Work

4. Math Games

5. Math Tasks

All the details about small group math: https://theautismhelper.com/focus-on-five-math-activities-during-small-groups/

Anything you want featured in this section? Just let me know!

What vegetable isn't allowed on cruise ships?

LEEKS!

Why didn't the two 4's feel like dinner?

Because they already 8.

If I have 6 oranges in one hand and 7 apples in the other, what would I have?

Big Hands!

Here are some games and activities to help with lots of different early childhood skills. I have linked the videos below for more details if needed.

Instructions:

A math game to support numeral identification and sequencing numbers. This version works on numbers 1-14 but it can be played with any range of numbers. You can also vary the amount of treasures in your deck and the amount of rows.

Check out the video below to find out how to play!

Materials to Make Your Own:

• A 5 Frame
• Counters
• A Cube labeled 0-5 or a 0-5 spinner or cards 0-5

Instructions:

Roll, spin or flip a card and then put that amount of counters on the board. Make the number you roll with your fingers too and talk about how many fingers are up and how many are down.

Variations: Use a ten frame and adjust to make other numbers.

My entire job is to help you in whatever capacity you need.

• Off on the pacing and need help getting back on track?
• Lesson just flopped and need some ideas?
• Have a small group of students still struggling and don't know how to help?
• Need help with the curriculum and how to use it?
• Had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day and just need to vent & talk?

These are just some of the ways I can help. Please reach out when you need some help, ideas, or just a shoulder to lean on.

We have winner from the drawing from the January Moore Math Message entries. Look for an email to claim your prize!

Thank you for taking the time to read Math Messages this month. Please register for the monthly drawing for some goodies!