My Ada Updates
Teacher's Editions: You should have teacher editions by now. There are enough for both regular education and special education teachers to have their own copy.
What if I don't have enough student books? Please let your principal or assistant principal know. If you have waited longer than a week, and you still do not have them, email me.
Need more practice? Check out the Lesson Extra Practice in the Tier 1 of each lesson.
Need to review some topics from previous grade levels before tackling a difficult topics? Check out the Tier 2 and Tier 3 resources in each lesson.
What if I found an error or something does not work correctly? Please take a screenshot of the issue that includes the lesson number. Email me with the screenshot and explanation. I will submit a ticket for you.
Math Crosswords
Yes, you read that right. Math Crosswords.
Are you looking for a new way have the students practice math facts! Look no further than Math crosswords! There are a few sprinkled throughout Big Ideas, but we have found some more resources if you want to include them into your review time. Shout out to 3rd grade at ORE for suggesting these!
Using Manipulatives to Develop Fluency with Fraction and Decimals Addition with Jennifer Bay-Williams
Nov. 12th 4:00 - 5:00
Registrants receive a recording if you cannot join live.
The fraction and decimal algorithms are just a fraction of the ways students can fluently add or subtract numbers (pun intended!). During this webinar with Jennifer Bay-Williams, we will explore hands-on ways to develop other strategies that build on students' understanding of rational numbers and that are, in many cases, more efficient than the common algorithms.
Good for 3rd - 6th Math
Mastering Multiplication/Division Facts through Learning Progressions with Sue O'Connell
Nov. 19th 4:00 - 5:00
Registrants receive a recording if you cannot join live.
During this webinar, Sue O'Connell will transform your approach to multiplication and division facts. Sue will discuss how designing fluency tasks around manipulative-based learning progressions will help students build upon skills and master math facts with confidence. Experience the impact of meaningful and purposeful classroom tasks and centers that empower students to actively participate in their mathematical journey.
Good for 2nd - 6th
Mastering Manipulatives Mini-Webinar Series: Tools to Teach Fractions
Join us as we dig into some helpful fraction tools including Rainbow Fraction® Tiles, Clings, Measuring Cups, and more!
Teacher Clarity
A large part of student success is teacher clarity - letting the students know what they will be learning and how they will demonstrate their learning. Visual clues also help students. Mr. Turley (SGE) outlines "thinking points" in a little brain outline to help his students. Way to go Mr. Turley!
Number of the Day
Ms. Nawara (4th at Houchin) uses a version of small group instruction for her number of the day. She invites one student a day to work the number of the day in each one of her classes. Her students keep her on track because no one wants to miss their Number of the Day turn! It's a great way to do some formative assessment, and you get to work one-on-one with each student. Great idea!
Keeping the Noise Down and Interest High
Dosha Petete (KE) uses dice to help students practice skills like adding, subtracting and multiplying. We love using games to help students practice, but sometimes the noise is just too much and dice end up all over the room! Dosha found a way to keep the noise level down AND the dice contained. A small plastic container lined with felt solved both problems!
Texas Popcorn
The Red River Rivalry is coming up this weekend, but take a look at Texas Popcorn! It is a visual reminder about how to turn a mixed number into an improper fractions. Write the T and X (really the + and x symbols). Start at the denominator and move your way around the mixed number. (Arrows are drawn for the directions only. They don't need to be drawn on when the students use it.)
Thank you to Mr. Bounds (HE) for sharing!
Mondrain Project
Who is Mondrian?
Piet Mondrian was a Dutch painter who is considered one of the greatest artists of the 1900s. He helped pioneer the concept of Abstract Art. He is most known for his geometric works created from 1918-1944.
Emily Couch (5th grade at Central) used this art piece combined with place value to have students create their own art. Art and math are a great combination!
Game of 6 - Multiplication (Like Yahtzee)
This is a simpler version of Yahtzee, and it’s a cool way to practice multiplication. If you use two dice instead of one, kids can practice their facts up to 12.
Learn more: Fun and Simple Multiplication Dice Game
Name Tag (All Operations)
This is so clever. Grab some name tags and write math facts on each. Give a tag to each of your students. For the remainder of the day, everyone will refer to one another by the answer to the equation on their tag (e.g., the student with the name tag that says 7×6 would be referred to as “42”).
Learn more: Multiplication Name Tags
You can use for addition and subtraction too, but be sure not to repeat sums or differences.
101 and Out
This exciting game combines strategic thinking and fact mastery. Students roll a die and decide if they want the digit to count as a 1 or a 10, i.e., a roll of 3 could be used as 3 or 30. Students add their results as they go. The winner is the student who gets closest to 101 without going over.
Learn more: 101 and Out
Math Hoops
Shout out to Blake Mackey for finding this gem!
Math Hoops was an easy to learn, fun, fast paced way for the kids to work on recall of basic math facts.
Each team rolls 2, 10-sided dice, then uses the 2 numbers to do basic computations (add, subtract, multiply and divide).
After rolling, they use one of their answers to find a corresponding numbers on the gameboard, match the color to a player, and spin to see if it is a basket or missed shot: The hard part, once they learn the basics they only have 30 seconds to complete their turn!
The training was about an hour and a half and comes with access to the online version of the game as well as actual gameboards shipped to you (1-2 week delay).
As long as the kids complete 25 games by Spring Break they are eligible to attend the Regional Event at the arena (similar to Spelling Bee), (number of students seems to be dependent on the number of schools/teams competing) and then if the student (and their Parent’s) are interested, they can submit a video to be entered for a chance to go to Worlds, in NYC paid.
If you'd like more information or to schedule another training, reach out to me or to the website below.
This is the overview website: https://www.nbamathhoops.com/
Domino Match- Up
Matching countable sets with a number is a good early math skill. Here’s one way to do it. Students will use dominoes to match the values of numbered cards laid out on the floor or table. There will be several different dominoes with different combinations that will match up with each number card. For example, a number card with 6 can be matched with dominoes that have 4/2, 3/3, or 5/1.
Hearing the Patterns
You can see patterns, you can make patterns, and you can also hear patterns. Using clapping, tapping, and snapping fingers, the teacher/leader sounds out a pattern and the kids follow along and join in. For example, you might do three claps, two taps on the floor, three claps, two taps on the floor. After everyone joins in successfully, stop and ask someone to describe the pattern in words. Extend the patterns when the students seem ready for more complex ones. Then let students take a turn leading.
Empty Your Cup
This activity emphasizes counting but also lays the foundation for subtraction. Supplies needed are two same-size plastic cups (large blue or red are perfect), a single die, and the same number of small items (counting bears, building blocks, etc.) that will fit in each cup. Pairs of students take turns rolling the die and removing that many items from their cup. Whoever empties their cup first wins.
PK & Kinder: One Gorilla (Counting to 10)
One very playful gorilla keeps popping up in gardens, forests, jungles, and even people's houses as he takes the reader on a wild counting adventure. He hides--as much as a gorilla can!--along with all the other creatures as they dart, leap, and peer from the most surprising places, waiting to be counted. A chart at the end of the book provides a key to all the animals and their corresponding numbers.
Soft, precise illustrations characterize this colorful counting book.
K & 1: Ten Fat Turkeys (Subtracting 1)
An entertaining read aloud for practicing counting backwards from ten, or minus one facts, this book is sure to get a few giggles. An added bonus is that the rhyming text helps children predict how many turkeys are left after each stunt fails. In a second grade classroom we visited students wrote and illustrated their own books that started with 10 animals, or other things, that disappeared one by one until there were none left. These were shared with a kindergarten class during math buddy time.
2nd: Fair Bear Share (Addition with Regrouping)
Berries, nuts, and seeds, oh my! Will mama bear have enough ingredients to make her famous pie? Kids will love trying to find out while they practice regrouping into groups of tens and ones throughout this book about addition!
3rd: Dozens of Doughnuts - Sharing: Intro to Division
LouAnn (a bear) is making a doughnut feast in preparation for her long winter's nap. But just before she takes the first bite, DING DONG! Her friend Woodrow (a woodchuck) drops by. LouAnn is happy to share her doughnuts, but as soon as she and Woodrow sit down to eat, DING DONG! Clyde (a raccoon) is at the door. One by one, LouAnn's friends come over--Topsy (an opossum) and then Moufette (a skunk) and then Chip and Chomp (chipmunks)--until it's one big party. Louann welcomes her surprise guests and makes batch after batch of doughnuts, always dividing them equally among her friends. But she makes one BIG miscalculation. Soon LouAnn's kitchen is bare, winter is near, and she's had nothing to eat at all!
4th: The Great Divide (Division)
In this rhyming tale, eighty costumed participants compete in a cross country race that sees their numbers dwindle as with each new obstacle half are eliminated due to flat tires, whirlpools, and more. The halving continues until only five contestants are left, at which point "one runner stops with a rock in her shoe," enabling the final four to grab tandem bikes and continue on. In a surprise ending, the fifth contestant sneaks back to win the race.
We’ve seen this division read aloud used effectively in a fourth grade classroom where students tracked each division on their dry erase boards as the story was read aloud. After the read aloud students selected a number between 20 and 100 and created a story map about that number of competitors in a cross-country race, illustrating the obstacles the racers in their story encountered and how many were left each time they divided into halves. A fun read aloud for lessons focusing on the concept of using halving as a strategy for dividing by two.
5th: bean Thirteen (Remainders)
Two crickets, Flora and Ralph, have gathered twelve beans for dinner. Against Ralph's better judgement, Flora picks a thirteenth bean. Unable to divide the beans evenly into two piles, Flora and Ralph decide to invite a friend and divide the beans into three piles, only to find that there is still one left over. Inviting a second guest does not help. Inviting a third guest makes the problem even worse. No matter how many guests they invite there is always one bean left over. How will they solve their dilemma?
6th: Sir Cumference and the 100 Percent Goose Chase (Percent)
Percilla Centwell and Lady Di are off to Gaggleston-on-Green to deliver Percilla's flock of one hundred geese to the townspeople who ordered them. When some of the geese go missing on the way, Percilla and Lady Di must figure out a way to make sure all of the customers still get their fair share of the flock.
In this latest medieval math adventure, readers learn about finding percents as part of a whole by using fractions. The endnote includes step-by-step instructions for calculating percent.
(All 6th grade teachers should have a copy of this book.)