Tags: 21st century, students
The Airliner is a wonderful tool to use with the Smart Board. The entire name is the Smart Airliner Wireless Slate. It is an interactive writing pad to use with the Smart Board. It especially works well with math teachers because you can stand anywhere in the room and still write on the Smart Board. I started using it about a month ago. I love it. If you have a Smart Board, it would be a great idea to try to get an Airliner to go with it. Go here to find out more information.
Students need to write across the curriculum not just in English class. I have my students write at least once every two weeks. Try the Math Writing Prompts ebook 
.
There is a great software program called Inspiration. It can do concept webs, flow charts, diagrams,etc. If you go to www.inspiration.com, you can get a 30 day free trial period. Try it out and let me know what you think.
Tags: software
Now is the time to start thinking about the next coming school year. Most teachers return to work in August. It is the perfect time to begin planning the information letter that you send home with the students explaining details about the class. I used to always wait until I went back to work to get started. Last year was the first year that I had my letter together before school started. It took a lot of stress off me with all of the other things at school that I had to do. Give it a try. You will be less stressful also. Good luck in your upcoming school year!
Tags: information letter, math letter, math teacher, upcoming school year
Teacher appreciation week has come and gone. Hopefully, you got something to show how much you are appreciated. However, this may not have happened. You can always purchase something for yourself. I discovered this site that has great items for math teachers. Check it out: zazzle.com/nnlady08*.
Tags: math teacher, teacher appreciation
A teacher asked me the other day about how I get my math students to participate in class. She stated that she always had the same students answering questions. I told her that my students have no choice but to participate. I explained to her that it starts the first day of school. I tell all of my students that they will participate on a daily basis. I explain that I will call on students and I will call students from my class list. This way everyone participates. When a student’s name is called, the student already knows that he/she will need to answer the question or go to the smart board or chalkboard and put up an answer. In the beginning, the shy students always have to be called by me. However, as time passes they begin to volunteer. All of my students know that it is okay to participate on a daily basis even if he/she makes a mistake.
Tags: math, math students, participation
Now is a great time to stock up on items for school. In this past Sunday’s newspaper, Office Max has a brown paper bag where you can put items that you choose (read the small print because some items are not given a discount) to get a 15% discount. This may not have occurred in all newspapers, but hopefully it did where you live. Another place to buy items are thrift stores. My school has implemented reading every day for twenty minutes. I get my classroom reading books from thrift stores. I am very careful about the ones that I choose, but they are very affordable. If you have any great ideas about how to save on supplies, please leave a comment.
Tags: savings, school supplies, teacher, teacher savings
Summer is here!! My school ended last week. As I look forward to the days of summer, I begin to wonder about next year. Now is the time to reflect on what worked and what did not work. This is the time to write your ideas down about how you want to start next school year off. In my first week of school, I want to do more team building activities with the students. They are also going to be given a basic skills pretest so that I can find out what they know and what they are lacking. I can then work on those skills in small groups. I am going to get substitute plans ready. These will be based on basic skills and problem solving. My goal is to be better prepared at the start of school than I was last school year.
Tags: school is over, summer, teacher reflection
Now that the end is near, here are some suggestions for what you can do with your students.
1. Play Jeopardy. It works really well with a LCD projector and smartboard.
2. Play math equation race on the chalkboard or whiteboard. This is where the students are grouped in fours and each one takes a turn at the equation. The first team to get the most correct is the winner.
3. Play Uno. The class can have several games going on at once.
4. Play Math War with multiplication and division facts. I got my cards from Barnes and Nobles. The students really enjoy this game.
5. Play bingo with basic math facts. I purchased a bingo game from a Parent Teacher Store. Let one of the students call out the cards.
I hope you try some of these suggestions and let me know how things turn out.
Have a happy summer!