Never Say You Can't!

Meet "Z". He's a student that struggles and feels as though math is "impossible" like plenty of other adolescents. While it took an immensely long time to get the job done, he managed to solve it all on his own, and his reaction is priceless. The following problem:

Mr. E has 7 packs of sugar and 14 packs of tea. He wants to make groups using the same number of sugar and tea packs, with none left over. What is the greatest number of groups he can make?

How many packs of sugar will be in each group?
How many packs of tea will be in each group?

Preparing for the New Year

While Summer '15 was certainly filled with laughter and joy, this is the final week. This is a short clip of what we did in week 2 (the Smartboard is now working and in daily use...).

Lately I've been preparing my mind, clearing my thoughts and thinking of things that worked and didn't work this year, and how I'll change them. This time, I want to create a classroom culture where more emphasis is placed on listening to whoever is talking, and somehow incorporate that into tokens. I also want to take Concept Constructions up a notch and incorporate it into tokens as well.

Because the tokens were so strong last year, I need to find ways that I can improve the system and make it more fun for the kids. This includes switching prizes from time to time, and added reinforcement to other positive behaviors that we need more of to run a successful math classroom.