Category Archives: Math

What do your students know? Just Listen

Posted on November 16, 2013 by sharyn

This is just a quick reminder of one of the many different ways in which to gain information about our student’s prior knowledge. Think about the information this pre-assessment discussion provides me in order to plan for engaging, appropriate and … Continue reading →

Posted in assessment, Math | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Share what you know, a good place to start

Posted on April 23, 2013 by sharyn

Before moving ahead in our inquiry into shapes, angles, and lines, my grade three students took time to share their current understandings. Armed with cameras, small groups walked about the school to take pictures representing any 2D shape, 3D shape, … Continue reading →

Posted in assessment, Math, technology | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Graphing Sentence Fluency

Posted on September 30, 2012 by sharyn

I wanted to share another great idea from writingfix.com on sentence fluency as this is currently our writing trait focus the next few months. My grade three students drafted a paragraph on a special time they shared with an adult; … Continue reading →

Posted in integration, international teaching, Math, technology, Uncategorized, writing | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Multiplication Tables as Art?!

Posted on January 15, 2012 by sharyn

A few years back I took the workshop Mathematics in the PYP in The Netherlands. One of the learning experiences I took away and still use today was turning the multiplication tables into spirolaterals. By doing this the students can: … Continue reading →

Posted in art, Math | Tagged , , , , | 21 Comments

If you build it, they will use it

Posted on October 24, 2011 by sharyn

I may have mentioned before that one of my challenges this year is space, well the lack of space. I have to be pretty creative when creating areas for reading, group work, using manipulatives, etc. Recently I realized I had … Continue reading →

Posted in assessment, Math | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Make it Work

Posted on August 21, 2011 by sharyn

I have to admit that I don’t know how to sew even though I am pretty sure that my mother tried to teach me at some point, but my husband and I still like to watch Project Runway and love … Continue reading →

Posted in Math, teaching, unit of inquiry | Tagged , , , | 14 Comments

How do you spell….?

Posted on May 17, 2011 by sharyn

I have heard it in Grades 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1; I have even asked the question myself, “How do you spell….?” From day one in the classroom, whether they are asking their teachers or their neighbors, students develop … Continue reading →

Posted in assessment, Math, Reading, Uncategorized, unit of inquiry, writing | Tagged , , , , , , | 8 Comments

The Power of Choice

Posted on April 9, 2011 by sharyn

I have heard many teachers say if they could go back in time and and redo their first year of teaching, they would change a number of things. I think student choice is something I would focus more on if … Continue reading →

Posted in Math, Reading, science, unit of inquiry, writing | Tagged , | 1 Comment

The Magic of Mini Dry Erase boards

Posted on March 28, 2011 by sharyn

I have always found my mini whiteboards to be of great value in the classroom, especially when I happen to be in a school without tools such as IWBs or even a sufficient amount of classroom computers. One of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Math, writing | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

A Day in Grade 5

Posted on March 22, 2011 by sharyn

I wanted to share a day’s worth of pictures/videos as a glimpse into my classroom. We start everyday with a student produced wordle for our version of ‘Guess the Wordle”. The students have recently started dedicating them to each other. … Continue reading →

Posted in integration, Math, Reading, writing | 1 Comment