The Pi Project

OVERVIEW, Part One: (Tuesday) 1) Changing Unit Planning     (2) Changing Instruction      (3) Changing Homework PART TWO: (Yesterday) 4. Changing Assessment PART THREE (today): 5. Changing Grading   5. Changing Grading Ideally,  grades would not be necessary in a effective math classroom. However, as we move toward that ideal, most schools continue to require

OVERVIEW, Part One: (yesterday)        (1) Changing Unit Planning     (2) Changing Instruction      (3) Changing Homework PART TWO: (today) 4. Changing Assessment PART THREE (tomorrow):   5. Changing Grading

OVERVIEW, Part One: Why De-Track? How to De-Track Change Unit Planning, Instruction, Homework OVERVIEW, Part Two (tomorrow): How to Change Assessment and Grading for Wider Success PART ONE:

Three more examples of homework. Our next unit is Patterns, but as we move forward, we continue to review fractions and word problems visually and computationally (Levels 1 and 2) on homework. Some students will need weeks of practice on these two skills visually before they are mastered conceptually. Homework is a great place to allow

1. Bar Fractions This activity is adapted from Jo Boaler’s “Mindset Mathematics – Grade 5”, page 106. The only change we made is to use a bar rather than a square. We will use squares for a fraction activity later this week. Step One (Concrete) Pass out 5 blocks to each child: 2 Red, 2

This entry addresses both our homework policy guidelines and our procedure for correcting homework. HW Guidelines:

Let’s Play ‘Alpha Beta Gamma’. We like this game because it encourages cooperation without leading to too much competition between groups. Since the composition of each group changes constantly, students don’t feel overly tied to the scores of a given group.

Our first unit is a twin unit of Fractions (mostly visual) and Word problems. We begin working with both these topics very early in the year, so that we have all year to incorporate them into every unit.  We find that word problems are an excellent way to teach fractions, too. Our next two units

  1. Warm Up Put this puzzle up as a warm up. It is a little easier than last week’s puzzles, and this is a good time to build confidence with this type of logic problem. Have students try this one alone. Sign #2 cannot be true, since it then declares itself false. Therefore, sign

1. WARM UP –  The Fraction Template Project the fraction template below.  Click for pdf:  fraction template Photocopy it for students if at all possible. Our 5th graders keep one in their binder for weeks. Ask simply : “WHAT DO YOU SEE? You can’t give a wrong answer – whatever you see is true.” Early