Blended Learning

Blended Learning

What is Blended Learning? Blended Learning uses digital tools, in addition to classroom, explicit face-to face instruction to help students build their skills. It is an opportunity to provide differentiated learning in your classroom. Take a look at the resources at the bottom of the post for links to some great websites to use when planning a blended math lesson.

Using Blended Learning to Provide Differentiated Learning in the Classroom

Using Blended Learning in Younger Grades

Salmon Khan discussing Blended Learning using Khan Academy

Show Me

Blended Learning-OERB Sign-In

YouTube

EdPuzzle

Blended Learning Ideas

Edugains-Blended Learning

Edugains-Targeted Implementation

Blended Learning Classroom-Differentiated Instruction

Article-Getting to Know Blended Learning

Khan Academy-Math

Learn Alberta

Blended Learning Lesson Plan Template

Blended Learning

Dreambox

Prodigy Game

Home Connection

I know that some of my students' parents want to help their children at home but may not understand how we teach math particularly problem-solving models and mental math strategies.

Fortunately, there are some great resources available for parents to use with their child at home. I actually sent some of these resources to a parent this week so she understood different ways her son was representing his understanding of multiplication. Students are very fortunate when they have parental support at home with their learning; it's even more powerful when the parents have an understanding of how they can help by equipping them with appropriate resources. 

Doing Math With Your Child-K to 6 resource

Math Activities to do at Home

Home Support in Math for grades 7-12

Ideas for School Newsletters

Folder of Ideas

Parent Engagement in Math-video resources for parents

Here are some examples of the videos available for parents to support their child's learning from kindergarten to grade 8.

Kindergarten

Here are some resources to help you plan your math lessons in your class.


Edugains-Kindergarten-Numeracy Throughout the Day

Edugains-Play and Inquiry

Edugains-The Learning Environment

Edugains-Kindergarten-Considerations for Program Planning

Edugains-Kindergarten Resources 

Early Math-Learning Trajectories

Grade 9 Resources

Here are a few links to help you prepare for grade 9 math class.

Edugains-Grade 9-Applied

Edugains-Targeted Implementation Planning Supports for Math 

OAME-Grade 9 Resources

Spatial Reasoning

Spatial Reasoning

www.explodingdinosaurs.com

“Spatial thinking is integral to everyday life. People, natural objects, human-made objects, and human-made structures exist somewhere in space, and the interactions of people and things must be understood in terms of locations, distances, directions, shapes, and patterns.” (National Research Council, 2006, p. 5)

Ontario's Ministry of Education has published a great document to help teachers understand how to help students develop their spatial reasoning. Check it out here.

What are Spatial Reasoning and Spatial Visualization? from The Learning Exchange (1) on Vimeo.

Grade 7/8 Resources

Intermediate Resources

 I have attached some resources for intermediate teachers to help them with planning math in their classrooms. Please contact me if you have any suggestions on resources I could add to the list. Find them here. 

NTCM

University of Waterloo-Wired Math Games

OAME Grade Seven Resources

mathforlove.com/lesson-plan/

Edugains-grade 7 resources

Math-Grades1to8Summary

Math-Grade7and8Overview

Math Tips-grade 7

Intermediate math ugdsb

Math-lesson supports

TIPS4Math-gr8 math

OAME Resources for Grade 8

Math Games

Game-On!!!

Playing math games to support your math curriculum is critical for students to build fluency by applying the skills they are learning in class in an fun, collaborative way. There are so many games you can find on-line, and all you need are some dice, playing cards, and possibly a few manipulatives you already have in your classroom. Math experts believe that playing math games is one way to provide a rich opportunity to reinforce a student's knowledge. These articles provide great information about how to effectively use math games in your classroom. NCTM and NRICH

My students love playing math games; I usually reserve time once a week for them to play some of their favourites or ones that support the current learning. The great thing about these games is that they can be easily differentiated to suit academic needs in every grade .

One of my class' favourite games last year was spiral multiplication.

While taking my Math Part 1 AQ, we complied a file of math games that cover various math strands, which my instructor happily agreed to let me include in my blog. (Thanks, Gina!!) Here is another link: More games (for juniors)!

15 Cubes is another great game to play that encourages strategy. 

In addition, I have also created a list of websites with math games for your reference:

Math+Games

Unifix Cube Drum Machine

Guess My Rule game (patterning)

Prime Time game-Youcubed

Math Playground

Box Care and One-Eyed Jacks

Math Geek Mama

I hope you find these resources helpful. Contact me if you have any games your students enjoy and should be included.

Combined Grades/Split Grades

Combined Grades

Teachers have so much planning to do when it comes to planning for a single-grade class. However, when planning for a combined grade, the planning is doubled. How do you adequately plan math lessons for two grades effectively? This is question that many seasoned teachers don't have the confidence to answer, let alone recent graduates. Where is the breakdown in education that allows teachers to feel ill-equipped when teaching split grades in math?

After I recently polled 160 Occasional/LTO teachers, the data was clear: this is an area that needs addressing. Over 70% of the teachers polled indicated that this is an area of concern.

I am currently taking my Math Specialist AQ. During a workshop I presented, my colleagues used their expertise to create a few lessons combining lessons from various grades I hope you can utilize.

Grades 1/2-composing and decomposing numbers 

Grades 3/4 Patterning

Grades 5/6-Fractions

In addition, I have found some great resources to help you along the way that I hope you find helpful.

Ministry of Education (Ontario) Combined Grades document

Kindergarten and grade 1 support guide

Combined Grade Strategies

Combined Grade Classroom Monograph

Tips for Teaching a Combined Grade

Pinterest multi-grade teaching tips

Grade 1/2 plans/PEEL

Grade 2/3 plans/PEEL

Grade 3/4 plans/PEEL

Grade 2/3 plans-TDSB

Combined Grades

Combined Multi-grade Classes

TeachersPayTeachers

Marian Small-Open Ended Math Questions

Hopefully one day there will be more lessons available to help teachers successfully plan their combined math lessons.

Problem Solving/3-Part Math Problems

***New links added November 28, 2017***

Problem-solving is a 21st Century skill that all students need to develop. How do we facilitate problem-solving in our classrooms? By ensuring that our students have ample opportunity to collaborate with their peers. Three-part lessons allow students to problem solve with their peers, make mistakes, and develop a growth mindset. This article by Dan Meyer explains the need for 3-Part Math Problems beautifully. Check out the links below the video for lessons using problem solving.

This video from YouCubed demonstrates the benefits of problem-solving beautifully, as told by students.


Solving The Math Problem from YouCubed on Vimeo.

OTF-Teaching Math Through Problem Solving and 3-Part Math lessons

3 Part Math Lessons-A problem-solving approach-video

Edugains-Effective Guides for Instruction

Guide to Effective Instruction in Mathematics- vol 2 Problem Solving and Communication

Open-ended questions for mathematics

21st Century Competencies

Intermediate math UGDSB-Minds-on activities

Challenging Math Problems

Intermediate Math UGDSB-3-Part Lesson

Math Problems-Early Years

Math Problems-Primary

Math Problems-Junior/Intermediate

Parallel and Open Task Problem-Solving Math Bank K-3

Parallel and Open Word Problems Grades 3-5

Rubric for Open-Ended Questions

Daily Tracking for Problem Based Classroom

Proportional Reasoning

Proportional Reasoning

Students apply Proportional Reasoning throughout the Mathematics curriculum from Kindergarten to grade 12, in every strand. It is thinking about relationship and making comparisons of quantities of values. Take a look at the Ministry of Education's document Paying Attention to Proportional Reasoning K-12. In addition, there are a number of links at the bottom of this page for more resources. 

This video will help explain Proportional Reasoning for you.

This video is a great video to explain proportional reasoning for students in middle grades.

Being Responsive to Student Thinking

Video Library for Proportional Reasoning

Proportional Reasoning-Big Ideas

Paying Attention to Proportional Reasoning

Patterning and Algebra

Patterning and Algebra

Patterning in quilting

Patterns abound everywhere! We can see the patterns in the world around us, which is great to help students make connections to the lessons they are learning in class. This can also be connected to transformational geometry as well when learning about tessellations. Here is a great video TedEd-Ancient Complex Islamic Patterns from TedEd about Complex Islamic Patterns. This may be a great enrichment activity or worked into art. 

Check out the list of additional resources under the video you may find useful.

http://mathies.ca/activities.html

Effective Guide to Effective Instruction in Mathematics-K to 3-Patterning and Algebra

Patterning and Algebra-grades 4 to 6

Fraction Strands

Exploring the Power of Growing Patterns

Targeted Implementation Planning Supports for Math-Edugains

CEMC-Patterns Grade 4

A Guide to Effective Instruction in Mathematics K-3-Patterning

Creating a Recursive Pattern Lesson Plan

Geometry and Spatial Sense

Ahhh...geometry. There is so much potential in geometry, but so much fear attached with how to teach it. In a recent survey that 160 occasional teachers and long term occasional teachers completed, geometry and spatial sense came out as the strand that teachers felt the least amount of comfort teaching. Why? I'm not exactly sure, but feel free to comment to explain why a large number of teachers feel this way about geometry.

Here are the results: two ways to show the same thing!







Here are some great resources available online.

A Guide to Effective Instruction...Geometry and Spatial Sense grades 1to 3

Linking Fraction Strands to Geometry and Spatial Sense

A Guide to Effective Instruction...Geometry and Spatial Sense grades 4 to 6

Interactive Geometric Shapes

There are some great interactive tools to use to show students geometric shapes, nets, etc. This is one that I recently stumbled across: Interactive Geometric Shapes

Here is a great Minds-On activity to get your students to make real-world connections to graphing from Ted Ed. I highly recommend taking a look, it also provides some questions and lesson plans. Here is the link to the entire site: TED Education