I'm a teacher who loves designing tasks to motivate, engage, and challenge, mom to 4 yummy kids, and wife to a hockey lover. Happiness is getting everything organized!
Author Archives: shlager
Put it in Perspective
12 days. In 12 days my students will cross the threshold of my classroom. In 12 days dozens of eyes will be waiting for me to guide them and instruct them. In 12 days my class will begin engaging in … Continue reading
Comfortable with Uncomfortable
Division with decimals, particularly decimal divisors has always been a challenging topic for me to wrap my head around. Based on my own procedural understanding of this concept, it was impossible for me to conceive of teaching division with decimals … Continue reading
It Doesn’t Have to Be All or Nothing
October 29, 2014. That was the last time I posted to my blog. Somewhere along the way I’ve imposed upon myself this “rule” that a post must be lengthy, detailed, and eloquent. There must be something spectacular to share or … Continue reading
Counting By, Number Lines and Decimals
The concept of Counting Circles was introduced to me by Sadie, either during TMC or Global Math (thought, I’m not sure exactly). Jessica Shumway’s book, Number Sense Routines: Building Numerical Literacy Every Day in Grades K-3, taught me a little … Continue reading
How Much is That?
“How Much is That?“ is an activity I created for the 4th graders studying money. Students roll the dice to determine the number of quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies. The total value of all of the coins is then calculated. … Continue reading
On Your Mark, Get Set…
One of the crazy things about me is that until all of the organizational components of the school year are addressed, it is impossible for me to prepare for those first few days of school. My first priority is always … Continue reading
Let’s Rock and Roll!
Practicing reading and writing decimal numbers can be a bit monotonous. So, why not spice it up with some dice? One of the games I learned from Jane Felling’s Power Play session at NCTM Baltimore was called “Rock and Roll.” This … Continue reading
It’s a Match! Fractions, Decimals, and Percents
All that cutting was sure worth it! Fractions, Decimals and Percent Sort in action. That was my tweet this morning as my 3rd period math class got to work on a fraction, decimal, and percent matching activity. Not long after, … Continue reading
Posted in Activities
Tagged decimal, differentiated, equivalent fractions, fractions, percent
2 Comments
A Classroom That’s Distinctly Mine: MTBoS Mission #1
My classroom feels like a unique place for learning math, though it may be similar to others found in the MTBoS. It is nothing remarkable, extraordinary or spectacular, but it is also not the standard, expected, cookie-cutter lesson. My classroom … Continue reading
The first day of school. In less than ten days! Yikes. Clearly there is no time like the present to set goals and lay the foundation for 2013-2014. Building Block #1: Rapport The tables were turned in June, as my … Continue reading
The Math Nook 