Marvelous Math with Mrs. Rose

I hope so!

I’ve seen many of you around town and at the beach, which has been fun!  I hope all of you are enjoying a wonderful summer with your families!

Here’s a little news from my family.  The newest member of the Rose family joined us on our farm in late June.

A new baby filly was born to our Shire Workhorse, Annabelle.  Here is the baby on her very first day: standing and weighing in at 150 pounds! 

We named Annabelle’s baby Isabelle, or “Belle” for short, which means beautiful!Baby Belle is growing beautifully and she is so much fun!

I hope you’re having fun during these last weeks of summer vacation and I can’t wait to hear about your adventures when you return to school.  Don’t forget to have some fun with Math this summer by playing Math games and exploring Math websites from our Summer Math Fun Packet.  Click HERE to access the Summer Math Fun Packet online.  Don’t forget to fill out the page in the packet telling 10 Ways I Practiced Math This Summer and return it to me at school at the beginning of the school year..  I have a little something special for those students who do that!

See you soon!

Mrs. Rose

Thanks so much to all the parents who recently attended Ryerson’s PTO Meeting and who were so interested in hearing the details of our Math program and our students’ accomplishments!

I hope that you find this blog a source of helpful information as you guide your child in learning.  Please don’t forget to check out the following pages and links on this site:

• Wonderful Websites
• Fact Fluency Strategies
• Problem Solving Strategies
• Math Riddles
• Math News
• Hot Topics

Thanks so much for all you do in supporting your child’s education!

Due to the snow day and late opening (March 2-3) the State and our District have revised the CMT Schedule for our elementary schools.

The updated schedule is as follows:

March 4     Direct Assessment of Writing

March 5     Editing & Revising

March 6     Reading Comprehension I

March 9     Reading Comprehension II

March 10   Degrees of Reading Power

March 11   Mathematics I

March 12   Mathematics II

March 13   Supplemental Tests

March 16-19  Make-up Testing

Please be sure to come to school well-rested and fueled with a healthy breakfast, prepared to do your best, as always!

Students recently honed a wide variety of Math skills using Valentine hearts as manipulatives.  They explored and further developed concepts in estimation, graphing, perimeter, measurement, operations, and calculations.  They also had fun in the process!

Thanks to the 3rd and 4th grade teachers who attended our  after-school E-Workshop yesterday on Mathematical Problem Solving!

Here’s what the research on Problem Solving tell us, according to National Council of Teachers Of Mathematics (NCTM):

1. Students must solve many problems in order to improve their problem solving ability.
2. Problem solving ability develops slowly over a prolonged period of time.
3. In order to benefit from instruction, students believe their teacher thinks that problem solving is important.
4. Most students benefit greatly from systematically planned problem-solving instruction.

Problem solving is a major emphasis in our mathematics program in Madison elementary schools and we value the opportunity and the ability to problem solve.  We problem solve not just for math, but for life!!!

To get your younger students thinking, pose the following problem:

I have quarters, dimes, and nickels in my pocket.  If I take three coins out of my pocket, how much could the three coins be worth?

The really nice aspect of this problem is that there are multiple answers.  To challenge students, ask them to find all possible combinations.  For older students, ask them how they know when they have found all combinations!

Have fun problem solving and please feel free to share your thoughts . . .

When I read this headline in a recent ASCD Electronic Smart Brief, I immediately thought of a K-2 E-Workshop that we recently facilitated for our elementary teachers.  Our students are working with the Algebra Standard from Kindergarten on, although they may not even realize it!

Every time a youngster works with a pattern, whether it’s a repeating pattern with different colored blocks, or a growing pattern with numbers and/or symbols, they are working on basic concepts of Algebra.

Research shows that the earlier students work with these criticial thinking skills, the better their performance is in later years, including middle and high school.  Instead of just memorizing math facts, it is very important for students to find patterns in multiplication tables, for instance, and to understand where the products come from.  Students should be able to defend their answers and explain their reasoning, rather than just recite answers.  The deeper the understanding, the better and more long-lasting the learning!  Early work in Algebra reaps major benefits later on in upper grades.

I recently had the pleasure of presenting at a Connecticut State Department of Education conference with a colleague regarding Instructional Coaching in Mathematics.  Both Jason Engelhardt (right), a 7th grade Math teacher at Polson Middle School in Madison,  and I have been involved in a three-year Math/Science Grant, which is a collaborative effort between LEARN, schools in the New London area, and Connecticut College.    We’ve taken college Math and Science content courses in the evening at Conn College; participated in Instructional Coaching Institutes over the past two summers; journaled our activities; studied Best Practices; networked with colleagues from area districts at evening meetings in content and coaching strategies; and coached colleagues in our home district of Madison.

We’re excited about how instructional coaching in the content areas can help to improve student learning and shared some of our experiences at the MSP Coaching Conference in Rocky Hill on September 24.

Here’s a photo of a display we put together, which shows our students constructing knowledge using Math manipulatives; our colleagues engaged in content and coaching workshops; and highlights of our participating districts, including New London, Groton, Stonington, Old Lyme, Guilford, and Madison, among others.

Madison’s Assistant Superintendent, Anita Rutlin, also attended this conference, including our presentation, and then took part in a panel presentation later in the day dealing with how districts can help to support instructional coaching initiatives.

(Jason Engelhardt, Anita Rutlin, and me)

 I’m proud to be part of a district like Madison that supports Instructional Coaching initiatives and Best Practices!

Exciting  new research shows that girls’ interest in Math and Science is boosted significantly by parents and teachers who help to instill self-confidence in their female learners.  A team of researchers at the University of Wisconsis-Milwaukee (UWM) found that this self-confidence is more important for young girls learning Math and Science than initial interest, according to Science Daily.

“The relationship between confidence and interest is close,” says UWM Distinguished Professor Nadya Fouad.  “If they feel they can do it, it feeds their interest.”

Important supports to nurture our young girls’ interest and success in Math and Science include:

• Parent support and expectations
• Engaging teachers and positive experiences with them

To read the complete article, click here.

To “our” girls—-YOU GO, GIRLS!  WE’RE SO PROUD OF YOU!!!

I’m so happy to welcome back old friends and new friends to a new school beginning!  It was great seeing so many smiling faces as students and their families visited at both Island Avenue School and Ryerson School last week, then again as we started our first official day with students on August 28th!

Please know that I would LOVE to hear how you practiced Math over the summer!  Remember the MATH SUMMER FUN PACKET that I told you about and that is uploaded to our school and district websites?

Click here to see what I’m talking about:

summer-math-fun-updated-2008

You can still complete the sheet of “How I Practiced Math Over the Summer” ~ it’s not too late!  Please return it to me at school by September 30 for a little something special.  I’m SO PROUD of all who practiced Math with your family over the summer, whether it was by playing a game while traveling; checking out some of my favorite Math websites; or playing the card games of “More” or “Pig” with a friend!

PLEASE RETURN THE LAST PAGE ONLY (COMPLETED, OF COURSE!) OF THAT PACKET TO ME BY SEPTEMBER 30TH!

In a long-awaited report from the National Mathematics Advisory Panel Report (NMAP), released by the U.S. Government in Spring 2008, we find some important–but not too suprising– news.

“Children badly need both automatic recall of math facts and understanding of big concepts, in effect de-clawing both sides in the decades-long math wars,” according to this report.

In other words, there is a place for fluency of math facts (automatic recall) as well as the ability to construct concepts and understand philosophy.  Brain research shows that ability in mathematics should be looked at as less of a talent and more of a result of hard work.  Polls show that the U.S. is one of the few countries where residents believe that children are either born with math talent or not.  This research supports the belief that confidence in math, and thus prowess and talent, can be developed through exposure, practice, and effort.

The contents of this national report were welcomed by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM).  It is very important to communicate with our students, parents, teachers, and administrations that effort counts and that students who believe that working hard will make them smarter in math actually do achieve better.

Students . . . so let’s practice those Math Facts in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.  There are lots of fun ways to accomplish this besides traditional flash cards.  Try games with manipulatives like dice, dominoes, playing cards, etc.  Read on for more ideas and great websites that offer exciting ways to master Math Facts!