Math Teaching Tips

Teaching Scientific Notation: 4 Questions to Help Students Understand

Last Modified: May 9, 2019 by Rachel

When teaching students how to convert numbers from standard notation to scientific notation and back the other way, it’s a common practice to teach them the steps. However, this approach risks reducing this concept to a series of steps that students may or may not remember later. Instead of approaching converting with scientific notation as a set of procedures, I find that teaching students how to think about the process really helps it stick.

Here’s how I use 4 questions when teaching scientific notation to get students thinking about numbers and converting between standard and scientific notation.

End of the year activities in the math classroom

Last Modified: April 18, 2021 by Rachel

The school year is winding down for me, and for my students it marks the end of their junior high experience. I have a hard time with the end of the year. I get sad knowing that it’s the end of my time with these students. I’ve enjoyed getting to know them and seeing them grow over the year. I’ve loved our inside jokes and the silly idiosyncrasies that every class tends to have. I wish we had more time together- there’s always more I would have liked to have done. And yet, they’ve worked so hard this year and I know they’re ready for the next chapter in their schooling. And I’m ready for a break to recharge my batteries.

So if the school year is going to end, how can I make sure we go out in style? How can we close out the year in a way that honors the students’ learning time, celebrates our time together, and helps us all keep our sanity? For the end of this school year, I want to share my four main goals with you, some fun end of the year activities, and show you what the last few weeks looked like in my classroom.

Teaching Effects of Transformations through Matching

Last Modified: May 9, 2019 by Rachel

The past two weeks have been dedicated to the study of the effects of transformations: translations, rotations, dilations and reflections of geometric figures on a coordinate plane. With this unit, I wanted to make sure students got lots of chances to talk about what’s happening in mathematical terms. One of my favorite things we did in teaching transformations was to use match and paste activities. We actually used them TWICE in this unit. I can’t wait to show you just what we did and how it helped my students OWN transformations. [Read more…] about Teaching Effects of Transformations through Matching

5 Other Ways to Use Foldables in Your Math Classroom

Last Modified: May 9, 2019 by Rachel

Foldable graphic organizers are the heart of interactive math notebooks. They’re great tools to have students organize new information and keep it accessible for future reference. But once the lesson is completed and the notes are neatly placed into the notebook, what happens next?

Here are 5 (other) ways to use foldables in your math classroom:

Friday Favorites: Instagram Math Teachers You Should Be Following

Last Modified: May 9, 2019 by Rachel

Are you on Instagram? It’s a great platform I’m falling in love with for the classroom. It’s such a visual medium, and it’s fun to see glimpses into other people’s classroom, hear inspiring quotes, and see snapshots of life. I’ve loved discovering math teachers on Instagram, and seeing all the ideas and creativity out there. One of my favorite people to follow on Instagram is Middle School Math Man. He’s Alex O’Connor, a 6th grade math teacher who shares ideas from his classroom. I always look forward to his math joke of the week and his challenge problems. Read on to find Instagram math teachers you should be following, and check out these great posts from Middle School Math Man:

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