It’s crazy to me how much power some of the skills we teach really carry. Getting kids to understand proportions and how to solve for a missing value in proportions is one of those concepts that just keeps showing up. Understanding proportions helps students with so many other concepts. It shows up again when they learn about slope. I feel like the students who understand proportions have a much easier time understanding slope. When I was a kid, I enjoyed finding the patterns in things, and proportions have that type of pattern. Now, I love helping students to understand these patterns and watching the light bulb turn on. In this post I’ll share twelve activities that will definitely help students get the practice they need with proportions. [Read more…] about 12 Activities for Practicing Proportions that Pop
proportions
How to Make Teaching Simple Probability Easy
I love probability. I can’t really explain why, but I find it so easy to understand and applicable to real life. My students, on the other hand, don’t seem to really know much about it. When we start our probability unit, it becomes clear that some students have never even heard of it. I used to get so surprised when kids didn’t know anything about a topic. Now, I just realize that there’s simply a lot to learn about in the world, and I love the chance to be the one to share something for the first time with them. The probability unit is not only fun, it also uses some concepts that we have focused on this year like proportions and rates.
[Read more…] about How to Make Teaching Simple Probability Easy
