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Last month presented at a conference with the help of a whiteboard presentation created using Doceri. Doceri is an app that allows you to create whiteboard presentations using an iPad ( coming soon for tablets with Windows 8 operating systems ). It was created for teachers, is relatively easy to use, and is a great tool for use in the classroom. Today I am sharing two different Doceri presentations I have created. First is a quick tutorial to help you to get start creating your own Doceri’s and the second is my interpretation of a recently written AIMS third grade fraction activity. I hope that helped, and that you are eager to download the app and get started on your own presentations.( Doceri website ) Here is my Doceri presentation on an AIMS activity. ( Fraction Fold Up ) I have found Doceri’s website and YouTube videos on Doceri to be helpful. Please share and let me know what you do with Doceri. Comment on this blog post, and have fun getting started. Do you Doceri? ...

Beginning in first grade and continuing through the grades, the Common Core Math Standards emphasize composing and decomposing shapes. One way to give students experience with composing shapes is through put-together puzzles. Actually, working at put-together puzzles involves lots of composing and decomposing. Sometimes what we compose is a solution; sometimes it’s not. While the tangram puzzle is an obvious, well known example of such a puzzle, there are others that students will find interesting. One of my favorites is a puzzle made up of five triangles. In this post I want to tell you about this puzzle; I will give you a master so you can make a Five Triangle Puzzle  for yourself. I’m then going to leave it for you to solve the puzzle, and finally, I’m going to come back to it in a later post to talk about the solutions. I’m hoping in the mean time to hear from you about how you thought about the puzzle and to hear about your solutions and anything you ...

Beginning in first grade and continuing through the grades, the Common Core Math Standards emphasize composing and decomposing shapes. One way to give students experience with composing shapes is through put-together puzzles. Actually, working at put-together puzzles involves lots of composing and decomposing. Sometimes what we compose is a solution; sometimes it’s not. While the tangram puzzle is an obvious, well known example of such a puzzle, there are others that students will find interesting. One of my favorites is a puzzle made up of five triangles. In this post I want to tell you about this puzzle; I will give you a master so you can make a Five Triangle Puzzle  for yourself. I’m then going to leave it for you to solve the puzzle, and finally, I’m going to come back to it in a later post to talk about the solutions. I’m hoping in the mean time to hear from you about how you thought about the puzzle and to hear about your solutions and anything you ...

Beginning in first grade and continuing through the grades, the Common Core Math Standards emphasize composing and decomposing shapes. One way to give students experience with composing shapes is through put-together puzzles. Actually, working at put-together puzzles involves lots of composing and decomposing. Sometimes what we compose is a solution; sometimes it’s not. While the tangram puzzle is an obvious, well known example of such a puzzle, there are others that students will find interesting. One of my favorites is a puzzle made up of five triangles. In this post I want to tell you about this puzzle; I will give you a master so you can make a Five Triangle Puzzle  for yourself. I’m then going to leave it for you to solve the puzzle, and finally, I’m going to come back to it in a later post to talk about the solutions. I’m hoping in the mean time to hear from you about how you thought about the puzzle and to hear about your solutions and anything you ...

Beginning in first grade and continuing through the grades, the Common Core Math Standards emphasize composing and decomposing shapes. One way to give students experience with composing shapes is through put-together puzzles. Actually, working at put-together puzzles involves lots of composing and decomposing. Sometimes what we compose is a solution; sometimes it’s not. While the tangram puzzle is an obvious, well known example of such a puzzle, there are others that students will find interesting. One of my favorites is a puzzle made up of five triangles. In this post I want to tell you about this puzzle; I will give you a master so you can make a Five Triangle Puzzle  for yourself. I’m then going to leave it for you to solve the puzzle, and finally, I’m going to come back to it in a later post to talk about the solutions. I’m hoping in the mean time to hear from you about how you thought about the puzzle and to hear about your solutions and anything you ...

In my last post, I reported that every year the National Science Teachers’ Association (NSTA) publishes a list of Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12 . I also provided links to several books and related AIMS activities for primary and intermediate grades . (Link to last two blogs.) This post will feature books from the list for Middle School grades 6-8 along with some related AIMS activities. This list, as expected, is much shorter than those for the primary and intermediate grades. When Rivers Burned by Linda Crotta Brennan Relates the history of Earth Day with chapters on pollution and the fragile Earth Related AIMS activities: Water conservation: Down the Drain! , Water Waste is a Weighty Issue , Water Island ; Water treatment: That Settles It, Help Save the Birds!, Mini Water Treatment Simulation (all are from the AIMS book Water, Precious Water ); Air pollution: Pollution Solution , Air Quality Index ; Resources: Researching Resources (all from the book Ea...

In my last post, I reported that every year the National Science Teachers’ Association (NSTA) publishes a list of Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12 . I also provided links to several books and related AIMS activities for primary and intermediate grades . (Link to last two blogs.) This post will feature books from the list for Middle School grades 6-8 along with some related AIMS activities. This list, as expected, is much shorter than those for the primary and intermediate grades. When Rivers Burned by Linda Crotta Brennan Relates the history of Earth Day with chapters on pollution and the fragile Earth Related AIMS activities: Water conservation: Down the Drain! , Water Waste is a Weighty Issue , Water Island ; Water treatment: That Settles It, Help Save the Birds!, Mini Water Treatment Simulation (all are from the AIMS book Water, Precious Water ); Air pollution: Pollution Solution , Air Quality Index ; Resources: Researching Resources (all from the book Ea...

In my last post, I reported that every year the National Science Teachers’ Association (NSTA) publishes a list of Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12 . I also provided links to several books and related AIMS activities for primary and intermediate grades . (Link to last two blogs.) This post will feature books from the list for Middle School grades 6-8 along with some related AIMS activities. This list, as expected, is much shorter than those for the primary and intermediate grades. When Rivers Burned by Linda Crotta Brennan Relates the history of Earth Day with chapters on pollution and the fragile Earth Related AIMS activities: Water conservation: Down the Drain! , Water Waste is a Weighty Issue , Water Island ; Water treatment: That Settles It, Help Save the Birds!, Mini Water Treatment Simulation (all are from the AIMS book Water, Precious Water ); Air pollution: Pollution Solution , Air Quality Index ; Resources: Researching Resources (all from the book Ea...

In my last post, I reported that every year the National Science Teachers’ Association (NSTA) publishes a list of Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12 . I also provided links to several books and related AIMS activities for primary and intermediate grades . (Link to last two blogs.) This post will feature books from the list for Middle School grades 6-8 along with some related AIMS activities. This list, as expected, is much shorter than those for the primary and intermediate grades. When Rivers Burned by Linda Crotta Brennan Relates the history of Earth Day with chapters on pollution and the fragile Earth Related AIMS activities: Water conservation: Down the Drain! , Water Waste is a Weighty Issue , Water Island ; Water treatment: That Settles It, Help Save the Birds!, Mini Water Treatment Simulation (all are from the AIMS book Water, Precious Water ); Air pollution: Pollution Solution , Air Quality Index ; Resources: Researching Resources (all from the book Ea...

My students are always asking, “How are we ever going to use this math?” I’m always asking, “Where are contexts that use the math standards they say are suppose to be taught?” We’re all asking, “What are fun, interesting things that involve us and help us learn?” I just returned from a local math conference where I shared an activity that baffles and intrigues my students. I released two cans of soda in a tub of water. The regular soda sunk and the diet soda floated. Even for the teachers the stage was set. What’s going on? The cans are the same size and have the same amount of soda. Their curiosity drove them to find answers. The teachers measured the mass of a variety of volumes of soda and water seeking the most precise tools. They graphed and calculated ratios to find patterns in the data. With the graphs and ratios they justified their reasoning in explaining this discrepant event. Children and adults are intrinsically interes...

My students are always asking, “How are we ever going to use this math?” I’m always asking, “Where are contexts that use the math standards they say are suppose to be taught?” We’re all asking, “What are fun, interesting things that involve us and help us learn?” I just returned from a local math conference where I shared an activity that baffles and intrigues my students. I released two cans of soda in a tub of water. The regular soda sunk and the diet soda floated. Even for the teachers the stage was set. What’s going on? The cans are the same size and have the same amount of soda. Their curiosity drove them to find answers. The teachers measured the mass of a variety of volumes of soda and water seeking the most precise tools. They graphed and calculated ratios to find patterns in the data. With the graphs and ratios they justified their reasoning in explaining this discrepant event. Children and adults are intrinsically interes...

My students are always asking, “How are we ever going to use this math?” I’m always asking, “Where are contexts that use the math standards they say are suppose to be taught?” We’re all asking, “What are fun, interesting things that involve us and help us learn?” I just returned from a local math conference where I shared an activity that baffles and intrigues my students. I released two cans of soda in a tub of water. The regular soda sunk and the diet soda floated. Even for the teachers the stage was set. What’s going on? The cans are the same size and have the same amount of soda. Their curiosity drove them to find answers. The teachers measured the mass of a variety of volumes of soda and water seeking the most precise tools. They graphed and calculated ratios to find patterns in the data. With the graphs and ratios they justified their reasoning in explaining this discrepant event. Children and adults are intrinsically interes...

My students are always asking, “How are we ever going to use this math?” I’m always asking, “Where are contexts that use the math standards they say are suppose to be taught?” We’re all asking, “What are fun, interesting things that involve us and help us learn?” I just returned from a local math conference where I shared an activity that baffles and intrigues my students. I released two cans of soda in a tub of water. The regular soda sunk and the diet soda floated. Even for the teachers the stage was set. What’s going on? The cans are the same size and have the same amount of soda. Their curiosity drove them to find answers. The teachers measured the mass of a variety of volumes of soda and water seeking the most precise tools. They graphed and calculated ratios to find patterns in the data. With the graphs and ratios they justified their reasoning in explaining this discrepant event. Children and adults are intrinsically interes...