Pi R Scared

  It's that time of year again where students are taking benchmark test or quarter test to see how much they are retaining.  Once they finish, we go through the test and look at the questions they missed and make small groups.  One part that was frustrating as getting to the students at the bottom of the roster and no longer being able to see the categories at the top.  You can freeze a row or column in Google Sheets and it fixes that problem.  The video below shows how.

   This is a template which is a little different from my others.  This template is set up so that students can compare to items and put their answer between them.  I plan to use this with comparing numbers for greater, less than, or equal to.  If you don't need to compare, the video shows how you can hide the extra columns to use it. Springtime Pixel Art Template

  In this activity, students will find the absolute value given different word problems.  Before sharing be sure to delete the answers.  Absolute Value Word Problems

  This activity was made to practice taking the absolute value of rational numbers.  The problems include integers, square roots of perfect squares, decimals, and fractions that can be reduced. Absolute Value Pixel Art

  As a math teacher, I often hear from students that math is hard or I don't get it.  I could reply with math is easy but instead, I let them know we'll work together.  It takes time but I work to build a classroom where students know they can ask any questions, they can ask for me to explain it a different way, or ask for another example. One way that I build this trust is asking the students for help with areas that I know they enjoy or excel.  This year one of those areas is Canva.  My students really enjoy creating presentations, designs and more on Canva.  We are doing class spirit days and I wanted a poster for each day so I made a request to students.  I shared that I was still learning Canva but if anyone wanted to help I'd appreciate it.   This provided the students who love to create a chance to help me.  It also gave them a chance to show off their work.  I gave the students a topic and they could create/design based on the idea.  We had really cool posters to ha

  If you are creating an absolute value activity in teacher desmos, you might find it a challenge to add the absolute value bars.  The quick video below will show you how to add them.  Here's the directions as well. After adding a note click on math type, press shift then forward slash( \ ) and it will insert them.

  My passion is teaching student with disabilities.  This is often met with questions of REALLY? or you really want the inclusion class?  Yes, I do want the inclusion class, yes I want those classes with those students.  This leads to the question of why.   A big reason I love teaching inclusion classes is because of my coteachers.  A big reason my students are successful is because we are a team.  Coteaching takes work, communication, and respect. I see on social media, blogs, and other places that teachers want to be respected and yet many times our special education teachers are disrespected by their coteachers or teachers in the building.  The special education who has a degree just like we have a degree.   I've had the privilege to teach alongside many amazing coteachers who worked just as hard, if not harder than me.  I'm going to share what has lead our students to success in the various schools, grades, and subjects that I have cotaught. First, it starts with respect. 

  We are approaching the end of the nine weeks and there’s a few things I’m doing to prepare the students. First, I’m telling them daily the last day to turn in work.  This is an important because I want them to know if they have late work the last day to turn it in.  I also let them know which assignments can still be turned in. Second, each week I’m reminding parents/guardians of the last day for work.  This prevents anyone from saying they didn’t know. Third, it sets a boundary and provides time for grading. By requiring any work due a few days before the nine weeks is done, I’m not overwhelming myself with last minute work to grade. I have due dates along the way in the course so coming to a nine weeks end is not the first time they are seeing a deadline for work. Last, when a student or parent is upset with the grade discuss the steps they should take moving forward. We can talk about what they should have done, how attendance or missing work impacted their grade but it doesn’t ch