Pi R Scared

  As a teacher, I enjoyed having games in my classroom.  I found that playing a game with students often allowed them to open up and have a more real conversation about how they were doing.   As we know, forming bonds with students helps in their academic success.  Chess was probably the most popular game in my classroom for a while but recently I have found some new games and want to share them. Yes, several of these games are for younger students BUT if you are teaching middle school the students in your classroom now would have been virtual for about grades 3 - 5 and these games may help with some of those skills they missed or are struggling to understand.   The first game is called Shape Shift. Here's a brief video on it.

  As the 2024 year has started for some and will be starting tomorrow for others, I’m looking forward to the fresh start. January brings the opportunity for reminders but also for change.  This semester I’m looking forward to integrating group projects, games, and more interactives.  I’m looking to continue to use manipulatives in the classroom. Algebra tiles is one of most common mainpulatives that I use in Semester 2.  These tiles also happen to cause much frustration for students.  To help counter this frustration, I’ve been starting lessons with fruit or candy.  In using the fruit example we talk about apples and oranges which students can see are clearly different. Next, we talk about candy and dividing it out, distributing it, and students understand what is fair or equal.  These conversations help when you add in tiles and start talking about keeping equations balanced. As you start 2024, I hope you have a great rest of the school year.