Math Resource Guides

 I don’t teach math; my husband, Rob, does.  He does not like most tech—except spreadsheets.  In another life I taught in both private and public schools.  The textbook companies give teachers loads of extra resource materials. We had a closet full of these collecting dust.  Now older editions are online.   Here is an example, Chapter 1 Resource Masters for Glencoe’s Algebra I textbook.  There are quizzes and answer keys.  These resource guides abound.  (See screenshot below.). One caveat.  Frequently, the resource guides are NOT well edited.  Sometimes the answer key is incorrect.  These guides are useful if your child needs more practice in a specific math topic.  The guides have a table of contents with the names for each math topic. My husband, Rob, was confused.  Each chapter has roughly 100 pages of resources.  Really.  There are also ‘homework practice workbooks’.  Happily, all of the chapters’ homework practice problems are in one teacher source.  The number of workbooks also abound. (See screenshot below.)  Here is loads of extra practice when your child just isn’t getting a math topic.

Composition: First Writing Prompt

My plan is to document the Composition class here in the blog and share snippets from class.

The first writing prompt is ‘Describe your family’s birthday celebration.’  The kids will have 15 minutes to write.  Next, the class will read and discuss their paragraphs.  Let me share an opening paragraph I wrote for class.  I plan to use this an an introduction to expand on their stories after the 15 minute exercise.

My son’s classmate brought grapes to share to class.  Josh studied in Italy; the students originated from many countries.  The day his classmate brought grapes uncovered a cultural difference among the students.  Students from the United States all asked if the grapes had seeds.  Classmates from The Philippines or India asked if it were his birthday or his feast day.  How are birthdays celebrated differently? 

 

Doodle Notes and Scribble Notes

The first time I taught a Co-op class, my friend, Diane, introduced me to lapbooks.  Many home-school families use interactive notebooks, especially for science topics.  I think Scribble Notes or Doodle notes arose from the Cornell Note Taking System. I like to use a huge variety of resources; but, I’m always open to new strategies.  In the past, coloring pages are useful for some topics.  I want to try some of Matthew Simmons’ Scribble Notes.  Open the website’s home-page for links to social media.  Mr. Simmons posts his scribble notes to the Facebook Group, National Biology Teachers, with pdf links for student work.  Below is a screenshot of a sample of Mr.Simmons’ work.  Astounding.  

Day One: Composition

Next week starts the new Composition class.  Here is a copy of my Day One plans.  I want the kids to experience many forms of writing: youth group newsletters, lab reports, English essays, Etsy shop descriptions.  Here is 5 Paragraph Essay.  Our first task is to edit the slideshow.  Numbers ten or fewer are written.  5 should be five.  However, the contents of the slideshow outline a bare-bones essay.  The first writing assignment is to describe their family’s birthday celebration.    I have links listed for more ideas.  My goal is to introduce Claim-Evidence-Reasoning to use when writing lab reports.  Here is an older blog post about discrepant events in science, using a Poly Density Kit.  Here’s hoping we have a blast!  

Teach Writing

 I’m teaching a Composition class this fall.  (I had to look to see if seasons are capitalized.). Here is a topic list for the class.  Here is my first day’s lesson.  I created another class in Google Classroom.  The Co-op met last night and requested a writing course.  The families have given me suggested topics.  I’m planning to learn a great deal—including to avoid using contractions!  I ordered a copy of Write Better Essays because I gave away my copy.  I plan to order extra copies of Warriner’s, Elements of Style, and MLA handbooks.  I’m excited for a new challenge.  One of the first assignments is to critique my blog posts.  Fun!