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The Blog of a K-8 Math Specialist

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Author: Jenna Laib

K-8 Math Specialist near Boston, MA
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How We Listen: Astrid’s Thinking about 5 x 6

27 Mar 202327 Mar 2023
"Clinical interviews are an opportunity to listen closely," I caught myself telling a colleague recently. But... is that enough? How we frame the act of listening changes our entire experience.…
#tmwyk…

Ramadan Pizzas: Mathematizing Children’s Literature #tmwyk

22 Mar 2023
Tonight marks the start of Ramadan! To honor it, I went to my daughter's first grade class to read the book The Gift of Ramadan, written by Rabiah York Lumbard…
in the classroom

“It’s as fat as it is tall”: Language and Concept Development with Quick Images

7 Mar 2023
Some days, things just go sideways. It's the reality of teaching. I watched as Grade 1 teacher Rachel led her students into the classroom fifteen minutes later than usual. Rachel…
assessment…

Listening to Understand: Visualizing Adrian’s Thinking about Comparing Fractions

26 Feb 202326 Feb 2023
Marilyn Burns recently blogged about a 38 second video clip that I probably spent 380 seconds watching. (click on the image below to read the post -- but then come…
curriculum…

Preserving Equality — Algebraic Thinking Across Grade Levels

13 Feb 202313 Feb 2023
Equality is a fundamental concept of mathematics. The way that we can play around with values -- adjusting numbers slightly -- but maintain equality is fascinating, and differs between operations.…
in the classroom

Peas and Carrots… and Beans

9 Feb 20238 Feb 2023
Last year, our first grade team had the opportunity to work with Investigations authors from TERC -- the inimitable Karen Economopolous, with Megan Murray in absentia. To prepare for our…
in the classroom

Creating Practice Opportunities with Games

8 Feb 20238 Feb 2023
In my district, we are fortunate to have core curricula that provide meaningful learning opportunities, that have helped us build coherence in terms of both content and practices across K-8.…
in the classroom

Using Slow Reveals to Illuminate Tiny but Powerful Details in Graphs

2 Jan 2023
This blog post was originally published on SlowRevealGraphs.com Last week, a middle school social studies teacher and I co-planned a slow reveal graphs lesson to launch a project about current events…
games…

Facilitating Number Boxes, Part 2 – Supporting Reasoning with Representations (Learning With Students)

15 Dec 20223 Feb 2023
"Hmm.. 8 + 3. Let's put the 8 in the ten frame. If we add 3, will it be more than, less than, more equal to 10?" Kyleigh missed parts…
assessment…

I Don’t Speak Russian, But…

13 Dec 2022
My mother-in-law speaks three languages fluently -- and none of them are English. Her speech dances between Arabic and French and Algerian, and I do my best mental gymnastics to…
curriculum…

“What Are You Hoping For?”: Facilitating the Number Boxes Game to Develop Reasoning – Learning with Teachers

8 Dec 20223 Feb 2023
Number Boxes is one of my favorite games to play. The set up looks similar to an Open Middle problem, with empty boxes that you will place digits into. Open…
#tmwyk

Would You Believe Me? #tmwyk

26 Nov 2022
Today -- an objectively beautiful day in Boston -- we took a walk along the river behind our house. It is late November; the trees have mostly shed their leaves,…
curriculum

How do we measure change in data?

25 Nov 2022
This blog post was originally published on SlowRevealGraphs.com How do we measure change over time? The y-axis can be so deceptive. Change the scale a little, and a small change looks…
curriculum…

Turtle Time Trials & Leveraging Creativity To Deepen Mathematical Understanding

13 Nov 202212 Nov 2022
What if...? In a lot of tasks that we give students, there's an intended answer. Okay, sure, yes, I guess you could interpret the problem in this divergent way, but…
in the classroom

Seventeen Pumpkins

2 Nov 2022
There were seventeen pumpkins, all in a row. I walked into the kindergarten room a few minutes into the math block, and I tried to get my bearings quickly. I…
in the classroom

Five Little Pumpkins: Kindergarten Conjectures

31 Oct 202231 Oct 2022
It's Halloween! This morning, the kindergartners were reciting and acting out "Five Little Pumpkins." Five little pumpkins, sitting on a gateThe first one said, "oh, my, it's getting late."The second…
assessment…

Restless Teachers

13 Oct 202213 Oct 2022
My favorite educators are restless. They have that itch. Nothing is ever completely satisfying. If you chat with them after a lesson, they'll tell you three things they would change.…
#tmwyk

Rush Hour Conversations

8 Aug 20227 Aug 2022
The highway was crowded. All four lanes crawled slowly northward, each car taking its turn to move a few precious feet before slowing and stopping. Idling. I must have read…
education

Chelsea

25 Jul 202225 Jul 2022
If you walked past my classroom, you could smell it from the doorway. In fact, you could smell it from slightly down the hall, past my students' cubbies, almost to…
education…

100 Posts

20 Jul 202220 Jul 2022
This post is the 100th on my blog! 🎉 With all due respect to any of you beautiful and talented people reading this, I write this blog, first and foremost,…

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Recent Posts

  • How We Listen: Astrid’s Thinking about 5 x 6 27 Mar 2023
  • Ramadan Pizzas: Mathematizing Children’s Literature #tmwyk 22 Mar 2023
  • “It’s as fat as it is tall”: Language and Concept Development with Quick Images 7 Mar 2023
  • Listening to Understand: Visualizing Adrian’s Thinking about Comparing Fractions 26 Feb 2023
  • Preserving Equality — Algebraic Thinking Across Grade Levels 13 Feb 2023
  • Peas and Carrots… and Beans 9 Feb 2023
  • Creating Practice Opportunities with Games 8 Feb 2023
  • Using Slow Reveals to Illuminate Tiny but Powerful Details in Graphs 2 Jan 2023
  • Facilitating Number Boxes, Part 2 – Supporting Reasoning with Representations (Learning With Students) 15 Dec 2022
  • I Don’t Speak Russian, But… 13 Dec 2022

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Upcoming Conference Presentations & Workshops

March 30, 2023
ATMIM Conference
(Worcester, MA)
“Games that Promote Equity and Mathematical Brilliance in the Upper Elementary Classroom” (with Louisa Connaughton)

SEE OTHER RECENT EXPERIENCES…

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access centering students ideas child study clinical interview desmos division education equity five practices formative assessment fractions games geometry grade 1 grade 2 grade 3 grade 4 grade 5 grade 6 grade 7 grade 8 identity illustrative mathematics intervention Investigations (Inv3) kindergarten listening making connections mtbos multiplication problem-based instruction problem-based learning productive discussions race remote learning slow reveal graphs student thinking student work visual representations writing
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