Mrs. Katchen's Class 2017-18

Monday Buddy Reading:  Students read a Time for Kids  magazine with their reading partner looking for strong vocabulary words. This was a way to practice working on reading comprehension, collaborating with a peer, and practiced our reading strategy of finding good words in reading to increase our vocabulary.  Tuesday Real World Math: Students continued working with their math partner to discuss the Real World Math problem from Friday. They used the app, Explain Everything, to set up slides to show their thinking in all areas: Notices, Wonders, Main Question, Low-High Estimate, and Math Work. This app allows students to show their thinking in many ways: drawing, typing, pictures, and audio recording. Students had time to work with their partner and then voice recorded their thinking at home on how they solved the main question. This is an activity in math we will do each Friday using the voice recording as a way for students to explain their thinking and develop th...

Monday: Math:   We started our mental math unit this week! It is one of my favorite unit in math. Here are some reasons why: 3 Reasons to Use Mental Math I am a huge advocate of mental math. However, there was a time when I questioned what the big deal about mental math was. I was one of those teachers who firmly believed that students should learn how to add and subtract using carrying and borrowing, and that was that! Well, was I ever wrong. When I began teaching mental math, I was astonished at the growth that students experienced. Students who were not “mathematical thinkers” suddenly “got it!” And the students who were already mathematical thinkers became even quicker with their facts! For those of you who are wondering why you should start teaching it, here are three good reasons. 1.  Mental Math encourages actual understanding, not just memorization. When you teach students how to add an equation such as 19+23 using carrying, you are teaching a seri...