It's Hip to be Square

It's hip to be square, if you are a square number, that is!  Ms. Madden's class was in the groove today learning about square numbers.  Ms. Madden was doing an awesome job reminding her class about the definition of a square number and the difference between 3 squared and 3 times 2.

We all know how important wait time is when asking quesitons and Ms. Madden did an excellent job waiting for all of her students to formulate an answer to the question before calling on someone.   I also loved that her room is arranged so that she is able to instruct the class while walking around to see that everyone is participating and following along on their paper with the correct answers.

Teach on, Ms. Madden!  Way to teach those squares!

A "Prime" Lesson

Mrs. Edwards students were in "prime" form today.  I loved the way Mrs. Edwards had students complete arrays for several different numbers as their math message and then used these numbers as a jump off for the lesson.  After having the students show the different arrays for the numbers on the board, she reminded students that the dimensions for the arrays were also the FACTORS of the number.  I LOVE IT!  Nice work, Mrs. Edwards!  Once the definitions for Prime and Composite numbers were in the students' notes, they went back to those same numbers and decided which numbers were prime and which were composite. 

And her smart students are deep thinkers!  One student asked about the number 1 and where it fit into the definitions.  Through a closer look at both of the definitions, they decided it didn't fit either of them and was "special."

Way to go, Mrs. Edwards!  Keep up the great work.

Making the Complicated Simple!

“Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple – that's creativity.” ~Charles Mingus

And isn’t that what teaching is all about!

Honors Classes Rock at 7th & 8th Grade Center

Mrs. Hahs and Mr. Savage are doing a wonderful job with the honors students at the 7th and 8th Grade Center! I spent several hours with these bright students on Wednesday and was very impressed with what I saw. Students were showing evidence of their learning at the board in all of the honors classes. In both Mrs. Hahs's and Mr. Savage's classrooms this caused other students to point out flaws in their classmates work and begin excellent discussions that made the students justify their answers. Talk about "things that make you go Hmmmm!" I love it!

Way to go, Mr. Savage and Mrs. Hahs! You are doing it right!