By: Mary Kienstra on: February 8, 2014 in: authentic audience, Engagement, Math, math videos, movie-star
In the revised Bloom’s Taxonomy, creating is the highest order thinking skill. It’s interesting if you think about it. Kids love to create. Yet often in school there are limited opportunities for kids to do any real creating. This year I have iPads in my classroom. (That changes everything – and that’s a topic for […] Read more
By: Mary Kienstra on: February 3, 2014 in: Olympics. engagement
This year we have an outstanding opportunity to bring a real life event to our math classrooms. The Winter Olympics in Sochi are just the thing to help our students realize that math is everywhere. Let’s make math an Olympic event. The Sochi Winter Olympics are coming up this week. What a perfect way for […] Read more
By: Mary Kienstra on: January 31, 2014 in: coordinate grid, dance, Engagement, Math, movement, ordered pairs
Every once in a while, you have to shake things up a bit. You have to keep them guessing. Keep them wondering. Engage them in a new way. Make them move! It was time to add a little movement: DDR style. It was time to dance on the coordinate plane. Here’s what happened: One morning, […] Read more
By: Mary Kienstra on: January 27, 2014 in: Engagement, Line up, Math, numeracy, vocabulary
Do the students in your class have class numbers or birthdays or any way that they can describe themselves with a number? Use those numbers to get your students to engage in more numeracy thinking every day! Use these ideas when it is time to call on groups of students or to line up in […] Read more
By: Mary Kienstra on: January 23, 2014 in: dice, differentiation, engagement. computation, Math
Dice add a magic element for any math lesson! Kids see dice as game pieces, but I see dice as a key to student engagement in math. Got dice? Add dice and leave the worksheet behind! The beautiful thing about using dice in math is that any lesson with dice comes to life! It might […] Read more
By: Mary Kienstra on: January 17, 2014 in: engagement. computation, Greg Tang, Kakooma, Math, Mean, SmartBoard
Friday has always been a good day at school, but this year Friday has become Kakooma Challenge Day in my classroom. Maybe you’ve heard of the Kakooma game from www.gregtangmath.com If you haven’t, take a look. Kakooma Challenge gets my whole class talking about math. They are so motivated in this […] Read more
By: Mary Kienstra on: January 11, 2014 in: Collaboration, differentiation, Engagement, lanyard, Math
My latest idea for improving math engagement is what I call, “Lanyard Math”. Funny thing about this is that it is just the same problems from the student book – presented in a new format that makes them very engaging. Lanyard math is actually an idea that […] Read more
By: Mary Kienstra on: January 6, 2014 in: Engagement, grades, Math, measure
Grade Less, Measure More.This is going to be my mantra for the remainder of this school year and beyond. I can measure student learning every day using many different kinds of tools: my own observations, written work, student discussions, exit slips, or whatever is going on in class. These are not necessarily graded measurements, but […] Read more
By: Mary Kienstra on: January 3, 2014 in: Engagement, homework, Math
It’s time to get ready for the second “beginning” of the school year. This beginning is without the fanfare of the August/September beginning, but is at least as important. When our students come back to school in January, they already know the routines and expectations. They should be ready to learn. But… is it time […] Read more
By: Mary Kienstra on: <a href="https://marykienstra.com/36/">December 30, 2013</a> in: Engagement, fun, Math
Welcome!Are you looking for ideas to make your math class more engaging? more interesting? more fun? You know the more engaging your math class becomes, the more your students will learn.Subscribe or check back here often to see new ways to make your math class fun! Read more
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