Making Math Accessible for All Students
Many students struggle with writing equations for linear functions, even with only 2 parameters to fill in (slope and the y-intercept are parameters for the equation). This approach make a connection between the table and graph with the equation. The relevant, real life context helps students.
Link to YouTube video showing how to present the activity.
Link to Facebook Reel showing presentation.
Link to Google Slides used in video – make a copy to edit.
Link to handout used in the presentation.
Here is a link to the Intro to Simplifying (no negatives).
Link to the Google Slides used to present the simplifying.
Link to a Youtube video showing how it works.
Link to a Facebook Reel showing how it works.
Link to a YouTube video showing how it works
Link to a Google Slides presentation showing the steps. Make a copy to use it.
Link to a Facebook Reel showing how it works.
The slide show below presents all 4 pages.
Here is a link to the student handout, and a link to the teacher handout.
The image below is from a post on elapsed time. I wanted to create different time scales to match clocks I could create on math-aids.com.
In the video I show how I created the time number line. In the top image below, you can see the table highlighted. I then show how I copy and paste the number line and then edit to create units with money, with negatives.
Here is a screenshot of the video. You can see the number line in an early stage of development. Below the image is a link the video.
Below is an image of the three customized number lines. Here is a link to the handout, which is in WORD format to allow you to revise to suit your work with students.
If you find this helpful, please consider making a small donation to a fund to build an accessible playground at a camp site for individuals with disabilities.
I previously posted scaffolded handouts for solving 1 step linear equations. I added a couple steps to create a new handout. In it I flesh out ALL of the steps, including identifying the inverse, the number to eliminate, simplifying the expressions to get the identity (0 or 1) and then simplifying again to eliminate the identity (see images below).
When I work with advanced or talented and gifted students, I recommend that enrichment be used to “go wide, not deep.” The point is not to simply move the students vertically, but challenge them to go deeper with current content or use critical thinking activities.
Here is an online resource of problems from the Paul Erdős International Math Challenge that will indeed challenge almost any student (check the problem below for 3rd and 4th graders).
Here is another online resource of problems from the Art of Problem Solving (AoPS). The link is to a search posts that address practice problems related to the American Mathematics Competition for 8, 10, 12. Below is an AMC 8 practice problem.
Below are photos from multiple lessons to introduce multiplication. They are combined into a single document. I use a task analysis approach to first develop conceptual understanding of multiplication as repeated addition. This is followed by skip counting and then using skip counting to multiply. The lessons are not necessary completed in a single day.
Lesson 1 focus is to unpack repeated addition vs simple addition to build on prior knowledge.
Lesson 2 focus is to unpack arrays by identifying rows and columns which are the factors in a multiplication problem. It builds on the previous lesson with repeated addition of groups that are then converted into arrays of items and then into arrays of circles and squares.
Lesson 3 transitions from repeated addition to skip counting (with a future focus of multiplication by skip counting vs fact memory).
Lesson 4 combines skip counting and the rows and columns of arrays into a multiplication sentence.
Lesson 5 uses skip counting to multiply, first with arrays and groups, then as multiplication problems. Here is the link to a post about the Grumpy Cat Jamboard cited in the document.
The nature of the task analysis approach is a sequence of topics building towards the objective of multiplying single digit numbers. Mastery of each of the steps or lessons can be recorded as progress towards mastery of the overall objective. Below is an excerpt from a Google Sheet that is used to record such progress. This can be shared with the team, including parents.
Several elementary teachers shared that elapsed time was the hardest topic to teach. Here is a scaffolded handout to help compute elapsed time. The elapsed time setting is presented with two clocks, starting and stopping time. Below is an image for one of the more advanced pages of the handout. Here is how the strategy works.
The handout starts with a focus on identifying the minutes leading up to the the next whole hours and the minutes after the last whole hour. The task demand is increased incrementally with whole hours only, then only one or the other clock having minutes then both clocks having minutes.
