Beyond the Classroom |
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"I just wanted to share the joy of [one of my students] being SO EXCITED about the EDM game kit. He begs for just a few more minutes every day. We learn a game and he gets hooked on it and doesn’t want to learn another one. We’ve played Name that Number several times this year. In case you don’t know how, you and partner(s) get dealt 5 cards. Then a card is turned over to be the “target card”. You have to arrange your 5 cards to get the target card by adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing. The object is to try and use as many of your 5 cards that you can. To get to the point, he came to me and said, 'Check me, Mrs. Wood.' He began by saying '14-19,' and of course I said, 'You mean 19-14' because he and few others are always getting that mixed up. He said, 'No, I mean 14-19 because I want to get a negative number so I can get my target number.' I was so proud of him! Of course he was smiling ear to ear because I kept saying how proud I was of his thinking! We weren’t even talking about negatives, he just was thinking of ways he could possible arrange his 5 cards. I just wanted to share because he thinks so hard while playing the games; it is truly how he learns math. I am going to have to work hard to figure out a way for him to connect every game with problems so on MAP and PASS he can make the connection of the skills of the games to the problems on the paper. "Beyond the Classroom has been very motivational and helpful for teachers and the curriculum specialists at our school. Teachers gained a better understanding of how Everyday Math is designed to be taught and assessed. It was beneficial to see lessons modeled and to have discussions with Mrs. Johnson to ensure all teacher have a clear understanding of the lessons taught. In addition, they were able to preplan for upcoming lessons. The teachers gained many new teaching strategies to help students develop number sense and the ability to do mental math. They were given the opportunity to learn many games that promote students learning math concepts at a concrete level prior to learning at an abstract level. I would highly recommend it to any teacher that would like to improve their instruction in Mathematics." ~ Sharon Tyler - Curriculum Specialist CD-2, Loris Elementary "The consultants from Beyond The Classroom provided outstanding professional development for our teachers this year as we implemented Everyday Mathematics, Third Edition. They modeled lessons, shared strategies, demonstrated software and held question and answer periods with our teachers throughout the school year. Their knowledge of the SC Math Standards and their classroom experience with this curriculum gave them credibility with teachers and administrators who welcomed them into their buildings." ~ Gloria Brown - Math Coordinator, Horry County Schools Brown "Beyond the Classroom with Kara Johnson has transformed our entire school on how to teach students to think mathematically and the process of why of do things. She also worked very hard and creatively to model lesson for us and help us to understand the importance of games and authentic practice of skills and also the need to generate our own authentic assessments. She was an asset to our curriculum. She encouraged integration of science, math, and ELA. Students know there is more than one way to solve a problem." ~ Susan Senn, Curriculum Coordinator, Whitmire Community School Additional references: Sabrina Golf Mack - Math Coach, Georgetown County Schools Maryanne Rizzi - Math Coordinator, Beaufort County Schools Please contact us for additional references. |
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"I gave my students the following prompt: When I say the words Everyday Math, what does it make you feel like or think about? I had a variety of illustrations, from the online games, math boxes, and a drawing of all the components such as the SRB, journal, and Smart Board. However, one illustration stuck out to me because of the child it came from. This particular child struggles in math quite a bit and I often feel like he is not following. However, he illustrated the entire game board for Exponent ball. He labeled the yards on the field and even marked one dice as the base and the other as the exponent. I was so excited to see that he had the vocabulary down and was able to recreate the game from memory!