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Estimation 180 as a Number Sense Review

I have been back at teaching middle school for a month now. It has been challenging, amazing, and also so deeply tiring! Years ago I read that the biggest barrier to high school and middle school is lack of mastery of number sense from elementary school. I've tried lots of things as daily routines to help students close this gap but my favorite by far is an idea I got from 4th cohort Desmos Fellow friend Sarah Furman. Sarah shared that she uses Andrew Stadel's Estimation 180 problems but gives her students a clue that allows them to review a key number sense skill.  I decided to try it in my classroom and I don't really have words for how amazing it has been. Here is what I do: I give them an Estimation 180 problem that is either from Andrew Stadel's amazing website ( http://www.estimation180.com/ ) or one that I created about myself, my family, or my community: I ask students to write their first guess down. I walk around to get a sense of what they are w...
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Desmos ALL the Things

My district was not prepared for E-Learning. When the initial order came to close the schools on March 13, we were one week away from Spring Break. They didn't do anything for that first week.  After Spring Break the governor closed the schools through April and the district send out a their plan. They mailed work home to students and asked teachers to create videos and lessons to support the completion of that work through Schoology. I EDIT EVERYTHING. I THRIVE ON EDITING MY MATERIALS and ADJUSTING PACING. I CAN'T TEACH SOMETHING I CAN'T EDIT. But I had literally just started this job two months before, so I prepared to bite my tongue, but it wasn't as bad as I thought.  The first two weeks of that home learning period they used I-Ready Home Learning packets from Curriculum Resources. These weren't horrible and I created video tutoring lessons to post in Schoology, got good at Schoology links and pages, and hosted zoom tutoring calls. I figured out the home learnin...
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Google Slides Portfolios

 I have a new Saturday morning ritual. I get up before the kids and make coffee and sit in the basement and grade portfolios. But it's actually fun. (unlike grading tests) I am only 2 weeks and 4 slides in BUT THIS IS SO FUN!  I was deeply inspired by Adele's (@mathinct678) Blog Post Here.   And as soon as I heard we were 1-1 I wanted to find a way to try this.... After each class (we meet twice a week virtually) students are responsible for creating 2 portfolio slides summarizing their learning. These are from a template that I share with them via Schoology (our LMS).  Schoology makes it so easy to assign a Google Slide Presentation. It automatically copies my template into their google drives AND shares with me. When I grade I can do it through my Schoology account and I don't have to wade through the unorganized swamp that "Shared with Me" can become. I can comment in the Schoology Gradebook or Insert comments directly into the Slide Show.  My first slid...
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