Thinking about Math

Hello Friends - and I mean the grown-up friends who read, not the little friends that are really starting to act goofy. I sent a little friend to the office yesterday -- I think that might have been the first time I've had to do that all year. He's been acting progressively silly, and I warned him he would have to leave if he didn't stop. He didn't, and I started to remind him again to stop being silly -- but then I had to stop myself and remind both of us I had already warned him. Argh - and then he started crying. 

Today I gave the AimsWeb test in math. You know, because it's relevant. Because I've been teaching all this stuff. Or not. You know, Engage New York. With fidelity. 

So most of my kids kicked butt on the computation part. Because we've been doing computation since before Christmas. {Except this error - hello, little friends. The first thing we ALWAYS check is whether we add or subtract. Except the 6 students who didn't on the test.}

Many of my kids did not kick butt on the concepts part. Because we've been doing computation since Christmas. 

And that even includes 3 days of teaching to the test. So my high kids, most of them, caught on to fractions, missing numbers, time, money. But I'm sorry my little friends that need to go slow and explore. We just haven't gotten there in my teacher's manual and quite frankly I don't think we'll make it before the end of the year. 

And so, for me, this time of year becomes a time of reflection and what I want to do differently. 

I'm afraid I need to cut out some of the "fun" things I've done and do a little more in math so that my students become more well-rounded in math. Of course, there is always the option of making the well-rounded stuff fun. 

So, this is more just thinking out loud - or thinking through typing. I'd be glad to hear your thoughts.