by Annie Sussman | Dec 2, 2019 |
In conversations about differentiation, strategies to scaffold learning for students who need more support, and strategies to extend the learning for students who are ready for more challenge often come up. One topic that is rarely considered however, is the...
by Arusha Hollister | Nov 18, 2019 |
Many of us were taught to “estimate” in elementary school. Maybe we were asked how many jellybeans there were in a jar. Or asked to round before finding the answer to a computation problem. But for many of us there was little connection between those activities and...
by Megan Murray | Oct 28, 2019 |
Last spring, I visited a Kindergarten classroom near the end of the year. Students were participating in a Math Workshop focused on the teen numbers, choosing among activities that asked them to identify and recognize teen numbers; to represent them in several...
by The Investigations 3 Center Team | Apr 29, 2019 |
Six of our staff traveled to San Diego to attend the NCSM and NCTM conferences at the beginning of April. Below are four staff members’ reflections on a session that stood out to them. (Read the first three here.) Keith: “The Iris Carl Equity Address: Equity and...
by The Investigations 3 Center Team | Apr 22, 2019 |
Six of our staff traveled to San Diego to attend the NCSM and NCTM conferences at the beginning of April. Below are three staff members’ reflections on a session that stood out to them. Four more to follow next time. Keith: “From Oakland to Wakanda: Transforming...
by Arusha Hollister | Feb 4, 2019 |
In my years of leading in-person and online professional development, the idea of teaching students that certain “key words” signify a particular operation (e.g. “altogether means add”) often comes up when discussing story problems. People also generally see the power...
by Keith Cochran | Jan 22, 2019 |
Question: Why was the work with percents taken out of the 5th grade curriculum in the 3rd edition? Answer: In the 1st and 2nd editions of Investigations, there was a unit (Name that Portion and What’s That Portion?) that included lessons that connected what 5th...
by Arusha Hollister | Jan 7, 2019 |
In schools that use Investigations, families often feel unsure of how to help their children with math homework. Many parents/caregivers have told me that they don’t understand the strategies their children are using and don’t know what to do if their child is...
by Arusha Hollister | Dec 10, 2018 |
Last year, my colleague Keith and I worked a few times with a group of 5th grade teachers. One of the questions they asked us to help them think about related to this 5th grade benchmark: “Fluently solve multidigit multiplication problems using a variety of strategies...
by The Investigations 3 Center Team | Nov 28, 2018 |
Question: If the CCSS indicates that Grade 2 students are supposed to be working with numbers to 1,000, why doesn’t this work begin sooner? Why are students still working with numbers under 20 and numbers under 100 for so much of the year? Answer: The Common...
