Confessions of a Middle Grades Math Student- Rule #3

Hello All! Please share your thoughts about other ways to help students understand the "order" of subtraction in the early grades. What might be a better early grades strategy?

TpT Seller Challenge: Dare to Dream

The Week 2 challenge for the TPT Sellers Challenge is to share my goals and dreams for my TPT business. After joining the seller community one year ago, I have found a lot of enjoyment in this venture and have big plans for the future!

• Share knowledge and grow professionally with other colleagues and scholars- This community is full of knowledgeable people. I learn something new with every person I met, product I create, and blog that I read. 
• Pay off debt- Getting an advanced degree while trying to live my life have come at a big cost. I look forward to paying off the debt, one bill at a time. 
• Be a successful entrepreneur- I started this business because I wanted to work for myself and do things The Routty Math Teacher way! I am looking forward to gaining more followers, getting more participation, and creating and selling more products. TpT Top Ten Sellers list- here I come!
• Stay at home with my kids- While I do not have kids yet, I am looking forward to the future. I am getting married in 17 days. Yes, 17 days. Wow! We both want children and are planning for me to be able to spend time at home so that I can enjoy all of those precious moments.
• Travel the world- So after 35 years, I just received my first passport-- for my honeymoon in Cancun. Now that I have it, and a willing travel partner, I look forward to traveling more. All I need is some help for making it through the plane ride! :o(

What are your dreams for the future? Please share! 

#TPTSellerChallenge

TpT Seller Challenge: Problem Solving on the Farm with a Brand New Cover!

Hello Again! This TPT Seller Challenge has me going makeover crazy! I just updated the cover of my best-selling product- Problem Solving on the Farm. This pack encourages you to expand your students' problem solving toolboxes while they become familiar with strategy terminologies and procedures, as well as, explore and evaluate multiple methods to solve problems. Check it out athttp://bit.ly/RMTProblemSolvingontheFarm. ‪

#TPTSellerChallenge

TpT Seller Challenge: Math Journal Rubric & Scoring Guide with a Brand New Cover!

Hello All! I joined a TPT Seller Challenge this week and have just completed the first challenge. I am so excited to share it with you-- a new product cover for my essential Math Journal Rubric & Scoring Guide pack. Journals are a great way to integrate writing in math and encourage your students to communicate their thinking mathematically through written expression. This guide makes a great planning tool for the new school year. Check it out at http://bit.ly/RMTMathJournalGuide. ‪#‎TPTSellerChallenge‬

#TPTSellerChallenge

Confessions of a Middle Grades Math Student: Rule #2

Please share your thoughts about how using keywords can be misleading for students. Also, please share ideas for teaching students how to analyze word problems more effectively.

Confessions of a Middle Grades Math Student: Rule #1

Please share your thoughts about how to address this potential pitfall when teaching this topic.

New Blog Series!

Hello Routty Math Teacher Community,

Welcome to my new blog series-- Confessions of a Middle Grades Math Student!

While we all look forward to summer as a time for some much needed rest and relaxation, we also spend considerable time preparing for the new school year. With that in mind, I will be providing purposeful professional development to support your summer learning as we prepare for the new school year. 

Over the course of the summer, I will be providing insight into the rules, tips, and strategies that students bring into the middle grades mathematics classroom from earlier grades that do not support the development of more advanced skills. 

I will introduce a new topic each week, drawing the majority of the topics from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) article titled, "13 Rules that Expire" by Karen S. Karp, Sarah B. Bush, and Barbara J. Dougherty (2014). You can download a free preview copy from NCTM here. In this article, the authors describe rules that "expire" and are no longer valid at a certain point in a student's mathematics career.

Through this blog series, I will explore these rules and offer suggestions on ways to better support our students' growth and understanding of the mathematical content and skills underlying them. The information will be presented from the student's perspective so that we might gain some insight on how our students internalize what we say. 

It is my hope to generate some discussion and get feedback on these ideas. Please feel free to comment here within the blog or on The Routty Math Teacher Facebook Page.

Happy Reading!

Clipart Courtesy of: http://www.phillipmartin.info/clipart/homepage.htm