Contact Region 2:

Amy Page

Director

(208) 792-2093

ahpage@lcsc.edu

Keesje Mills

Support Staff

(208) 792-2681

irmc2@lcmail.lcsc.edu

We’re still looking for our

next Mathematics Specialist

www.lcsc.edu/irmc

In This Issue

Lesson Idea …………………..2

In the Library …………………4

Ask Amy……………………….5

Professional Development ….6

App of the Month …………….7

Classroom Conundrums …….7

Monthly Math Message February 2016

Introducing: Nichol Hall

Idaho Mathematics Program Coordinator

In October of 2015, Nichole Hall was appointed Idaho's new

Math Coordinator after the prior coordinator, Christine Avila,

resigned. Nichole holds an Elementary K-8 Certificate with a

Mathematics Endorsement. She is currently completing her

Master's in Mathematics Education at Boise State University.

Nichole began working at the Idaho State Department of Edu-

cation (SDE) in October of 2010 as the Program Specialist for

the Math Initiative. In October of 2011, she was promoted to

the Math Initiative Coordinator. In this position, Nichole also

oversaw the English proficiency assessment for Idaho's English

Learners. One year later, she was fully moved into the assess-

ment division, where she remained for three years. Nichole

has been with the Idaho SDE for a little over five year. Prior to

working at the Idaho SDE, Nichole was a middle school math

teacher in the Twin Falls School District, where she taught sev-

enth grade mathematics and pre-algebra.

2

Lesson Idea: Word Problems

From Kidspiration

Lesson Objective:

Students will solve word problems visually with a sequential, step-by-step approach.

Students of all ages struggle with word problems because it can be difficult to pull out important infor-

mation, transfer text to meaningful math processes and approach the problem one step at a time. This

lesson requires the Kidspriation software application published by Inspiration Software, Inc. 30-day

trials can be downloaded at www.inspiration.com/kidspiration.

Step 1:

Open Word Problems– Step by Step.kia from Kidspriation Starter>Activities>Math. Explain how to use

the Step Workspace to solve the word problems by pulling out important information from the text one

step at a time. For each step they must explain their thinking.

Step 2:

Complete the problem as a class. Begin by asking students what each yellow box represents and

what the color tiles could represent in this problem. Ask them to pull out the sentence or phrase from

the test that provides information about the first step necessary to solve the problem.

For example, “Ella, Lily and Brody have 12 pieces of candy to share. First they divide them equally.”

Using the Add Step button, student work in step 1 is preserved, and a second step is added.

Continue adding steps until the problem is completed.

Step 3:

Break the students into small groups, depending on computer availability. Provide students with multiple

grade-level-appropriate work problems to solve using Step Workspace. Consider choosing word prob-

lems from classroom curriculum materials. Students can begin a new document in Math View from the

Starter Screen, check the box next to Use Steps on the Math Tool Starter, and choose any Math

Tool with which to solve the problem.

Step 4:

Reconvene as a class and show at least two different student solutions for each assigned problem. Did

each student use the same number of steps? Did each student choose the same Math Tool? How did

student approaches vary, and how were they similar?

Going on:

For more examples of using Step Workspace to solve math problems, see Long Division.kia and Unlike

Denominator-Adding.kia.

4

In the Library

Focus in High School Mathematics...

...Fostering Reasoning and Sense Making for all Students.

No matter what the mathematics class, infusing reasoning and sense

making into the daily mathematical experience of all high school stu-

dents is crucial. "All high school students" includes low-performing

students; gifted students; students of different racial, sociolinguistic,

and socioeconomic status; students with disabilities; and students

who are mathematically talented. This volume hopes to further the

dialogue about how to create for all students empowering mathemati-

cal experiences that incorporate reasoning & sense making.

Smarter Together

Complex Instruction is a set of strategies that address the problems

that confound group work, but that create powerful learning for chil-

dren. The authors describe the lessons they learned using group

work, explain how complex instruction help unsuccessful students

and analyze how to design assignments that support group learning

using group worthy tasks giving examples and help adapting math

problems from their own curricula.

Set

The Tower of Hanoi was inspired by a legend

that tells of a Hindu temple where the pyramid

puzzle might have been used for the mental

discipline of young priests. Legend says that at

the beginning of time the priests in the temple

were given a stack of 64 gold disks, each one

a little smaller than the one beneath it. Their

assignment was to transfer the 64 disks from

one of the three poles to another, with one im-

portant provision. A large disk could never be

placed on top of a smaller one. Where's the MATH in this game? The num-

ber of separate transfers of single disks the priests must make to transfer the

tower is 2 to the 64th minus 1, or 18,446,744,073,709,551,615 moves! If the

priests worked day and night, making one move every second it would take

slightly more than 580 billion years to accomplish the job! You have a great

deal fewer disks than 64 here. Can you calculate the number of moves it will

take you to move the disks from one of the three poles to another?

Manipulative

5

From The Moscow Puzzles by Boris Kordemsky:

A man has to take a wolf, a goat, and some cabbage across a river. His rowboat has enough room for the man plus

either the wolf or the goat or the cabbage. If he takes the cabbage with him, the wolf will eat the goat. If he takes

the wolf, the goat will eat the cabbage. Only when the man is present are the goat and the cabbage safe from their

enemies. All the same, the man carries wolf, goat, and cabbage across the river. How?

Ask Amy:

Q: My students are able to use manipulatives in my classroom and they seem to work very well. I wish there were a

way that I could send some of them home with those students so they could work more with manipulative. Do you have

any suggestions on how I can do this?

A: That is a great question. While there are a host of apps it is hard to find a virtual resource with universal appeal. There

are many websites, but most of them require for you to create an account and some of them even charge a fee to use

them. Glencoe offers a great free resource with virtual manipulatives for PreK-8th grade: http://www.glencoe.com/sites/

common_assets/mathematics/ebook_assets/vmf/VMF-Interface.html. I would love to hear from other teachers regard-

ing what websites they might have their students use for virtual manipulatives.

Virtual pattern blocks on Glencoe’s website

Professional Development

Idaho Regional Academy: Noticing and Number Talks

February 26-27, 2016, Pocatello ID

Learn about noticing students’ mathematical thinking (K-12) and scientific thinking (K-5). Keynote speaker Dr. Brad Findell will discuss the importance and methods for noticing stu-dents’ thinking and making decisions accordingly.

Additionally, in grade band breakout sessions (K-2; 3-5; 6-8; 9-12), teachers and administra-tors will have the opportunity to engage in discourse about number talks and how to ask questions that will elicit students’ understanding. There will be an administrator-specific after-noon breakout.

NCTM Annual Meeting & Expo

April 13-16, 2016, San Francisco, CA

Join more than 9,000 of your mathematics education peers at the premier math education event of the year. Registration and travel information will be available in August.

TMT: 3rd-5th Grade (3 credits)

June 13-17th, 2016 at Lewis-Clark State College

The Teaching Mathematical Thinking (TMT) course fulfills the 3 credit MTI course require-ment for Idaho teachers. Join Pedagogical topics will focus on attending to student thinking and reasoning through the use of discourse and questioning, professional noticing, and the effective use of manipulatives or other mathematical tools.

KHAN ACADEMY TAKES IDAHO BY

January 29th through April 1st

Students in grades 3–12 can master math skills on khanacademy.org to earn rewards and recognition for themselves and their school. LearnStorm gives every student a way to suc-ceed, no matter their level.

• Easy to get students going and requires no changes to the classroom

• Strengthens CCM skills

• Builds confidence & a Growth Mindset in every student

• Recognizes school teams as well as individual students with real-life rewards

Conundrum Answers:

January 2015

Elementary School:

16

Middle School:

10 cm wide

High School:

60/17

~~Email us for the full proof~~

Classroom Conundrums

Elementary School

Misty and Yesenia have a group of Base Ten Blocks. Misty has six more blocks than Yesenia. Yesenia’s blocks represent 17. Together they have 22 blocks, and the total numbers of blocks represent 85. What blocks could each girl have? What is the value?

Middle School

The odometer of a car reads 15951 miles. In two hours the odometer shows another palindromic number. How fast was the car traveling in those two hours?

High School

In the figure, RED is a right triangle with legs of length 6 and 8

BLUE is a square.

What is the area of BLUE?

R

D E

B L

U

8

6

http://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/62804856022

App of the Month:

Towers of Hanoi Towers of Hanoi is puzzle solving game.

While moving discs for left most tower to right most tower only two rules, One

you can move top most disc and Second you can not put larger disc on smaller

disc. .