in the classroom – Page 2 – Jenna Laib

in the classroom

“It’s as fat as it is tall”: Language and Concept Development with Quick Images

Some days, things just go sideways. It's the reality of teaching. I watched as Grade 1 teacher Rachel led her students into the classroom fifteen minutes later than usual. Rachel…

Preserving Equality — Algebraic Thinking Across Grade Levels

13 Feb 202313 Feb 2023

Equality is a fundamental concept of mathematics. The way that we can play around with values -- adjusting numbers slightly -- but maintain equality is fascinating, and differs between operations.…

in the classroom

Peas and Carrots… and Beans

9 Feb 20238 Feb 2023

Last year, our first grade team had the opportunity to work with Investigations authors from TERC -- the inimitable Karen Economopolous, with Megan Murray in absentia. To prepare for our…

in the classroom

Creating Practice Opportunities with Games

8 Feb 20238 Feb 2023

In my district, we are fortunate to have core curricula that provide meaningful learning opportunities, that have helped us build coherence in terms of both content and practices across K-8.…

in the classroom

Using Slow Reveals to Illuminate Tiny but Powerful Details in Graphs

This blog post was originally published on SlowRevealGraphs.com Last week, a middle school social studies teacher and I co-planned a slow reveal graphs lesson to launch a project about current events…

Facilitating Number Boxes, Part 2 – Supporting Reasoning with Representations (Learning With Students)

15 Dec 20223 Feb 2023

"Hmm.. 8 + 3. Let's put the 8 in the ten frame. If we add 3, will it be more than, less than, more equal to 10?" Kyleigh missed parts…

I Don’t Speak Russian, But…

My mother-in-law speaks three languages fluently -- and none of them are English. Her speech dances between Arabic and French and Algerian, and I do my best mental gymnastics to…

“What Are You Hoping For?”: Facilitating the Number Boxes Game to Develop Reasoning – Learning with Teachers

8 Dec 20223 Feb 2023

Number Boxes is one of my favorite games to play. The set up looks similar to an Open Middle problem, with empty boxes that you will place digits into. Open…

Turtle Time Trials & Leveraging Creativity To Deepen Mathematical Understanding

13 Nov 202212 Nov 2022

What if...? In a lot of tasks that we give students, there's an intended answer. Okay, sure, yes, I guess you could interpret the problem in this divergent way, but…

in the classroom

Seventeen Pumpkins

There were seventeen pumpkins, all in a row. I walked into the kindergarten room a few minutes into the math block, and I tried to get my bearings quickly. I…

in the classroom

Five Little Pumpkins: Kindergarten Conjectures

31 Oct 202231 Oct 2022

It's Halloween! This morning, the kindergartners were reciting and acting out "Five Little Pumpkins." Five little pumpkins, sitting on a gateThe first one said, "oh, my, it's getting late."The second…

Restless Teachers

13 Oct 202213 Oct 2022

My favorite educators are restless. They have that itch. Nothing is ever completely satisfying. If you chat with them after a lesson, they'll tell you three things they would change.…

formative assessment…

Secret Squares and Stop Signs

I wrote a deeply sad post today. As I went to publish it, I hesitated. Yesterday was my last day of school, and instead of ending with sadness, I'd like…

in the classroom

The Bossy Owl: Mathematizing “Two Many Birds” in First Grade, Part 1

27 Apr 202227 Apr 2022

In my last blog post, I described three ways in which Allison Hintz and Antony Smith’s Mathematizing Children’s Literature (Stenhouse, 2022) has disrupted how I think about the use of children's literature…

The Learning that Led to Today

19 Apr 202219 Apr 2022

"You aren't these kids' first teacher, and you won't be the last."-Jennifer N. When I was an early career teacher, teaching 4th grade, I wanted to teach my students everything.…

formative assessment…

What Will Help Plan for Tomorrow?

What do I need to know about student thinking today before I teach tomorrow? Towards the end of a math lesson, this refrain plays in my head. ______ In third…

formative assessment…

Understanding Negative Numbers: In Praise of Tiny Games

1 Feb 202217 Jun 2022

"Is this right?" Inaya asked me, pointing to the equation she'd recorded on her paper: 5 + (-8) = -13 We are one week into our 7th grade unit on…

five practices…

Stenhouse Blog Post: Using Student Work as an Anchor for Mathematical Discourse (Something to Talk About)

11 Jan 20221 Jan 2022

This blog post was published on the blog for Stenhouse Publishing, as part of a series on classroom discourse. You can read the complete post on the Stenhouse website. While…

“Oops, I Forgot”: Small, Beautiful Moments

2 Jan 20228 Oct 2022

I sat with fourth grade teacher Ms. Goldman in the back of her classroom as students cleaned up materials from the class. There were 15 minutes left in the school…

in the classroom

More Peas, More Carrots: Student Agency in Representations While Problem Solving

Today, the first graders revisited "Peas and Carrots." They had spent several days exploring part-part-whole thinking in the context of games like "how many are hiding?" and "counters in a…