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Monday, February 18, 2013

Fractions and Photoshop

As some of you may or may not know, I only teach math.  Well, math and science....but waaaayyyyy more math than science.  I try to weave in science wherever I can, but since our state standardized test (called STAAR in Texas) is in math and reading for 3rd graders, we focus much more on the math!!  I have a great team teacher who teaches the reading/writing/social studies part.  We both have a homeroom, but we each teach 41 kiddos in all.  That's....a lot.....of kids!! 

We have been studying fractions.....all of last week, and I have been pleasantly surprised with how well my kids are doing.  They seem to understand the concept of parts/whole and we played and practiced a lot last week.  Of course, I used many resources that I have found here in blogland.  Some of the awesome things I found were some fraction strips from Math Minds, a few journal pages for a good intro to fractions by Frogs and Cupcakes and a multitude of stuff from this awesome lady Donna Boucher over at Math Coach's Corner.

 
I am going to be using alot of her fraction stuff this coming week for comparing fractions and equivalent fractions.  If you don't follow her blog, you totally should!!!  I follow her on facebook as well and she is always looking for new and exciting ways to teach math.  Follow her....do it....do it now!
 
I am still learning so much about blogging.  I am crying over playing with a trial verson of Adobe Photoshop right now and I am completely, 100% lost.  There are far too many buttons and toolbars.  Is there a manual I can download to figure it out?  I just have the trial version right now, but it came with full access to the whole shebang!  L.O.S.T.!!!!!  I still can't figure out how to add a picture to my blog and make the picture the hyperlink.  I wanted to share some of the pictures of the cool stuff I used this past week, but all I could do was put the hyperlink in the text, not the image.  Lots to still figure out.  I don't consider myself to be completely ignorant when it comes to technology, but this blog experience has been humbling. 
 
Hopefully, by the end of this week, I will have some classroom pics to show you and I will have figured out how to....do more.  Wish me luck!
 

~Mandi



2 comments:

  1. Mandi,
    I wish I was closer to you so I could run over and be your mentor teacher! Donna Boucher is definitely the next best thing. She is a Texas Math Coach and her materials are awesome. I met her recently and she is wonderful! For Math STAAR prep, take a look at Countdown to STAAR. We use it in my school. Here's the link: http://www.mathwarm-ups.com. Check out their free trial to see the materials. One last suggestion, try using Powerpoint to create vs. Photoshop. I, too, am trying to learn Photoshop and the learning curve is huge! You are doing great!

    Diane
    Teaching With Moxie

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  2. Diane-

    You have no idea how much I wished you could run over and be my mentor teacher!!! And you're right...Donna is fantastic...genius! It's funny that you mentioned Countdown because we were just given the materials to start using in the classroom! I will start using them when we come back from Spring Break. I'm so glad to hear that you love them...I've never used it before. And thanks for the tip on Powerpoint...I'll try that. Photoshop is killin' me :)

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