Miss Norledge's Storeroom
  • Home
  • Resources by Topic
    • Number and Proportion
    • Algebra
    • Shape
  • Blog
    • Summer Blog Challenge
    • Staffrm 29 Days of Writing (2016)
    • Maths with Zoombinis
  • My resources
    • Downloads >
      • Mix Match
      • Rally Coach
      • Pass the Problem
    • Request a password
  • Links
    • Teaching blogs and resources
    • Web tools and apps
    • Exams and assessment
  • Privacy Policy
  • Home
  • Resources by Topic
    • Number and Proportion
    • Algebra
    • Shape
  • Blog
    • Summer Blog Challenge
    • Staffrm 29 Days of Writing (2016)
    • Maths with Zoombinis
  • My resources
    • Downloads >
      • Mix Match
      • Rally Coach
      • Pass the Problem
    • Request a password
  • Links
    • Teaching blogs and resources
    • Web tools and apps
    • Exams and assessment
  • Privacy Policy

             

  

Fractions with Cuisenaire rods

29/2/2016

 
Picture
Post 29/29 in the Staffrm #29daysofwriting challenge: Fraction expressions using Cuisenaire rods
​As per instruction, I am attempting to finish strong, and I had another really interesting lesson with Year 7 using the NRich Cuisenaire environment today, so I thought I'd go out in style with that.

Last Tuesday we did plenty of work with whole numbers and algebraic notation, and I was really keen to explore some fractions with them today; we completed a big unit of work on fractions before half term, but some of them didn't do so well when I assessed them, so I need to keep coming back to this with them.

​
A key issue that we've been trying to work around is the meaning of the numbers in a fraction; we've reinforced this loads with bar modelling, but the Cuisenaire stuff links in so nicely that I decided we'd take the opportunity to attempt some fractional expressions.

Read More

Cuisenaire rods and introducing algebra

23/2/2016

 
Picture
Post 23/29 in the Staffrm #29daysofwriting challenge: Putting ideas into practise
So I had one of those lessons today that reminds me exactly how great this job can be. I snuck in an extra blog over half term about using Cuisenaire rods to introduce algebraic expressions with Year 7, and I guinea-pigged the lesson with them today - it worked so well, and I imagine would have been even better if we'd actually had sets of Cuisenaire rods rather than working on square paper.

We started by playing around with the Cuisenaire interactive from NRich - none of them had used the rods at primary, so I thought it was probably important that we got used to the basics. I started by building a couple of bonds to 10, then getting the pupils to explain what was there. They started by using numbers, referring to "the eight block" and "the two block", but quickly started describing them as "brown" and "red", and saying things like "brown plus red" quite naturally.

Read More

Cuisenaire rods for algebraic expressions

16/2/2016

 
Picture
I've spent quite a bit of time so far over half term working on the resource areas of my site - one topic I was keen to get a few more resources for was writing algebraic expressions and using correct algebraic notation, as I'm teaching this to Year 7 after half term and my collection was looking a little sparse. 

Today I'd also found a link to the Cuisenaire Rods manipulative on the NRich site, which is absolutely fantastic. I remember discovering a dusty old box of rods in the resource cupboard during my NQT year, digging them out and then not really doing anything relevant with them because I didn't have a) the time or b) the experience to work out how to use them without just confusing the pupils more. I'd always been determined to go back and check them out properly though, particularly with the links to the work I've been doing with algebra tiles. ​

Read More

LOTW - Expressions using algebra tiles

17/10/2015

 
Linking algebraic expressions, words and pictorial representations

Read More

Solving linear equations using algebra tiles

17/3/2015

 
By the time I teach linear equations, I've already used algebra tiles quite a lot with pupils to create algebraic expressions. After working through one-step equations and ensuring pupils understand the processes involved (rather than just solving "by eye"), I move on to linear equations. 

Read More

Factorising linear expressions using algebra tiles

15/3/2015

 
Not sure what algebra tiles are? Start here:
Why algebra tiles are the most amazing thing, like, ever

Read More

Why algebra tiles are the most amazing thing, like, ever

12/3/2015

 
I discovered algebra tiles last year when, in a fit of desperation, I took to the Internet to find a good way of teaching completing the square in a way that might actually get it to stick in the heads of my Year 11s. 

Read More

Bar Modelling - Reflections on Celebration of Maths 2015

11/2/2015

 
Picture
I've been using bar modelling quite extensively in my teaching since being involved with the NCETM's multiplicative reasoning project last year. Part of the project was to emphasise the importance of diagrammatic representations of problems in teaching maths for understanding; we were given materials to deliver to Key Stage 3 classes, some of which included use of Singapore bar modelling for topics such as fractions, percentages and ratio. I found the work we did really altered my teaching; I think that I managed to teach addition of fractions successfully for the first time since I started teaching, and I was amazed at just how well my students retained efficiency and accuracy with "traditional" written methods.

It seemed like a bit of a no-brainer to pick the bar modelling workshop at the Celebration of Maths, so I and my colleagues trotted along to the session, sat down with our mini-whiteboards and got ready to draw some bars. One thing I was really keen to get out of this session was to iron out some issues I still had with using the bar to solve problems with negative amounts, and I was still struggling to see how to apply bar modelling to exam technique (see my attempt with the Edexcel SAMs here).

First of all we looked at some simple problems, like fractions of amounts. I'm already pretty happy with this - there are plenty of examples of stuff like this in my Year 7's books at the moment. I was so proud of myself that I thought I'd add a really constructive "what went well" to my work too.

Read More

    Categories

    All
    #29daysofwriting
    A Level
    Algebra
    Algebra Tiles
    Area
    Assessment
    Bar Model
    Bar Modelling
    Books
    Celebration Of Maths 2015
    Challenge
    Circles
    CPD
    Cuisenaire Rods
    Data
    Decimals
    Displays
    Enrichment
    Equations
    Events
    Feedback
    Formulae
    Four Operations
    Fractions
    Functional Maths
    Gcse 2015
    GCSE Past Papers
    GCSE Revision
    Graphs
    Group Work
    HCF And LCM
    History Of Maths
    Intervention
    Investigation
    Lesson
    Lesson Ideas
    Literacy
    Lotw
    Loving Maths
    Manipulatives
    Marking
    Mastery
    #mathsconf
    #mathsconf2015
    #mathsconf4
    Maths In Pictures
    Multiplication
    Musings
    Negative Numbers
    News
    Numeracy Across Curriculum
    Parenthood
    Percentages
    Pick Of Twitter
    Pie Charts
    Primes
    Probability
    Problem Solving
    Proportion Problems
    Puzzles
    Pythagoras
    Quadratics
    Quadratic Sequences
    Ratio Tables
    Real Life Graphs
    Reflection
    Resources
    Revision
    Rounding
    Schemes Of Work
    Simultaneous Equations
    Square Numbers
    Stationery
    #summerblogchallenge
    #teacher5adaysketch
    Teaching And Learning
    Technology
    Top Ten
    Trignometry
    Trigonometry
    Vectors
    Venn Diagrams
    Websites
    Weebly Tutorials
    Zoombinis


    Archives

    August 2020
    September 2018
    August 2018
    October 2017
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    February 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.