Pictograph & Bar Graph Surveys

Pictograph & Bar Graph Surveys

I love teaching graphing and data.  Kids are naturally curious, as every teacher & parent knows, and they get very excited about collecting their own information about the world around them.  It’s really fun for them to have the opportunity to choose their...
Teaching Line Plots – Why are Line Plots SO Hard?!

Teaching Line Plots – Why are Line Plots SO Hard?!

I don’t know about your class, but my students have always had a harder time understanding line plots than they did with pictographs and bar graphs.  Line plots just didn’t seem to make sense to my kids, so I started thinking about why that is and how to teach line...
Student Portfolios

Student Portfolios

With testing season also comes the question: When we test in the mornings, what do we do in the afternoons??  We don’t want to further stress our kids out or place high demands on them.  But we also want to maintain order, and we definitely don’t...
Empowering Students with Assessments

Empowering Students with Assessments

Assessments can be a stressful event for students.  They can feel like punishment for not learning ‘enough’ or being ‘smart enough.’  Students can develop low self-esteem and feel unmotivated if they think that they “should’ be able to do...