Last night I created my first Podcast with Audacity. I decided to record myself (with a musical background) reading A Very Improbably Story by Edward Einhorn. It is a math book about a little boy who wakes up with a cat named "Odds" on his head. Odds won't get off his head until the boy wins a probability game. I decided to use it with a group of 4th graders today. They listened to the story and created visuals to represent two of the probability situations they heard. The final copies are not quite finished yet (when they are I will publish them to this site), however you can hear the Podcast and see the directions for the assignment under the Data/Prob tab to the left. The Essential Skills Gr. 4: Represent the possible outcomes for a simple probability situation. Clasify outcomes as certain, likely, unlikely, or imposible by designing and conducting experiments.

See also the Gr. 3 Symmetry addition under the Geometry tab.
 
This is my first experience being the author of a blog. I am excited and a little nervous at the same time. Basically, all I want to do is create a space for upper elementary teachers (especially math) to discuss and share ideas, lessons, thoughts, technology and more. I am a Title I math teacher and I work with students in small groups on the most essential skills. There are no other elementary Title I math teachers in my district. Now that Massachusetts has adopted a new version of the Curruculum Framework for Mathematics, I thought that now would be a great time to get the conversation rolling.