Author Archives: AnnMaria De Mars

gold medal

Students Pick their Favorite Lessons

Leave a reply

Did you ever wonder what your students thought about your lessons?

During the summer, we were fortunate to have six students from Minneapolis review our lessons. Our reviewers included one third-grade student, one sixth-grade student , one student entering ninth grade, two entering tenth grade and one entering eleventh grade. Why did we include high school students? Because they have been in middle and elementary school much more recently than us, and they were better able to express their opinions than the younger students. Plus, as anyone who has taught grades six through ten knows, they do NOT feel the obligation to tell you what you want to hear!

And the winners are …..

Third Grade

Introducing fractions –  This was my favorite because I like how it starts the kids off easy and explains to them what fractions are.

Introduction to Lakota/Dakota Oral Histories & Storytelling – third grade social studies and this was a good subject also i looked at the presentation it was great and i think kids will be interested 

(Yes, our office has a swing out front. Doesn’t yours?)

Fourth Grade

Ojibwe Clans and Migration – I like how it teaches the kids how to understand the relationship between human populations and the physical world. (Note that a bilingual version of this lesson is also available in Spanish and English here. )

Fifth Grade

Figurative language & poetry – It’s cool how they demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships and nuances in word meanings.

Introducing idioms – The reading and the video were both good. For fourth and fifth grade, that is a good subject to learn about so I think the lesson was something I would have liked in that grade.

Decimals, epidemics and fly vomit – I liked the presentation and the activity was fun. I thought the video was boring and I’d like the teacher to tell us a few facts about flies instead. I hate flies.

Sixth Grade

Making a Calendar with PowerPoint – it was a good video and a good lesson to learn. I like the background noise. The only suggestion I have is for a little more detail on different things you can do with PowerPoint when making a calendar.

Teach ratio with Math Snacks – It was a good lesson in  sixth grade mathematics. I really like how they broke it down for the children to understand and it was a nice video also.

pyramid with character at the bottom

Learn statistics and history, in English or Spanish

Leave a reply

 Standards

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT 5.NF.A.2 Solve word problems involving addition and subtraction of fractions referring to the same whole, including cases of unlike denominators, e.g., by using visual fraction models or equations to represent the problem. 

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.6.SP.5.c. Calculating quantitative measures of center (median and/or mean) and variability (interquartile range and/or mean absolute deviation).

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.7.EE.3 Solve multi-step real-life and mathematical problems posed with rational numbers in any form (positive and negative, fractions, decimals, and integers).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related to history/social studies.

📲 Technology Required

Students will need access to a computer or iPad.

⏰ Time Required

30-45 minutes

📃 Summary

This lesson includes game-based instruction and assessment.

Click here for the AZTECH: THE BEGINNING TEACHERS GUIDE with answers to all math and vocabulary questions, game play ‘cheat sheet’ and everything else you need to know.

Lesson

Play a game (yes, it’s free)

  1. Assign students to play AzTech: The Beginning. The link to play the game online can be found here. It can also be downloaded from the App Store here.
  2. Students register with a username and password, then play the game, in English or Spanish. You can have students register and select their own, or provide usernames and passwords you wish them to use, for example, an existing school login.
  3. Each math problem has an EXPLAIN button that students can click to get an explanation of how to solve the problem. Some also have a hint, which is a short suggestion of how to go about solving it. For example, “Subtract the number of days you did not have homework, from the total number of days. Give the answer as a fraction of the total.”
Math problem with hint button

We recommend encouraging students to read the EXPLAIN and any HINT buttons before asking the teacher for help.

4. If students miss a problem twice in a row, they are routed to a LEARN MORE page and need to select an option, which may be a video, web page with voice over or matching terms, to learn more.

Assessment

Students get immediate feedback on right or wrong answers. Assuming students are playing online, results of in-game math challenges are recorded to a database which teachers can access. Access to reports can be found here.

Differentiated Instruction

Students who finish ahead of the class can continue the story in AzTech: Meet the Maya, available for the web and also in the Apple App Store for iPads.

Students who are not yet at the sixth-grade level in mathematics and who could benefit from a bilingual game can play Making Camp Bilingual, which address third- and fourth-grade math standards. It is available here for access from the web and in the Apple App Store and Google Play store .

Related lessons

Teaching statistics in classrooms with English learners AND Native speakers.

After the funding is gone: We’re still here

Leave a reply

Anyone who has worked in marginalized communities, especially in schools, is very familiar with the grant cycle. Something is funded, people are hired, everyone gets excited, progress is made and then the grant ends. What then? Too often, it is off to the new project and all the training, materials and efforts go to waste. With tens of thousands of students using Growing Math software, we couldn’t let that happen.

The Updates Happening Behind the Scenes

As part of the Growing Math project, we received evaluations from teachers of what they wanted improved and what was working. An issue mentioned many times was graphics. Students were using the games and videos on their phones at home and, with all of the different phone sizes, the text was not always large enough, or an image might overlap with text. This occurred mostly with the first games we had developed, when some of these smaller screen sizes didn’t exist or certainly were not being used by children in elementary school. (Remember when fifth-graders didn’t have phones?)

In the last month, we put a new version of Making Camp Ojibwe in the Play Store and the App Store and updated Making Camp Bilingual on the web. A new mobile version of Making Camp Bilingual and a web update of Making Camp Ojibwe will be out by the end of April. We are updating games in the order of the number of users, but our goal is to have an updated version of every game by the end of the year.

The maintenance you don’t see

Have you ever tried to download software or gone to a website for resources and it’s no longer there?

Think of software maintenance like a car. If you don’t change your oil or get new tires, your car will run for a while but eventually, it’s going to break down.

It’s not just that new screen sizes come out or new devices, like tablets. Software requirements also change. A few years ago, browsers started blocking autoplay. We get it, that’s annoying but that also meant when you went to one of our pages where a video automatically played, teaching about, say, the Ojibwe migration, that video no longer played. We made the needed changes BEFORE Chrome started blocking autoplay, so students could keep playing the games.

Without getting into the technical details, I’ll just say that behind the scenes changes are happening all the time. Either we think of a way to make the game load faster, or the powers-that-be decide that certain functions or features will no longer be supported and if we don’t change our code, it will eventually stop working.

New resources are coming …

We know educators are tired of having to come up with completely new lesson plans to incorporate the latest new, shiny thing rather than receiving support to build on what works. We do have three new games under development, one of which will be available very soon. We will get back to publishing new lessons and new units. First, though, we are making sure that what you have already included in your lesson plans stays up and running.

AnnMaria De Mars

March 16, 2023

Growing Math Continues with Foundation Support

What happens after grant funding ends? We’ve seen it happen time and time again on reservations and other under-served communities – a project starts, staff get trained, materials are developed, students are learning and engaged – and then the funding ends. Over two years, Growing Math training was attended by 1,375 teachers from 327 schools. Nearly 35,000 students used the online resources and almost 13,000 more had resources downloaded to be used offline.

We didn’t just look at the database, we also went out and visited classrooms, interviewed teachers in person, on zoom and read many, many pages of reviews from teachers. One of my favorite comments, to which I think many of us can relate

I really enjoy the program and what I have utilized with it these last two months. This is on me to not have used more because I know I could, but it is just a timing thing t… I enjoy the language and learning the culture of the games/lessons. … I have not used any reports and would like to do so, but it goes back to the time. I am a first year teacher in 6th grade teaching all the subjects, so my time is limited, if I want to sleep.

— A first-year teacher

An unanticipated result when we began the project was how much special education teachers would use Growing Math to provide individualized instruction for teachers. That became a request (because teachers are too polite to demand) from the very beginning and we have been adding suggestions for accommodations for students with learning differences, as time allows.

What do you do with a community built with grant funding when the funding ends?

I am sure you have guessed the answer by the title. As an educator, I am sure you learned those tricks about reading the title, skimming the headings and now here we are.

We have partnered with the Strong Mind Strong Body Foundation to continue providing lesson plans integrating Indigenous culture, mathematics and agricultural science. The Growing Math site and asynchronous training is here to stay and planning to grow. Stay tuned for much more to come.

Multiple choice question asking at what age a boy became a buffalo hunter

Math Assessment and Lakota Culture

Leave a reply

Standard

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.8.EE.A.1
Know and apply the properties of integer exponents to generate equivalent numerical expressions. For example, 32 × 3-5 = 3-3 = 1/33 = 1/27.

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.5.NBT.B.7
Add, subtract, multiply, and divide decimals to hundredths,

NOTE: Although the examples in this assignment primarily use scientific notation, it could be easily modified to include any area of mathematics above the fourth-grade level.

⏰TIME

120 minutes – including time to play game and create problems and activities.

📲TECHNOLOGY REQUIRED

A projector and computer in class or a computer, phone or tablet at home is required to watch the videos, see the Google slides and play the Making Camp Lakota game. It is not required but strongly recommended that students have access to Google apps or Office 365 to edit and store their notes.

📃LESSON SUMMARY

This is the second in a multi-lesson unit designed to assess student mathematics proficiency by playing games that teach about Indigenous cultures that have embedded math problems. It also requires students to create their own math activities and math problems.

📚LESSON

Introduce today’s lesson with slide presentation

This lesson assumes your class did the previous lesson, Math Assessment and Ojibwe culture, where they were introduced to the purposed of the unit and (recommended) created a Google slides or doc file where they are taking notes.

To introduce today’s lesson with Making Camp Lakota, use this PowerPoint on Math Assessment and Lakota culture, with examples of new, more difficult problems using decimals and scientific notation.

Play a Game

Multiple choice problem from game asking the minimum age for a buffalo hunter
Question after culture video on Dakota boyhood

The Making Camp Lakota game teaches Lakota culture and division with single-digit divisors. Even older students should enjoy the game play aspects and the videos on Lakota history and culture. Middle school students should breeze through the math problems. These are recorded in the database for teachers to review student progress.

Each game in the series in this unit is gradually more difficult math problems.

Students create their own, grade-level math problems

The slides presentation instructs students, for each math activity, to create an example that could be used at their grade level. Most of the examples in this presentation are using scientific notation, but students should be instructed that they can use any math problems beyond simple division. That could be fractions, decimals or even long-division. Teachers can modify the slides at the end of the presentation to require a specific topic, for example, adding fractions without a common denominator.

ASSESSMENT

Making Camp Lakota teacher reports are available for assessing student answers in Data and Reports. Students also write their own problems and answers that the teacher can use for assessing abilities at application and creation levels of Bloom’s taxonomy.

Related Lessons

For students who need an introduction to Google apps and Google doc, the lesson Google Apps Basics for Hamsters is recommended. (You don’t need an actual hamster.)

Individualization

This lesson is appropriate for students whose math is from fourth- through eighth-grade level. The mathematics in the game is at the fourth-grade level but student assignments can be as simple as long division or as complex as multi-step equations with negative exponents.

wigwam scene from Making Camp Premium

Math Assessment and Ojibwe Culture

1 Reply

Standard

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.8.EE.A.1
Know and apply the properties of integer exponents to generate equivalent numerical expressions. For example, 32 × 3-5 = 3-3 = 1/33 = 1/27.

NOTE: Although the examples in this assignment use exponents, it could be easily modified to include any area of mathematics above the fourth-grade level.

⏰TIME

120 minutes – including time to play game and create problems and activities.

📲TECHNOLOGY REQUIRED

A projector and computer in class or a computer, phone or tablet at home is required to watch the videos, see the Google slides and play the Making Camp Premium game. It is not required but strongly recommended that students have access to Google apps or Office 365 to edit and store their notes.

📃LESSON SUMMARY

This is the first in a multi-lesson unit designed to assess student mathematics proficiency by playing games that teach about Indigenous cultures that have embedded math problems. It also requires students to create their own math activities and math problems.

📚LESSON

Introduce lesson with slide presentation

The objectives, link to the first game and sample questions can all be found in this Slides presentation. The examples here use Exponent Rules and creating a math problem that can be solved with an equation using exponents. However, teachers are free to download the video and modify to fit their own class.

Watch a video

Even students who are Native American themselves sometimes need to be reminded when asked to apply mathematics to needs of Indigenous communities. This seven-minute video on Tribal Epidemiology Centers is a great example to get students thinking.

Play a Game

The Making Camp Premium game teaches Ojibwe culture, multiplication and division. Even older students should enjoy the game play aspects and the videos on Ojibwe history and culture. Middle school students should breeze through the math problems. These are recorded in the database for teachers to review student progress.

Students create their own, grade-level math problems

The slides presentation instructs students, for each math activity, to create an example that could be used at their grade level. The two examples in the presentation use exponents but students are told they can use any mathematics above multiplication and division. That could be fractions, decimals or even long-division. Teachers can modify the slides at the end of the presentation to require a specific topic, for example, adding fractions without a common denominator.

ASSESSMENT

Making Camp Premium teacher reports are available for assessing student answers in Data and Reports. Students also write their own problems and answers that the teacher can use for assessing abilities at application and creation levels of Bloom’s taxonomy.

Related Lessons

For students who need an introduction to Google apps and Google doc, the lesson Google Apps Basics for Hamsters is recommended. (You don’t need an actual hamster.)

house fly

Unit: Word Problems for fifth-graders

Leave a reply

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.4.NF.A.2 Compare two fractions with different numerators and different denominators, e.g., by creating common denominators or numerators, or by comparing to a benchmark fraction such as 1/2

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.5.NBT.A.1 Recognize that in a multi-digit number, a digit in one place represents 10 times as much as it represents in the place to its right and 1/10 of what it represents in the place to its left.

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.5.NBT.A.3.A Read and write decimals to thousandths

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.5.NBT.A.4 Use place value understanding to round decimals to any place.

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.5.NF.A.2 Solve word problems involving addition and subtraction of fractions referring to the same whole, including cases of unlike denominators, e.g., by using visual fraction models or equations to represent the problem. 

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.5.NBT.B.5 Fluently multiply multi-digit whole numbers using the standard algorithm.

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.5.NBT.B.7 Add, subtract, multiply, and divide decimals to hundredths

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.5.MD.A.1 Convert among different-sized standard measurement units within a given measurement system (e.g., convert 5 cm to 0.05 m), and use these conversions in solving multi-step, real world problems.

Time

Approximately 2.5 hours

Unit Summary

This cross-curricular unit includes a variety of strategies and examples for solving word problems at a fifth-grade level, including division of three-digit numbers, fractions and decimals.

Buffalo Hunts and Division

This lesson begins with a video on long division (optional) or a presentation on uses of division from the playground to the buffalo hunt. Students then watch a short video working long division problems. Finish with practicing long division in Making Camp Dakota. Short videos on Dakota buffalo hunt traditions and related math lessons are also linked.

Watch out for blood-sucking fishes!

This 40-minute lesson introduces new science vocabulary words, teaches about indigenous and invasive species and includes a couple of math problems showing how quickly invasive species multiply. It concludes with students playing the Making Camp Dakota: Past and Present game. Math word problems require finding half of 500 and 10 x 500.

Using Visual Models To Compare Fractions

Students play 2-3 levels of a game that teaches and assesses adding and comparing fractions with different numerators and denominators, with the context of a story from Ojibwe history. They create their own problems using visual models to compare fractions. Students discuss classmates’ problems. The lesson culminates with a video on visualization as a problem-solving strategy. (35-45 minutes)

Decimals, Epidemics & Fly Vomit – It’s science!

Learn decimals while weighing a flies and the food they eat. The lesson begins with a game on decimals and the Aztec smallpox epidemic, then moves to another disease spreader – flies. Students learn the role flies play in our ecosystem, how they eat and reproduce. (75 minutes)

Differentiation

For students who are struggling with word problems, assign these videos directly teaching strategies or watch together in class.

Codex

The Codex in Latin American History and Math

Leave a reply

Standards

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.6.RP.A.3 Use ratio and rate reasoning to solve real-world and mathematical problems, e.g., by reasoning about tables of equivalent ratios, tape diagrams, double number line diagrams, or equations

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.7.1 Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.

Technology required

Device with a browser for AzTech Game. Printer for printing codex and related worksheet and activity pages.

Time

4-5 hours

Lesson Summary

This is an augmentation of a lesson from the Library of Congress uses a primary source – the Huexotzinco Codex – as a basis for document analysis, inquiry and applied mathematics. Students analyze pages documenting tribute paid to Spanish administrators, compute the tribute paid, read a one-page overview of the codex and analyze the codex. A presentation is given on connections between Aztec, Mayan and contemporary methods. Students begin or end classes playing a game that includes Mayan history and middle school mathematics.

Lesson

First, some background for the teacher. The Huexotzinco Codex was part of the evidence in a case brought by the Nahuas, Indigenous people of what is now Mexico, against the Spanish administrators, alleging excessive taxation (tribute). This case was won by the Nahuas. In this lesson, students do not learn the full story until the third or fourth class period.

Analyze Documents

Begin with this link to the Library of Congress lesson, “The Huexotzinco Codex”, and have students complete Activity 1, Document Analysis. This should take one class period- approximately one hour.

NOTE TO THE TEACHER: Allow at least 30 minutes before using this lesson the first time, to read through the Library of Congress lesson, download and print out documents for students.

Play a game

Have students sign in and begin the game, AzTech: Meet the Maya. Students should play for about 15 minutes.

Computation – How much was the tribute?

Continue with the second part of Library of Congress lesson, “The Huexotzinco Codex”, and have students complete Activity 2, Computation. After students have completed one tribute sheet and corrected their answers, use this slide presentation to show the connection between the Aztec and Maya codices and our modern system of numbers and graphs. Optionally, have students complete one or two more tribute sheets from the linked lesson. This should take one to two class periods.

Play a Game

At the beginning of class, have students continue the AzTech: Meet the Maya game. Students should play for 15-20 minutes by which time some of the students should have reached the codex activity and explanation in the game.

Write a Narrative Explanation

Continue with the third part of Library of Congress lesson, “The Huexotzinco Codex”, and have students complete Activity 3, Narrative Explanation.

Assessment

Four types of assessments are included; observation of student understanding of historical document analysis in the class discussion, student self-corrected math computation, student written assignments (analysis sheet, observations and scenario outlines) and the math problems in the AzTech game which are scored automatically with data available in teacher reports.

Differentiated instruction (optional)

Advanced Students who complete their assignments early can continue with the AzTech: Meet the Maya game. If they complete this game, they can choose to play AzTech: The Story Begins or AzTech: Empiric Empire.

English learners can play the AzTech : Meet the Maya and AzTech: The Beginning games in English or Spanish.

Recommended Related Lesson

Counting ropes and rational numbers

Lesson Plan Navajo Culture and ELA

Navajo Culture and ELA

Leave a reply

By Christy Hanson

Standards

Dine’ Culture Standards (3.PO2) I will develop an understanding of Dine’ way of life through Iina’. I will implement and recognize the Dine’ lifestyle. I will present the stories related to Land and Water Beings.

Dine Government (3.PO3) Executive Branch (3.PO3): I will describe the purpose of at least one subdivision. Legislative Branch (3.PO3): I will describe the Navajo Nation election process. Judicial Branch (3.PO4): I will analyze the purpose of a judicial system.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related to history/social studies.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.7.1 Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.

⏰ Time

45 minutes

📲 Technology Required

Device with web-browser – Chromebook, laptop or desktop computer, phone or tablet

📃 Summary

Students learn about Diné (Navajo) culture from multiple perspectives, first through a presentation on Navajo tribal government and its three branches (executive, legislative, and judicial) that are modeled after the federal government, as well as its security branch. Also included are four cultural laws governing Navajo leadership. A written assignment exploring roles of effective governance follows as assessment. The lesson concludes with a game, Making Camp Navajo, that discusses Diné traditions in sheep ranching and rug weaving.

Lesson

Presentation on Diné Governance

Use the slide presentation, Navajo Civics, to introduce students to the history and structure of government on the Navajo Nation.

Download this map of the Navajo Nation to view its five agencies: Chinle, Eastern, Fort Defiance, Northern, and Western.

Class Discussion on Important Issues in Governance

Teachers can use the questions on Slide 26 of the presentation or edit the slides to add their own questions.

Writing Assignment

Students select one or more of the writing prompts and write an essay addressing the prompt. Teachers can use slides 27-31 for the prompts or create their own.

Play a Game

The lesson concludes with the Making Camp Navajo game. Students should play through the introduction and then the activities under the LIFE choices.

Choose Numbers, Life or Random
Choices Screen – click LIFE button
Sheep image, weaving image and girl with sheep
Life Choices – Select and Play each of these

Assessment

Three types of assessment are included in this lesson. The brainstorming session provides a gauge of the understanding of the class as a whole of the types of issues that can be addressed by government. The writing assignment serves as an individual assessment of student understanding of government. Teacher reports of data collected automatically in Making Camp Navajo document student completion of the activities.

Fishing and Statistics

Leave a reply

Standards

CSS.MATH.CONTENT.6.SP.A.3
Recognize that a measure of center for a numerical data set summarizes all of its values with a single number, while a measure of variation describes how its values vary with a single number.
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.6.SP.B.5
Summarize numerical data sets in relation to their context.

Technology

Students will need a Chromebook, Windows or Mac computer to play the game. Stories can be read on a computer or tablet or printed out.

Time Required

75 -105 minutes.

Summary

This lesson begins with a game teaching statistics, with a level assessing weights of salmon. Next, students read stories about salmon from the Pacific Northwest tribal communities. The lesson ends with a game outdoors or in the gym where students ‘catch’ salmon and learn the impact of overfishing. Optional activity includes creative writing or artwork to accompany the salmon stories.

Lesson

Play a Game (25 minutes)

Play Disaster Deduction Detectives through Level 4 where players compute mean weights of fish caught with and without an outlier. Earlier levels discuss median and statistical questions.

Fish catching game in Disaster Deduction Detectives

Read Salmon Stories (35 minutes)

This 35-page booklet of salmon stories comes from a collaborative effort of the tribal communities of the Pacific Northwest, Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission and Seattle Aquarium. In addition to four stories about salmon, traditional games featuring salmon are described. You can print the booklet or copy the link and assign it in your Google classroom or other online system.

Depending on your available class time and their reading level, you may wish to just assign one or two stories or the whole booklet.

NOTE: You can find the entire 72-page Teachers Guide, One with the Watershed, including the stories, here. It has a wealth of information, games and activities. We highly recommend reading it.

Physical Education and Math – Play the Salmon Catcher Game (15 minutes)

This game is explained on page 30 of the Teacher’s Guide and on page 24 of the Salmon Stories booklet. A group of 4 or 5 students must catch a classmate (a salmon) by forming a net around it by holding hands. Play with lots of salmon and one ‘net’ and then with lots of ‘nets’ and few salmon. After the game, discuss how having too many fishers for the number of fish makes it difficult for each group to get enough salmon for a feast.

Assessment

Students responses to the questions in the Disaster Deduction Detectives game on statistical questions, creating and interpreting dot plots, median and mean with and without an outlier are all scored automatically and can be found in the teacher reports.

Differentiated Instruction

Optional: Creative Writing OR Art and Social Studies (30 minutes)

The Salmon Stories booklet has minimal illustrations. Allow students 30 minutes to create an illustration for one of the stories. For students who would prefer to write a story instead, allow them to select one of the topics suggested in the booklet, for example, on page 23 of the student booklet (page 29 in the Teacher’s Guide) students are asked to imagine a discussion between a salmon and the forest.