I had 'em today!

Today was the Math lesson that every teacher dreams of. 
Picture it:  
Math...10:30 this morning. 

The best way to kick off the lesson is with a demonstration. The problem is that the demonstration is really most effective when presented to a small group. 

What to do? What to do? 

I made a video.  

At first recess, I recorded my demonstration, popped it up on the Smartboard and I had 'em.  
Had them big time.  

I've linked the video below and as you'll see, it's nothing fancy.  Maybe it was the novelty of it all, I don't know, but each and every child was engaged, excited and doing that "Yyyesss!" thing kids do when they get an answer right.  

After the video, we moved into the main lesson, followed by independent practice and light bulbs continued to go off. 

I'm hoping I'm on to something here.  And the really nifty thing is this: we can start tomorrow's lesson by watching the video again.  It helps the students activate their learning and those children aren't quite as confident in this as they want to be? Well, my hope is that when they watch the video again, they'll put into place any missing pieces.

High fives to everyone!  



Placing Numbers on a Number Line