Category Archives: Uncategorized

Comparing Fractions w/ Desmos

Posted on August 24, 2016 by jgvadnais

For the past few days, I’ve been hanging out with Mrs. Becker’s (Peytra) 6th grade exploratory class.  We both like experimenting with new strategies and often use her exploratory kiddos as guinea pigs.  Our recent experiment – Fractions. Last year I … Continue reading →

Posted in desmos, fractions, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Desmos, Progressions & Supplementary Angles

Posted on July 2, 2016 by jgvadnais

Summer!  The time to catch up on sleep, projects around the house and blog posts.  This post is the 3rd in a 3 part series I started back in February. I spent two days working with Candace and her 7th grade … Continue reading →

Posted in desmos, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Building Academic Language w/ a Desmos Box & Whisker Polygraph

Posted on June 14, 2016 by jgvadnais

Before school ended, I had the pleasure of running a Box & Whisker Polygraph created by 2 colleagues, Tim Rochester and J.J. Martinez in Carmen’s 6th grade classes.  She had not yet introduced Box & Whisker Plots.  Afterwards, I brought … Continue reading →

Posted in desmos, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

Nets, Surface Area & Desmos

Posted on May 21, 2016 by jgvadnais

Before explaining the lesson, I’d like to thank Monica, Allison and Peytra for allowing me to field test this Desmos Activity Builder with their students. If it wasn’t for their flexibility, I wouldn’t have the opportunity to refine the activity. … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 13 Comments

Progressions: Fraction Fact Families

Posted on May 7, 2016 by jgvadnais

This, my district’s second year implementing Common Core strategies, has been the year of PROGRESSIONS. As the months flew by, the use of the word progressions increased. Being a math coach, I’ve spent time studying and discussing the progression of standards … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

Why Do We Invert & Multiply? An Explanation

Posted on April 9, 2016 by jgvadnais

Ours is not to reason why, just invert and multiply.  WHY! Keep Change Flip WHY! My district’s focus, this year, has been conceptual understanding.  Therefore my coaching colleagues and I have been searching for a clear explanation to why we invert … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 16 Comments

The Zeroth Power: Desmos & VNPS

Posted on April 5, 2016 by jgvadnais

Inspiration Negative exponents can be a confusing topic for many students.  Due to time constraints, I’ve focused more on the rules in lieu of introducing negative exponents conceptually.  As a result, students become confused on how the negative exponent effects … Continue reading →

Posted in desmos, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Using Manipulatives: The Triangle Inequality Theorem

Posted on March 31, 2016 by jgvadnais

I was working with a 7th grade class on the Triangle Inequality Theorem.  Groups were given 8 pencils from 1 in length to 8 in and were asked to create triangles given various combinations of pencil lengths.  Some combinations worked … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

3 Act Lesson: Volume of a Cylinder

Posted on March 25, 2016 by jgvadnais

My Inspiration Volume is measured in cubes, hence the label cubic units.  This concept is easy to visualize when building structures with 1 in³ cubes or when calculating the volume of a rectangular prism.  A cube is a special type … Continue reading →

Posted in 3-Act, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Using Assessing & Advancing Questions

Posted on March 19, 2016 by jgvadnais

This post Describes the opening activity for the 2nd day of a 2 day lesson plan. Day 1:  Desmos, Complementary Angles & SMP#3 Connects the opening activity with assessing and advancing questions The blog post describing the rest of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments