Tag Archives: fractions

A Guest Teacher’s Challenge

Posted on December 29, 2017 by jgvadnais

INSPIRATION My last post, Multiplying Fractions: A Desmos Area Model, blended conversations from the same lesson run in two different classrooms. Although the lesson flowed similarly in both rooms, there was one student who viewed the presented problems differently.  Gabe … Continue reading →

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Multiplying Fractions: A Desmos Area Model

Posted on December 11, 2017 by jgvadnais

INSPIRATION I’ve been tinkering with area models for awhile, storing countless versions in my teacher.desmos.com account.  A few of my area models support the conceptual thinking of multiplying fractions.  Recently, I was approached by a coaching colleague, Crystal, to teach … Continue reading →

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Desmos Graph: Adding Positive & Negative Fractions w/ Dynamic Labels

Posted on July 7, 2017 by jgvadnais

Inspiration For the past 15 months, I’ve been working on fraction models.  When I brought the models to students, the resulting conversations were great.  Just what I was hoping for.  The downside stemmed from the behind the scenes “coding”.  My original … Continue reading →

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Diving into Google Sheets: Adding Integers & Pixel Art Multiplication

Posted on June 20, 2017 by jgvadnais

Inspiration In August of 2014, I stepped out of the classroom to become a middle level math TOA/coach.  After 21 years of teaching, I craved a different challenge and found that challenge with Desmos.  Once I learned how to make … Continue reading →

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Desmos: Ordering Fractions on a Number Line

Posted on October 29, 2016 by jgvadnais

A couple of months ago, my team and I ran a Desmos workshop for elementary teachers.   Two activities were highlighted.  The first was an individually paced challenge AB (activity builder).  The second activity shared can be run as a … Continue reading →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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The Vertical Classroom Project – Seeing is Believing

Posted on October 6, 2015 by jgvadnais

I began the Vertical Classroom Project due to a personal challenge made at Twitter Math Camp (#1TMCthing).  Being a math coach, I needed to enlist one teacher to join the project, and then persuade administration to spring for the white boards. Both ventures … Continue reading →

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