The Meek Moose Blogs Twice in One Week

Stop the presses!  And I even plan on blogging again tomorrow.  AND Sunday.  So whooooooooot.

Whatever dragged me from my den of exhaustion?  A linky, obviously.  Farley's Currently.

Listening

As I worked on my laptop finishing up my interims, I decided to put on something I was so familiar with I wouldn't need to look up constantly to see what was happening.  I LOVE Chuck.  I do.  And I've watched them all, a million times.  My mother, on the other hand, has never seen an episode.  Also, you should know that she is the ultimate tv show viewer, in that she has the keenest suspension of disbelief of anyone I've eve known.  When she watches a show, she is IN THE SHOW.  Her fists sometimes come up during fight scenes and she'll punch a little bit while saying "You get 'em buddy!"  Sometimes, I find this the most irritating thing in the world.  Until I realize I can video tape her expression and post it on Youtube.  Mark this intensity!!!  She's not sure if Chuck will make it out of the Bamboo Dragon restaurant alive!

Loving

Nothing says "I am ready to do absolutely nothing this weekend!" like coming home to put on a pair of elastic waist pants. That is all I have to say about that.

Thinking

 Wanting

See what I did there? #punny

 Needing

I'm assuming that the clarity is near the bottom...

Trick or Treat

I'm going with Trick.  I apologize for the out-of-focus, but my camera man is seven, and still in training.  Still though- you'll get the idea.

Whenever I've given a number line to kids to use as a tool to help them solve math problems- they always end up counting the number they start with as part of the equation, and end up being off in their answer by one.  So I ran across this pin on having a life size number line:

And decided to make one with painter's tape on my tile floor.

My kids now have this muscle memory of standing on the starting number and not counting until they move away from it.  So when we started using paper ones, they remembered.  It also ended up being a great way to talk about equality and non-equality using the vocabulary true or not true.  No matter what the kids suggest, we test it, and decide if it was true or not true.  Then the child who made an error walks to the correct number, and everyone can make an inequality statement, while the child who made the mistake doesn't feel bad about it.  We didn't say "WRONG!" and erase it, just made the inequality sign.

They use this as one of their math workshop rotations and take turns making up equations and walking them out.  After they do the subtraction problem, they chose someone else's equation and guess at the opposing addition family fact and test their theory.  That has also helped kids learn to get the numbers in the correct places; since they've tested out their ideas before deciding on a final answer.

It is amazingly easy to do, and the kids enjoy it. Let me know if you give it a try and get more insight!