MATHEMATICS
At Escola Americana do Rio de Janeiro (EARJ) I taught math based on the Common Core Standards and using EnVision Math and Engage New York materials. In the 2012-13 school year, I was a member of the math curriculum review committee. I was the second grade representative that organized the grade level CCSS into meaningful units. With guidance from the curriculum coordinator and other grade level representatives, I planned out the second grade curriculum using the Understanding by Design framework. Rubicon Atlas is where I stored all of the information, including standards, enduring understandings, essential questions, activities, materials, and common assessments. I believe that with the freedom to design units in a way that is meaningful to the students their learning and opportunity for success greatly increase.
Math has always been my favorite subject in school and my favorite subject to teach. During the elementary years, students develop the foundational mathematical skills that they will use for the rest of their lives. I take my job to teach them these skills very seriously. I do not want my students to simply learn how to do computations, I want them to understand the concept of what they are doing and why they are doing it. One way that I have students practice this deeper understanding is through a math journal question each day. I begin the class by posing a word problem based on the current topic. Students work out the problem in any way they wish, but they must show all of their work and then explain in detail how they got their answer and why they think it is correct. I find that this activity gets the students thinking more deeply about numbers and how it all fits together.
Students practice measuring in inches and centimeters during a unit on measurement.
In a measurement unit, students redesigned our classroom with appropriate scale.
Students created their own word probalem and then used Educreations to show and narrate how to solve it.
Students count money using the addition and subtraction strategies they have learned.
Students create and draw 2- and 3-D shapes during a geometry unit.