New Resource! MORE Good Questions for grades 5-8
Friends …
I am immensely pleased to announce the release of my latest volume of problems for intermediate and middle school classrooms.
More Good Questions: A Year of Open Ended Math Problems for Grades 5-8 is exactly that — a series of 220 tasks to inspire thinking, connection-making and reasoning for today’s diverse math classrooms.
In this second volume of problems, students will engage with tasks involving the operations, proportional reasoning, measurement and patterns designed to promote mathematical capacity. Problems are structured in sets of 5, clustered by topic, strategy or big math idea. Each task is slightly more complex than the last to allow for conceptual development over the course of a week. Problem sets can also be used as an intact set of 5, allowing students to choose the problem that is just right for them.
Intended to be used daily, these problems are designed to promote mathematical curiosity and connection-making. The richness comes from the shared discussion and comparison of strategies. The more we share our thinking the smarter we all become!
Check it out at mindfull.ecwid.com.
Stay tuned for the Grades 2-4 version coming soon!
Algebraic Thinking for Grades 5-9: A New Math Teaching Resource
Hello friends…
I am reaching out to let you know that I have just completed a new resource for intermediate and middle school teachers entitled Algebraic Thinking for Grades 5-9.
The resource focuses on the two important strands of algebraic thinking: patterns and relations and solving equations. Lessons include open-ended prompts, direct instruction and age-appropriate manipulatives use to promote the big ideas in algebraic thinking.
Content includes: increasing and decreasing patterns, generalizing from a T-table, describing and graphing linear relations in all 4 quadrants, explorations of slope (positive, negative, whole number and fractional) as well as y-intercept and the general form of a line, interpolation and extrapolation, operations on integers, solving equations, monomial and binomial multiplication using the distributive property, converting word problems to algebraic equations and more!
A range of strategies for developing mathematical language, for addressing diversity and for authentic assessment are featured in this 250 page teacher resource book. Algebra tiles, number balances and 4-pan algebra balances are used to model relations and to represent and solve advanced algebraic equations. Games, problems and levelled practice are included in each lesson, allowing for extensions and support as needed. Manageable and accessible digital scaffolds are highlighted, including virtual manipulatives and graphing tools.
This resource also features 23 embedded video clips — mini lessons on important algebraic concepts and demonstrations of how to use algebra tiles, colour tiles, the number balance and 4-pan algebra balance — as a way to support teachers and their students in grasping important algebraic ideas. These videos can be used by teachers to preview a lesson or by teachers and their students in a face-to-face or virtual setting.
Algebraic Thinking for Grades 5-9 is available from my online store for $50. Order now by visiting mindfull.ecwid.com — just in time for our return to school (in whatever form that takes!).
Thanks as always for your support.
Here’s to a new year…!
Carole
New For Primary! Good Questions: A Year of Open-Ended Problems for Grades 2-4
For those of you who have been waiting ever so 
patiently, I wanted to let you know that I have completed a primary companion to the Year of Good Questions for Grades 5-8 resource released this summer.
A Year of Good Questions for Grades 2-4 is the late primary version of this stand up calendar of problems — one for every day of the school year!
Like its intermediate counterpart, this compact but potent book comes with an easel so you can set it up on your desk and flip from one rich problem to the next, posing open-ended questions of your primary students.
Good Questions: A Year of Open-Ended Math Problems for Grades 2-4 is a problem-a-day resource that includes rich tasks ideal for grades 2, 3 and 4. Organized by topic and structured in problem sets of 5, this simple to use teacher resource includes 200 mathematically important questions to engage your students in deep thinking. For only $25, it’s a reasonably priced way to stimulate and promote mathematical conversation!
Operations, measurement, proportional thinking and patterns are featured in this calendar of problems. Each one engages students in thinking flexibly, critically and creatively to solve tasks of varying complexity.
Visit my online store at mindfull.ecwid.com to order.
Let the fun begin!
Carole
Mathematical Thinking 