October Montana Math Newsletter

Giving assessments remotely can be challenging for many reasons. Check out Hoff Math's How to Give a Math Test During Distance Learning for tips, strategies and platforms for giving remote assessments that really show what students know and are able to do. 

Check out the newly launched Tools for Teachers website from Smarter Balanced. Tools for Teachers hosts thousands of free, educator-created lesson plans for grades three through high school for math and ELA. Lessons incorporate the formative assessment process, accessibility strategies and align to the Montana Content Standards. Access the site using your Montana Testing Portal login. Professional learning and next step connections to interim assessment are also on the site! Not able to access? Email to your school Testing Coordinator to get your account. Shout out to a few of our MT math educators who have created math lesson plans for the Tools for Teachers site: Beth Walsh (East Helena), Sandy Squillace (Missoula), Becky Berg and Alyssa Ziegler (Billings)! 

90% of the world's data has been collected in the last two years! The team at youcubed has designed a new classroom routine all teachers, K-12, will love. It draws from the idea of “number talks” and helps students develop something really important for the modern world – data literacy. The routine is called a “Data Talk” and, like “number talks,” will take around 5-10 minutes of class time. Increasing our own and our students' data literacy is of utmost importance. Join the Data Science movement by accessing free lessons and courses for teachers to learn more about Data Science. 

MCTM- Montana Council of Teachers of Mathematics is hosting a collaborative series of learning sessions throughout the fall. Remaining sessions are November 5th (Desmos) and November 19th (My Favorites) from 4-5 pm. To sign up, email mctm.montana@gmail.com. 

MEMC- Montana Elementary Math Community meets the first Wednesday of the month from 4-5 pm. Next Meeting: Wednesday, November 4th! We will be sharing and discussing ideas for teaching elementary mathematics remotely, in a blended format, and face-to-face. Join our ongoing conversation via Slack.