Saturday, March 21, 2020

Math Expressions Interactive Activities

In 2019-2020, my school first adopted the 2018 version of Math Expressions. Our rockstar teachers have been working hard to understand the different components of the program and how they all fit together to provide our students an exemplary math education.

One of the major elements of the program is Think Central, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's one-stop-shop for teaching and learning materials related to all their products, including Math Expressions. (Read more at Welcome to Think Central).

 

Many of our teachers have used Think Central and the Personal Math Trainer to varying degrees in the classroom, but now that we've entered into an unprecedented time of distance learning, our students stand to greatly benefit from the learning opportunities within Think Central.

Much of what's available in Think Central allows students to practice what they've already been taught, but the RTI Tier I and Tier II interactive activities walk students step-by-step through mathematical concepts, helping students understand each of the unit's big ideas. These activities are kid-friendly and all the instruction is narrated to students, as opposed to having them read text.



Teachers can use these interactive activities for instruction, instead of or in addition to creating original videos or slides.

The RTI Tier I and Tier II interactive activities are found in each grade level's Math Activity Center in RTI.

 

Leave a comment on this post if you have used these interactive activities. How's it going? How well do kids like it? Are they learning math?

Additionally, if you need any technical or pedagogical support using these resources, reach out. I'd love to help problem-solve with you!

Tech tips to preview and assign the Tier I & II interactive activities

Are you a visual learner? Watch the short video below that shows you how to preview and assign these interactivities in Think Central. Keep reading below to read the step-by-step instructions.


Log into Think Central

To preview the Tier I and Tier II interactive activities:
  • Home
  • From the carousel, select your grade level
  • Math Activity Center, G# Teacher
  • RTI
  • Filter (on the left) by Unit & by Big Idea
  • Click on any of the activities on the right.
    • TIP: Each Big Idea has two interactive activities: 1 for Tier I and 1 for Tier II
To assign the Tier I and Tier II interactive activities:
  • Home
  • In the text box "Search for Resources", type the math unit you're teaching.
  • Filter (on the left) by
    • Grade Level
    • Assignable (switch the toggle switch "on")
    • Show additional filters > 
      • Component > + More > Response to Intervention
    • Media type > HTML
  • Click the "Assign" button and fill in all the appropriate text boxes and hit "save".