Representing and interpreting data is a common theme in elementary mathematics instruction. Unfortunately, most activities seem to "spoon feed" the representation, typically a bar or line graph, to students with the x- and y-axis, labels, and scale all completed and ready to go.

What happened to the good old days when students were handed a piece of graph paper and had to create the representation from scratch? I can appreciate the need for students to efficiently demonstrate their knowledge, but I feel strongly that students need to create graphs 'from scratch' like we used to (as recorded in black and white movies!) when we were children.

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Solving single-step or multistep practical mathematical problems is a theme throughout the Common Core Standards and Virginia's Standards of Learning. These practical problems require computation skills that evolve as the students progress from kindergarten to high school. Although this authentic task can be utilized by students in multiple grades, for fourth graders, the problems typically involve adding, subtracting, and multiplication as well as division with whole numbers.

The On Top of Denali template involves a problem solving strategy that utilizes subtraction as a potential part of a Computation unit taught at the start of the school year. Students are asked to compare the elevation of Denali to the highest points of other states including Oregon, Arkansas, and Virginia to name a few.

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Seventh-grade students are asked to "use properties of operations to generate equivalent expressions." While they may be able to solve these equations, they don't often make the connection between abstract algebra formulas and the world outside the classroom.

The 13-page Bead Factory template provides real-world context for using algebraic equations as students are given parameters and asked to price jewelry based on the algebraic expression they write.

Editor's Note: This blog is the sixth in a series of posts from former math specialist Scott Loomis. In these posts, he shares more about the real world math templates he has created for Wixie and outlines how you can use and modify them for your own awesome performance tasks. You can read the backstory on his experience and expertise below.

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First graders continue to develop their geometric understanding of two- and three-dimensional shapes by moving beyond the simple attribute identification and shape creation they learned in kindergarten to defining attributes and creating composite shapes. First graders also get their first assessed look at fractions via the part-whole relationship and are asked to partition triangles and rectangles into equal shares.

Editor's Note: This blog is part of a series of posts from former math specialist Scott Loomis on the real-world math templates he has created for Wixie and how you can use and modify them for your own awesome performance tasks. You can read the backstory on his experience and expertise below.

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Second-grade students are expected to identify and draw shapes such as triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, and hexagons. Their geometric reasoning is extended to include the equal partitioning on both circles and rectangles into two, three, and four parts/shares. This template engages students initially by having them identify shapes based on provided names (triangle, quadrilateral, pentagon, and hexagon) and then partition two circles and two rectangles into specific parts. The final part has students decorate a tie with identified specific shapes and even colors.

Editor's Note: This blog is the fourth in a series of posts from former math specialist Scott Loomis on the real-world math templates he has created for Wixie and how you can use and modify them for your own awesome performance tasks. You can read the backstory of his experience and expertise below.

Read More