Crewton Ramone In The Classroom.

Here are a few vids I've made while playing around at Haiku School with 1st and 2nd graders using base ten blocks.

We do math that is supposedly advanced for their age. Most of the time the kids don't seem to notice. We fool around with problem solving and algebra, Pythagorean Theorem and addition, multiplication and division. All it is is counting. No concept is beyond the child if presented at the child's level.

Teachers and teachers aides are always amazed at what I take for granted. Several teachers aides commented that they were doing the same thing at the local community college while they attempted to get their teaching degrees. Many of them are being held up because of the math. "Why don't they teach it this way?" is a common question.

I'll get into that some other time. I am building a six hour Audio Course that will cover that (briefly) and a whole lot more. Should be done this summer. To start off here is a rant. Fed up with teachers who tell me kids can't do simple algebra. Teachers can't do simple algebra, not the kids.



Then here is a CLASSIC lesson with first graders. We learn addends for 10 and nine and the nines multiplication table to boot.



Here is another lesson with is a lesson with 1st graders factoring polynomials but what we are really doing is learning addends and multiplication:



As one teacher put it when they get back to the stuff they are doing for "grade level" they ace it. Also In the 1st grade class I go to for an hour a week they blew away their piers on the standardized tests. Especially in "algebraic thinking" but also in general computation. These scores are confidential or I'd share them. Here is more:



I've been fooling with this for 23 years now. I have heard every excuse in the book from teachers as to why they can't do this their classrooms. This post is about removing excuses. ANYBODY can do this. I can train you. You can train yourself. I am working on courses that you can buy for a few bucks to help you implement this in classrooms or in your home or homeschool.

Meantime get a password for 24 bucks and start watching some vids and reading pages that interest you in your spare time. (That's a bit of a joke, my mom was a classroom teacher I know you don't have a lot of spare time.) Once you figure out how AWESOME this is you'll find the time.

Here are second graders doing slightly more advanced play. They are making square polynomials and you can hear the excitement in the room. It's fun. They know they are doing stuff that's supposed to be "hard." In kid culture algebra is hard, but they often ask for it by name.



Here is a lesson on square numbers:



We are getting ready for Pythagoras. Before you dive into more complex concepts it's good to get them used to the elements they will be faced with before hand...like squares and square root. Very important to know what the symbols mean.

And just for fun I took a trip down the radical path. Why. Because you can.



The we played with Pythagoras. The thing to remember is all we are doing is using our counting skills.



The classes with the first graders are about an hour long and 90 minutes with the second graders. I don't expect you to watch all these vids in one sitting but here they all are in one place. You can share them with teachers you know and they can get to them as time permits. Any young ambitions teacher that would like to turn these into lesson plans are welcome to do it...

It is hard to film and teach all at the same time, plus I am hampered by rules about filming children and etc. So I don't make many vids. Hopefully there will e another post like this before summer with a bunch more fun vids for you to watch.

95% of the time we have a great time. Once in a great while things can get rough. I had a Monday morning class with a substitute teacher where the second graders were having a hard time due to lack of sleep

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