NSD Math 
Newsletter

Desmos Snowglobes

My Algebra 2 students have been studying function transformations. To give them an opportunity to apply their learning, we are creating Desmos Snowglobes!

The inspiration came from a tweet by Joanna Stevens and I created this activity based on a Desmos Activity by Julie Reulbach. In Desmos Snowglobes, students start off with some tutorials about circles, ellipses, and some Desmos features such as domain/range restrictions and using inequalities to color graphs. After completing the tutorials, students view some Desmos snowglobes created by others before using the Desmos graphing calculator to create their own. Please visit student.desmos.com and use code SA974 if you'd like to try this activity as a student! If you'd like to use this activity with your students, just click "Create Class Code" to get started.  

Patty Stephens

K-12 Math TOSA

NEW K-12 Math Toolbox

Instead of having separate toolboxes for elementary and secondary math, the toolboxes have now been consolidated into the K-12 Math Toolbox. To view  information and resources for a particular grade or course, choose the appropriate grade band from the menu along the left side of the page. 

6-8 Math Curriculum Pilot

Many middle school and EAP math teachers across the district are piloting new 6-8 math instructional materials. Pilot teachers piloted CMP3 by Pearson during 1st quarter and are now piloting Core Focus by SMc Publishing.

More information about the Middle School Math Curriculum Pilot and our adoption process can be found on the Secondary Math Toolbox. 

Links & Resources

Things I'm Checking Out...

• Presentation by Dan Meyer: Math is Power, not Punishment
• Video from Jo Boaler: Rethinking Giftedness
• 10 Creative Alternatives to Showing Movies
• Dynamic and Dynamite Desmos Demos
• Online Practice is Terrible Practice
• Create Small Learning Communities with the Station Rotation Model
• Smarter Balanced Fact Sheets for Grades 3-12
• AchieveTheCore.org
  • Aligned Tasks
  • Mini-Assessments
  • Coherence Map
• K-12 Math Tasks from Illustrative Mathematics

TOSA Support

• Math Teaching Practices that support Common Core
• implementing math tasks that promote reasoning and problem solving
• developing or using formative assessments
• addressing Depth of Knowledge in classroom instruction
• integrating technology in the classroom to support student learning