Brian Bushart

Thank you! I started this school year subbing in my district, but that's about to end since I just accepted a job at our town hall as a clerk in the Assessor's office. I'm looking forward to trying something new and being able to walk to work everyday.

Thank you! I check from time to time, but now that I'm not teaching full-time, I haven't had as much to share.

I loved reading her insights. Thank you for sharing!

That's a wrap! We ended our year writing thank you notes, Inaba place value puzzles, and a kickball tournament.

This isn't just the end of another year of 4th grade, but also my time as a classroom teacher. Not sure what the future holds, but for now I've got a well-deserved summer break to enjoy!

This geometry lesson (The Four Triangle Problem) and art project (Rotating Design) from the series Math By All Means is one of my favorites. The students get to flex their spatial reasoning skills and then create some eye-catching art. It makes me happy. #iTeachMath

Any time I get to combine math and art, I'm a happy guy. Today my students created Mondrian-inspired works of art. The activity comes from this IM lesson:

im.kendallhunt.com/k5/teachers/...

I modified the criteria a bit this year. The finished art looks great! #iTeachMath

Good to know!

Grilled cheese and tomato soup is a staple in our house! I'm curious, what is the benefit of using mayo rather than butter?

The words "Stuck in the Dessert" with an ice cream cone drawn above it. The words "Stuck in the Desert" with a sun and sand drawn around it.

My students are writing historical fiction stories that take place in the Arabian desert in the year 560. After reading some of their story titles, I had to intervene...

I told them, "I would honestly love to be stuck in the dessert." 🤣

Wonderful news! Congratulations!

White board with a document camera projecting an image of a 10-sided dice showing the number 4. On one side of the white board, students' scores for a game are listed. On the other side is a record of all the dice rolls made during the game.

List of each team's score during rounds 4, 6, and 7 of the game: 160 to 194 to 202 112 to 180 to 196 128 to 178 to 194 128 to 178 to 214 144 to 178 to 194 76 to 180 to 196 120 to 188 to 204

Record of the seven dice rolls from the game: 6 4 6 4 4 9 4

We played Don't Break the Bank again. This time I increased the bank to 200. That seemed to bring double, double, double out a bit more. To heighten the tension, teams reported out after rounds 4 and 6. By the end only 3 teams broke the bank! Still searching for the optimal bank size. #iTeachMath

Thankfully it's only two first names!

Recording sheet for a game called Don't Break the Bank. In Round 1, the students doubled 7 twice to get 28. In Round 2, the students doubled 5 twice to get 20. In Round 3, the students doubled 3 once to get 6. In Round 4, the students doubled 9 twice to get 36. In Round 5, the students doubled 4 twice to get 16. In Round 6, the students doubled 2 three times to get 16. In Round 7, the students doubled 7 twice to get 28. Their total for the game is 150, which is exactly the bank.

Tried out a variation of Don't Break the Bank that I came up with to get my students to practice the doubling strategy for solving 2s, 4s, and 8s multiplication facts. It was a hit! First round students aimed for 100, second round 150. Might go higher to encourage double, double, double. #iTeachMath

Photo of a classroom with desks and children. One desk has a piece of paper propped on top. The paper has a drawing of a child sitting in a chair with a speech bubble that says, "Hi, I'm Paul."

One of my students was out sick for several days, so his desk partner created "Paper Paul" so she'd have a partner for our numerous turn and talks throughout the day. She even brought him to Specials. 😂

Student drawing that says "Best teacher ever!" above a drawing of a classroom. The drawing is labeled "Mr. Bushart's Room 101," and under that it says "Have a Gay!"

While I love the "Math Room" door hangar, I think this is my favorite piece of art I've received from a student this year.

Have a Gay! 😂

#iTeachMath

Close up of a door handle with a paper hangar that says "The Math Room"

One of my students made a sign for our classroom door. 🥰

(I teach all subjects, but clearly she's figured out which one is my favorite.)

#iTeachMath

Oof, I've been there. Sorry to hear it. Hope tomorrow is a better day.

Merry Christmas!

Got to watch my favorite holiday movie with the family tonight: The Nightmare Before Christmas! It reminded me that I still want the deadly nightshade cookie jar Disney made years ago. I couldn't afford it back then. Maybe I need to browse eBay...

I wholeheartedly agree!

The alt text is essential reading.

Yay! We made it! 🙏

Slide projected on a white board. The slide shows an image of blue dots some of which are covered by two black blobs. There are 4 dots not covered by either blob. One blob has been made transparent so you can see 4 dots underneath. The second blob is still solid black. Next to the image are equations showing students' guesses about how many blue dots there are in all.

Two students playing a math game at their desk. They have square tiles and they are dividing them onto five small rectangles of construction paper.

A white board listing various division equations: 10 divided by 3 is 3 remainder 1 8 divided by 5 is 1 remainder 3 14 divided by 5 is 2 remainder 4 20 divided by 6 is 3 remainder 2 There are two more equations that have accompanying pictures drawn to help students understand the problem with the remainders: 18 divided by 3 is 5 remainder 3 20 divided by 4 is 3 remainder 8

Whew! Winter break is finally here! We started our day with Splat, finished up some note taking in CKLA, played the game Leftovers with 20 again, & debriefed about remainders. They were a restless bunch, but they did great! We wrapped up with a party and a closing circle. Time to relax! #iTeachMath

Table showing a math game in progress. On the far side of the table, a student is counting tiles that are being evenly grouped onto two small rectangles of construction paper. On the near side of the table is a recording sheet, a die, and additional small rectangles of construction paper.

Screenshot showing the directions of the math game Leftovers with 20.

Division equations written on a white board. All of the equations include a remainder.

Now that I know my students are new to division with remainders, we played the game Leftovers with 20 today. The kids loved it! At the end, students shared out some of the division sentences they wrote, and we discussed the remainders. #iTeachMath

I can't say that the students got it right have really learned the skill, but I do know I need to work with the 2 students who didn't get it because they were unsuccessful despite all of the work we had done together. They'll be in a small group with me tomorrow. #iTeachMath

To see if they could apply this skill to a new context, I posed a completely different problem about someone picking 60 apples, making applesauce with 12, and putting the rest equally into 6 baskets. This was a multiple choice question. All but 2 students chose the correct equation. #iTeachMath

Every time I asked, "Why do you keep writing 12 x 3 in your equation?" I'd also ask why they chose to add or subtract for the second part of their equation. By keeping so much constant, students were able to articulate their decisions pretty well. #iTeachMath

And finally, I posed the question in the photo: "Tim has 3 packs of markers. Each pack has 12 markers. He gives 8 of the markers to his sister and 5 of the markers to his brother. Write an equation that can be used to find the total number of markers, n, that Tim has." #iTeachMath

After discussing those equations, I changed the problem on the right to: "Tim has 3 packs of markers. Each pack has 12 markers. He gives 8 of the markers to his sister. Write an equation that can be used to find the total number of markers, n, that Tim has." #iTeachMath