Bridges Blog

Bridges has been aligned to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).  Correlations and a supplement have been created for each grade level and may be downloaded for free on the Bridges by State page within the Support for Materials section of this Web site. These materials will continue to be refined and subsequent versions will also be available for download at no charge.

Many of you are preparing for a new school year. For some, that means the first year teaching Number Corner. Here are some hints to get you started...

I welcome the chance to be a part of supporting Bridges users. As an educational consultant I work with kids and teachers in a variety of settings. I enjoy conducting professional development workshops on a myriad of topics, Bridges being one of my favorites. Although my Master's degree is in elementary education, I'm certified K-12 and have had the unique opportunity to teach in elementary, middle and high school settings. I love to think about new ways to teach math.

After experiencing MLC's Opening Eyes curriculum many years ago in my third grade classroom, I was very excited to be given the opportunity to explore Bridges. I've now taught portions of every grade level of Bridges, K-5, including field testing grade 5 and writing some of the supplemental material for grade 4. I'm continually amazed by the power of Bridges to affect mathematical thinking and incite enthusiasm, both for children and teachers.

MLC is committed to supporting your implementation of Bridges.  This commitment is reflected in a fresh approach to this Blog.

There are three specific changes:

1)  More focused content.  Entries will be directly relevant to Bridges use in the classroom.

2)  An increase in postings.  Our frequency of entries will increase to 6-10 per month.

3)  A regular host / moderator.  Please welcome Cynthia Hockman-Chupp.

We’ve recently made available four new short handouts that you can send home to Grade 3 parents to introduce Bridges Units 5–8. Our hope is that these unit overviews will be a useful resource to you and your students’ families through the end of the school year. Each unit overview identifies the key learning objectives for the unit, provides solutions and explanations for sample problems, and addresses the most common and pressing questions parents may ask about the unit.

Kathy Richard, who teaches second grade at Gilbert Heights Elementary in Portland, is a former music teacher. When she started teaching the new lessons from Bridges Supplement Set D2, Measuring Length in U.S. Customary Units, she couldn't help herself from singing the old Inchworm song in class. Soon, her students joined in, and the whole class fell in love with the song. Kathy decided it would be fun and motivational to have the kids record their own rendition of this classic.

As you know, Bridges in Mathematics advocates building a safe, positive community of learners in every classroom. Students are more apt to share their thinking, listen carefully to others, disagree with an idea not a person, and collaborate in positive and productive ways when they feel part of something bigger than themselves that they view as beneficial and good. Jefferson County Public Schools has taken buillding learning communities to a different level as described in a recent Edutopia article at www.edutopia.org/louisville-sel-social-emotional-learning.