Did you hear?
We have new Math TEKS!
(If you don't live in Texas...I'm sorry! And also, you might not know that we do not follow the Common Core. But come on...we threaten to secede every few years. Why would we follow the common core?)
Anyhoo...there are BIG changes coming. The new TEKS do not oficially begin until the 2014-2015 school year. But many districts, including mine, started rolling them out last year. So are you ready for the big shockers?
No more sorting by attributes.
So that awesome sorting balls lesson I have? Gone! (Except you could do it in science). Kids will still sort geometric shapes by their attributes (but not by color, size, pattern, etc).
No more patterns.
No more red, yellow, blue, blue. Gone!
No more fair shares.
So no more excuses to eat graham crackers and Hershey Bars in class. (Although I can still probably find a reason).
No more calendar.
(Not in math, anyways...social studies still has some).
No more ordinal numbers.
(Although my district is keeping this as a local TEK.)
No more surface area or duration of time in measuring.
So what are we going to be doing?
Lots and lots of number sense/computational fluency, real-world problem solving and making generalizations.
Although some changes may seem minor, there are subtle cognitive and content changes that increase the rigor significantly. And there is much greater emphasis on mathematical processes--(really look at K.1 A-G).
(Actually, our TEKS look a whole lot more like the Common Core now--at least in kinder!)
It's all good!
But not on my blog. Most of my lessons will be obsolete. But don't worry--I have lots more up my sleeve! I have a bunch of posts planned that will address the new TEKS in detail with lesson ideas included.
If you would like to see the new TEKS in their entirety, you can check them out here.
Don't panic. This is a great new adventure! And I really believe that these new TEKS will better prepare our children for the math skills they will need in the future. So bring it on...we'll all be just fine.
No more calendar??? Really?
Posted by: Traci G | 08/03/2013 at 03:44 PM
Hi Traci!
Calendar concepts have been removed from the Math TEKS, although it can still be used as a "tool." The concept of yesterday, today, and tomorrow still appears in the social studies TEKS.
I will still be doing a short calendar routine as part of our morning meeting. I think rituals like that are super important to building a strong classroom community. However, it is no longer considered part of math instruction--so I'll have to take those minutes from another part of my day.
Posted by: Kathryn | 08/03/2013 at 04:09 PM
I'm in Texas, and while I love the added number sense and real-world applications, I just can't support the removal of patterns. It is such a huge foundation for algebra! :(
Posted by: Nora | 08/03/2013 at 04:35 PM
I didn't know they were changed! That would've been helpful to find out (I work at a private school, we kind of find things out at the last minute...) No more sorting or patterns, calendar or ordinals?! Grr... but I completely understand the computing additions. Our curriculum doesn't hit that area very hard. Thanks for sharing!
Posted by: Chrissy | 08/03/2013 at 08:55 PM
Like you we started teaching new TEKS last year. My district has made the choice to keep most of the things that were taken out. We just feel they are important foundation pieces for the kids. Thanks for the great post and website. I bet many of those lessons will still be used!
Amy
Teaching in Blue Jeans
Posted by: Amy Biddison | 08/04/2013 at 08:14 AM
We started learning about them last school year. I am sad that some things are gone, but really excited for the longer focus on numbers. I thinks it's so important.
Erica
Sprinkles to Kindergarten
[email protected]
Posted by: Erica | 08/04/2013 at 11:11 PM
Omg! I live in Texas. No calendar? Then how do they learn days of week, months etc?
So crazy.... We are doing Investigations with math computation assessments.
Posted by: Heidi | 08/05/2013 at 07:54 PM
I know in FL, with the implementation of VPK, standards for 4 year olds were raised drastically. It felt like they moved Kindergarten to us.
BTW, I love your site! Love your ideas! I am using quite a few of them this year with my own 5 year old homeschooler. She's a sponge!
Posted by: Dee Dee | 08/15/2013 at 08:21 AM