Math prize patrol comes to Beacon Tree

The only thing missing was Ed McMahon.

A UCS prize patrol recently visited Marc Scholten's fourth grade class at Beacon Tree Elementary school, bringing a basket of math manipulatives as a reward for innovative teaching.

The class earned the prizes by submitting a new math program based on weekly curriculum tips shared with elementary teachers. Teachers were encouraged to submit programs that have been created based on the tips.

At Beacon Tree, students combined their math and writing lessons to create a unit of estimation.

"Prior to starting our unit on Estimating Sums/Differences, I had the students predict what they thought the word estimate meant in their math journals," explained Mr. Scholten. "Each student wrote their own predicted definition.  After writing their responses, we shared what they had written and complied a list of key words that helped us remember estimating."

The UCS weekly curriculum tips are also shared with parents as a "Teaching and Learning Tweet of the Week" through the district's Twitter page.

Watch the video below to view the awards presentation.