Today’s in-service with Reneé Smith of Essdack was informative. In her presentation, she gave us many strategies (games, activities) to teach math in the primary grades while weaving common core information and sharing tips for identifying students who might not grasp number concepts. I am anxious to use these ideas with my students. Thanks for providing this professional learning opportunity.

Hello.  I loved your presentation at NCTM conference in Albuquerque.  I have downloaded some of your games from your site. Thank you.

Dear Renee, I just wanted to thank you for the excellent CGI workshop.  I told my principal this morning that your workshop was the best one I have attended in the past 5 years.  You were prepared, organized, and most importantly I could tell that you have really done your research in order to present the material to fellow teachers. I was very encouraged to learn that I am doing a few things right in my classroom! I realize that I need to include hands on learning even if it is as simple as providing each student their own number lines. I am looking forward to our November workshop. Thanks again for sharing your knowledge with us.

First off, thank you for teaching me this! My kids love it and are really making the connections to the algebra! I have seen the light bulb come on for so many of them!

In my 15 plus years of teaching, I have always dreaded workshops.  Grab 'Em with Games is by far the best workshop I have ever been to.  Not only did the games improve my students math skills, but some of them became thinkers again.  Instead of asking questions right after I gave out an assignments, my students begin to rediscover the world of learning and they didn't want everything handed to them anymore.  The improvements in mental math after we started playing the games were amazing.  Also the motivation for my students to stay on task and get done with their assignment so they could play the games was a pleasant surprise.

Hi! I have used the games over and over. I love them!!! Most of the kids like them – others – well it is still math!!!!   This year I got out “Metric Madness” for my 6th graders – they LOVED it!! Grades in the past – not so much!! This group also liked the game “Step Right UP” – they were really getting good at it!!! Another favorite is “Horse Race” and the variations that went with it.   We have also used the dominos to practice fractions. Almost forgot – “Claim the Factors” I’m not looking in my “box” of games – these are just the ones on the top of my head. I really have used these games a lot!! And the kids really like the time away from the math book!!

Last year you came to Haysville and did your Grab’em With Games workshop.  It was such a hit that many have requested your Day 2!

Everyone I’ve talked to has told how absolutely wonderful these sessions were.  I thank you for all your hard work.  I will certainly keep you in mind for future trainings.

I love the Math Snack podcast. What a wonderful way to initiate all teachers into the different strategies of how to do a problem other than the traditional algorithm. All of the podcast lay out the conceptual understanding and how that has to come first before the process. Thank You!!! I have forwarded on the site to all participants and at both of my schools we will be using them during professional development time to further our learning on this topic.