Panic, paranoia, shutting down, frustration, and lack of confidence are all symptoms of math anxiety. Math anxiety has been defined as feelings of tension and anxiety that interfere with the manipulation of numbers and the solving of mathematical problems in a wide variety of ordinary life and academic situations Math anxiety can cause one to forget and lose one’s self-confidence (Tobias, S., 1993).
Unfortunately, math anxiety affects thousands of students everyday, but thankfully, there are things teachers and parents can do to help:
1. Provide multiple opportunities for success by starting with easier review problems.
2. Use multi-sensory strategies such as hands-on materials, manipulatives, visuals, and cooperative groups to allow students to explore mathematical concepts.
3. Incorporate games to practice math skills such as Battleship, Monopoly, Yahtzee, Tangrams, etc.
4. Include technology in your math lessons and centers for additional review and reinforcement.
5. Make math safe and fun by using friendly characters to teach strategies.

To combat these feelings of anxiety and help students approach math with confidence and success, we've created 10 math strategy animal characters, each with a specific job. In our FREE book, Hazel Meets the Math Strategy Friends, Hazel swoops down to catch her dinner at the local pond when she grabs Upton, an enchanted fish. Upton oversees Problem-Solving Pond and promises to introduce Hazel to his animal friends, all who teach a special problem-solving strategy. Using these strategies and Upton’s guidance, Hazel blossoms into an accomplished mathematician who is able to tackle problems with ease.

​Astute Hoot’s unique cast of strategy animals make learning safe and fun while teaching critical strategies in a child-friendly way. Students make an immediate connection to the animals and relate to Hazel’s struggles. These delightful animals and rhymed text motivate the most reluctant students and alleviate math anxiety.

​Teachers love using these resources too! "I am using the Astute Hoot math strategy animals and my kids LOVE them. They couldn't name a single EngageNY strategy but one week into your material and they are all over it - "break apart badger! hopping hare!" THANK YOU SO MUCH. I used to dread teaching math and now it's really fun." ~Andrea, 2nd grade teacher
 
Download a FREE copy of Hazel Meets the Math Strategy Friends and check out the accompanying digital resources and hands-on tools to support and enhance your instruction.  This is perfect for special education, math intervention and general education classrooms.
 
About the Authors
Jessica Murphy and Jennifer Zoglman are founders of Astute Hoot: Tools for the Wise Teacher. With a combined total of almost 30 years experience in early childhood and special education classroom teaching, early literacy research, and teacher coaching, they joined forces with Jennifer’s sister, Tina, an award-winning graphic designer, to create a dynamic cast of reading and math strategy animals. The strategy animals made their way into a group of targeted teaching and learning tools that have contributed to the creation of proficient readers and mathematicians in classrooms across the country! Check out their blog: www.astutehoot.com to see how they awaken the joy of learning in all students!

Students are more successful when they monitor and reflect upon their thinking and learning. Cultivate a classroom of self-reflective learners using these strategies:​

Use a learning goal and scale. Create a classroom culture in which students feel safe self-assessing and sharing their honest progress towards learning goals.


​Set a purpose for each lesson by using a specific and measurable learning goal or objective written in student-friendly language. Remind students that a learning goal identifies what they will learn or be able to do by the end of the lesson. Tell students that they will be setting goals, reflecting on their understanding, and monitoring their progress toward these goals.Teach students how to show a numerical finger cue corresponding to the learning scale under their chins to rate their understanding throughout a lesson. Normalize misunderstanding by sharing a time in which you weren’t able to master something on your very first try and needed additional practice. Explain that honest ratings help you as a teacher because you are able to see what they understand and areas in which they need more help. Build this into the closure of each lesson before students complete their exit tickets.
 
I’ve found that using a learning scale has made a tremendous difference in my students’ motivation and investment in their own learning. They are accountable for their progress and take ownership of their mastery. Create your own learning scale banner or purchase Astute Hoot’s Learning Goal Banner & Stamps Kit.

Promote self-advocacy skills. Have you ever had a student that just sits like a bump on a log and stares aimlessly into space instead of asking for help? Teach your students how to advocate for themselves and ask appropriate clarifying questions by creating an Asking-for-Help anchor chart. This chart should consist of questions that students can ask when they need help or do not understand a goal, such as:

• May I please have more information?
• May I have some more time to think?
• Would you please repeat the question?
• Where can I find more information about that?
• May I ask a friend to help?
• Would you please give me another example?
• Where can I find that answer?
• Would you please show me another way to solve the problem?
• Would you please clarify that?

After you have completed the anchor chart, laminate it, show it to class, and discuss appropriate and inappropriate ways they are to ask for help. Insist that students speak in complete sentences when they request help. Redirect students to use the questions whenever they are confused.

Create student portfolios. Portfolios are a great way for students to demonstrate growth and showcase their work as a holistic means of assessment. These are also powerful tools for communicating student performance during parent-teacher conferences. Create a checklist of work samples that you want to include in each student portfolio. For example, you may want to include a piece from each subject area that shows growth, one that shows mastery, a piece that each student is most proud of, and one that students are currently working on. 
Explain to students how this is an ideal opportunity for them to demonstrate what they have learned and to share their learning goals with their families. Direct students to choose pieces of work within each subject area that they think exemplify their personal growth and progress. If using the stamp kit, tell students to stamp each piece of work with the appropriate stamp. Prepare students to justify and explain their ratings for each piece during the conference. Parents love seeing samples of student work and always moved when they hear children discuss their learning and progress.
 
Check out the blog 5 Tips for Creating End of Year Portfolios for additional ideas.
 
About the Authors
Jessica Murphy and Jennifer Zoglman are founders of Astute Hoot: Tools for the Wise Teacher. With a combined total of almost 30 years experience in early childhood and special education classroom teaching, early literacy research, and teacher coaching, they joined forces with Jennifer’s sister, Tina, an award-winning graphic designer, to create a dynamic cast of reading and math strategy animals. The strategy animals made their way into a group of targeted teaching and learning tools that have contributed to the creation of proficient readers and mathematicians in classrooms across the country! Check out their blog: www.astutehoot.com to see how they awaken the joy of learning in all students!

Mastering multisyllabic words is a critical bridge between emerging and fluent readers. Charlie the Chunking Chipmunk is one of Astute Hoot’s decoding strategy animals in Hazel's Reading Roost. Charlie motivates students to use strategies to decode multisyllabic words. Read more about Charlie's strategy below...
 
“I’m Charlie the Chunking Chipmunk. What’s new?
I break words into small chunks and you can, too.
Look for little words or sounds that you already know,
Join these sounds together to be the star of the show!”
WHAT is chunking? Chunking means breaking multisyllabic words into small units such as onsets and rimes, phonograms or letter combinations, syllables or morphemes.
WHY is chunking important? As students begin reading multisyllabic words, it is important for them to know how to break words into units larger than individual sounds. Identifying individual syllables is important because it helps students determine the correct vowel sound. By following syllabication rules, students can learn how to properly divide or chunk a word into syllables, which improves decoding and spelling.
HOW do I teach chunking? Explain that Charlie helps readers decode larger, unknown words by breaking the word into smaller chunks. Teach specific syllable types to show students how to chunk words. Decide which syllable types to teach based on your students’ instructional levels.

• Closed syllable: A syllable with one short vowel ending in one or more consonants (e.g., sunset, dishpan, lunchbox)
• Open syllable: A syllable that ends with a long vowel sound, spelled with a single vowel letter (e.g., open, myself, redo)
• Vowel consonant –e: A syllable with a long vowel, spelled with one vowel and one consonant and a silent e (e.g., shipmate, athlete)
• Consonant –le: An unaccented final syllable that contains a consonant before /l/, followed by a silent e (e.g., apple, little)
• Vowel team: A syllable with long or short vowel spellings that use two to four letters to spell the vowel (e.g., toaster, season)
• Vowel –r: A syllable with er, ir, or, ar, or ur in which vowel pronunciation often changes before /r/ (e.g., return, perfect)

Rather than teaching syllabication rules and types in isolation, integrate direct instruction with time for application of the skill in authentic literature. Practice many examples of each syllable rule and type to achieve mastery of that pattern before moving on to the next. In addition to using strategies such as dictation, marking words and flashcards, push students to find words with targeted syllable types in literature and use those words in their writing.
We recommend using our Charlie Chunking Chipmunk resources as a supplement to a research-based, multi-sensory phonic program that includes structured, explicit, systematic, cumulative instruction. Although we do not endorse a specific program, our students have demonstrated great success using the Wilson Language System and the Spalding Method. Read reviews of specific literary programs at What Works Clearinghouse.
WHEN should I use chunking?
Explicit reading strategy instruction should be included in a balanced literacy program. Charlie Chunking Chipmunk can be incorporated into various components of literacy lessons. Here are some specific examples of when to use Charlie:

• Phonics Fun: Choose several two- or three-syllable words from a weekly spelling list or phonics word study list. Choose a multi-sensory strategy (see below) to count syllables. Guide students through syllabication of each word on laminated Charlie’s Syllable Slates (see below). First students write each syllable in one of Charlie’s acorns and then write the whole word on the line below. Discuss syllable types and rules as applicable.
• Guided Reading: Introduce or review the chunking strategy by reading the Charlie Chunking Chipmunk Poem. Read aloud your selected guided reading text and model using Charlie’s Syllable Slate to read multisyllabic words in context. Call on individual students to practice using Charlie’s Slate with additional words. Encourage students to use Charlie Chunking Chipmunk’s strategy when they are reading independently as well.
• Chunking Chipmunk Reading Center: Create a portable reading center. Place Charlie’s Syllable Slate or a laminated copy of the Two-Syllable Chunking Chipmunk Reproducible and/or Three-Syllable Chunking Chipmunk Reproducible, dry erase marker, eraser, and 10 to 20 targeted multisyllabic words written on index cards or preprinted on flashcards in a large manila envelope with a copy of the Charlie Chunking Chipmunk Poem glued onto the front. Instruct students that during center time they are to take an envelope to their desks and apply Charlie’s strategy to practice reading the words and then practice spelling by using the dry erase marker to write the words on the laminated reproducible or slate.

Charlie's unit is perfect for general education, special education, RTI and reading intervention.  Download the complete unit here.  Check out our complete line of supplemental hands-on resources at Really Good Stuff.
 
About the Authors
Jessica Murphy and Jennifer Zoglman are founders of Astute Hoot: Tools for the Wise Teacher. With a combined total of almost 30 years experience in early childhood and special education classroom teaching, early literacy research, and teacher coaching, they joined forces with Jennifer’s sister, Tina, an award-winning graphic designer, to create a dynamic cast of reading and math strategy animals. The strategy animals made their way into a group of targeted teaching and learning tools that have contributed to the creation of proficient readers and mathematicians in classrooms across the country! Check out their blog: www.astutehoot.com to see how they awaken the joy of learning in all students!

On March 7, the Arizona State Legislature voted to pass a budget that will cut the state’s k-12 public education funding by $113 million. This news came as a shock to educators and parents in the state that already offers the lowest per pupil allocation in the nation, and consistently falls among the bottom ten states in national education rankings.

Surely the budget crunch will exacerbate the problems that plague Arizona’s classrooms, including large class sizes, lack of resources, and a severe shortage of qualified teachers. 

Teacher Retention Project works closely with several community organizations that advocate for Arizona’s students and are working to improve the quality of public education. Expect More Arizona offers opportunities to stay informed and get involved. Visit www.expectmorearizona.org for more information. 

On Friday, February 20 at approximately 3:30pm, Arizona school districts began to receive word that the AIMS testing requirement for high school students had been waived, effective immediately. Testing was scheduled to begin on Monday. By the time they received email notification, many school administrators had already gone home for the weekend. 
This news came as a shock to educators and students alike, who had spent months preparing for the exam. Many schools had invested thousands of dollars into AIMS tutoring and preparation programs. Teachers had devoted countless classroom hours to AIMS prep. 

In four years, 24% of Arizona’s teachers will be eligible for retirement. We should expect a flood of recent graduates to step up and fill their shoes. Yet Arizona’s teacher preparation programs have seen a 7% decline in enrollment this year. This is a concerning trend in the state that functioned at a ‘crisis’ level this year, boasting nearly 700 teacher vacancies.