Make Math Meaningful: Kappel Consulting LLC

What a wonderful day yesterday with Erie Catholic Schools! I was so excited to see so many wonderful faces that I’ve come to know, enjoy, and respect! We had great conversations and their students are so lucky to get such devoted and always learning teachers. 🤍 It doesn’t hurt that and I were there together. 🩷💜

While in Erie I am able to pop into my favorite grocery store and get their amazingly delicious subs and buy a few extra loaves of their gluten free sub bread. It’s so da-gone good! Also, I’m a sucker for hotel bacon. 🥓

What a GREAT couple of days working with the teachers of in Yermo, CA to start my 2024-25 school year. Lots of terrific conversations, ah-ha moments, and connections between educators.

I also experienced my first earthquake. Yup… Monday afternoon I was presenting and the whole classroom shook. I dropped into a “surfer” position and said, “what in the world is that?” The local teachers said, “earthquake”. There were a few other new to CA earthquakes as half of the district is an army base and they get new teachers PCS’d all the time. The epicenter was less than 3 miles from the school. (See the images of the quake notification I received). Not only did we get math pd that day, but also what to do in the classroom for earthquakes drills or actual earthquakes. (Here in Ohio we do fire and tornado drills, never earthquake drills.)

All in all a great few days and my family was able to join me on this trip and see where I work when I’m in California. 💜🩷

As my school year is about to begin I have been reflecting back on this past school year and all the great conversations I had with so many teachers across 22 school districts. At the end of the day my meeting area with them usually looks like this as we have played games, talked about activities to elicit curiosity and sense making for students.

I want to wish a fantastic school year to each and every teacher, aide, administrator, custodian, lunch lady, bus driver and student heading back to school.

Before you go, check out one of my favorite games to play with students in grades 1-10… NumberHive. I’ve played this game digitally with teachers and students, but also with their printable game boards. Check out their free downloads here! https://www.numberhive.app/math-resources/number-hive-printouts/

How would you solve this?

Amanda baked some cookies. Half of the cookies were chocolate chip. One third of the remaining cookies are peanut butter. Of the remaining, ¼ of them are oatmeal raisin. The rest are snickerdoodle and there are 9 of that flavor. How many cookies did Amanda bake?

Playing some with my to be 5th grader. She was over the X ones and wanted to try the Algebra one I had printed. Shes really enjoying this! 💛🧡🖤

I have my 16 year old at the pediatrician for his well check and I noticed these awesome art pieces hanging in the hallway. What terrific examples of images you can use for math talk. 🤍

Getting the office and math stuff all reorganized to head into the new school year (weeks and weeks away). Getting all of those stuff out and reorganized makes me miss the day to day in the classroom a tad bit…

Spent some time with 5th-8th grade teachers today on what they want their math blocks to look like with more of a concrete approach to their teaching. We cleaned out and organized some cabinets of math stuff and started to create individualized kits of materials for their students. It was a great day!

What do you notice? What do you wonder?

How many buttons are there? How did you figure it out?

Find yourself a friend/co-worker that can be your biggest fan and supporter. (Kristin Hilty) and I started working together back in the 2007-2008 school year and then more closely when she joined the 4th grade team in the 2009-2010 school year. She was across the hall and that’s when our friendship really started to become strong. That year we had my most favorite teaching team I’ve ever been a part of. We had 3 sections. I was job sharing with one of my lost favorite people on earth . There were 4 women all at different points in our career and all with different strengths and weaknesses. 3/4 of us have very strong personalities and it could have been a complete and utter hot mess, but it was awesome and amazing. We taught together for a few more years and made some great memories. Kristin left our elementary building the year I had my third and took most of the year off. I seriously thought we were done working together, but we kept our friendship alive. A couple years later she brought me with her to present at a national conference in Las Vegas. I caught the bug. I never intended to to leave the classroom, but I started enjoying working with teachers and doing PD more than I was enjoying being in the classroom at the time. Kristin was so supportive of me and helped me make the move when the time was right, not too early. She’s been a huge supporter of me personally and professionally- she’s one of few people who can call me out on my stuff when I need to hear it.

The trust we have in one another and how well we work together is rare and I am so lucky to call her my colleague, but more blessed to call her my friend.

We’ve been hosting our own digital conference for 5 years now. 5️⃣❗️We travel together, collaborate together on content but also in school districts, and we celebrate together.

, cheers! 🍻 Here’s to us my friend. I sure am proud of us!!! 🥰

Celebrating 🎉 our 5th Annual Digital Number Sense SUMmit!! ➕➖✖️➗🩷💜

I presented the last 3 days in our ( ) and my heart is so full!!! Great teachers. Great session topics. Great questions and comments. My voice is dead, but I’m honestly so fulfilled after working with teachers the last 3 days.

You know when your work area is cluttered with math manipulatives it’s been a great day!

Great first day of our 5th Annual Digital Number Sense SUMmit!

Watching back the other sessions from the Middle School Math SUMmit from Thursday and prepping some basic manipulatives for the K-5 Digital Number Sense SUMmit next week. These little ducks 🐥are to go with the K-2 Math picture book session on Tuesday afternoon. 💛

I got tired of borrowing Math Read Aloud books from so I finally bought 3 of my favorites. I can’t wait to share more next week at our 5th annual Digital Number Sense SUMmit!

Information is in my bio! ☝️

I was looking at some math stuff on Amazon and came across this game of Shut the Box for up to 6 players!!!

MNYUN Shut The Box Dice Games for 2-6 Players, Wooden Board Table Math Game with 16 Dice and Instructions, Classics Close The Box Board Game for Adults Kids, Family Classroom Home or Bar Strategy Meets Education: More than just a game, Shut the Box is a journey into strategic thinking and educational play. Perfect for family game nights or gatherings with friends, this game challenges players to use their wits, enhancing math skills and fostering a love for strategic decision-mak...

It is a GREAT Amazon delivery day! 📚

I cannot wait to dive into these two reads! 📖➕➖✖️➗

I’ve been looking forward to “Math-ish” by for months and just heard about “Productive Math Struggle” by John J SanGiovanni, Susie Katt, and Kevin J Dykema.

I’ve been sharing NumberHive with so many teachers…. Now there’s new game boards!!!

NumberHive

Exploring Jo Boaler 's https://www.mathish.org/ website as I await my new book of her, Math-ish. This particular download stood out to me as it reminds me of the Standards of Mathematical Practices. Love it!

⏰ Learn on YOUR schedule, get CREDITED, and have FUN!
Here are other highlights besides learning and developing skills:
◦Attend live sessions OR watch recordings later - it's YOUR call!
◦Earn graduate credit for attending (woohoo!)
◦Get a certificate for 12 hours of PD - boost your resume!
◦Lifetime access to ALL videos & materials (until May 1, 2025 - that's a WHOLE YEAR!)
Learn more and register today ➡️ https://makemathmeaningful.com/digital-ms-mathematics-summit-2024/

NEW this year!📣 We have put all content sessions into the first two days and saved all games for day 3. All attendees must attend the first two days and have the option to attend game day for a reduced fee. Click the link to learn more and register 🎲 https://form.jotform.com/240424846681157

Welcome!! I am truly thrilled you’re here. For 5 years I have co-hosted the K-5 Digital Number Sense SUMmit with my friend and colleague Kristin Hilty. This year, I have had the honor of working with more teachers in grades 6, 7, 8, and Algebra 1 teachers. I listened to feedback from teachers and administrators and designed a conference I sure hope you will LOVE and find MEANINGFUL!...

Middle School Digital Mathematics Digital SUMmit Welcome!! I am truly thrilled you’re here. For 5 years I have co-hosted the K-5 Digital Number Sense SUMmit with my friend and colleague Kristin Hilty. This year, I have had the honor of working wi…

Throughout my 19 years in education, working with time is one of those things that students of all ages struggle with. Specifically, telling time on an analog clock and working on problems with elapsed time are the biggest struggles. Before we dive into how I like to help teachers with these topics, let's take a look at what we are asked to teach....

Telling Time… Throughout my 19 years in education, working with time is one of those things that students of all ages struggle with. Specifically, telling time on an analog clock and working on problems with ela…

Came across this blog post on all the variations of what I call "Face Off" a game to work on fluency. Check it out and let me know what you think and if you've played any of those variations.

The Game That Is Worth 1,000 Worksheets Have you and your children been struggling to learn the math facts? The game of Math Card War is worth more than a thousand math drill worksheets, letting you build your children’s calculatin…

Our SUMmit is so awesome because you can watch our sessions until May 2025!
If you can't join us for the live sessions, no problem! You can view them later and reference them throughout the school year😆👏🏼
Learn more ➡️ https://form.jotform.com/240424846681157