Hey, everyone! Now that readers have had the chance to get to know the whole Squad via their origin stories and related activities, it’s time to go through their first adventure. You’ve had the opportunity to download the whole graphic novel in its printed form. Now you get to see it in its digital form! […]
Posts in the Teaching category:
Day 5: Radical’s Leap Days
Today’s activity is just a little warm up for what is about to come. Make sure kids read Radical’s origin on pp. 105-106 of the book, which if you still haven’t downloaded it for free, is available here. Today, we’re talking about leap days and leap years, and why we have them. This involves some decimal […]
Day 4: La Calculadora’s Churros Recipe
Hey, everyone! No big math activity today. Take a day off! Instead, there’s just a little measuring to be done with fractions as you make LaCalculadoras Cinnamon Churros Recipe ! As you can read her origin on p. 101 of Solution Squad, Dora’s recipes helped her mother’s boss’s restaurant be successful. This is one of them. Buen […]
Day 2: Graphing on the Coordinate Plane
Hey, everyone! This isn’t necessarily something you need to do immediately after the writing prompt I posted yesterday. This is just something you can do whenever the fancy strikes you and your kids. Using graph paper, kids are going to draw the Solution Squad insignia, the “SS” symbol! Graph points on the coordinate plane to […]
Day 1: What Would You Do With One Billion Dollars?
Note: This was adapted from a previous post, but serves as a good example of how Solution Squad isn’t merely for math! There isn’t only one way to teach using Jim McClain’s Solution Squad. I’ve been using it for years. Ordinarily, I’d go right through the first story, developing prime number skills. But given current headlines, […]
The New “Normal”
Hey, everyone! Solution Squad creator Jim McClain, here. First, I want to assure you that I am not one to capitalize on tragedy. I was a classroom teacher for 32 years and I know how hard the job is. I just retired in January, in the hopes of traveling the country talking about using comics […]
Announcing Solution Squad Volume 2!
After careful consideration and getting approval from the two most important people I have to clear decisions like this with (Margarita Mandoki McClain and Tracy Edmunds), I am going forward with Solution Squad Volume 2! Don’t worry, I’m not going to ask you to back another Kickstarter so soon after I just did one. […]
Back to School, Take 32
I recently decided to stay in the classroom until I’m at least 59, instead of retiring at the first opportunity a year from December. I’m hearing rumblings that the economy is about to tank, and that’s probably not the best time to rely on doing school visits with Solution Squad. My decision to postpone my […]
Digital Comics and How to Use Them in the Classroom
One of the common questions I receive is, “How do I use Solution Squad in my classroom?” That’s a fair question to which I have an unfair answer. I generally don’t use the physical book in my classroom. I have copies on hand for kids to read, but the physical book really isn’t meant for […]
What Would You Do with One Billion Dollars?
I have to take a half day off the first day of the new semester to take my wife to the doctor and I need a quick lesson plan for kids I’ve never met. My go-to is a writing prompt with which I like to begin each new class: What Would You Do with One Billion Dollars? […]
How Many Days Old Are You? Part 1
When I want to assess my students’ problem solving abilities to begin the semester, I ask one simple question. It’s the title of this post. So simple. It requires nothing more than whole number addition and multiplication and a rudimentary knowledge of the calendar. But watching student after student answer the question incorrectly, I lay […]
On Solid Ground
This is going to sound weird, but bear with me a moment. See this sunrise? I took this photo from my campsite in my hometown of Mesick, Michigan. It’s a tiny town up by Traverse City and Cadillac, near the stomping grounds of a young Ernest Hemingway. Every so often, I go up to Mesick for a […]
Teaching with Jim McClain’s Solution Squad, Part 3
Students continued their writing today, and I promised them that I would do the activity right along with them. I guess their thought is if we suffer together, it’s more bearable? Since they’ve moved past the organized list phase into the paragraph writing phase, I modeled what I think their paragraphs should look like. What […]
Teaching with Jim McClain’s Solution Squad, Part 2
There isn’t only one way to teach using Jim McClain’s Solution Squad. I’ve been using it for years. Ordinarily, I’d go right through the first story, developing prime number skills. But this year, I decided to go off-script. My favorite Solution Squad activity is a writing prompt: What Would You Do with One Billion Dollars? […]
Teachers Pay Teachers!
Our newest venture is in the domain of lesson plans! Along with curriculum expert Tracy Edmunds, we have launched a Teachers Pay Teachers store! In it, we have the 113-slide digital comic, along with 25 pages of lesson plans and activities for grades 4-8! The first listing goes with Solution Squad #1: Solution Squad is a […]