Plenty of Problems: Helping Students Become Better Problem Solvers?
It’s the beginning of a new school year and I bet you’re looking for some new ideas. Here is an idea that I have been mulling over, and I would love your thoughts and suggestions on it. I want our...
View ArticleA Simple Way to Implement Mathematical Practice Standard 7: Look For and Make...
I like structure in my life. I am a mother of 3 kids and wear a variety of other hats, and my survival depends on good routine and structure. I may be the extreme, but I even pack using subcategories...
View ArticleWhat Should We Do With All of That Halloween Candy? MATH!
I have very fond memories of my sister and I racing from door to door on Halloween night gathering as much candy as our pillowcases would hold. When the last porch light went out, we hurried home with...
View ArticleWhy Should I Teach More Than One Way to do Computations? The Addition...
As a student I was good at computation. I would memorize the rules and practice so that I received the A’s that I really enjoyed. When I taught, I began to realize how different methods work for...
View ArticleWhat Teachers Want: Valentine Math Ideas
Is there any more time-honored tradition in elementary school than handing out valentines? Most of us still remember the painstaking decisions we had to make about which valentine we would give to each...
View ArticleNumber Walls: Another Evocative Object?
In this post I want to share something I found in a research study involving fourth grade students in which the students were asked to interact with something they called a number wall. The wall...
View ArticleNimble With Number Lines
In the past couple of weeks I have had the privilege of working with several K-2 teachers. They really appreciated the time that we spent developing number concepts using the number line. So . . . I am...
View ArticleWhy Should I Teach More Than One Way to do Computations?
It is easy to misunderstand the Common Core Standards that ask students to “fluently add and subtract (or multiply and divide) multi-digit whole numbers using the standard algorithm.” According to...
View ArticleHow Can Ten Frames Support My Students in Understanding and Becoming Fluent...
I have recently been spending a lot of time implementing the activities and assessments from the book Teaching Number in the Classroom. I really appreciate how the book is formatted because it has...
View ArticleHow Can Ten Frames Support My Students in Understanding and Becoming Fluent...
In learning about math, students need to understand that math is more than calculating the right answer. This isn’t the first time you are hearing this. Common Core’s writer Phil Daro has a video about...
View ArticleHow Can Ten Frames Support My Students in Understanding and Becoming Fluent...
If I had a magic wand as an educator, I would wave it and magically see a student’s thinking. Knowing what a student is thinking is an incredibly powerful tool because it helps us know how to create...
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