Volume, From the Ground Up
Take a look at the figure below. How many cubes is it made of? A student might answer 16. Can you figure out why? If you look closely, there are…
Problem Solving
Teaching Place Value with Base-Ten Blocks: Free Place Value Mats & Activities
If you’re not familiar with CRA, it stands for Concrete, Representational, and Abstract. It’s a research-based instructional sequence that helps students develop a deeper understanding of mathematical concepts. If you’d…
Helping Students Visualize Division of a Unit Fraction and a Whole Number
It’s no exaggeration to say that students often struggle with fractions—and one of the main reasons is that fractions are an incredibly abstract concept. We need to do everything we…
Why Having Students Write Their Own Word Problems Works
We all know that solving word problems can be a challenge for students of all ages, and teachers are always looking for ways to help them be more successful. One…
Solving Problems with the Unknown in any position
Beginning as early as 1st grade, students should have experience solving addition and subtraction problems with the unknown in any position. Traditionally, we have tended to focus on result unknown…
Kindergarten Number Combinations and Fact Fluency
In the landscape of early childhood education, the significance of learning number combinations through 10 in kindergarten cannot be overstated. While it might seem like just one of many skills…
Visualzing algebra using part/whole thinking
I recently presented at NCTM‘s regional conference in Seattle. The theme of the conference was Everyone Belongs Here. Here’s more on that from their website: The conference will explore instructional practices…
Multi-Digit Computation Game
Computational fluency is still a goal for mathematics instruction. What’s changed is how we approach computation. We have shifted from teaching one method—typically the standard algorithm—to a strategy-based approach. Today,…
How Your Teaching Philosophy Drives Your Math Instruction
I have a confession to make. I have never been good at writing a philosophy or mission statement. Any time I have been asked to help write a team mission…
