Students who are below-grade level in reading may struggle in mathematics as they progress through their education. Often, we must comprehend a word problem to access a task. How can we determine if a student needs help with reading or…
As students progress into upper elementary grades, there is often a debate over which is better: teaching algorithms or conceptual and representational methods. What if I told you it’s more complex than choosing a position?
As teachers, we want the best for our students to succeed academically. We want each lesson, tool, resource, and activity to be engaging and help all students learn. Each classroom is unique, consisting of students and teachers of diverse backgrounds,…
Helping students process their thinking when faced with a word problem is critical to their learning. As teachers, don’t be afraid to let them productively struggle rather than throwing them a life-saver for every bump in the road. On the…
In third grade, students begin to learn how to round whole numbers. This standard rests heavily on number sense and place value skills. Steering clear from tricks and cute drawings can help students understand the core of what rounding is,…
As fourth-grade students learn division with dividends of up to 4-digits, the area model can be a great strategy. You can easily connect concrete materials to the area model and have students explain their thinking each step of the way.…
Teaching fifth graders to use a division algorithm requires students to have a ton of foundational knowledge. Using models and manipulatives to teach this standard can be helpful at first for students. Students who understand the steps of the algorithm…
In this video, we’re discussing the 3rd-grade standard NSO.1.2, which asks students to decompose and compose numbers. This standard is critical for students to dive into deeply as it leads to the multiplication and division standards later down the road.…
Patterns are all around us and emphasize the connection between mathematics and nature. Join me in learning how the concrete, representational, abstract approach to learning mathematics can help when 5th-grade students are learning how to generate expressions from patterns.
In 4th grade, students are expected to have a greater amount of automaticity with basic multiplication facts. Approached such as timed tests, flashcards, and prizes based on fluency are outdated and may cause math anxiety in students. Join me in…