Subitizing to Foster Multiplicative Thinking
Learning basic facts through tricks or a mnemonic song leads students down a path of memorization, not understanding. I previously discussed the idea of conceptual development here. When students practice their multiplication facts, they’re expected to move from...
Demystifying The Fraction Rules We Teach
I've recently been working on two new progression videos that will focus on the operations of fractions. Here are some sketches from the addition and multiplication progression... In planning and researching the flow of each progression, I encountered lots of rules we...
Building Automaticity with Base Ten Cards
A few years ago, I was in need of a resource that would help students build fluency beyond 20 so I created some Base Ten Cards. I've referred to the cards in presentations but I haven't shared them in this space...until now. Below you'll find a downloadable set of the...
Reasoning with Fractions Through the Lens of a 10 Yr Old
My daughter has laid down a marker when it comes to reasoning with fractions. Well, at least in my small world. She’s 10. She won’t read this post for a long time because her mom and I know what she reads on the internet…at least we hope we do. Maybe she’ll never read...
Behind the Scenes: The Creation of a Progression Video
In recent months, I've received a lot of questions asking how I create the progression videos. Here's how it all goes down. Step 1: Research There are so many great resources available for early number concepts but I continually found myself coming back to Clements...
The Progression of Early Number and Counting
If you're not a pre-k, kindergarten, or 1st-grade teacher, you need to find one and give them a hug after watching this video. They do the work of an army and many times their work goes unnoticed. There's so much happening in the early years of school, that without...
3-Act Task: A 5th-grade lesson captured
A while back I shared a kindergarten lesson and I was really happy with the way it turned out. The 5th-grade lesson below, not so much. The students did great but there are definitely some things I need to improve. We recently finished up a district PL where we used...
This Week a Webinar. Next Month a Workshop
On Monday night I had the pleasure of presenting the webinar 3 Act Math Tasks: What They Are & Why You Need Them in Your Class. The webinar was hosted by my good friend Christina Tondevold and focused on the...
The Progression of Fractions
I'm excited to share the 4th installment of the Making Sense Series which explores meaning, equivalence, and comparison of fractions. Fractions are the gatekeeper of algebraic thinking and probably a big reason why we suffer from arithmophobia as a society. I'm...
I’ll Rip Your Face Off: The Art of Defacing Manipulatives
It's our fault. We have no one to blame but ourselves. We unknowing pigeonhole student thinking with the manipulatives we use. Take fraction tiles for example. Much to my disappointment, they come with labels and it kills me. Manipulatives that come pre-labelled ruin...