Category Archives: Making Sense Series
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 … Continue reading
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 … Continue reading
Making Sense of Invert and Multiply
As elementary teachers, we rarely have the opportunity to explore division of a fraction by a fraction. When we do, it’s normally accompanied with Keep-Change-Flip or the saying “Yours is not the reason why, just invert and multiply.” Both are conceptual … Continue reading
The Progression of Addition and Subtraction
The more I create… the more I learn. Here is the 3rd installment of this whole Making Sense Series which has truly forced me to be a better teacher. A more educated teacher. I can’t stress enough how much I’ve … Continue reading
The Progression of Division
Last month I posted The Progression of Multiplication hoping that a couple of friends and parents would find it helpful. Well, here’s my stab at the progression of division. I understand that there’s lots of ways to model division and this is only … Continue reading
The Progression of Multiplication
There’s a lot happening in elementary mathematics and it’s really tough for teachers to keep up with it all…let alone parents and administrators. I keep reminding myself that the turtle won the race. It’s my hope that in creating and … Continue reading
