6-8, Cheese Mover, Estimation, Math Tools, Modeling, Number Sense, Strategy Development
Students can create models that represent their understanding, but can they undo models that explain the reasoning of others? It was time to find out. I showed this picture to a 5th grade class and asked them to write an equation or expression that matched the area...
6-8, Estimation, Fact Fluency, Games, Math Tools, Number Sense, Strategy Development
UPDATE 3/17/19: The updated cards can be found in this post (Multiplication Subitizing Cards: An Upgrade to Building Fluency) —————————— Learning basic facts through tricks or a mnemonic song lead students...
6-8, Cheese Mover, Estimation, Fact Fluency, Math Tools, Number Sense, Strategy Development, Teacher Content
I hate math tricks and avoid them at all costs. Tina Cardone and many members of #MTBOS are huge advocates of conceptual learning which is how we became blessed with this gem. There’s no denying that students love tricks, especially the ones that retrieve...
Fractions, Making Math Accessible, Math Tools, Modeling, Patient Problem Solving, SMPs
I tried “the Big Pad” with a 4th grade class and my anticipation of possible solutions was way off!!! I mean, c’mon Graham, think outside the box. Our students attacked this problem in more ways than a charter bus filled with senior citizens attacks...
Against the Norm, Cheese Mover, Math Tools, SMPs
My dear friend Krystal Shaw texted me this Vimeo Clip at 5:23am so I knew it had to be good… My gut reaction…this is awesome! The focus on number crunching has superseded our students’ ability to problem solve for far too long. There’s a...
Against the Norm, Making Math Accessible, Math Tools, Strategy Development, Teacher Content
The concept of 10 more/less is a beast in the primary grades. Last week I realized that I’ve been feeding the monster that I’m continually trying to defeat. Almost every day, in every K-2 classroom across the United States students encounter this guy: I made a...