Guess what?! It’s officially SPRING BREAK season!! I say season because depending on your school district and where you live in the country your Spring Break could fall anywhere in between the first week in March and the second week in April. This week out of school is a fun time to enjoy...
Personal sharing time alert. When my third child was 18 months old I took him to his pediatrician to receive his scheduled immunizations (which included 5 different shots!). Later that day he suffered a traumatic seizure in which he fell unexpectedly, began jerking uncontrollably and...
One of the most important concepts for students to master when working with fractions is that of equivalent fractions. Being able to recognize and create equivalent fractions is a skill that is utilized at almost every level of mathematics.
Third graders begin exploring equivalent fractions...
Fraction strips are probably the most well-known and used fractions manipulative in math classrooms far and wide. They provide a concrete way to model fraction notation, partitioning, equivalency, magnitude and more. Research has shown time and time again that using fraction strips to...
When a child first begins to count, they immediately begin to be encouraged by their adults to count a multitude of things: fingers, blocks, claps, steps etc. Associating a number with a specific quantity is the very cornerstone of number sense. So much so that if you peek inside any...
When it comes to working with fractions, you can never have enough tricks up your sleeve. Whether it is a way to help your students remember the correct order of several steps to solve a confusing problem, or just a trick that provides a less complicated way of doing things, we’ve got...
For many students in late elementary school, the return from winter break will kick off a different kind of season: Fraction Season! Fractions are mission critical for success in late elementary, middle and high school math but are often a source of frustration and confusion for students,...
Students who have an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) that includes a goal in the area of math need more support as well as understanding from the people in their lives that have the potential to impact their learning and progress the most: their grade level teacher, their special education...
This stretch of the school year between Halloween and Christmas is filled with exciting days for kids, with more fun and less work as time is made for classroom parties and activities. As a teacher these days can be exhausting and if I’m honest, a little frustrating. Not because...
I think we can all agree that math homework is important. The time that teachers have in a math class period is constrained. Just trying to take attendance, work in some kind of bellringer for review (which is also important) and check homework eats up a significant amount of class....
By this point in the school year, most everyone has reached or is approaching the end of the first nine weeks of the school year. The report card grades will soon be coming in and It's a good time to congratulate your student(s) on the skills they mastered and also reflect on what skills...
It’s that time of the school year again where the official end to the first nine weeks is here and more than likely you have received instructions from your child’s teacher for options to set up a parent teacher conference. I’ve noticed lots of questions and comments from...
