Make Math Informal and Connected
Tonight I was sitting down with my 6 year old son doing his math homework. One of the last problems was 38 < ___ and ___< 60. At first he put 38 < 39 and then he thought for a moment and said, “Can it be ANY number that is bigger than...
Traditional Algorithms SUCK!!!
Now, let me be clear…I am in no means in love with Common Core. There are a few issues that I see in the math content standards, there are issues with the implementation piece that has been put upon teachers’ shoulders, and there are issues with the...
The “NEW” way to do math “via Common Core” should make you mad!!!
Are you upset with this “new way” they are doing math now days in school? If so, you really should be upset about the way you were taught math when you were in school!!! I sure am, and the teachers and college students I work with are as...
K-5 Task Examples
Today I am doing a workshop using Margaret Smith and Mary Kay Stein’s book 5 Practices for Orchestrating Productive Mathematics Discussions. There are 5 (plus 0) practices that teachers need to do when planning a lesson that they want to have a good...
K-5 Elaboraborations of Common Core Math Practice Standards
These past few days I have been learning lots at the Teachers Development Group’s Leadership Seminar! I have taken away a lot as a “coach” but there are two things in particular I want to share for teachers, here is the one for today…and...
Pins I Love – Organizing Math Manipulatives
Math manipulatives are a very important part of every math classroom, however they can be a pain to manage and organize. So in this month’s edition of Pins I Love, I am focusing on ways to organize and store your math manipulatives. Before I get into the Pins...
Welcome! I’m a Recovering Traditionalist elementary teacher and now, I help teachers and children learn to love math. Explore how I can help provide you PD at your fingertips! BuildMathMinds.com