Build Math Minds with The Recovering Traditionalist

Math Doesn’t have to be Formal #TMWYK

Tonight for some unknown reason my oldest son, who is in 1st grade, made a statement that started an informal conversation about math. This is the type of math that I do with my kids at home (no worksheets, no flashcards, etc…instead we #TMWYK – Talk Math...

Fly on the Math Teacher’s Wall: Squashing Fraction Misconceptions

Fractions | 14 comments

I am once again working with a group of math bloggers to join forces in ‘squashing’ some math misconceptions. For the inaugural blog hop we tackled the big idea of Place Value. This time around we are taking on FRACTIONS. Read through my thoughts and then at the...

Question for Christina: Why is skip counting so hard?

Questions for Christina | 1 comment

I often get emails from teachers asking for advice on how to teach a certain concept and it is difficult for me to effectively discuss it with them via an email….I try my best but I’ve decided to use my blog as a way to elaborate in ways that I cannot in my emails. ...

I Heart Math

Uncategorized | 0 comments

Valentine’s candy conversation hearts are a favorite around our house. I recently saw this post about these cool conversation hearts that have letters instead of sayings on them. Of course, being math minded as I am, my first thought was, “What math could...

Leftover Candy Canes? Do some 3 Act Math!

Time-Measurement-Data | 3 comments

So here we are after Christmas and I still have boxes of candy canes sitting in my pantry. I don’t want to eat them and I don’t want my kids to eat them….so let’s do some 3 Act Math with them instead. Candy Cane Act 1 What do you notice? What...

My Dave Ramsey Goals

Uncategorized | 1 comment

It was just last week that I wrote about how sticking to New Year’s Resolutions is really just like problem solving. Then a few days ago I was listening to Dave Ramsey via the iPhone app on my drive to work and heard him re-iterate the 5 things that...

Where to go with teachers once they’ve drank the Kool-Aid??

Math PD Books | 12 comments

So for the past 6 years, my main job has been to teach a 3-credit PD course for in-service teachers. The course is based off Cognitively Guided Instruction, Jerome Bruner, Cathy Fosnot’s work, Realistic Math Education, John Van de Walle’s work, and many...