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Free Number Sense Boosters
Could your students’ number sense use a boost? These quick and simple activities improve number sense while engaging your students.
Latest from the Blog
Why You Need to Plan Intervention Sequences
It’s a trap we have all fallen into. You teach your math lesson for the day and then pull aside the group that didn’t quite get it yet. You work on the independent practice together. Here’s the problem. The next day? You’re likely working with the same
Deficit vs. Asset Based Thinking In Math Class
A few years back I was talking with a colleague after a staff meeting. I mentioned that I had recently had a breakthrough with a student who had a multitude of “gaps” in their learning. This student was in an upper elementary grade level but had a very early primary
Introducing Place Value to 1st and 2nd Graders
It’s a common activity used for introducing place value. You give your students a pile of crackers, pretzel sticks and chocolate chips. You tell your students that the crackers are the hundreds, pretzel sticks are the tens and chocolate chips are the ones. You and your students take turns building
5 Simple & Effective Games to Practice the Partners of Ten
Knowing the partners of ten opens up the world of fact fluency and flexibility for your students. The best part? There’s no need to drill these facts! Your students can play engaging, hands-on, SIMPLE games to reinforce the partners of ten. The 5 games listed below will help your
The Simple & Effective Guide To Understanding Math Facts
Addition & Subtraction Strategies. Fact Fluency. Fact Memorization. Three different sides of the same coin. Thinking about teaching math facts as being learned at each of these three levels will change your perspective on instruction altogether! Addition & Subtraction Strategies Counting on fingers, using manipulatives, using a number
FREE Printable Math Manipulatives
Why Use Printable Math Manipulatives? Using a research-based CRA progression your students will move from concrete tools to drawings and representational models and will ultimately be proficient with abstract equations and ideas. Without manipulatives in the hands of our students we are missing the first and arguably most critical step!
Getting Started with Tier 3 Math Intervention
My first year teaching math intervention I was in over my head by the second week of school. Funny thing is, by the second week of school I really hadn’t done anything other than assessing students and starting to form groups. I was given the advice to look at
The 5 Tools You Need to Build a Math Toolkit
A portion of the links and recommendations below are affiliate links. This means that at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you choose to make a purchase. I have personally used each of these math tools and would not recommend them if I did not appreciate
Number Sense is NOT a Separate Math Skill!
I’ve talked to more than a few teachers who have mentioned that their students’ weakest area is number sense. “Maybe I should just slow down my instruction and work on number sense for a while.” they say. But here’s the thing- number sense doesn’t need to be separate from your
How to Teach Numberless Word Problems for 3rd Grade Students
If you have landed on this page, you are likely curious about how numberless word problems might be helpful for your 3rd grade students. I’m sure you have “number pluckers” in your classroom who routinely read a word problem, pluck the numbers out and add them together… or multiply them