If you teach upper elementary math, you know that a solid understanding of our place value system is essential. Unfortunately, many math series focus a great deal on "fill in the blank" place value work. This could involve reading and writing big numbers, writing numbers in expanded form, or putting greater than or less than signs between two or more numbers rather than deeper, more meaningful ... Read the Post
Why Do We Use Number Lines?
One component of math instruction that is often overlooked is having teachers nurture creative thinking in students. By encouraging students to create their own meaning and solution strategies rather than just "fill in the blank", depth of understanding is cemented. This is true for many math concepts, but is often overlooked when teaching using number line activities. Check out this post for ... Read the Post
Place Value: Everything You Need to Know!
It's a round-up of place value blog posts to get you excited about teaching this essential concept! Many teachers start the year working on place value concepts, but it's truly a topic that we cycle through all year long in increasing sophistication! Remember, place value is a complex topic that develops as a progression from the very first days in school (or earlier!) to much more advanced ... Read the Post
The importance of watching students work…helping with place value misconceptions
We recently finished our unit on place value and I KNEW that not all students were solid. As I usually do, I continued to give occasional entrance slips to try to keep my finger on the pulse of the class. When I do this, I try to work in time to meet with strugglers--and I try to do it in groups of no more than 3 so I can WATCH them. Here's what I mean...I gave my students an entrance ... Read the Post
Fly on the Math Teacher’s Wall: Place Value exploration! Blog Hop Time!
It's always fun to link up with other bloggers who are as passionate about teaching math as I am...and a bunch of us are joining up to bring you a series of GREAT blog posts to get YOU thinking! This month we want to get you thinking about place value...and one thing I love to do with my students is to get them comfortable "playing" with numbers. We play guessing games, look for patterns, ... Read the Post
Professional Learning Overload Day 1
So as some of you know, I am spending the first four days of this week at level 2 training for Math Recovery. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Math Recovery, I would HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend it. If you are unfamiliar with it, CLICK HERE to get a little more information. I don't work for them or get anything for this post--I just feel very strongly about what they are doing ... Read the Post
Number Sense with Number Lines!
Why number lines? A solid understanding of number sense and place value is absolutely critical as we move our students forward in their mathematical thinking. We often expose them to numbers in a variety of ways…using manipulatives, using 100’s charts, and so on. One area that is often overlooked is the building of understanding of how numbers relate to each other and how they ... Read the Post