Making learning fun
Word families are great for boosting the reading skills of young children. A few years ago I had a couple of students in my class who were so frustrated with learning to read they refused to do it. Every time we had a reading session, they would have a meltdown. These children weren’t diagnosed with dyslexia but they did have… Read More
If you’re a third grade teacher you’d know that learning the multiplication facts is a massive part of the third grade math curriculum. But it’s not the only part. And with only so many hours in the day to practice new math concepts, it makes sense for students to do some of that consolidation at home. An important part of… Read More
To help our students develop math fact fluency we teach them strategies. Spelling is no different. Kids need to have a range of spelling strategies if they are to become better spellers. They should be able to ask themselves, “What can I do to help me spell this word?” There are four main teaching strategies for spelling: Phonological strategies –… Read More
It’s not uncommon for teachers to spend a lot of time focusing on teaching the addition facts and then brush over subtraction. Subtraction has been the ‘poor relation’ that receives less attention. In fact, sometimes students are not helped to see that there is any relationship at all between addition and subtraction. (NZMaths n.d.) One of the top strategies for… Read More
When it comes to teaching the multiplication facts, students will often find multiplying by 6, 7, 8 and 9 the trickiest to master. There are two main reasons why. Students don’t understand the Commutative Property of Multiplication. They don’t see 6 x 4 and 4 x 6 as being equivalent. While they can answer 4 x 6, the answer to… Read More
If you come from a generation where learning to multiply meant reciting your multiplication tables over and over, then you probably don’t have positive thoughts about teaching multiplication. Maybe you were given timed tests or had your achievements (or lack of) displayed on the wall. It may even be that, as an adult, you’re not still fluent with your multiplication… Read More
It's my mission to help you create a classroom where kids are engaged in hands-on, meaningful practice that helps them to really consolidate the concepts you've been teaching. Read More…
