We've all had them. We think we have everything planned our math centers perfectly. We've spent ages prepping the resources we want to use - board games, card games, worksheets, technology. We have our lesson ready for our guided math group. We've differentiated the activities. It's perfect .... but somewhere along the way, it all falls apart. I'm talking about math center failures. So how can we avoid it? To have our math centers ... read more
Engage your students with motivating sight word activities
We've all heard the story of the child who goes to school and comes home disappointed after his first day. Why? He didn't learn to read. Teaching reading is a long process which begins with children understanding that letters form sounds and these sounds go together to form words. This phonemic awareness is a crucial step in teaching children to read. But not all words can be 'sounded out' or decoded using their phonemes. Have you ever heard a ... read more
How to create a positive classroom community
Can you imagine how difficult it is to run centers or do paired work when you constantly hear “but I don’t want to work with him/her.” Or when the day to day running of your classroom is filled with, "he's/she's looking at me, copying my work, breathes too heavily, keeps sniffing..." It's exhausting! And not just for the teacher but also for the students. When children don't like each other, school isn't a nice place to be. There's less ... read more
How to make multiplication homework fun for kids
Do you look for fun multiplication homework ideas? We know that homework is most effective when it's clearly related to class work. It should consolidate or revise concepts taught in class. It should be within the child's ability level and definitely shouldn't overwhelm them. Reading each night is a part of many teacher's homework activities as is learning spelling words but what do you work do you set for math? Learning the multiplication ... read more
The counting on addition strategy – how to teach it
The counting on addition strategy is a great mental math strategy used to build number fact fluency. To put it simply, counting on involves adding 1, 2 or 3 to a number. 5 + 3, 6 + 2, 8 + 1 are all count on facts. So are 3 + 8, 2 + 14 and 1 + 7. What we want to achieve when teaching counting on, is for children to understand that they will start with the larger number in the addition sentence and count on 1, 2 or 3. ... read more
The best way to use math games in your centers
Using math games in centers is a great way to consolidate your student's learning but how well do your kids play math games together? Is it a chance for them to practice or revise concepts in a fun and motivating way? Or do they focus on just getting to the end of the game and winning? Do they spend time arguing over who goes first or do they get to the center activity, know what to do, play nicely together and learn? We know how we want ... read more
How to make subtraction with regrouping fun
Have you ever handed out a subtraction with regrouping worksheet and watched your student’s eye glaze over? “Why do we have to do this! I know how to do this already!” And yes, unless you’re just beginning to teach your class how to regroup with subtraction, they probably do know what to do – most of the time. But little mistakes can start to creep into their work – working from left to right (subtracting the hundreds first), forgetting ... read more
How to improve number fact fluency in your students
When a child can answer 7 + 8 quickly and correctly we know they're developing strategies for number fact retrieval. And when you've spent the last two weeks teaching them the mental math strategy - doubles plus one, this quick response is what you want to hear. But is it fluency? What is fact fluency? Fact fluency is more than the ability to recall the answers to the basic math facts automatically and without hesitation. It also ... read more
How to Make Addition Strategies Stick
I love it when I know kids are using addition strategies to answer their number facts. You know how it is, at the beginning of the year they're using a ruler, their fingers or blocks to add 4 + 5 and now you ask them and they answer ...within three seconds ... no fingers! They can mentally process 4 + 4 + 1 more in seconds. And all because you took the time to teach them the strategies. Teach them addition strategies Addition ... read more
Ideas for Teaching a Food and Nutrition Unit
Space, the sea, pets, insects ... what theme do you love to cover year after year? What gets your creative juices flowing thinking about all the activities you can do? For me, it's a food theme. No, it's not just the cooking component I love. And who wouldn't like making pizzas, muffins (the healthy kind) or fruit salad with their class? It's the literacy activities that I really enjoy most, well maybe the cooking too! ... read more
