Why “Keyword” Strategies for Word Problems Don’t Work
As an elementary school teacher, you know all too well the importance of helping your students develop their math skills. As a result, many of us have embraced the use…
Strong math instruction builds both conceptual understanding and procedural fluency. In elementary classrooms, effective math teaching includes modeling strategies, building number sense, developing problem-solving skills, and creating meaningful practice opportunities. On this page, you’ll find math strategies and activities organized by topic to help you plan engaging and effective instruction.
As an elementary school teacher, you know all too well the importance of helping your students develop their math skills. As a result, many of us have embraced the use…
A second grader reads, “Maya had 14 stickers. She gave 6 to her brother. How many does she have now?” Knowing how to teach word problems means knowing why this…
When students struggle to describe what they see in a fraction, the problem is often vocabulary, not understanding. Fraction sentence frames give students the exact language they need to explain…
Do your students have difficulty counting money? Coin counting is an important part of solidifying early math skills, but it can be tricky for children to master. Teaching your second-grade…
Partitioning rectangles takes a bit of spatial reasoning and the ability to draw straight lines. It’s a difficult skill for second graders, especially those with poor printing skills. Partitioning rectangles…
This Addition Go Fish Game is a great way for first and second-grade students to practice using the addition strategies they have learned in a fun classroom game. It’s the traditional Go Fish game with a twist. Students match expressions that have the same value.
Do your students struggle to compose and decompose numbers when adding and subtracting? My students struggle to break a number apart and use its pieces for computation. This type of number…
Arrays and area models are two of the most important visual tools for teaching multiplication in elementary school. Teachers use these terms interchangeably, but they are actually two different representations…
As students start learning multiplication facts, modeling multiplication arrays in rows and columns is an effective strategy to visualize what is happening in the problems. Let’s explore fun and engaging…
Most second-grade math practice pages ask students to solve a problem and write an answer. That answer is either right or wrong, but without teacher feedback, students have no way…
A non-example in math is a problem, model, or situation that does NOT fit the definition of the concept being taught. Where an example shows students what something is, a…
A few years ago, a special education teacher at a staff meeting pulled out a vertical number line and showed how she used it with her students. I filed it…
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