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How to Get Your Students to Watch Your Instructional Videos
So I saw this meme come through on Facebook and found myself shouting loudly, “YES!” One of the most frustrating problems I experienced with distance learning was that some students were trying to simply do the assignment before doing any of the activities leading up to it. Predictably, this led to them often failing…
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Teaching Prime and Composite Numbers
The Prime Numbers Rap. If you use no other song on this list, use this one. Trust me. It is guaranteed to help your children quickly memorize the definition of a prime number (no easy task) and at least the first 5 primes (which are, importantly, necessary for testing if any number is a prime.)
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7 Tips for Teaching the Partial Quotient Method for Long Division
As a teacher of 4th grade for over 30 years, I can tell you that long division is easily the most challenging 4th grade math calculation your students will learn. It involves a complicated (sometimes confusing) algorithm that requires a strong fluency of basic facts for not just for division, but also multiplication, and subtraction,…
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A Multitude of Tips for Teaching Multiples
Common Core standard 4.OA.B.4 states that fourth graders should be able to “determine whether a given whole number in the range 1-100 is a multiple of a given one-digit number.” This standard can be a toughie. It should be no surprise that the task of learning multiples is made much easier when students are fluent…
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Hello teachers! Just a reminder that Teachers Pay Teachers is running a great cyber sale next week. For these two days, every product in my store will be 25% off. This is the best time ever to take advantage of my many newly bundled products, which I try to keep at an already rock…
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Hey Y’all! It is TpT’s annual Teacher Appreciation sale and it is time to treat yourself to something nice! You deserve it! As we wind down the school year, consider checking out some of my fun end of the year Math review activities. Some of these are designed for test prep, but they also work…
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Never Take Home Papers to Grade Again! – My 10 Favorite Ways for Students to Self Check
In my previous post, I confessed that I NEVER take home math papers to grade anymore. The reason is that I have, over time, worked hard to develop ways for all of my math practice work to be self-checked by the students. #1 Coded Joke Worksheets or Task Cards Is it just me, or do…
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5 Reasons Why Your Students Should Self-Check Math Their Work
Why have students self-check? The question is really, why not? Here are 5 reasons why you should allow your students to check their own work. 1. It empowers your students . The Ohio teaching standards state that “Teachers (should) involve learners in self-assessment and goal setting to address gaps between performance and potential.” Allowing students…
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Made it Monday – Badges!
“Badges! We don’t need no stinkin’ badges! Last year, our grade level decided to try using student badges with our 4th graders as a way of acknowledging student achievements and recognizing positive behaviors. We weren’t really sure how the kids would take to it, but we jumped in with both feet anyway and we were…
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Time and How to Make the Most of It in the Math Classroom
Until I am measured I am not known, Yet how you miss me When I have flown Time management was not something that came naturally to me when I first started teaching. After 20+ years of teaching, I can’t say I’ve mastered it, but I have learned a few things. Here’s my 2¢ on the…