Recently I received the following question from a Kindergarten educator: Why do I get the feeling that natural materials are better than commercial ones for math? I do the exact same activity with materials we have in the classroom. Do the students actually learn more about math through the natural … More Natural vs Commercial Math Materials »
It is hard to believe that I am coming up to the first year anniversary of my official retirement from full-time teaching. It has been a wonderful year despite my husband having an accident in April resulting in a broken ankle and torn rotator-cuff. It could have been much worse … More Anniversary Reflection 2015-2016 »
Recently I had the opportunity to work in a Grade 6 classroom as they began a unit on division and multiplication. The teacher gave the students the following problem from the Ministry support guide (division) to begin. The purpose for that day was to see what the … More Proportional Reasoning – Division »
Last month I wrote a post called, “Preciseness Will Impact Student Achievement”. After posting it, I remembered something that I had written a few years ago. Due to a stroke in December 2011 that left my husband unable to speak or write we became involved in the InteRACT program at … More Assessment – The Key to Precision »
How often do we make assumptions about students’ mathematical understanding in the younger grades because they are able to compute equations such as 5+7 or 12-7? In a Gr 2-3 class we asked the students to independently solve the following question: 8 + 4 = _ + 5 Just … More What does = mean? »
With the best of intentions we implement something e.g., a model or graphic organizer and think that this will be the solution to difficulties we are experiencing in the math classroom. In an earlier post I wrote that a challenge with writing is that something “three-dimensional” can often appear … More Be a Problem Solving Detective! »
“It’s fine to work on any problem, so long as it generates interesting mathematics along the way – even if you don’t solve it at the end of the day. (Andre Wiles) This quote reminds me of a couple of key ideas that I have encountered through my work as … More Let’s Focus on the Math! »
As I mentioned in the previous post I was a participant on a panel at a local high school’s parent night last year called, “Creating Calculating Kids”. Prior to this evening, I was sent some math quotes to reflect on in preparation for the discussion. One of the quotes, was … More Why Do “Some” Children Dread Mathematics? »
It was so exciting the last week of the school year to see the article I had written for the Leaders & Learners (Summer 2015) magazine in print. The title of the article on Page 33 is “Junior Numeracy Collaborative Inquiry”. http://www.cassa-acgcs.ca The Leaders & Learners magazine is the … More Reflection: A Practice That Moves Learning Forward »
“I strongly believe that it is important for me to continue to motivate and inspire others to love math as I came to do so later in life.” – Math Motivator It is so hard to believe that I am a “newly retired Elementary Mathematics Special Assignment Teacher”. I … More Welcome to “The Math Motivator”! »
