By Rachel Lynette
Mental math may seem like an ingrained skill that doesn’t require practice or development. But, elementary students who are still growing may lack the capacity to solve math problems in their head. Practicing mental math prepares students for harder math equations and also helps them to solve equations more quickly and accurately. Without the help of a calculator or scratch paper, students have to rely
Writing and math aren’t often in the same sentence, but as many educators know, they should be! Teaching students how to write in math workshop is important, because through writing they can demonstrate their understanding of math problems and strategies. This guest post from Tracy at Wild Child Designs shares great tips for getting students writing in math through clear modeling, teacher guidance, and independent
We’re pleased to have Jenny from Foreman Fun guest blogging for us today! She’s got a great post for us about how you can implement peer mentoring in a math block to build both confidence and community. Enjoy! As teachers, we have all secretly wished we could clone ourselves so we could give each student the individual attention they need. While we wait for that
We’re thrilled to have Marine Freibrun from Tales of a Very Busy Teacher guest blogging for us again today! Marine has crafted an excellent post all about six ways to add rigor to your math instruction, so be sure to bookmark this page to come back to later! 😉 Common Core Math Standards call for a new level of depth and complexity. Students are
Welcome Friends! Today’s guest post was contributed by Shametria Routt Banks, The Routty Math Teacher, and is about implementing number talks in the classroom. This post includes an overview of how and why number talks work, tips and strategies to get you started, as well as a variety of resources to use on your journey. Happy reading! Some years ago, I had a student named
We’ve got a return guest blogger for you today, so please welcome Mary from NewMathTeacher back to Minds in Bloom! She’s got a great post about preventing summer slide for you. Looking for ways to encourage summer learning? Help parents prevent summer slide, the tendency for children to lose achievement gains, by building curiosity and exploration into summer plans. To feel successful children need ongoing
Please welcome Nicole from Teacher0f20 to Minds in Bloom today! Nicole is sharing her insight on implementing cognitively guided instruction in the classroom. I love talking about CGI, because it is something on which my district is big, and it is something that I think I’ve successfully implemented in my classroom! CGI stands for Cognitively Guided Instruction, and it is a way to teach math by
Hi! I’m Jo-Ellen from Love Believe Teach with Jo-Ellen Foody, and I’m delighted to be guest blogging for Rachel Lynette. Let’s talk about…word problems. I can start by telling you that I love teaching children how to solve word problems, but I won’t. Word problems are hard. Two-step word problems are even harder, and teaching how to solve them might be the most challenging skill
Please welcome Kara to Minds in Bloom today! She’s written a post all about introducing multiplication concepts, where she recommends helpful approaches and resources. I landed a job teaching third grade right out of college. It seems like I spent the entire year reviewing multiplication facts. We drilled, drilled, and drilled some more. Although it looked like the majority of my students learned their multiplication facts,
Hello! I am Mary Dournaee, a credentialed math and physics teacher. I am so excited to share some ways that teachers (and parents) can help develop a growth mindset among students. Thank you, Rachel, for allowing me this opportunity to share ideas on your blog! Sarah loves elementary school. Indoors, she’s getting messy with classroom crafts and projects, while outdoors, she’s running, climbing, and sliding
Today’s guest blogger is Angie of Teaching with Class. Angie has taught in a wide variety of grades and currently teaches at the college level. She’s here today to share her insight on using giant graphs in the classroom! In my fourth grade classroom, on Fridays, I like doing my math block a little differently. My favorite things to do during this time
Welcome friends! Today’s guest post was contributed by Shametria L. Routt, The Routty Math Teacher, and it is about implementing effective math talk in the classroom. This post includes tips and strategies to get you started, as well as a variety of resources to use on your journey. Happy reading! Using mathematical discussions in the classroom is a powerful way to increase our students’ critical
I’m Retta from Rainbow City Learning, and I’m beyond thrilled to be guest blogging here on Minds in Bloom about finding humor in math class! I retired from full-time teaching last June. Once a week, I visit our local elementary (grade 4) and upper elementary (grades 5 & 6) schools where I work with the kids on bullyproofing strategies. These visits fill my heart and help me to stay
Hi everyone! I’m Suzy from StudentSavvy! I would first like to give a big thank you to Rachel for allowing me to guest post on her fantastic blog! I am a huge fan of hers, and I’m grateful for this incredible opportunity! When I was a student in high school, I attended a charter school that was considered a “Performing and Fine Arts Academy.” Before I was accepted into this school (there
I am thrilled to be a guest blogger! My name is Kara Hoelscher, and I am currently a second grade teacher at a small rural school in Texas. I have taught several grades throughout my 13 years of teaching, but my heart truly belongs in the second grade! Blogging is fairly new to me. You can find my teaching blog at Little School on the
Minds in Bloom is thrilled to welcome Sara from Sara J Creations to the blog today! She’s sharing five tips for setting up math workshop, which can be a challenge on its own. Enjoy! Do you use math workshop in your classroom? A few years ago, I was just venturing out into the world of math workshop after successfully using the workshop format for reading and writing.
