Beat the Winter blahs with Math Games!

Math games are a great way to have students practice a math skill or concept without really seeming to! Kids love to play games and math games are no exception. We play a lot of math games in the small group and I have seen students make connections during play time and become more confident math students because of the games we play. Games are easy to play at home as well. You do not need to go out any buy any materials - all you need are a pair of dice, a deck of cards and perhaps some counters, such as dried beans or coins, to play many math games as well as for fact practice. I sent home to many of my younger students a game/activity to play from the Marilyn Burns, Do the Math, program at the beginning of January. From time to time, I will be sending home math games to play and at the end of the year, I plan to send home a math game packet with ideas for you to play with your child over the summer so that their math skills can continue to be worked on.

I have also added a new website to my blog that I recently discovered called gregtangmath. Greg Tang writes math books that are a lot of fun and that reinforce the concepts. On his website, there are games that can be played that really emphasize number sense and are not just straight math fact practice. Many of the students went on the site and really enjoyed the games!

Hope you have fun beating those winter blahs!!!

Learning Math is like learning a new language.

All languages have their own vocabulary and 

Mathematics is no exception. 

I read this and could not agree more! Math is so much more than just being able to compute numbers. We need to understand what is happening with the numbers and why we add/subtract/multiply or divide them. I read a professional book over the summer called Number Talks by Sherry Parrish. After reading this book, I am now even more conscious of having students talk about their math thinking. This is not only beneficial to them but also to the others in the group that hear their great thinking! I have posted the following in my room:

A Mathematician:

* talks about math

* shares ideas

* explains their answers

* looks for patterns and solves problems

and most importantly...a mathematician makes mistakes!

I tell the students over and over again that it is ok to make mistakes. That we are all learning and that is what is most important!!

It has been so nice meeting many of you these past few weeks. If I did not get to meet you and you would like to call me or schedule a conference, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you for the opportunity to work with your children. I learn from them every day!

Summer time math!!

Classroom teachers always encourage their students to keep up their reading over the summer but it is also important for children to keep up their math skills as well. The good thing is that there are so many ways to do this, and it doesn't involve sitting down with a textbook or worksheets. The following are some ideas and activities that you can try. There is really no right or wrong way for any of these activities. The key is to have fun and just keeping thinking about and working with numbers!

Grocery store math - with all those prices and numbers the opportunities are endless. Kids love looking through the fliers! Great way to practice addition, subtraction, decimals and rounding numbers. 

Road trip math - Turn road trips into math lessons. Calculate distances between cities. A good way to practice elapsed time.

Turn children's collections into math lessons - What does 100 look like? Group objects into tens.

Outdoor scavenger hunt - Sort and count items found.

Cook up a math game - How many carrots would you need if you double the recipe?

If there are five people in a family and 35 strawberries to divide equally, how many strawberries will each person get for dessert?

Use take out menus  - What is least/most expensive item on menu? Find all the items that cost between $5 and $10.

2,4,6,8, now it's time to estimate - Estimation is one way to increase number sense. Estimate how many shirts will fit in a drawer or how many games will fit on a shelf? Ask if their answer is reasonable?

Money/coin trade - Give child an assortment of coins. Put a piece of fruit on table and tell child it costs .45 cents. Have them fin 5 coin combinations that equal .45 cents.

Fraction sundaes - Introduce benchmark fractions and have them make a sundae that is 1/2 vanilla and 1/2 chocolate. Or 1/3 vanilla, 1/3 strawberry and 1/3 chocolate.

The following are some Apps that you can check out as well:

Operation Math

Sushi Monster

Quick Math - Arithmetic + Times Tables

Pet Bingo by Duck Duck Moose

Meerkat Math

Math Flash Cards

10Monkeys Multiplication

Math Monsters

Math vs. Zombies

YodelOh Math Mountain

Have a wonderful fun-filled and relaxing summer!!

Math and Reading

"Both reading and math have the same goal -
bringing meaning to black marks on pages" 

(Marilyn Burns)

Recently I was reading Marilyn Burns' (math guru extraordinaire) blog and she was talking about how she incorporated literature into her math lessons when she was a math instructor. I have done this myself and have found it to be a wonderful way to help students understand the math concept. I do not tell the students what the book is about, but rather, have them come up with what math concept is being explored in the book themselves. They always get so excited when they figure this out! Most recently, I used the book The Doorbell Rang by Pat Hutchins to introduce the concept of division to third graders. This year I also used Odd Todd, Even Steven by Kathryn Cristaldi with second graders and Mouse Counts by Ellen Stoll Walsh with first graders. I love using literature because I can refer back to it time and time again with the students and they ALWAYS remember the book! 

Here are just a few books that can be used to help with various math concepts:

One is a snail, ten is a crab by April Pulley Sayre and Jeff Sayre (early numeracy and place value).

Ten Friends by Bruce Goldstone (ways to make 10).

How Big is a Foot by Rolf Myller (using standard units when measuring lengths).

Spaghetti and Meatballs For All by Marilyn Burns (area and perimeter).

Thank you for all you do at home and I look forward to working with the new students that have just started in our small groups this month!

Welcome to my Math Blog!

I love teaching because each year we get to start anew! This past week I started seeing students in their small groups. I really enjoyed catching up with some of my friends from last year and meeting new friends! I look forward to having the opportunity to meet with some parents over the next couple of weeks during your child's teacher conference. If I don't get to meet you, please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any questions or to set up a time if you want to meet.

I am so happy to have the opportunity to work with students in grades 1-5 this year! It is exciting to see and watch students grow as math learners. If you happen to pass my room, you will notice that I have posted Math Myths outside my door. I read a wonderful article over the summer that talked about pre-conceived notions students have about themselves (and others) as math students. I wanted to list these myths for you, in case you don't get to see them:

Myth #1: You are either good at math or you are not.

Truth: Everyone has the potential to be good at math. We can all grow our math brains!

Myth #2: Being good at math means being fast at math.

Truth: Persistence and not giving up are more important than being fast.

Myth #3: Math is all about following a certain set of rules and procedures.

Truth: There are a variety of ways that problems can be solved. What is more important is finding the way that works and makes sense to you.

I believe in the truths behind these myths and will be reinforcing these with my students throughout the year. I look forward to a wonderful year of math and learning together!

THE END OF THE YEAR AND SUMMER FACT PRACTICE!

The year is winding down and the weather has finally been glorious! I have really enjoyed my year with your children. Each and every one of them has worked hard and grown this year! The students often ask me if they will be coming for math again next year. I always tell them I do not know as it depends, which is the reality. Many things are considered when deciding who will get extra math support. The students were benchmarked at the end of this school year and will be again at the beginning of the school year in the fall. Also, if your child was in grades 3-5 this year - how they did on the NYS math test will also play a part in the decision. Keeping up their skills over the summer will help ensure that they are ready for the fall!

If it's a rainy day or you looking for your child to get in some fact practice, go to any of the sites listed here on my blog. If there are particular facts that you are working on with your child to help them master, you can go on APlusMath and go to flashcard creator and create your own flashcards (this might be fun for your child to do!). There are worksheets you could print off and you could go to the game room and click on addition, subtraction, multiplication or division. 

The following is a list of Apps that Marilyn Burns, a former math teacher and expert in the field has recommended. Some of the Apps are free or are available for a nominal price. These Apps are designed to help build fluency. The more fluent (how quickly and accurately they know their facts) will help them as they will not get bogged down by not knowing a fact when trying to solve a problem. And students love using technology!

Operation Math

Sushi Monster

Quick Math - Arithmetic + Times Tables

Pet Bingo by Duck Duck Moose

Meerkat Math

Math Flash Cards

10Monkeys Multiplication

Math Monsters

Math vs. Zombies

YodelOh Math Mountain

Thank you again for allowing me to work with your children this year! Wishing you a safe and wonderful summer!!!

Some facts about math facts...

One of the biggest stumbling blocks for many of the students that I see is learning their math facts. There are two things that we talk about when it comes to math facts. Speed (how quickly they know the fact) and Accuracy (how accurate they are). Did you know that a student is considered to have mastered a fact if they can give the correct response within 3 seconds? This is ideal and what we strive for…but I am particularly concerned about a student's accuracy. I would rather the student take more time, but get the fact correct then to blurt out an incorrect fact quickly. As you know, each year students are expected to build upon their fact knowledge. The following is the expectation at the end of each grade level:

Kindergarten: addition/subtraction of all 0-5 facts

1st grade: addition/subtraction of all 0-10 facts

2nd grade: addition/subtraction of all 0-20 facts

3rd grade: multiplication/division of all 0-10 facts

4th grade: multiplication/division of all 0-12 facts

During our group time, we typically spend the majority of our time working on a math concept and then end the session working on facts. I try to give them different strategies for figuring out their facts and to help them internalize the facts. We also play games like "I have..who has…" or "Around the world".  These are fun ways for the students to work on facts that are troubling them. It is key that your child practice at home. Every student that I work with has been set up on xtramath.org either by their classroom teacher or by myself. This is a great way to practice at home using the computer and working at their level. It is also an alternative way to practice than the traditional flash card way. Whether your child is in the primary grades working on addition and subtraction facts or an intermediate student working on multiplication and division, it is best for students to learn and associate the fact as it fits within its fact family or number bond. For example: 

7+6=13      6+7=13
13-7=6     13-6=7

It is best not to overload your child with too many facts at one time. It is better to have them focus and work on 1-2 facts that are giving them difficulty and then to move on to a new fact once they seem to have grasped the first ones.

Even though it can be frustrating for everyone, staying positive and celebrating your child's success are so important!!!

This week I will be progress monitoring the students. You will be receiving progress reports from me regarding how your child has been doing at the end of January. 

Wishing all of you a wonderful holiday season and thank you for all you do at home!!!

Welcome to my Math page!!

The students have settled into their school routines, all of the necessary benchmark testing has been completed and it is now time for me to start meeting with students in small groups. This is my 3rd year teaching math in small groups and I love what I do! It is very rewarding for me to work with your children  - many will be new to me this year and some friends I have had the pleasure of working with before. 

I will be working closely with your child's teacher while I am working with them. Parents are often concerned about what their child will miss when they come out for the small group. Your child's teacher is prepared for this and makes sure they are brought up to speed on what was missed. In addition, we make sure that the student is never pulled during their math time, as we want them to have a "double dose" of math instruction.

My goal, as always, is to help your child think of themselves as a good math student and to be more successful in math! The home piece is very important, especially when it comes to math. I encourage you to work with your child on their facts on a regular (preferably daily) basis. I have listed many websites on this blog to go to and to use for practice at home. Please take a look and try to find one or two that might be of benefit to your child. I look forward to meeting you in the coming weeks but in the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact me via my school email if you have any questions/concerns. 

Winding down the year......Summer is almost here!

Even though it's summer, math skills can be kept up in lots of fun ways. Here are some of the fun ways you can keep practicing your math skills throughout the summer.

One of the favorite games we played this year was called 101 and Out! This game, which only requires 1 dice and some paper and pencil is a great way to practice using addition, mental math and place value. The object of the game is to get closest to 100 without going over (hence 101 - and you are out!) You have 5 dice rolls to do this. If you roll a 3, you have the option of taking 3, 30 or 3x3 (younger children can play without multiplication option). Each time you add on to your score, use mental math! The paper and pencil are for keeping score only! The person who is closest to 100 at the end of 5 rolls without going over 100 wins!

Another favorite game is I have...Who has... You can go on-line and print off cards to make your own game, depending on what skill you are working on.

If it's a rainy day or you looking for your child to get in some fact practice, go to any of the sites listed here on my blog. If there are particular facts that you are working on with your child to help them master, you can go on APlusMath and go to flashcard creator and create your own flashcards (this might be fun for your child to do!). There are worksheets you could print off and you could go to the game room and click on addition, subtraction, multiplication or division. 

And who doesn't love food...especially in the summer. The following are all ideas that center around food and math. Have fun trying some of these out!

• Identifying Geometry shapes using spherical oranges, circles of salami, squares of cheese and cubes of cheese.
• Counting: jellybeans, carrots, peas, etc
• Sorting/counting large bag of M&M's. How many browns? Oranges? Red? Greens? Create a bar graph with the information. Ask questions such as "How many more browns than greens are there?"
• Grouping candy or other food items and practice counting by 2's, 5's, 10's.
• Buying snacks at the pool. If you have $5, what can you afford to buy? How much change will you get back?
• Telling your child what time dinner will be and then asking them how much time will pass before dinner? 
• Baking your favorite recipes. Using measuring cups and spoons. How many 1/2 cups in a cup? How many 1/4 cups?
• Discuss and show weight of food items. 1 lb of butter or cheese. 5 lbs of flour. 6 ounces of cheese.
• Setting table for dinner. Two extra people joining the family tonight - how many place settings will you need?
• Survey family on their favorite vegetables. Chart and graph your results.
• If there are approximately 10 chocolate chips in each cookie, how many will be in a whole batch of cookies?
• Pizza/fraction math. If 4 people eat 1 slice of pizza that is cut into eighths, how much will be left?
• Determining how many pizzas you should order for a party, depending on how many people you are expecting.
• Estimating numbers of items in jars.
• Divide total amount of cherries among number of kids present. How many will you have remaining?
• Looking at muffin/cupcake pan. How many muffins will we be able to make?

JUST A FEW IDEAS!!! THE IMPORTANT THING TO REMEMBER IS MATH IS ALL AROUND US!!!

Happy New Year!!!

I hope you had a wonderful holiday and that you are ready for a new year of math learning and fun!

Regardless of what grade your child is in, we have been working hard together to learn basic math facts. Because we have so little time together and we have so many skills/concepts to cover, it is also important that you practice facts with your child at home. There are lots of fun ways, other than the traditional flash card way, that you can use to give your child additional practice. The most important thing is to make it fun and positive! Focus on progress and celebrate every success! Here are some ideas you can try at home:

• Play Fact Wars by splitting cards into 2 piles. Each player flips over 2 cards and the says the sum or product (depending on what skill/grade level they are in). The player with the greatest sum or product gets to keep the cards. In this game repetition and correct answers are emphasized rather than speed.
• For difficult to remember facts, have your child create a "model" using cereal or some other food to help them internalize the fact. 
• Draw pictures to show a fact.
• Have your child make up a word problem to go with two numbers.
• Tape flash cards (you can buy these at dollar store or make them using index cards) on different doors and drawers in the house. Have your child give the answer before they can open the door/drawer.
• Create two piles (1. facts they know and 2. facts they don't know). Focus primarily on the facts they don't know and celebrate each time a card can be placed in the facts they know pile. Your child will love seeing that pile grow!

It was a pleasure getting to meet so many of during the conference days in November and December! If we did not get to speak and you would like to contact me, or having any questions regarding your child's progress report, please do not hesitate to email or call. 

One of the things I get asked about often are ways to practice word problems. Making up your own "Math stories" using the people and events in your child's life is one great way. For example, if your child plays a sport, a math story could be as follows: Bobby's hockey team had 17 players, Lindsey's team had 3 fewer players. How many players did Lindsey's team have?

A good website for word problems is math playground (listed here on my blog). You can also type in kidzone word problems in your search engine and then click on the appropriate grade level for your child. 

We will be working on word problem strategies and skills as well during our group time! Thank you for all that you do at home!!

Welcome back math friends!

September came and went and now everyone has settled into the routines of the school year. I am so glad to have the opportunity to work with some of my students from last year and also to meet some new friends! 

I love teaching and I especially love teaching math and am looking forward to working with your child, yourself and their teacher to help increase their math skills and confidence!

I often get asked if I will be covering the same topics as they are in their classroom. The answer is yes, we all follow the Common Core State Standards, but the beauty of AIS is that you get to spend more time on concepts/skills that are troubling students in a small group setting.

Another question that I frequently get asked is....how can I help at home? One thing is to make sure that your child knows their facts. When a student gets bogged down by not knowing their facts, it can impede their ability to grasp a new concept as they are struggling with fact retrieval. Flashcards are just one way to help with facts. If you do use flash cards, don't waste your time on the facts they already know - take those ones out and work on only the ones they don't. Help them to visualize the fact by drawing a picture or using some kind of visual such as coins, macaroni, poker chips, etc. to help them see and internalize the fact. There are many websites listed on this blog that can be useful to help students at all levels with their facts.

I look forward to a great year together! My goal is to help your child be more successful as well as to see that math is fun, engaging and an important part of their lives!! Please do not hesitate to email or call me with any questions or concerns that you have.

Summer Math

You've worked hard all year....you don't want to lose or forget everything over the summer...so the best thing to do is to practice your math skills when you can over the summer. There are lots of ways you can practice! Here are some ideas.....

*Go to any of the websites listed on this page and practice your facts/skills for a few minutes a day. Here are a couple of new ones that I found that you might want to try out: 

                        www.mathcats.com (great for logic and problem solving)

                                               www.suduko-online.com

*Play simple math games. All you need is a deck of cards or a pair of dice and you can play addition, subtraction or multiplication war.  

*Play board games that involve math skills such as Yahtzee, Money Bags, Math Noodlers.

* Remember math is all around you!  At the beginning of the year we talked about how we use math in our everyday lives. Here are some examples of activities that are a part of the activities that you might be doing this summer and how you can incorporate math into it:

• When you go to the grocery store, try to estimate the cost of a few items. Do you have enough money to buy everything?
• Use the scale and weigh a piece of fruit.
• Use an analog clock to see how much time is left until you have to leave for your playdate.
• When baking or cooking, use fractions for the recipe.
• When you order a pizza, see how many pieces it is cut up into. Tell your parent what fraction of the pizza you ate!
• Look around your house and in nature for shapes and patterns that you see.
• After your ball game, compare the scores of the two teams, and count the total runs or the difference in runs between the two teams.
• At the park, estimate, then measure to see how fast you can jump or how high you can climb on the monkey bars.
• Get a container and put a few coins in it each day. After a few weeks, count to see how much you have. At the end of the summer, count to see how much you collected. How much can you trade in for dollar bills?   Most of all....enjoy your summer and keep up the great math!!!!

There's a reason why they call them word problems...they can be hard, and therefore a problem for most students! In our 4th and 5th grade groups, we have been focusing on how to tackle these. We started talking about the Fantastic Five Step Process, using our hand (5 fingers) as a visual. The Fantastic Five Step Process to word problems includes 1. Identifying the facts 2. Knowing the question and what is being asked (this is key!) 3. Figuring out what information, if any, can be eliminated 4. Choosing a strategy and solving 5. Asking yourself at the end, does the answer make sense?

From what I am seeing, one of the biggest problems is going too fast and jumping to solve the problem without thinking through what the question is asking, and therefore, what operation should be used. For this reason, we have been doing a lot of work identifying the parts and whole in a problem (ask your child about part, part, whole). This is a concept taught in Singapore Math, where problem solving is at the heart of the curriculum and the foundation for the model drawing approach.

Our focus in 3rd grade has been on mastering our multiplication facts as well as understanding the concept of division. We will also start tackling word problems, especially as we start to prepare for the 3rd grade NYS math test.

In 2nd grade, we have worked on counting money, place value and subtraction (with and without regrouping). Here is a subtraction poem that we have used to help us understand when we need to regroup.

More on top? No need to stop!

More on the floor? Go next door.

Get one ten. That's ten ones more.

Numbers the same? Zero's the game! 

In our 1st grade groups, we continue to focus on increasing our number sense. We watched a music video and counted by 5's. We also continue to practice adding and subtracting by 1. Ask your child about our song "I know a song called add one more... you add one number, just one more more...."

Progress reports will be coming home this month. As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call or email!!

Welcome to my math page!!! 

I started this blog to provide parents with information about what we do during our group times as well to share sites and other useful tips to help you best help your child at home. I've listed several sites on this page that I've found to be useful for kids to go on to help them with their math skills. As you know, it is essential that students know their math facts automatically!! Many of these sites have games that your child can play to help them become more fluent with their facts. No matter what your child's level, a few minutes EACH day of fact practice will make a huge difference!!!

I'm happy to have been able to add 1st grade groups recently! My main focus in these groups will be to increase the students' understanding of numbers. We will engage in many hands-on activities, using manipulatives, to help them build their awareness of numbers and  number concepts. 

We will also be working towards improving number sense with the 2nd grade groups, with an emphasis on place value. We use place value blocks to help build this understanding, which is critical as they work on addition and subtraction with regrouping.

The emphasis in the 3rd grade groups has been on multiplication. It is important that the students not only know their facts, but understand what 4 x 6 means (4 groups of 6). This is crucial as we move towards division.

During the 4th and 5th grade groups, it has become very apparent that they need to know their facts in order to be successful with double digit multiplication and long division. A great site to help with the complicated steps of long division is kidsnumbers.com. When you go that site scroll down and click on division and then click on Snork's long division. This is a fun and interactive game that will also help your child learn the steps!