Using Mental Math strategies means solving a math problem mentally using a conceptual understanding of the numbers. Teaching Mental math Strategies to students is very important as it develops their flexible thinking and boosts their confidence in math. Being able to use the multiplication properties to apply mental math strategies …
Math talks are short activities (around 10-15 minutes) designed to provide opportunities for the students to make connections in mathematics and explain their thinking to their peers. There are questions/problems/pictures that encourage students to think of different strategies and realize that there is no one way to solve a problem. …
A game for comparing fractions was missing from our collection so here it is. This is a simple racing game that requires students to compare fractions and recognize equivalent ones. The students can use the fraction bars to compare the fractions (included) or other strategies such as Comparing both to …
At mathcurious we love math puzzles and brain teasers. Anything that tickles the brain and improves mathematical thinking. Puzzles provoke creativity and show the students how different math concepts and combinations of them can be used to solve problems in unexpected ways. Are your students smarter than a chicken? Have them …
I love teaching algebra especially in grades 5 and 6 when students start to learn about variables, expressions, and equations. Although algebra might seem strange to them at first, as they start to understand the rules they begin to enjoy this new chapter in their math adventures. I cannot stress …
Combining letters with numbers and mathematical operations is new and exciting for students starting with basic operations. I find that many students see these equations as puzzles and love to solve them. As the equations get more complicated, however, including fractions, exponents, and more, many students start getting frustrated. Algebra …
I am proud to say that we have completed our fractions operations review and we are already diving into reviewing decimal operations. Many of my students needed to be reminded of the concept visually and conceptually. We used activity cards to build/represent decimal numbers, visually understand decimals and connect them …
Today I would like to share with you a little game to practice simplifying fractions and finding equivalent ones. Once the students understand the concept with visual models they can use the algorithm to simplify and find equivalent using division or multiplication. To be successful in simplifying fractions the students …
“Fractions Operations! What a fun concept to teach.” said no teacher ever. Just kidding! I love teaching fractions operations. Once the students understand fractions conceptually and are fluent in the skills below fractions operations truly are a breeze. First things first, before starting with fractions operations the students should have …
Since the multi-digit addition and subtraction and Multi-Digit Multiplication games were a great success in my classroom and from what I heard in yours as well, I have decided to create a few for long division as well. The idea of these games is to motivate the students to practice …
