Many upper elementary teachers notice a severe lack of number sense in their students, and that makes high levels of math extremely difficult for students. Number sense refers to “a well organized conceptual framework of number information that enables a person to understand numbers and number relationships and to solve mathematical problems that are not […]
Developing Number Sense Read More »
Geometry is typically the one topic in math I run out of time to teach thoroughly. While I certainly believe it’s an important topic, I do place my greatest emphasis on my standards that incorporate number sense and operations. With that shortened time frame, I have to make sure my lessons are as powerful as
Teaching Geometry in Upper Elementary Read More »
Guided reading groups are one of the most complex areas of planning and instruction. I still remember when I first started teaching thinking, “Okay, I have my groups. Now what do I do?” Hopefully, this post will be helpful to anyone who has experienced that same thought or feeling. You can read this post for
Guided Reading Groups Read More »
Independent reading plays an important role in the upper elementary classroom. My entire teaching career, I’ve known nothing but reading workshop and guided reading. I’ve never had a reading series to use, so I’ve spent an absurd amount of time researching and testing various reading resources, so I could implement that best strategies and practices
Independent Reading For Upper Elementary Read More »
I desperately want to be a crafty person. I see people with these amazing DIY projects, and I try to replicate those projects, and it never works. Never. That’s why I have to stick to easy Christmas crafts! If it can tangle, break, spill, smear, shatter, crack, wilt, it will happen when I try. Every
Easy Christmas Crafts Read More »
There are SO MANY fun ways to make economics activities engaging and hands-on for students, and it’s a great way to incorporate a little math into instruction. This post shares some of my favorite ways to teach economics to upper elementary students. I begin my economics unit by teaching about goods and services. I have
Economics Activities Read More »
Students love these 4th grade Christmas math centers! From fall through Christmas I have have so much fun with my students, and seeing holidays and events through their eyes makes everything a little more special. This can be a great opportunity to engage students in meaningful math tasks that reinforce a rigorous curriculum. I’ve recently
4th Grade Christmas Math Centers Read More »
I recently posted Force and Motion Stations in my TpT store. You an use these as centers or stations, or as individual force and motion worksheets. In the activity, I tried my best to give clear directions, but sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. I want to share ideas from the stations with
Force and Motion Worksheets & Stations Read More »
Keep reading for a mega collection of Christmas activities for the classroom, because I’m not sure if you’ve heard the news, but Christmas is coming. While fun and exciting, this can be an incredibly busy and stressful time of year. To help you out, I’ve compiled a mega collection of Christmas activities for the classroom
Christmas Activities For The Classroom Read More »
Like fractions, introducing decimals is something that should be taught for deep conceptual understanding in order for students to be successful in high level math classes. It can be easy, even tempting, to breeze through a decimal unit, but students need plenty of opportunities to explore decimals with manipulatives and pictorial representations, and reason with
