Every bone in my body wants to stick my head in the sand and pretend that I don't have to worry about state testing this year. I don't want to think about it. At all. I would much rather completely ignore testing, but I wouldn't be doing anyone any favors. If I wait until

I surveyed more than 20,000 teachers about their biggest challenge teaching math, and the overwhelming response was that students don’t know their multiplication facts. We've all experienced it. Some students easily memorize their multiplication facts, and other students

This post is the second part of my multiplication series. It focuses on teaching multi-digit multiplication with area models, partial product, and incorporating problem solving. If you missed the first post in the series, you can find it here. Week 4  1-Digit By 4-Digit On the

Tomorrow, my students will participate in a Halloween Scavenger Hunt. We originally had a school-wide outdoor activity planned, but due to rain, I'm moving to Plan B. The goal of the Halloween scavenger hunt is for students to place the corresponding sticker beside each of the

It's a Tuesday afternoon, and we're well into the school year. I've taught my reading mini lesson and have already met with one guided reading group. I look around the room and everyone appears to be on task during their independent reading time. Things are running

I’ve come to the conclusion that one of the only days more challenging than Halloween is the day AFTER Halloween. There is nothing quite like a room full of children who’ve eaten nothing but candy over the past 24 hours.  I’ve heard many teachers say that November 1st should be a

These Halloween Math Activities have been a blast for my fourth grade students! Over the years, I’ve moved from a traditional format of math centers to using a booklet format. Students' first set of centers is primarily on place value and rounding, and their second set of centers