Anti-Racism – Fight for Your Rights!
I’m honored to participate in the 22 Days of Anti-Racism Resources for Teachers started by Texas teacher Chrissy Beltran from El Paso, Texas. This series of blog posts is in response to the murder of…
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Unique Ways to Teach the Central Message of Folktales
For the past few years, I have always taught finding the central message (or moral or lesson) of a story as a separate standard. But I tried something different and it is working very well…
Energize Your Classroom With an Interactive Digital Notebook
What exactly is an Interactive Digital Notebook? How is it similar to a regular Interactive Notebook? How is an Interactive Digital Notebook used in the classroom? What are the advantages over the traditional interactive notebooks?…
How to Effectively Use Google Slides in Elementary Grades
So you want to start using Google Slides™ in elementary grades? But you don’t know where to get started? You’re also not sure how to use them. Or are you students wasting time trying to…
Think Like a Mathematician – Math is Everywhere!
Why do we have to learn math? A popular question among most students. Most kids ask this question because they see math as irrelevant. Something in a textbook that’s not connected to their lives. We…
Practical Back to School Tips to Energize your Year
Just like all the back to school sales, there are lots of teachers offering back to school tips. But I’ve always felt that advice carries more weight from those with experience. Those teachers that have…
Teaching Place Value? How NOT to do it Wrong!
If understanding place value means correctly interpreting the value of a digit based on its place in a number, then just having students use a place value chart is probably not enough! Teaching place value…
Word Problems! How to Help Students to Solve Them
Word problems are the bane of every teacher’s existence. But word problems shouldn’t be! Why? Because life is a word problem. We use math every day in our lives to solve problems. Math is about…
No Tricks – Just How to Round on a Number Line
It wasn’t until a few years after the Common Core was adopted in California did I start teaching students how to round on a number line. Before that, what did I use? Rounding rhymes, tricks,…
Unitizing? Yes! It’s an Important Big Math Idea
Unitizing is not only a mathematical term, but it’s also a business term. Have you ever wondered when businesses ship hundreds of boxes, how do they keep track? By unitizing! The shipping company will unitize…
How to Make a Google Forms Spelling Test
Tired of giving and grading by hand those weekly spelling tests? Then go digital with Google Forms Quizzes! Set up a Google Forms spelling test in just 10 quick steps which take about 5 minutes. …
5 Mistakes to Avoid at Back to School Night
Follow my blog with Bloglovin School is once again starting up so that means Back to School Night is not far behind. If you’re a new teacher or a veteran like me, here are 5…
7 Helpful Posts for Teaching Multiplication
Teaching multiplication can take many forms. Teachers are always finding new and engaging ways of teaching multiplication. Whether it be using manipulatives, arrays, songs, tips or strategies, there is no one way of teaching multiplication.…
Warning! Are You Sabotaging Your Students? PART 3
If you haven’t heard by now, you might still be teaching your students some outdated skills. In Part 1 and Part 2 of this 3-part blog post, I examined such skills as, telling time on…
Warning! Are You Sabotaging Your Students? PART 2
Are you still wondering what other skills students are being taught that may just be outdated? In PART 1, I examined the concept of teaching time on an analog clock. Though it is clear that…
Warning! Are You Sabotaging Your Students?
Ok, maybe the headline was a little TOO dramatic. But I started to think about this the other day when I began teaching these skills: telling time and counting money. In ten years, these little second graders…
Frustrated That Students Don’t Know the Multiplication Facts? Part 3 The Derivative Strategies
In the final part of this three-part series on multiplication fluency, let’s explore the Derivative Strategies. These are the strategies that are taught AFTER the student has demonstrated proficiency in the Foundation Strategies (see the previous…
Frustrated That Students Don’t Know the Multiplication Facts? Part 2 The Foundational Strategies
In the first part of this series, I wrote that we need to teach mental math strategies for multiplication. This is similar to what we do for addition and subtraction. But first, students need to…
Frustrated that Students Don’t Know The Multiplication Facts?
Have you’ve encountered the student who doesn’t study the multiplication facts? Or the student who learns one multiplication table and then seemingly forgets most of the facts? Or the student who studies but has a…
