Understanding Perimeter
1. What’s included when teaching perimeter in 3rd grade? • Solving real-world problems involving perimeter of polygons • Determining when it is necessary to find the perimeter from a given …
Round and Round We Go… Where we will stop… At Rounding?
In 4th grade students also use rounding to estimate sums and differences. This strategy is used to make sure that their estimation is reasonable. They used this strategy in 3rd …
The Wheels on the Bus go Round and Round… Has nothing to do with Rounding but this does!
In 4th grade students use strategies to estimate numbers. One strategy for estimation is rounding. This is built off of the foundation they received in 3rd grade. Below is how …
Dividing Using the Area Model in Context of Problem Solving
143 students will be attending the school music concert. Each row will seat 13 students. How many rows will be needed for all of the students to have a seat? …
Understanding Multiplication
What is multiplication? Multiplication is when we know the number of groups and the size of the equal groups, but the total amount is unknown. Students are expected to use …
Fact Fluency- What is it?
What is fact fluency? An important goal for third graders is to develop fluency with multiplication and division by the end of the school year. Fact fluency is the ability …
Relationships Don’t Have To Be Complicated- The Story of Multiplication, Division, and Place Value.
Once upon a time long long ago… Just Kidding. A long time ago (like yesterday or the day before) a post came out about base ten and place value. If …
Arrays – Top 5 things to know about using arrays to model multiplication & division
Top 5 Things to know about using arrays to model multiplication & division: 1. An array is an arrangement of things organized into equal rows and equal columns, which creates …
What Do You Mean Base 10?
What Do You Mean Base 10? Well our entire place value system is based on 10. In the visual below it shows how it would take 10 ones to make …
Understanding Division
What is division? Division is when you know the total amount, and either the number of groups or the size of the equal groups are unknown. Students are expected to …
Putting the C and R back into exponents.
We are all aware of the CRA model of providing students experiences with mathematics content. In terms of exponents, students very rarely experience the “C” (concrete) or the “R” (representational) …
How can I teach powers of ten?
Do you struggle teaching powers of ten? Do I only teach it as a procedure or memorization of rules? Check out the link below from CPALMS. The lesson shows an …
Rounding with Open Number Lines
Five or more raise the score, four or less give it a rest! This saying and others similar to it are often used to help students remember how to round …
Top 5 Things to consider when teaching 3rd grade students about adding or subtracting with place value understanding!!
Here are the Top 5 things to consider when teaching 3rd grade students about adding and subtracting multi-digit numbers with place value understanding: 1. Student’s prior knowledge from 2nd grade …
The Dreaded Math Word Problem: Get Organized to Solve the Problem!
Students of all ages have difficulty applying comprehension skills when reading and interpreting math word problems. Those of us who attended school before the year 2000 know that most of …
Concrete-Representational-Abstract
What is the Concrete-Representational-Abstract (CRA) instructional approach? CRA is a gradual systematic approach to teaching mathematics. Each stage builds on to the previous stage and therefore must be taught in …
Strategies for Estimating Sums and Differences
What is estimation? Estimating is an important skill. Estimation is the process of getting an approximate amount, sum or difference. We want students to be able to use mental math …
Why Bother to Estimate??
Estimation is often overlooked in lessons involving multiplication or division. Even if students are told to estimate first, they often calculate to find the precise answer then round it to …