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Tag: Common Core State Standards

Power Packs – Building Number Sense

Power Packs – Building Number Sense

We know that parent involvement in their child’s education can have a significant impact on academic success. Our current situation has helped reinforce the role parents and caregivers have as active participants in the education of their children.

But there have been a lot of changes in mathematics curriculum and pedagogy in recent years and a lot of parents don’t feel as prepared as they’d like to be when it comes to helping their child in math. That’s why we created our Power Pack: Building Number Sense series, a set of dice games that families can play to reinforce important number skills.

The power of these Power Packs comes in the integration of strategies and tools that parents use as they play the games with their children. Helping parents understand these tools and strategies has become even more important to better facilitate remote learning. With that in mind, I created short instructional videos of each of the tools and strategies included in the Power Packs because it’s important that parents understand why we are teaching the way we are. These videos help underscore the importance of focusing on number sense when children are learning mathematics.

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Time Capsule – A Family Math Night Activity

Time Capsule – A Family Math Night Activity

We are living through a historic moment in history that has brought about some major changes to our lives. As an elementary math educator, I wanted to figure out a way for students to capture this moment through a math activity. That’s when I came up with the idea of creating a time capsule.

I presented the activity a few weeks ago as a webinar for a homeschooling consortium but when we lost the video of the presentation, I decided to film it again and am including it for you below.

It’s a simple but fun project that the whole family can do. With a little adaptation, it would work in the virtual classroom, as well.

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Family Math Night Home Edition – SPANISH version

Family Math Night Home Edition – SPANISH version

I’m excited to share with you that the PDFs for all the Home Edition activities have been translated into Spanish. A HUGE thank you to Carley Beale and her staff from Virginia for taking on the project! They did an amazing job. Click here to access the PDFs which can be found listed under the video once you click on an activity.

As I described in my Family Math Night Home Edition post, my goal was to design the Family Math Night/Day to be different than simply doing a math activity at the kitchen table. It’s their own personal event and I walk them through how to do it step-by-step. And now our Spanish community can join in the fun!

I hope this helps you keep families engaged in discovering the wonders of math together during this time of continued uncertainty.

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Developing Math Minds at Home Parent Guide

Developing Math Minds at Home Parent Guide


I’m happy to announce that our parent guide Developing Math Minds at Home is now complete.

The guide was designed to help families support math learning at home. As parents work on reinforcing math skills, it’s also important that we show them how to help their children develop a strong math mind. As we describe in the guide, “Children with a strong math mind are comfortable using math. They understand that math is a useful part of our everyday lives and are confident using it to solve problems.”

The guide underscores what the current research says about how children learn math and includes topics such as:

  • Fostering a Growth Mindset
  • Supporting a Positive Attitude Towards Mathematics
  • Promoting Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving Skills
  • Developing Number Sense
  • Solving Problems a Variety of Ways
  • Embracing Mistakes
  • Encouraging Positive Self-Talk

We also have a Spanish version of the booklet.  For a sample page, check out our website.

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Family Math Night Home Edition

Family Math Night Home Edition

Family Math Nights are usually done at school but I created one that families can do at home. This comprehensive resource includes video tutorials, check lists, materials lists, and activity sheets for four home-friendly activities for grades K-5. I’m including the video below.

My goal was to design the Family Math Night/Day to be different than simply doing a math activity at the kitchen table. It’s their own personal event and I walk them through how to do it step-by-step. Watch the video below for tips on making it a special event.


Here is the link so you can access all the activity PDFs:
https://familymathnight.com/resources/mathathome.php

Here is the link so you can access the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GknJtgZ47KQ

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