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Pattern and the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics

Pattern and the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics

Mathematics is often described as the science of pattern.  Through looking for, reasoning about, and describing numeric and geometric patterns, students come to realize that mathematics reflects order and predictability.  This is a significant discovery because students who understand the power of patterns in math are more confident in their ability to do math.  So when the Common Core State Standards first came out and I didn’t see a whole lot about pattern and patterning activities in the early years,…

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The Estimation Jar – Number Sense in Action

The Estimation Jar – Number Sense in Action

I was cleaning up the Estimation Table at my last Family Math Night event when I noticed a slip of paper next to the Hershey’s jar.  Taking a closer look at it, I realized I was looking at the thinking behind someone’s guess as to the number of Hersheys in the jar. This piece of paper is priceless to me as an educator.  It allows me to clearly understand the steps this child took to arrive at his/her answer – an answer…

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Counting Money at Family Math Night

Counting Money at Family Math Night

Back in the early 2000s, my husband and I joined forces, he as a software engineer and me as a teacher, to design a kids savings and money management software program.  We called it KidsSave.  In that program we included a fun way to teach kids basic money skills.  It was such a powerful tool that we decided to include it for free on our kids and money website. One of my favorite features of the KidsSave Money Counter is…

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Getting Folks to Your Family Math Night Event

Getting Folks to Your Family Math Night Event

If I had to pick one refrain that I hear from educators all over the country it’s How do we get families to come to our event? It’s obviously a common problem.  One that I don’t have a definitive answer for.  But I do have a few ideas that may help.  Some of them are tried and true and a few I just discovered along the way. . Dinner + Math We all know that parents are busy people.  Any…

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