Last time in Part 1 of Rubber Stampin’ Math we talked about dusting off those rubber stamps and using them to create expressions, equations, and arrays. In Part 2, I’m going to share how I used them in second and third grade to introduce multiplication and how that translated to algebraic functions in fourth and fifth grade. Part 2: Multiplication and Functions For these next activities, the type of rubber stamps students use is very important. So let’s start with…
I know it’s not quite spring yet but I’m a little anxious for it to start. It seems like it’s been a long winter. So, to encourage spring to get a move-on, I did a little spring cleaning. And that’s when I re-discovered my drawer full of rubber stamps and colorful stamp pads. These stamps and stamp pads were a staple in my third, fourth, and fifth grade classroom. And when I ran centers in K-2, I used them there,…
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…
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…
The Common Core State Standards in Mathematics is really emphasizing number lines in student work with numbers. So I thought I’d include one on a What Do You Notice? Poster at last night’s Family Math Night event. But in order to reflect both the primary and intermediate grades, not only did I include the counting numbers, but I marked the fourths, as well. Some students noticed the color pattern I used – even numbers are blue and odd are red….