The leap from adding and subtracting to beginning multiplication is always HUGE for students! Many of my students admitted to feeling excited and motivated to learn, while several other students admitted to feeling scared and worried. Of course I had to follow up with, “What are you worried about?” The
Bulletin Boards in my classroom need to be workhorses – meaning that they serve a purpose – not just be cute! I have posters displayed that I refer to constantly during class. My classroom is on the small side, so bulletin board space is very, very valuable real estate in
Performing 2-digit multiplication is tough stuff that requires a lot of practice and repetition (and repetition and repetition). My state is a Common Core state, so this year I have taught the range of methods, including the box method, partial products method, lattice method, and the traditional algorithm. Some students
My last several weeks has been quite eye opening. Imagine – my students don’t understand FRACTIONS! They haven’t been able to make sense of the idea that a fraction is typically smaller than 1 whole, despite having large numbers in the numerator and/or denominator. I was also quite surprised to
