Looking for ways to help your 6th graders see and make use of ratios in real life? This set of camping ratio practice problems is a great way to explore and apply ratios! I recently spent an extended season living in and traveling in an RV with my family. It was a unique and fun way to explore and see parts of the country we've never seen! It was also a fun way to meet other campers and explore the great outdoors. Although we saw and did lots Keep Reading...
Build Math Habits: Model with Math & Visual Tools
Want to encourage independent math thinking? Help your kids learn how to model with math & visual tools as they seek to solve problems. Find ideas & free resources to help below! Welcome back to my series on the Standards for Mathematical Practice! In each article I'm trying to unpack these standards in a way that makes sense so that you can help your students develop these math habits. This will help them to move beyond memorization Keep Reading...
Build Math Habits: Talk About Math & Justify Thinking
Teach your kids to talk about math and justify math thinking as they explore and grow as mathematicians. Use these tips and free resources to get started! Today I am continuing my series on the Standards for Mathematical Practice. The goal of this series is to help our students build strong math habits so they can be thinkers and problem solvers. *Please Note: This post contains affiliate links which support the work of this site. Read Keep Reading...
DIGITAL Pythagorean Theorem Practice Problems {FREE}
One of my favorite math topics to teach is the Pythagorean Theorem. I love how practical it is and how (usually) straightforward it is once you understand what the formula means. This is key though--students must begin by understanding what a, b, and c represent and how they relate to each other. Otherwise, the formula is just meaningless letters and solving problems becomes mere guesswork. I love to introduce it with something concrete such as Keep Reading...
{FREE} Pythagorean Theorem Word Problems Task Cards
Probably one of the most important formulas for students to know, remember and feel confident using is the Pythagorean theorem. I always like to introduce it in a fun, hands on way to make sure kids understand the meaning before I present a formal definition. But then, kids need lots of practice. And since mindlessly solving problems for a or b or c with no context gets tedious and boring, why not practice with these Pythagorean Theorem Word Keep Reading...
25+ Engaging Math Tasks That Promote a Growth Mindset
In our culture, we are bombarded with messages implying that some people are good at math and some people aren't. There's this notion that some people have that elusive "math gene" and some people don't. Overcoming these negative attitudes and baggage to encourage kids that they can in fact learn and enjoy math and there is actually no such thing as a "math person," is a challenge. But more and more research is showing up that kids with a growth Keep Reading...
Real World Pythagorean Theorem Practice {FREE}
When I was a classroom teacher, my philosophy for my students was "memorize as little as possible." That may sound shocking if you are of the opinion that kids need to memorize all sorts of math facts and formulas to be successful, but it's what my high school calculus teacher taught us, and it's how I successfully earned a college degree in mathematics. Now, that is not to say that nothing needs to be memorized. There are a handful of things Keep Reading...
How to REALLY Help Kids Solve Math Word Problems
Recently, I was working on multiplying and dividing by 2 with one of my kids. A constant refrain was, "What does multiply mean?" or "But remember, what does that division sign represent?" As they started to grapple with these concepts and play with manipulatives and pictures and equations, I tried to make sure we always came back to the why. But why are you counting by 2's to get the answer? And why are we splitting our set into groups of 2? Keep Reading...
Analyzing Data Worksheet for Middle and High School
Do you struggle to find good examples of data to help your students learn and practice data analysis skills? The struggle is real! A data analysis lesson can encompass a lot of things, and depending on the data set, can be overwhelming for students. But in the real world, this is an important math skill, as we're bombarded with information and data all the time. So I hope today's data analysis worksheet (part of my Math+Technology series) Keep Reading...
What’s For Lunch? An Engaging, Real Life Math Lesson {FREE}
"Why are we learning this?" Have you ever heard this from your students? If you teach math, I'd be surprised if you haven't. It can be challenging to create a math lesson that students can see the relevance in and that uses/teaches skills they need to know. But it is possible. In fact, I created one just for Math Geek Mama Readers. Help kids learn and understand math in a real world context with this add and subtract decimals Keep Reading...
