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Cathy Fosnot and Pam Harris are The Queens of Number Strings (or Problem Strings as Pam would call them).  I’m way too excited about the fact they are teaming up to do a one-day workshop all about using Problem Strings for Automaticity, Fluency, and Beyond.  If you’ve been doing number strings and want to go more in depth on how to use them in your classroom, I highly recommend going to this workshop.  Go to https://buildmathminds.com/159  to get links to items mentioned in the episode.  

Before the 2024 Virtual Math Summit starts next week, enjoy this preview of a Pre-Summit Session by Rosalba Serrano on Preventing Teacher Burnout.  Rosalba shares a ton of information and ideas to help you with burnout but I specifically picked this clip because one of the ideas she shared is one that my family uses a lot: Control the Controllables.   Get registered so you can watch Rosalba’s full session before the summit starts: VirtualMathSummit.com/register. 

The 2024 Virtual Math Summit is in two weeks!  Here’s a preview of 3 sessions from Jenny Foreman, Loren Thorpe, and myself talking about the challenges and benefits of working on getting your students to think and not just compute during math class.  To see the full list of speakers, their presentations, and to get registered go to VirtualMathSummit.com/register. To get any links mentioned in this episode, go to the show notes page at BuildMathMinds.com/157.

The 2024 Virtual Math Summit is this month!  Here’s a preview of 3 sessions from Michaela Epstein, Rosalba Serrano, and Nicole Thompson & Jessica Batinovic giving you tips, ideas, and inspiration to make our Number Routines the best they can be for your students.  To see the full list of speakers, their presentations, and to get registered go to VirtualMathSummit.com/register. To get any links mentioned in this episode, go to the show notes page at BuildMathMinds.com/156.

The 2024 Virtual Math Summit starts in less than 1 month!   Check out this preview of Dr. Jim Ewing’s keynote session about Teaching Math with Newcomers in Mind.  To see the full list of speakers, their presentations, and to get registered go to VirtualMathSummit.com/register. To get any links mentioned in this episode, go to the show notes page at BuildMathMinds.com/155.

The 2024 Virtual Math Summit is coming soon.  This week’s episode gives you a preview of 4 sessions that focus on helping students build their understanding and fluency of multiplication.    Check out this preview of Shannon Olson, Juli Dixon, Thuc-Khahn Park, and Brittany Hege’s sessions.  To see the full list of speakers, their presentations, and to get registered go to VirtualMathSummit.com/register. To get any links mentioned in this episode, go to the show notes page at BuildMathMinds.com/154.

The 2024 Virtual Math Summit is just around the corner.  This week’s episode gives you a preview of 4 of the sessions. To see the full list of speakers, their presentations, and to get registered go to VirtualMathSummit.com/register.  I’m a huge supporter of Student-Centered Classrooms and so for this episode I grabbed some clips to share with you that give you ideas for ways to create that in your math class.  Tammy McMorrow, Latrenda Knighten, Ed Nolan, and Mona Iehl each have presentations at this year’s Virtual Math Summit that help bring your students to the center.  To get any links mentioned in this episode, go to the show notes page at BuildMathMinds.com/153.  

I get asked why I don’t do much training about Time & Measurement.  I do have some videos, you can see them in my Playlists at the YouTube channel, but there is a real reason why I don’t talk about those concepts as much as others.  So in this video you get my thoughts (based upon what other math educators & researchers have to say) about why we shouldn’t spend a bunch of time teaching time & measurement in math class.

This essential understanding about division is something even adults struggle with: Division is defined by its inverse relationship with multiplication.  Our textbooks want us to teach division as its own separate operation but a key to helping students understand and become proficient in division is to teach it in conjunction with multiplication.  In this episode I’m sharing an excerpt from one book in the Putting Essential Understandings into Practice series.  To get any links mentioned in this episode go to buildmathminds.com/151 

Want a quick & easy to implement activity that will show you how much your students know about the math operations and about math story problems?  I’ve got it for you in this week’s Build Math Minds podcast.  This idea comes from the book Taking Action: Implementing Effective Mathematics Teaching Practices by DeAnn Huinker and Victoria Bill.  You can find a link to it and any other resources mentioned at the show notes page buildmathminds.com/150

The two ends of the spectrum when teaching math seem to be “here are the exact ways to solve this problem, follow it exactly,” and “you figure it out, I’m not telling you anything.”  Neither of these tend to work.  Instead it’s about finding a balance between these. We need to give some guidance, but not too much.  We want them to figure out ways to solve problems on their own but we can’t let them flounder. The book 7 Steps to a Language-Rich, Interactive Classroom by John Seidlitz & Bill Perryman gives educators, as the title says, 7 steps and the first one is: teach students what to say when they don’t know what to say. This also applies when a student doesn’t know where to start with a math problem.  So this week’s episode is helping students have Things to Say Instead of IDK. Join the Build Math Minds PD site: https://buildmathminds.com/bmm 7 Steps to a Language-Rich, Interactive Classroom by John Seidlitz & Bill Perryman Build Math Minds YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/buildmathminds

It's been an incredible journey over the past two weeks as we've explored nine key strategies to Kickstart your students' number sense. Now, as we reach the end of this Kickstart event, it's essential to understand that the foundations you're laying are seeds of number sense, and their growth will be gradual. These principles we've discussed serve as the blueprint for you to navigate through the upcoming school year: Do Number Routines and Contextual Problems with a focus on understanding.  Watch for your students’ thinking around the number sense concepts.  Keep a record of those understandings to help guide the number routines & contextual problems you pick.  While you are doing the number routines and contextual problems, make sure the students are doing the talking and you are listening.  Use lots of visuals and try to connect the C-R-A models as much as you can.  And then practice.  Once the understanding is there, kids do need repeated, PURPOSEFUL practice. That’s your blueprint.  Today, on Day 10, it's time to take this blueprint for building your students' number sense seriously. I've explored concepts, practical strategies, and provided resources to assist you on this path. However, there's more to discover, and if you are ready to explore these ideas further your Day 10 action item is: enroll in my online courses, The Flexibility Formula, tailored for K-2 and 3-5: https://buildmathminds.com/enroll/