Let's face it.  We all want engaging ideas for teaching elementary math and reinforcing numeracy, but students come to us in so many different ways that it can be hard to meet all of their needs at the same time.  But what if I told you that meeting those diverse student needs and getting them engaged isn't as tall of an order as you think?  (And no, the solution here isn't to clone yourself a few times so you can sit with all of your students and give simultaneous one-on-one instruction...even though that sounds pretty cool.) The solution is math centers ! Let me read your mind for a second and recite some of the common gripes about centers: they're a time sink, they can be super frustrating to organize and do, students constantly interrupt your teacher led group  I know exactly how you feel, because I've had some of those gripes too! Sure, everyone would love to have fun, math-tastic centers that make even the most number-phobic students engaged, but ......

Math centers are a large component of guided math, but in order to differentiate and meet the needs of our students on a daily basis, creating and keeping up with math centers can be so time consuming.   So, how can you simplify math centers in order to make them realistically manageable?   Here’s my solution:   GO DIGITAL! Technically, what constitutes a math center?   Math centers provide opportunities for student to practice skills that have been previously taught.   That's it!   There are an abundance of printable math center available.   I love them, because I just love making things cute.   What I have noticed though, is that I can’t keep up with the demands of putting them together.   I have to print them, cut them out, laminate them (I don’t want to have to start the process over again), and then store them.   It’s all so time consuming, and I always feel that I’m behind.   I’ve discovered ......

How do I get kids excited about math? That’s a question I hear a lot from upper elementary teachers who are having to compete against science classes with cool experiments and class animals, or language arts classes where kids are getting to read their favorite chapter books. Math teachers who love what they do know that the concepts they teach are important, fascinating, and fun, but it’s hard getting through to kids who’ve already decided that they “hate math,” “aren’t good at math,” or think “math is boring.” It’s all a question of student engagement.                               What is Engagement? Engagement gets thrown around a lot. Is an engaged kid just a kid who’s there, and not just a body in a chair? A recent report from the Institute of Education Sciences REL Southeast Lab tries to answer this question, and it’s actually more complicated than you might think. The report de......