Happy Snowy Halloween! Here in Boston, we just had our first snow of the year yesterday. It feels like Mother Nature is reminding us about the upcoming winter. We would like to take the chance to share some thoughts about “Connections” today. A math lesson should not be questions after questions. It is important …
Here’s an email we sent out to our subscribers this week about live online math classes in summer. We’ve received many queries and have since completed several free evaluation sessions over Zoom. Unlike the online membership program for teachers, our small group live lessons are offered from Kindergarten through high school levels. Spaces are still …
Ten frames is a useful visualization tool when kids first learn about numbers and is often used to introduce addition at the kindergarten or pre-school level, but what about subtraction? How should we use properly ten frames for subtraction? Today, we will explain how we use ten frames to build up the number sense required …
If you are teaching fraction multiplication using the area model, check out this new app that illustrate the model in operation!
The bar model is a useful visualization tool to interpret word problems, but there are more than one way to solve the problem after visualizing. Often, we jump straight to the methods we are used to without seeing that another approach might be easier. Take the choice of whether to trim or add for example, …
Like most American teachers, we have stopped all physical classes since the COVID-19 crisis shut our schools down. However, thanks to modern technology, we have been teaching all our group classes online for the past two weeks. So far feedback from teachers, students and parents have been positive, and we were able to continue our …
3 Surprises We Learned About Teaching Online Group Classes Read More »
Just in time for Pi Day 2020! We have streamlined the site structure, and added bread-crumbs for navigation. Hopefully this makes it easier to find things. In particular, check-out these three topic-based resource pages: Number Sense, Addition and Subtraction Multiplication and Division Fractions Or watch the video for a quick introduction.
Visualization is an important focus in Singapore math and the number line is one tool we used frequently to visualize relationships between numbers. However in 6th or 7th grade, when students are introduced to negative numbers, things can get a bit tricky when dealing with negative numbers on the number line. For example, -3 – …
A reader raised an interesting question in our previous post on Understanding the Concept of Same Whole in Fractions. Specifically, using a physical interpretation as an example: 3 out of 4 of Ellie’s pencils are red while 5 out of 7 of Tim’s pencil are red. Who has the “greater” fraction? After all, we can …
Sometimes one bar model is not enough. Here’s an interesting double bar model problem using before-after relationships. If Abby gives $10 to Ben, then they will have the same amount of money. If Ben gives $20 to Abby, then she’ll have four times as much as he has. How much money does each of them …
