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An important mathematics concept for children to learn is that all halves of the same whole are the same size. If the whole is divided into different sizes, then they are not halves. While halves of the same shape must be the same size, they do not have to be the same shape. For example,…

You can connect fractions with something most students identify with: getting money.

The Pizza Problem is a great way to apply mathematical information in a real-world context. Challenge your seventh and eighth graders to apply their understanding of area and order of operations with the pricing of pizza. When teaching a unit on the area of circles, I asked a class of seventh- and eighth-grade students to investigate…

Fractions are a critical foundation in mathematics, and at Math Solutions, we are dedicated to providing teachers with the tools they need to promote fraction sense in their classrooms. That’s why we’re taking the opportunity to celebrate Fractions February! We’ll be sharing fun and informative fractions resources all month long here on the blog and on…

Thank you for taking part in our first #MathTalkChat of the new year and discussing fractions in the the classroom! In case you missed out, here’s a quick recap with a few select tweets. To see the full chat transcript, check out our Storify. Please join us next month, in February, the last Wednesday of…

It’s time to talk fractions! Mark your calendar for a live Twitter #MathTalkChat with @Math_Solutions next Wednesday, January 25th at 8pm ET / 5pm PT.

by Lainie Schuster and Nancy Canavan Anderson Asking “good” questions—questions that help students make sense of math—lies at the heart of good math teaching. In Good Questions for Math Teaching: Why Ask Them and What to Ask, Grades 5–8 (Math Solutions Publications, 2005), Lainie Schuster and Nancy Anderson provide teachers with questions across seven math strands. The questions…

Thank you for joining us last week for our third #NumberTalksChat, and sharing your great insights! If you weren’t able to participate, here’s a quick recap of our questions and some great ideas and responses from fellow educators. To see more of our chat, visit the #NumberTalksChat hashtag on Twitter. Please join us again after…

It’s time to talk fractions, decimals, and percentages! Please join @Math_Solutions for our third #NumberTalksChat on Twitter next Wednesday, November 30th at 8pm ET. Two participants will be randomly selected to receive copies of Sherry Parrish and Ann Dominick’s Number Talks: Fractions, Decimals, and Percentages. Join us for a lively discussion on strategies and techniques for implementing fractions number…

I received my first diary when I was six or seven years old and recently rediscovered it in a box of childhood memories. Imagine my surprise when I opened the decades-old journal to find that my first, and most frequent, entry was arithmetic. I had created a series of two and three-digit numbers that I…