Teaching mathematics to children can sometimes be difficult particularly if you are teaching “over their head” and lose them – because once they are lost it is difficult to reel them back in! So some tips to keep it light and make it a good experience for all might be helpful.

Simple doesn’t have to mean 1, 2, 3 – it really means that it makes sense to the pupils because if it doesn’t make sense it will be difficult for them to grasp what you are trying to tell them. Even if they eventually do what you need them to do but don’t understand the concept and the “how” of what you are telling them, (more…)

Teaching fractions is relatively simple when you are at the one-half (1/2) or one-quarter (1/4) but when you start getting into tenths and hundredths it becomes a little more difficult to adequately explain it to children. Graphics are an easy way to show the class so that the concept becomes clearer as you go along. Drawing each section as you explain makes it much easier to understand. (more…)

3 new elementary math card games for Fractions and Geometry.

4 Whole Numbers & Fractions Card Games (Grades 4-6)

3 Geometry Games (Grades 1-3)

3 Fractions, Decimals & Percent Games (Grades 2-4

Too often teachers get caught up in the day to day activities of teaching math and sometimes become like automatons doing things the same way day after day and year after year. When you find that you don’t deviate from the textbook or from the same tired examples you have used over and over – you will begin to place too much emphasis on the mundane rather than the joy that can be derived from teaching others mathematics with enthusiasm.

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Basic addition and subtraction start children on the road to learning mathematics. Most children already know how to count when they start in pre-school or Kindergarten but do they really understand what that means and how it will be used in everyday life? Most probably do as they learn to count on their fingers or with the number of trees in their yard. (more…)