Playing four 15-minute sessions of board games such as snakes and ladders can improve a child’s mathematical abilities significantly, according to a study of four and five-year-olds. And the improvement in numerical tests is still measurable nine weeks later.

The researchers who conducted the study said nursery classes should include numerical board games to familiarise children with numbers before they go to school. It is also an easy way for parents to give their children a head start in maths. (more…)

Teach the concept of patterning before using these review activities. The first pattern to teach should be the easiest: ABAB. Next teach ABCABC and then teach ABBABB and AABAAB. The following activities are great for students from Kindergarten to Grade Two.
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This Math lesson is ideal for Grade One students.

Objective:
Students will learn how to count backwards from 5 and to subtract one from any number from 1 to 5.

Activating:
This activating activity gets the students excited and thinking about numbers! Gather the students together on the carpet area. Sing the song, “Five Little Ducks” with the students. Sing through the song several times. Then have students dramatize it by choosing five students to be the little ducks and one student to be the mother duck. Grade One students usually like to crawl to act out the little ducks.
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Math can be daunting to many students and to some teachers as well. Many math concepts seem to confuse younger children, and a substantial number of adults grow up feeling less than confident about their mathematic skills. The way that numbers and mathematic operations are taught in North America is really quite different than in other parts of the world. In Asia, students are taught division first and then subtracting, as ‘sharing’ items with others is a logical way to begin. (4 cookies shared between 2 students is really 4 ÷ 2.) In some languages, the names of numbers also make more sense. For instance, in Chinese, 13 is said 10 + 3, which is really beneficial when it comes to learning addition. If you think about it, the way the numbers from 10-19 are named in English is quite confusing.
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In Early Years classrooms, from Kindergarten to Grade Three, a great way to begin the day is with calendar time. During calendar time, students learn about time (days of the week, months of the year, and seasons) and about numbers. Routine in learning is very important, especially for younger students, as it helps the students be prepared for what they will learn. Repetition is also important as it solidifies concepts and facts in the students’ minds. Calendar Math should be presented in a similar way each school morning. Having students sit in a carpeted area near the calendar works well.
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The Power of Ten approach to teaching Elementary Math, originated by Trevor Calkins, is designed to help students really understand number concepts and operations. The following activities and games can be used to support teaching that uses the Power of Ten. (more...)

If you can find a source of free elementary math worksheets on the Internet or through another source, they could prove invaluable for ideas. Often elementary teachers have years of teaching experience under their belt and lots of great ideas that they’d like to share but don’t exactly know how to go about doing that. Making their own worksheets is a great way to share this knowledge, and the free elementary math worksheets they can come up with are invaluable tools for other educators if you feel like sharing them. The ones that teachers make themselves are especially insightful since these teachers have the necessary hands on experience.
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The profession of teaching is all about constantly responding to new challenges. As students evolve in the face of all the new technologies they are subjected to everyday, their demands change. What was once the leading edge in teaching can become passé quickly but one of the constants in the elementary school teaching ranks has always been the worksheet. These are invaluable tools for the elementary school teacher, and in changing times this useful tool has gone pretty much unchanged in its importance. And since mathematics continues as one of the most important subjects for elementary school children to grasp, the fundamentals of the (more…)

Factivation — Teaching Multiplication

Instructional video on adding fractions with different denominators