What do you notice? What stayed the same? What changed? Three questions, one Related Arrays card, and a whole lot of math talk. Visual strategy flashcards launch end of September: www.mathfactfluencyplayground.com
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Teachers who use AI weekly save 5.9 hours a week. Six weeks over a school year. (Walton/Gallup, n=2,232) But only 18% have ever received formal guidance on how to use it. We are handing people a tool and skipping the training. That’s backwards. #AIliteracy #ElemMath
The kids. Their faces on the number chart. Their names on the word wall. Their work at eye level. It is their room. Let it look like them.
@drnickinewton.bsky.social · 4d agoHere is an idea I saw and started telling all my prek -1st teachers about! Everybody is doing it and loves it. These particular kids are ai (for privacy), but all the real posters in classrooms look like this but with their real kids. Kids should own the room. Not the poster company. Our kids!
Here is an idea I saw and started telling all my prek -1st teachers about! Everybody is doing it and loves it. These particular kids are ai (for privacy), but all the real posters in classrooms look like this but with their real kids. Kids should own the room. Not the poster company. Our kids!
Here is an idea I saw and started telling all my prek -1st teachers about! Everybody is doing it and loves it. These particular kids are ai (for privacy), but all the real posters in classrooms look like this but with their real kids. Kids should own the room. Not the poster company. Our kids!
Goal setting is more than motivation, it helps students become active participants in their own learning. Research on formative assessment shows that when students know the goal, track progress, and identify a next step, learning becomes visible. #MathFluency #GoalSetting #FormativeAssessment
Why do ten frames work? Janette Bobis found that young children can mentally combine and split quantities when they get the right materials and activities (Bobis, 1996). Ten frames give kids a structure they can picture. Available here: gigglenook.com/products/sea... #NumberSense #MathResearch
A surprising finding in early math research: Ramirez et al. (2013) found math anxiety hurt 1st and 2nd graders' achievement most for kids with the STRONGEST working memory.
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The AI Backlash Showed Up Right on Schedule. Good. Now Let’s Talk.
Last week, New York City put a one-year moratorium on student-facing generative AI from pre-K through eighth grade, roughly 600,000 kids, with carve-outs for assistive technology and a handful of othe...
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What if the answer came first, and the kids had to build the problem? Math Talk Cards. Coming soon. www.mathfactfluencyplayground.com
Three books instead of one, because a PreK teacher and an eighth grade teacher do not need the same examples and pretending otherwise is how we lose half the room. PreK-2. 3-5. 6-8. Do a book study. I will zoom in. #MathCoaching #ProfessionalLearning #AIinEducation
Math fact fluency is more than speed. It’s strategy. Reasoning. Flexibility. Automaticity. Whether you need help with assessment, addition & subtraction, or multiplication & division, these three books give teachers practical tools they can actually use tomorrow. #MathFactFluency #ElemMath
I am working on the 10th anniversary edition book of Math Running Records! There are so many exciting new things in it! Take a peek!
5s are half of 10s. 6 x 10 = 60, so 6 x 5 = 30. 8 x 10 = 80, so 8 x 5 = 40. 9 x 10 = 90, so 9 x 5 = 45. One relationship just handed a child the entire 5s table. No chanting required.
Stop asking what 40 ÷ 5 is. Start asking this. Notice what that asks kids to do. Not recall. Generate. Justify. Argue. Multiple-solution tasks keep cognitive demand high (Stein, Grover, & Henningsen, 1996). Math talk wall will be ready by Sept. 30th. Get ready.... mathfactfluencyplayground.com
There is a Game Studio on Math Fact Fluency Playground. Tic tac toe. Four in a row. Spinners. Bingo. Slides and ladders. Blank boards. Same game, different numbers, so every child plays right at the edge of what they can already do. www.mathfactfluencyplayground.com/frontend/hom...
I had the honor and pleasure of chatting with Christina Tondevold about rethinking math assessments. Listen in.....Build Math Minds Episode 230 Assessment Is a Conversation bit.ly/4wWVNQc
Build Math Minds Episode 230 Assessment Is a Conversation Getting Kids to Share What They Know wi
If you want lifetime access to all the sessions from the FROM Memorization TO Thinking Summit, including this one, you can grab that at https://buildmathminds.com/thinking-summit/ I used to think assessment meant finding what my students didn't know - the wrong answers, the gaps, the "not yet." Dr. Nicki Newton flips that in this session from the FROM Memorization TO Thinking Summit. Her thoughts: assessment shouldn't be about catching what kids don't know. It's about listening for what they do know. In this episode, she shares the story of a 2nd grader who taught her more in one hand-written note than a worksheet ever could, the one question she now asks before starting any new unit, and three places an overwhelmed teacher can start this week. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ For more in-depth trainings on specific elementary math content, join the Build Math Minds PD site: https://buildmathminds.com/bmm/ The Build Math Minds PD site provides elementary educators with PD and resources to better understand the mathematics you need to teach, so that you can help your students become flexible thinkers in math. You can check out the other resources we have made to help build elementary kids’ math minds here: https://buildmathminds.com/shop/
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Multiplication fluency is NOT “know it or don’t.” Students move through different stages—from counting all → using known facts → choosing efficient strategies → automatic & connected fluency. The Multiplication Fluency Roadmap. Get them here: bit.ly/4gqZp85 #MathFluency #MathWorkshop #GuidedMath
The Multiplication Fluency Roadmap: Know Where Students Are—and Know What Comes Next
(Here is link) Multiplication fact fluency is often treated as if there are only two places a student can be: They know their facts.Or they don’t. But anyone who has spent time listening carefully …
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The beginning of the school year is the perfect time to administer Math Running Records. Why? Because effective instruction begins with knowing more than whether a student answered correctly. Start the year with evidence. #FormativeAssessment #FactFluency
Before I teach a single fact, I ask: What does this student already know? How is this student solving what they do not know? What is the next most useful thing to teach? That is responsive fact-fluency instruction. That is the power of Math Running Records. #MathFactFluency #MathIntervention
Packets aren't intervention. Codding and colleagues (2011) found that multi-component interventions (such as combining modeling, drill, performance feedback, and rewards)yielded significantly higher effect sizes. www.mathfactfluencyplayground.com/frontend/hom... #MTSS #elementaryschool
mathfactfluencyplayground.com
What makes school culture matter today, tomorrow, and forever? We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Anthony Muhammad as our #NCSM2026 Opening Keynote. We'll explore the power of culture to shape schools, leadership, and learning. See you in Denver October 26–28! mathedleadership.org/conference
How do you figure out the distances that should be listed on a freeway sign? This lesson uses a picture of a freeway sign with missing distances and a map with where the freeway sign is located to provide a context for determining those distances. robertkaplinsky.com/work/wh...
Math fact intervention should be more than “do more problems.”It should be targeted, strategic, and based on what students actually know and need next.The Math Fact Fluency Intervention Academy is NOW available with monthly OR yearly memberships! www.mathfactfluencyplayground.com
Number Bags is officially available. 🎒 A PreK/K sequence for numbers 1-10 built on one idea: number sense is a year-long practice, not a fall unit. bit.ly/4ilzyja
RAND's spring 2026 numbers on weekly AI use by teachers: 2 in 10 elementary 3 in 10 middle school 4 in 10 high school Our elementary teachers are furthest from the training and closest to the kids who need the most protection. #ElemMathChat #NCTM2026 #mathchat
In 2023-24, about 40% of ELA and science teachers reported using AI, compared with roughly 20% of general elementary and math teachers (Kaufman et al., 2025). Math friends, we have some catching up to do. That is not a criticism. It is an invitation.
Number sense is not a September unit. It grows all year through counting, composing, decomposing, comparing, and representing numbers.Number Bags make that practice hands-on, visual, and joyful.Strong numbersense supports later math learning(Jordan et al., 2009) bit.ly/4ghuJWJ #MathChat #NumberSense
Number Bags 1–10: Hands-On Number Sense Activity System
Give young mathematicians a complete, hands-on way to explore numbers with Number Bags 1–10. This early math system brings together 150 engaging activities designed to build number recognition, counti...
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