This week’s blog is inspired by research that James Russo, Toby Russo, and Leicha Bragg have recently conducted (and will present at the upcoming MERGA online conference) about factors that influence the mathematical games teachers’ choose. They propose a number of factor themes related to why teachers choose specific games – I will utilise these themes to share a…
If you’re teaching Year 5 or Year 6, then this question is one I’d ask your students this week. Last week when I was talking with a Year 5 student, we needed to solve 12 x 18 as part of a larger problem. When I asked, do you know how to work out 12 x…
The Mathematical Association of NSW’s (@MathsNSW) annual Pre K-8 conference was held last Friday and Saturday. What a wonderful opportunity it was to meet up with other teachers and educators to chat and learn about mathematics. Last year the conference was unable to go ahead so it’s been a while since could meet together face-to-face…
I was inspired a few weeks ago by a Twitter post I found that Mrs. Unsworth’s (@MrsUnsworthWTT) had previously shared about using a concrete hundreds chart to visualise skip counting. I really loved the way the students moved across the mat to show how they were counting. I thought this was an excellent way to…
The school year has started with excitement and anticipation, moving out of the shadows and impacts of last year.
Last year I wrote a blog about Mental maths in action in response to a statement I often hear by both educators and parents: “If they just knew their times tables”. In my support to primary schools, I am regularly asked the question: What about times tables? or, How do I teach times tables? or,…
It’s back to school for Term 4 in NSW and for the first time probably all year, students may have some interesting holiday activities to share. Whether they stayed at home, played with cousins, went camping, visited the zoo, grandma’s, or a friend’s house, first day back often involves writing a recount. Well I thought…
MANSW’s (@MathsNSW) Primary and Middle years (PAM) committee hosted its first Teach Meet during September. The focus was on Successful ideas from online learning: What are you continuing? A number of teachers shared what they are doing in their classrooms and reflected on what new or different teaching strategies came from online learning. My blog…
Last week during one of my webinars a teacher asked “what maths games do you recommend”? What a great question! My first response was anything with cards, dice or dominoes and I went straight to recommending Paul Swan’s work. His books have always been a staple in my mathematics classroom and his website is fantastic…
This weekend I visited Taronga Zoo in Sydney with my ten year old daughter. It was a lovely sunny day and was a great opportunity to go on an excursion, something that I know won’t be possible through school for a while. Apart from just enjoying wondering around and seeing all the animals, the zoo…