I’ll bet you are wondering two things: What does the title mean? What the heck is a nutria? Today I did a demonstration with a wonderful 6th grade class. We were comparing and ordering rational numbers. I grabbed this lesson from Open Up Resources. (It is an amazing free curriculum, but you might need to […]
I recently received a wonderful email from a mathematical leader at a local junior high school. She had two great questions, so I thought I’d turn my response into this short blog post. I separated her questions with my responses. Read on… 1.) How do we connect the Concrete and Representational to the Abstract in […]
When I teach new mathematical concepts to my students, I always try to use some sort of visual model to make the learning easier. No duh! But what I have noticed is that over the years I have collected an odd assortment of models to teach everything without any theme to all the models. The […]
Recently, I have found myself vociferously advocating for more teachers to use number disks when teaching the four operations of whole numbers: addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Clearly my excitement for number disks has not yet rubbed off onto all the teachers I work with, because today I received the following question: Why are disks […]
While nothing can adequately replace the REAL thing, virtual manipulatives play an essential role in a student’s journey towards developing a profound understanding of mathematics. That’s a bold claim! Let’s go a little deeper… You’ve heard of CPA? Concrete – Pictorial – Abstract. Sometimes it is referred to as CRA. (Concrete – Representational – Abstract) […]