Are you searching for resources that are suitable for at-home learning? In this post, I’ll highlight some of the best options for learning math from home. These resources are best-suited to grades 2-6 students.

MATH PROJECTS

My line of math projects is a fantastic resource for at-home learning. There are currently over 30 available. All math projects incorporate high-interest topics with relevant math skills. Many teachers report that their students beg to work on these and don’t even realize they are doing math in the process! Whether your child is running a candy store, being a superhero, or going on a camping trip, there are many options to engage!

All math projects (with the exception of the holiday ones) have now been converted to a digital option for Google Slides.

See all math projects here.

MATH STATIONS

Many homeschool families use my line of math stations to teach their children addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Math stations are a strategic way to learn basic math facts and strategies. I understand that everything you have seen on social media about the so-called “new math” probably has you feeling overwhelmed and intimidated. But I want to assure you that “new math” is not as new as it sounds. These stations will help you understand how your child learns best. My goal with all of my resources is to make math fun – not frustrating or overwhelming.

I currently have math stations available for Grades 1-4. However, if you have a 5th or 6th grader who needs some practice with basic facts, the 4th grade stations will work well. As you’ll see in some of the pictures, I recommend that teachers set up these stations in tubs or bins. However, for your homeschool situation, you can simply make the station into a booklet for your child as shown below.

See all Math Stations HERE.

MATH VIDEOS

I’m working on creating student math videos! I hope that these will be useful to you whether you’re a teacher or a parent! See the video page HERE.

PIN FOR LATER

The post Learning Math At Home appeared first on Shelley Gray.

Have you seen my self-paced math stations around Facebook, Pinterest, or TpT and wondered how they could fit into your classroom? I hear from a lot of teachers who have wanted to use them for years, but are unsure of how they will work and if they will fit their needs.

This post is intended to help you understand EXACTLY what is entailed for implementing the math stations in your classroom. Because they are all formatted very similarly to ensure consistency, this post is applicable to all of the first to fourth grade stations for addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and fractions.

SEE ALL MATH STATIONS HERE.

Ok let’s get started!

GOALS

Although it seems that the goal of these math stations would be to master the math facts, there are actually other goals that are just as important. These are:

• success for all students
• motivation
• confidence

I believe that when students feel successful, smart, and confident, it enables them to learn. How can we expect our students to enjoy math, be confident, and take risks if they are never successful?

THE LEVELS

Each math station consists of a sequence of levels. Each level focuses on one skill, strategy, or set of facts.

For example, in The Multiplication Station, students master one set of facts in each level. For each set of facts, they learn a strategy to make that easier. So in the 4’s level they learn the strategy of “doubling the double.” Or in the 12’s level they learn the strategy of breaking up the 12 into a 10 and a 2, then multiplying the parts.

As another example, suppose we are looking at the First Grade Addition Station. In this station students will move through levels such as Counting On, Doubles, Doubles Plus One, Making Ten, etc. In each level they will master that particular strategy before moving to the next one.

BUT ISN’T IT CONFUSING LEARNING SO MANY STRATEGIES?

NO! These stations incorporate the concepts of isolation and integration. So when a new strategy is learned, it is first ISOLATED from all of the rest. This means that students are only focusing on that one strategy. Later, when it is mastered, they INTEGRATE it with the other strategies that they have learned. The strategies slowly build on each other in a way that makes practical sense.

STRATEGIES AS “TOOLS IN A TOOLBOX”

I like to refer to math strategies as “tools in a toolbox.” We want each of our students to possess the tools that she needs to solve an equation. This does not mean a memorized series of steps that, if forgotten, results in a wrong answer and no other strategy to fall back on.

This means that we want our students to UNDERSTAND what they are doing. Through conceptual understanding, students will be able to solve a problem AND have alternate strategies to fall back on.

HOW ARE THE STATIONS SELF-PACED AND INDEPENDENT?

The independent, self-paced nature of these stations is a huge part of what makes them so successful. All of your students will start at the very first level. The first few levels of every station are meant to be confidence boosters. This means that they are typically fairly simple. You’ll notice your students’ motivation soaring during these levels.

Students will work through the level on their own. They will complete an activity, self-check using the prepared answer keys, complete their “passport,” and then move onto the next activity. The personal tracker that they will each have tells them exactly what they have done, and what they will do next.

Once students are finished all of the activities in a level, they will self-assess. “Do I know the strategy?” “Am I comfortable with this set of facts?” When they feel ready, students will approach you for a very quick, oral assessment. Once the assessment has been successfully completed, students will move to the next level.

After a few days of working with the stations, you’ll notice that your higher-end students start to speed along, and may be a few levels ahead of everyone else. Some other students might be taking a bit longer on the levels, and you may be working with them in small groups to help them understand the concepts.

This is ideal, and exactly what you want.

This means that every student in your classroom is being appropriately challenged. Every student is working to his full potential.

HOW ARE STUDENTS ASSESSED?

Assessment throughout the Math Station is mostly done by students. You already have enough marking to do! When you prepare the Math Station, you will also be laminating answer keys. These answer keys will be stored in the folder for each level. When students have completed an activity, they will get the answer key and self-check.

I’ve heard from some teachers who didn’t think that their students could handle the self-checking, but were later shocked at how easy it was for the students.

The assessment that you WILL be doing as the teacher is the short oral quiz at the end of each level. In most of the stations, I’ve included assessment quick reference cards. These will help you assess your students quickly and effectively. You will take about 1-2 minutes asking the student to solve a series of equations from the level that she finished. This will easily and quickly tell you if she has mastered the skill or strategy or not.

I hear from teachers all the time who tell me that the oral assessment is their favorite part of these stations. You can gain SO much information from talking to your students face-to-face rather than simply reviewing a written test. You can see where your student stumbles, where he is quick to know the answer, and what parts he is still struggling with.

MEETING ALL OF THE NEEDS

These math stations make it easy to meet the needs of all students in your classroom. You will be allowing your high-flyers to work ahead, while allowing your students who need to work more slowly do so.

This also allows you to do mini-lessons or small group instruction with the ones who need it. You might see that three students are struggling with the same level, so you’ll be able to take them aside for some extra practice.

HANDS ON ACTIVITIES

Hands on activities are incorporated throughout the station. In some stations, students will do a hands-on activity after every second or third level. In other stations, such as the Fraction Station, a hands-on activity is completed after every level.

SUMMARY

I hope that I’ve succeeded in helping you understand how these math stations work. In summary, the routine is very simple:

• Student completes an activity.
• Student self-checks and repeats those steps until the level is finished.
• Teacher gives student an oral assessment, and then student moves to the next level.

A NOTE FROM SHELLEY

I first started creating these math stations in 2012. This was an approach that I had used with my own students, and now has been widely used by tens of thousands of teachers.

I know how hard it can be to teach math strategies. Even though you have the best of intentions, there are so many things in your curriculum that it feels like you can’t focus on math strategies all year long.

This is your solution.

If you are committed to once and for all implementing a highly strategic plan for math fact fluency, I believe that you will experience great success with these stations.

Here is the link to all Math Stations. Please be sure to read the hundreds of testimonials from other teachers in the feedback sections to see if this might be something that would work for you.

EXTRA, BUT USEFUL INFORMATION

• These Math Strategy Task Cards can be used as extra reinforcement for students who need it. Most of the task cards align with the levels of the coordinating Math Station. These are also useful to use during guided math groups, mini lessons, or math interventions.

• Make your stations into booklets rather than using the bin/tub approach. You can find free cover pages for your student booklets HERE.

The post Self-Paced Math Stations for Fact Fluency and Mastery appeared first on Shelley Gray.

However, over the years I’ve heard from a lot of teachers who use these Math Stations as student interventions or in smaller guided math groups as well.

How can these stations for basic facts help your students be successful in a Math Intervention setting?

First, they allow focused instruction on ONE strategy, skill, or set of facts. In The Multiplication Station, this means that students might be working on the strategy for the 4’s facts. They will practice this intensively until they have it mastered. In the Addition Station, students might be working with the breaking up the second number strategy. This intense focus on one strategy allows students to be successful, because rather than trying to incorporate multiple strategies, they get to focus on only one.

Second, students work at their own pace. Students have been placed in a Math Intervention setting for a reason – most likely because they did not experience enough success with some other aspect of their math instruction. With the self-paced math stations, each student works to his own level. This means that no one moves on before they should, and no one is held back until other students are ready.

Third, students can work in 10-15 minute time frames. I typically recommend that students spend about 15 minutes, 3 times per week working on their math station. This is enough time to practice a strategy and work with it, without getting bored. Smaller time frames typically work better with small guided math groups or interventions as well.

Lastly, students are motivated. The high levels of motivation are a result of two things – success and engagement. I hear from teachers every day whose students beg to work on the stations during recess, over spring break, and in any free class time that they have. Why? Because it feels GOOD to be successful and smart.

For those teachers who intend on using the math stations as intervention or guided math programming, an individual student booklet might work better than the traditional bin/tub that I intended the math stations to be used with.

I recently created some cover pages that can be used to create student booklets. They can be downloaded for free HERE.

Would you like to browse through all available Math Stations for addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and fractions? Find them all HERE.

The post Self-Paced Math Stations As Interventions appeared first on Shelley Gray.

Do you dread teaching long multiplication and division every year? Are you frustrated by the fact that very few of your students actually GET it?  What if you could teach your students strategies that would BOOST their conceptual understanding, as well as make multi-digit multiplication and division FUN to learn? Is that possible? Absolutely. Through a practical, strategic approach, we have the power to make a big impact on the success that our students experience with these operations.

Who is this mini course for?

• 4th-6th grade teachers teaching multi-digit multiplication and division
• 3rd grade teachers who have some students far above grade level and who need an extra challenge
• math intervention teachers
• parents who are interested in helping their child with multi-digit multiplication and division

Content

• “Old Math” vs “New Math” – MYTH BUSTED!
• The essential strategies that need to be taught BEFORE traditional methods for long multiplication and division
• A variety of approaches and which students should be using each one
• Q&A session
• Free resources for all attendees

See the full mini course schedule and get registered HERE.

Or read more about effective strategies for multi-digit multiplication HERE.

Can’t wait to connect with you,

Shelley

The post FREE MINI COURSE: Teaching Multi-Digit Multiplication and Division for REAL Understanding appeared first on Shelley Gray.

I like this strategy as a follow up to the area model (or box/window method), which you can read more about HERE.

When we use partial products to solve a multiplication equation, we can set it up like a traditional long multiplication equation, as shown below.

Just like traditional long multiplication, we multiply the ones digit of the second factor first. In this case there is only one digit in the second factor. So first we multiply 4×5 to make 20.

Here’s where this strategy differs from traditional long multiplication. We write the entire 20 rather than using carrying as in traditional long multiplication.

Next, we multiply the 4 by the tens digit of the first factor. However in partial products we use the value of this digit. In this example, the value of the 4 in 45 is 40. So we multiply 4×40 to make 160.

We write the entire 160 beneath the 20.

Now that we’ve taken care of the multiplication, we just need to add our products up, in order to make the final product. In this example, 20+160=180, so we know that 180 is the product of 45 and 4.

When we work with more digits, we just multiply the ones first, and then the tens. The example below shows how we would solve a 2-digit by 2-digit equation. Remember that we always use the VALUE of the digits, not just the digits themselves.

NEXT STEPS

• Learn about other multi-digit multiplication strategies with these blog posts on the box window method, and lattice multiplication.
• Looking for more support with multi-digit multiplication in your classroom? Check out my self-paced, student-centered Multi-Digit Multiplication Math Station HERE. It includes many different strategies for multi-digit multiplication so that all of your students can experience success in their own way.

The post Using the Partial Products Method for Multi-Digit Multiplication appeared first on Shelley Gray.

The area model is a useful strategy for multi-digit multiplication. This strategy places an emphasis on number sense understanding, as students use the expanded form of each factor. This helps students to understand what the digits in each factor REALLY mean.

This approach is sometimes also referred to as the “box” or “window” method by some teachers.

I’ve included detailed, step-by-step instructions for this method down below. However, if you would like to watch the steps in video format instead, simply press play on the video below. Otherwise, keep scrolling down to the step-by-step instructions!

I like the area model as an introduction to the partial products strategy. Although this basically is partial products, it is a more visual way to do the multiplication. Place value is emphasized because each factor is broken up into its expanded form, as shown below.

How to Multiply Using the Area Model (also known as Box/Window Method)

When we use the area model, we first draw a grid! The number of rows and columns will depend on the number of digits in the factor. The one below is drawn for a 2-digit by 2-digit equation; therefore there are two rows and two columns.

Next, we arrange the expanded form of our factors along the top and one side of the box. For example, the box shown below is for the equation 57×25.

Now it’s time to multiply! We multiply the numbers that meet in each space on the grid. The picture below shows the numbers that are being multiplied in each box. Once your students are used to using this strategy, they will not need to write the entire equation in each box anymore, but can just write the products instead.

Lastly we add all of the smaller products, to make our final product. In this example, the smaller products are added up to make 1425. This means that the product of 57 and 25 is 1425.

When you use this strategy with larger numbers, you simply increase the size of the grid to make room for more rows and columns. This is also an effective strategy for 2-digit by 1-digit multiplication, simply by making a rectangle divided into two separate sections, and finding the area of each section.

BUT WAIT!

This method is still too abstract for some students. We need to back up and get even more conceptual. Base ten blocks can help us teach the area model in a concrete way that will help build students’ understanding. To do this, we use the factors to set up the length and width of the rectangle. We then fill the area with base ten blocks by multiplying the smaller parts. The area becomes our product! Here’s an example of how we can use base ten blocks to solve 13×14.

Want to learn more about how base ten blocks can revolutionize the way you teach the area model? Check out this post!

Looking for more help with multi-digit multiplication in your classroom? Check out my self-paced, student-centered Multi-Digit Multiplication Station HERE. It includes many different strategies for multi-digit multiplication so that each of your students can experience success in his own way.

The post Using the Area Model for Multi-Digit Multiplication appeared first on Shelley Gray.

Lattice multiplication is an alternative to traditional long multiplication. Before I begin explaining this strategy, I do want to take a second to talk about multi-digit multiplication strategies in general.

We know that number sense is an essential component of today’s classrooms. We teach math in a way that enhances number sense understanding, so that students really understand what they are doing, rather than just memorizing a series of steps.

Now let me begin this post on lattice multiplication by saying that this is not necessarily one of those strategies that enhances number sense understanding.

So why would you want to teach this strategy?

Once students have a solid understanding of the place value concepts behind multiplication, some can thrive with traditional methods such as long multiplication, or this alternative – lattice multiplication. I do believe that before you teach this method, you should focus on mental math strategies that DO encourage number sense understanding, such as the partial products strategy, or box/window method (area model). If your students have mastered those mental math based strategies, and are ready for more, this is a fun one to teach!

Looking for support with teaching this strategy and many others for multi-digit multiplication? See The Multi-Digit Multiplication Station (a self-paced, student-centered approach) HERE.

How do you perform lattice multiplication?

Lattice multiplication utilizes a grid to keep numbers organized. This is especially helpful when it comes to regrouping, as the numbers that are carried are also written within the grid to make the adding easier.

I’m going to explain this strategy step-by-step, with lots of pictures, but if you’d rather watch my Lattice Multiplication video, simply press “play” below! Otherwise keep scrolling for the step-by-step instructions.

Let’s begin with an equation that does not require regrouping: 18 x 31. To solve this equation, we follow the steps below:

Step 1: Draw a grid. The number of rows and columns will depend on the number of digits in the factors. For example, if you are multiplying a 2-digit by 2-digit equation, your grid will have two rows and two columns.

Step 2: Next, we arrange the factors along the top and right side of the grid, as shown below.

Step 3: Now it’s time to multiply. We multiply the numbers that meet in each space on the grid. For example, in the top right corner, we are multiplying 8×3 to make 24. The tens and ones are split on either side of the diagonal line.

Step 4: We continue multiplying for each space on the grid.

Step 5: Lastly, we add! We add using diagonal rows, and write the sum of each diagonal row along the left side and bottom of the grid. So in this example, the final product is 558.

Now what happens if we need to regroup? Let’s take a look below.

When we regroup, we simply carry the tens digit to the next diagonal row. In the example below, we have done all of our multiplying on the grid. Now when we add, let’s see what happens.

First we add the diagonal row in the bottom right, to make 0. (see example above)

Now we add the next diagonal row. The sum is 15, so here we write the ones digit (5), and carry the tens (1) to the next diagonal row (I’ve circled that carried digit in this example so that it stands out). Now, when we add that diagonal row, we simply add that carried digit in there as well.

This is often helpful for students because the carried digits stay in the row that they need to be added in, eliminating the confusion that carrying can often bring in traditional long multiplication.

What if we have more digits in the factors?

Easy!

We simply increase the numbers of rows or columns based on the number of digits in the factors. The example below shows a 2-digit by 3-digit equation, so there are 2 rows and 3 columns.

I do want to reinforce one more time that this is not a strategy that you would teach students who are just learning multi-digit multiplication. Please make sure you are focusing on mental math strategies that reinforce number sense first. THEN strategies like this one can be a fun addition to your multi-digit multiplication, and can really be helpful for some of your students.

NEXT STEPS:

Looking for more help with multi-digit multiplication in your classroom? Check out the self-paced, student-centered Multi-Digit Multiplication Station HERE.

The post Lattice Multiplication: A Method for Multi-Digit Multiplication appeared first on Shelley Gray.

First, every student needs to feel successful. This is not optional. When you have students who feel successful, you have students who are excited and willing to learn.

Second, you, as a teacher, have the power to make this happen.

The challenge that most teachers encounter is the HOW. How can you ensure that every student feels successful when you have so many ability levels within one classroom?

I would love to show you how you can foster this feeling of success as you teach addition strategies in your classroom. Interested? Read on!

The POWER of Providing Power to Your Students

During my very first year as a teacher, I had to figure out how I was going to teach multiplication to a group of 3rd and 4th graders. I had to figure out how I would support the ones who were just beginning to learn multiplication, while also challenging those that already had background knowledge of multiplication. I developed a system that, at the time, I called, “The Multiplication Box.” It was self-paced and student-centered. Students moved through at their own pace to ensure that they were always working to their full potential. The best part? They LOVED it. They literally begged me to do Multiplication Box all the time. It was amazing!

Why were they so engaged? Why did they beg me to do this activity that was really not much different than many other things I had done in the past? It was because of the way that they were able to move through the activities. The students were given a sense of POWER. They had power over how fast they moved through the levels. They had power over their own assessment. They had power that led to a greater sense of metacognition.

I believe that giving your students POWER over their work is one of the most “powerful” things that you can do as a teacher.

How does this relate to Addition Strategies?

I have taken this exact same approach that I used with multiplication in my very first year of teaching, and made it work for addition. Let me show you how!

First of all, let’s talk about some big goals as you teach addition. You want your students to succeed in a couple of different ways when it comes to addition. First, you want your students to develop automaticity. This means that they just “know” some of the facts. Your students shouldn’t have to think too hard to solve an equation like 5+5. They should just KNOW the answer. That’s called automaticity.

The second big goal is strategy. Your students need to know how to figure out an equation in their heads. They need to possess a REAL UNDERSTANDING of the numbers so that they can perform mental computation efficiently and effectively.

I’m going to show you how you can encourage automaticity and strategy for every single student in your classroom, regardless of ability level.

This is the Addition Station.

It looks pretty plain, right? Basically, it’s a box filled with file folders. But in reality, this is a system that can transform how your students feel about addition.

Here is how The Addition Station works. It is really quite simple.

1. All of your students begin on Level 1. This is the first strategy. They go to the Addition Station and get the first activity from the first file folder. They go back to their seats, and work on the activity.

2. When a student is finished the activity, he goes back to The Addition Station and gets the laminated answer key from the same folder. He goes back to his seat, self-checks, and then places the answer key back in the folder.

3. The student then finds his personal assessment tracker and shades in a box to show which activity he has completed.

4. He then goes back to The Addition Station and gets the next activity in the folder, and completes the work/assessment process again. This gets repeated until the student has worked through the entire level.

5. When a student is finished all of the activities in a level, he asks himself if he is ready for a test. If he doesn’t feel ready, he independently practices the strategy that he learned in that level. If he feels ready, he approaches the teacher.

6. The “test” is hardly a test. It is a very quick, simple oral assessment, where the teacher runs through a few of the facts from that level (using the quick reference cards shown below), and does an observational assessment of whether or not the student has mastered that strategy. It is very important to do an oral test rather than a paper/pencil assessment, as the data that you gather far exceeds the data that you can gather from a traditional paper and pencil assessment. Although this sounds time consuming, it takes only a minute or two.

If the teacher feels that the student has mastered that strategy, she gives him a badge for his badge book, and he is free to move to the next level.

7. This process is then repeated for each subsequent level.

By the time that students complete all levels in The Addition Station, they will have learned a wide variety of addition strategies that will prove to be extremely useful all the way through their school career.

Although this system is simple, it is highly engaging for a few reasons:

• Students have power. They choose the pace at which they work and how fast they progress through the levels. They are truly in charge of their own learning.
• Students have freedom. They get to assess themselves! They get to get up and down to get new activities. The Addition Station provides a sense of freedom that truly motivates students.
• It’s fun. Work is FUN when you are in charge. It’s FUN to drive your own learning.These three reasons result in highly motivated students who love to learn…who will actually WANT to work on addition facts. And that is a pretty amazing thing!If you would like to implement The Addition Station in your classroom, here is what you will receive:- strategic, progressive, addition activities for each set of facts; each strategy is first isolated and then integrated with previous strategies to result in maximum understanding and mastery
  – easy-to-understand instruction for each addition strategy
  – answer keys
  – an accompanying video to help you prepare and understand your Addition Station (I want to support you the best I can!)
  – clear set-up instructions
  – parent resources and home practice charts
  – classroom posters
  – student and teacher assessment trackers
  – Addition Passports

The charts below shows the exact addition strategies that are included in each grade level of The Addition Station:

See even more information about all self-paced math stations and how they work HERE.

The post MASTERING ADDITION STRATEGIES {The Addition Station} appeared first on Shelley Gray.