Teaching Fractions in Middle School Math: Finding Equivalent Fractions Fraction Series, Week 4: Equivalent Fractions We talked a little bit about equivalent fractions in the , with the idea of using models, or representations, when adding or subtracting fractions, but we didn’t talk about to find equivalent fractions, so we’ll go into that here in this quick post. First off, when do we usually use equivalent fractions? We often use equivalent fractions when: we can even use them when multiplying fractions, though it just creates more work:-) ​Once we decide we need equivalent fractions, we&nbs ..read more

Quick and Easy Game for Adding Fractions Students often need extra practice with adding fractions, especially when they aren't technically learning about it any more....those fractions pop up in so many situations! Teaching 6th grade math always seems to come with the need to review much of what students learned about in previous years, like: Have you found this as well? Do students need to review these things at the grade level you teach? Just to be sure I wasn't the only one thinking students always need some fraction review, I put a quick poll on Instagram: "Math teachers, do you feel like ..read more

Quick and Easy Game for Adding Fractions Students often need extra practice with adding fractions, especially when they aren't technically learning about it any more....those fractions pop up in so many situations! Teaching 6th grade math always seems to come with the need to review much of what students learned about in previous years, like: Have you found this as well? Do students need to review these things at the grade level you teach? Just to be sure I wasn't the only one thinking students always need some fraction review, I put a quick poll on Instagram: "Math teachers, do you feel like ..read more

Daily Language Review for 6th Grade An Alternative to Daily Oral Language I'm really excited to share my version of daily language review! I've used this method in 4th, 5th, and 6th grade language arts classes. This daily language review incorporates peer teaching and was years in the making:-) I published 24 weeks of this daily language review for 6th grade a few years ago, but didn't share much about it at that time!  About 20 years ago, after using   in a variety of ways in my classroom, I decided that each student needed to become more engaged in our daily language instructi ..read more

Great End of School Year Activity! This post was taken from my old blog and revised...much more detail added:-) Originally posted in June of 2014! Tessellations in middle school math - one of my all-time favorite activities! I especially love using tessellation activities at the end of the school year....art projects like these keep students engaged:-)  We normally take a several days to work on tessellations...sometimes more, depending on how much time we have.  First off, what is a tessellation? I show students a few examples and ask what they believe a tessellation is. They typica ..read more

How to Teach Decimal Addition and Subtraction How do you teach adding and subtracting decimals in upper elementary or middle school math? In 6th grade, my math students have typically come to me knowing the 'rules' for adding and subtracting decimals. of digits in the numbers they're adding or subtracting aren't the same, they don't necessarily line the numbers up the way they need to...even though they 'know' the rules. Why is this? ​I believe it's because they really don't understand the point of 'lining up the decimal points.'  My belief is reinforced by student comments I collected on ..read more

A few ways to use mini whiteboards and a great way to clean them!! Do you use mini whiteboards in your middle school classrooms? I love them!  I've never purchased them, but I remember when I had them made, when I was teaching elementary school. Other teachers at my school and I went to the local Home Depot, bought the large white panel boards, and the Home Depot people cut them to size! It's been more than 20 years since I had them made, but I believe we were able to get thirty-two 12 x 12-inch whiteboards from one panel, and it cost less than $20. Then I used blue and green electric tap ..read more

Algebraic Expressions in 6th Grade Math Translating between words and math in 6th grade - sometimes this can be easy, but some phrases can definitely be tricky! By the time we start 'officially' translating between words and algebraic expressions, we've already done some translating to numerical expressions through our  To connect translating words to numerical expressions and translating between words and algebraic expressions, we take some more time to translate between words and numerical expressions. We use an organizer to list the key words that typically signal the different operati ..read more

Teaching Fractions in Middle School: Reviewing the Basics Welcome to this blog series about teaching fractions in middle school! For the next several weeks, we’ll be looking at various aspects of fractions: basic meanings, fraction models, finding equivalent fractions, comparing fractions, benchmarks and estimation. As an upper elementary or middle school math teacher, you may find yourself needing to review some of these fraction concepts before you can move on to the fraction curriculum for your grade level. When this is the case (needing to review fraction concepts that aren't part of your ..read more

End of Year Activities for Upper Elementary and Middle School Are you approaching the end of the school year? Does it feel like the school year flew by and it's the end of the school year? Or did it seem slow in coming this year? Regardless of how quickly or slowly your school year went, the end of the year is a great time for students to look back and reflect on the time they spent at this grade level. If you're looking for a few activities for the end of the year, I have a few ideas for you:-) End of School Year Activity #1 1) Students can write letters to themselves. You can have students s ..read more