Comprehension Connection – Strategy Connection

“Both reading and math require purposeful thinking for the construction of meaning.”  – Laney Sammons In Building Mathematical Comprehension, Laney Sammons addresses the need for increasing math understanding at all levels and provides us with the tools to build mathematical literacy in our classrooms.  She shares the research of Keene and Zimmerman and their model for teaching…

Read More

Beginning, During, & After Strategies

“In the explicit teaching of comprehension strategies, you must help learners know when to use specific strategies.”  – Laney Sammons Building reading comprehension is an ongoing process and the same is true when building understanding in mathematics.  The research in Building Mathematical Comprehension shows that there are a variety of strategies that are used, beginning, during, and…

Read More

Laying the Foundation for Critical Thinking in Math

“Environments rich in mathematical opportunities for children are essential if we want our children to develop a thorough understanding of mathematics.”  -Laney Sammons Evidence has shown that our nation has been struggling with mathematical literacy.  We have many children who just don’t “get it” and it is time to make a change in the instructional…

Read More

Communication is at the Heart of Mathematical Literacy

Mathematical literacy has become a serious problem in the United States.  Computation, drill and practice have often been the means to a less than stellar mathematical end.  Mathematician Keith Devlin says, “The problem many people have with school arithmetic is that they never get to the meaning stage; it remains forever an abstract game of…

Read More

Establishing an Environment for Mathematics

Look around most elementary classrooms, and you’ll see evidence that language arts learning is taking place.  The question then becomes do you see evidence that mathematics is just as important.  Probably not.  Most classroom environments are literacy rich and mathematics poor. A mathematics rich classroom is a place where students are surrounded by math…a place…

Read More

Math Stretches

Runners stretch before a race, so that their muscles are warm and ready to perform at optimum levels.  Just like those athletes, our students need to warm-up to get their brains focused and ready for quality thinking and learning.  Math Warm-ups are an important component of Laney Sammons’ Guided Math framework. When we give our…

Read More

Register NOW for the 2016 K-5 Guided Math Institute!

K-5 Math Institute Using the Guided Math Framework to Promote Deep Mathematical Understanding with Laney Sammons and Donna Boucher July 25-28, 2016 Click HERE for the REGISTRATION FORM Event Details Pricing: The cost of this workshop is $600.00 per person and includes the following: • Breakfast each morning • Lunch each day • Workshop materials…

Read More

Math Talk = Deeper Understanding

Creating a classroom environment where students are immersed in real life math tasks and quality math talk is essential for creating deeper understanding of mathematical concepts.  The first Standard for Mathematical Practice is to Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.  Daily math talk puts this standard into practice and creates a safe setting…

Read More

Math Anxiety? Here's an Idea to Help

Did you read ERG’s blog about there’s no such thing as a math gene? Do you as a parent dread helping your child with math homework because you are unsure of your math skills?  Are you looking for something to help you and your child gain skills and confidence in math?  Then the answer may…

Read More

Sites to Support Math

After reading one of those brightly colored teacher mugs that said, “3 out of every 2 people have trouble with math,” we quickly recanted – It doesn’t have to be that way!  Getting our students excited about math and creating genuine understanding is something we can achieve.  Here are a few resources that might help…

Read More