• Child jumping
    Common Core - Common Core State Standards - dyscalculia - Fractions - Homeschool - Math Education - Middle school - Multiple Intelligences - Professional Development - Special Needs - Tutoring

    Fraction Jacks! Or if you’re British, Fraction Stars.

    August 16, 2023 - By 

    A common problem educators face is to make fractions fun and intuitive, especially if their own education was lacking in this respect. One activity I developed that helps with this, and can be done with children of a variety of ages, is Fraction Jacks. What are fraction jacks? They are not the game with the bouncing ball and the funny-shaped pieces, though I’m sure something great could be developed with those. Instead, they are a physical activity that uses kinesthetic intelligence and mind-body connections to understand fractions. Here is how to do them. If you or your students have figured…

  • Common Core - Math Education - Math facts - Multiple Intelligences - Printables - Singapore Math - Special Needs - Teaching

    Math Doubles and Squares Fun Time

    June 23, 2016 - By 

    If you teach math, or want to enrich your children’s understanding of numbers, here is a set of activities that children will enjoy while learning a lot. You may have heard about Multiple Intelligence Theory. One thing it tells us is that we evolved to have intelligence not only in verbal and mathematical learning, which are the main focuses in our schools, but in a number of different areas. That’s why some of us learn better through music, or nature, or art, or bodily movement. This activity is a kinesthetic (movement-based) way to teach some important number facts. I’ve found…

  • Common Core State Standards - Homeschool - iPad - Math Education - New York education - Singapore Math - Special Needs - Teaching - Technology - Tutoring

    More Math Apps for iPad: Singapore Math and Common Core

    July 6, 2013 - By 

    It’s been a while since my last post on iPad apps, and in the meantime a lot has happened. For one thing, I have downloaded and tried quite a number of math apps. I’m going to start a round-up of some of the most useful apps as I have time. First up: exciting news! The Number Bond software, that I lamented being only on Mac or PC for so long, is now ported to iOS. As far as I can tell, having downloaded only the addition/subtraction version, it’s pretty much exactly the same as the computer version. This has its…

  • Special Needs - US Education

    Normal vs. Abnormal

    November 14, 2010 - By 

    I was at the Westchester County Airport this morning, in the women’s room, when a woman and I started a conversation over soap. The topic soon changed to bathroom decor, which we discussed for a few minutes before wishing each other well. Then the woman walked out, and I was able to see her gait. It was quite lopsided, and she walked with the aid of a cane. I had noticed that she had mostly been using one side of her face to talk, but now I could see the extent of the asymmetry of her body. After seeing this,…

  • Special Needs - Teaching - US Education

    Teach Show on A&E: Educational

    October 10, 2010 - By 

    A new reality show called Teach premiered on A&E on October 1. It follows Tony Danza as he enters the teaching profession as a high school literature teacher, with no prior teacher training. I was fully prepared to dislike this program, as the preview indicated it would be another feel-good show about a former actor getting a chance to make a difference in young people’s lives. Why, I thought, aren’t they featuring an excellent non-celebrity teacher? But I was pleasantly surprised. Teaching is a hard profession. It’s even harder if you want to be good or excellent at it. The…

  • dyscalculia - Math Education - Special Needs

    Dyscalculia and Teaching Math

    September 23, 2010 - By 

    Imagine trying to pay for a doughnut and not knowing if a $10 bill is enough. Imagine not knowing which is more, 5 or 4. Imagine never having a sense of time, so you are always early or late for things. Or someone gives you an hour to complete a task, and you have no idea how long that is or how to pace yourself. Imagine never being able to retain the difference between left and right. Imagine being in high school and understanding the concepts of algebra, but being unable to do basic addition and subtraction, let alone the…