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The Math Learning Center Blog

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Within the math education community, a lot of confusion surrounds the word fluency . Yet Common Core State Standards call for fluency at each grade level. Grades 2 and 3 standards specify that students know a standard “from memory,” phrasing which may further cloud our concept of fluency. In the Ignite Talk “There IS a Difference,” K-5 math educator Graham Fletcher explains the subtle yet powerful...
Cynthia Hockman-Chupp
The number rack helps build the bridge from counting to computational fluency by inviting students to think about numbers in groups of 2, 5, and 10. Its 2 rows of 5 red and 5 white movable beads allow students to see and slide beads in groups rather than 1 by 1. Just as we want students to move from sounding out words letter by letter to reading morphemes and whole words, we want students to move...
Shelly Scheafer
The start of a new school year is the perfect time for teachers to get to know their students as mathematicians. Exploring students' math identities means paying attention to their beliefs about what it means to be “good at math” and their perceptions of their own ability to do mathematics. We want to share some of the possibilities within the Bridges curriculum that will help teachers know their...
Annelly Rodas
Nataki McClain
Manistee Area Public Schools’ board approved a purchase of Bridges in Mathematics after lead teachers visited Montague Area Public Schools as well as Godfrey-Lee Schools in Wyoming to see Bridges in implementation. “Through those visits, those lead teachers really felt like we needed to move forward in this direction and they shared that with their colleagues,” said MAPS curriculum director Amber...
Students in the State College Area School District (SCASD) are exploring math in a fun, new way since adopting Bridges in Mathematics for the 2018–19 school year. But it’s not just fun and games—learning is happening too. On average, student test scores are up by 10% compared with any year since 2011. “We’re really pumped up,” Assistant Superintendent for Elementary Education Vern Bock says. “What...
Collin Nelson
SEG Measurement, an independent third-party research firm, recently conducted a study of the effectiveness of Bridges in Mathematics using data from the 2015–16 and 2016–17 school years. Approximately 1,000 students from over 40 classrooms participated in the study. Students who used Bridges were statistically matched with students using another elementary mathematics curriculum in a different...
Collin Nelson
Bridges in Mathematics Second Edition was evaluated by EdReports and met all three major criteria at each grade level. This places Bridges among the very few programs that have achieved the organization’s highest rating. EdReports is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing educators with a trusted resource for independent reviews of classroom curricula. Their rigorous process evaluates how...
Collin Nelson
Learning List , a K-12 instructional materials evaluation service, recently released independent alignment reports and an editorial review of Bridges in Mathematics second edition. Each grade level K-5 was found to address 100% of the Common Core State Standards. Number Corner second edition was also reviewed. Grades K-5 were found to address on average 95% of the Common Core State Standards...
This video offers an inside look at Bridges in Mathematics within the School District of Menomenee Falls, Wisconsin and features interviews with elementary teachers, students and the district math coach. Falls Connection - Featuring Bridges Math from Riverside Elementary on Vimeo . Special thanks to the district for allowing us to share this story. Jami Smith is a media specialist for MLC.
Jami Smith
The Number Pieces app is an excellent tool for teaching and learning place value. Here are a few activities that you can use with kids in grades 1–2. These activities explore base ten concepts and models within 1,000 that will help lay the foundation for learning double-digit computation. Activity 1: Ask the child to show a certain number using the base ten pieces. For example, 3 tens, 7 ones, and...
Jami Smith