The Math Learning Center Blog

Physical manipulatives are locked away in classrooms, so teachers, students, and families are turning to The Math Learning Center apps to support understanding of visual mathematics in a remote learning environment. Usage of these free virtual manipulatives and models has tripled over the last six weeks. On Friday, May 1, more than 500 educators attended an MLC webinar on how the apps can be used...

Bridges has a new feature! The Weekly Wonder can be found on the Bridges Educator Site. The initial Weekly Wonder demonstrates how technology — the Number Rack app — can unlock the mathematical power of three little beads. Bridges sessions are often structured so that the teacher acts as the facilitator and the students essentially teach themselves and others; this is how I presented the Weekly...

Lake Forest School District in Illinois adopted Bridges in 2013. Teachers credit Bridges with helping them teach valuable life skills such as communication, critical thinking, problem solving, and positive student interaction. Additional significant changes include students’ increased risk taking and recognition that there is more than one answer and strategy to a problem. Bridges is designed to...

Lake Forest School District in Illinois adopted Bridges in 2013. Teachers credit Bridges with helping them teach valuable life skills such as communication, critical thinking, problem solving, and positive student interaction. Additional significant changes include students’ increased risk taking and recognition that there is more than one answer and strategy to a problem. Bridges is designed to...

DeSoto Parish School System in Louisiana adopted Bridges in 2013. With Bridges, educators and district leaders alike have witnessed the transformation of classroom environments. Students are engaged, working together, checking one another’s work and truly understanding concepts. Bridges is engaging students in math and teaching them to become creative problem solvers. “Bridges creates that...

The Leander Independent School District in Leander, Texas, adopted Bridges in Mathematics in 2014. With Bridges, Leander students’ confidence in math is growing as they learn multiple strategies for problem solving. Teachers have seen improvement in students’ mathematical thinking, communication, and academic confidence that carries into other subject matters. As one educator put it, “Most...

Bridges students learn more than one way to solve multi-digit multiplication expressions. This enables them to select the strategy that is most efficient for any given problem. In addition to the standard algorithm that many of us were taught, fifth graders also investigate: Area model & four partial products Doubling & halving Ratio table Using quarters Over strategy While my students use the new...

Elementary mathematics specialists work as teachers, teacher leaders, or coaches and support effective mathematics instruction and student learning at the classroom, school, district, or state levels. The purpose of this scholarship program is to provide support to teachers in their development as elementary mathematics specialists. Winners receive $1,000 to enhance their knowledge, teaching, and...

Number Corner is a skill-building program that revolves around the classroom calendar. The program features short daily workouts that introduce, reinforce, and extend skills and concepts related to the critical areas of study at each grade level. Click image to view larger. For grade level specific content outlines, including scope and sequence and correlations to the CCSS and TEKS, please visit...

Math and the Mind's Eye units are a great way to introduce and extend visual models to middle and high school classrooms. This versatile collection can be taught in sequence or used individually as needed to supplement any curriculum. The MME donation program provides up to 25 copies of selected units. Here are the recipients from 2013: Aitkin Public Schools Clovis Municipal School District Eagle...