Number charts support the investigation of and discovery of many number patterns as well as serve as an aid in developing fluencies with composition and decomposition of numbers. This 32-page packet offers aids for investigations from a 100 chart, 200 chart, up to a 1000 chart (counting by 10s) support students as they are further developing their understandings of the base ten number system. Multiple charts per page are provided that will fit nicely into the Mathematician’s Notebook. This resource is good for students with language-based learning deficiencies. We'd like to hear about your experience with our resources. Just give it a star rating then tell us what you think, simple as that!

A palindrome is a word or a number that can be read the same way in either direction. For example, MOM is still MOM if read backwards. “A man, a plan, a canal, Panama” is a famous palindrome about the building of the Panama Canal. Palindromes can also be numbers. 121 is still 121 if read from the other direction. This is a short collection of ideas and resources to facilitate students’ fun investigating palindromic numbers.

Pentominoes, like dominoes, have many uses in the mathematics classroom. A pentomino is simply a geometric shape that has been formed by placing five congruent squares adjacent to each other. The squares must connect on at least one side and there can be no corner or partial side. Included in this 33 page packet are several activities and investigations for primary students through secondary students. Blackline masters for pentomino letter charts as well as pentomino letters to fit the 100 chart for printing on 11” X 17” paper for the number chart investigations are included. Resources with links are also embedded. This resource is great for students with dyslexia and language-based learning deficiencies. Please take a moment to review this resource.

The following collection of 11 photographs can be used as journal prompts, discussion starters, bell ringers, or for centers, small groups, or learning stations. These pictures provide opportunities for students to engage in mathematics through looking at pictures of architecture in the world. Facilitation notes are provided. This resource is good for students with dyslexia and language-based learning deficiencies.

The following collection of 13 photographs can be used as journal prompts, discussion starters, bell ringers, or for centers, small groups, or learning stations. These pictures provide opportunities for students to engage in mathematics through looking at pictures of fractions, decimals, & integers in the world. Facilitation notes are provided. This activity is good for students with dyslexia and language-based learning deficiencies.

The following collection of 10 photographs can be used as journal prompts, discussion starters, bell ringers, or for centers, small groups, or learning stations. These pictures provide opportunities for students to engage in mathematics through looking at pictures of geometry in the world. Facilitation notes are provided. This resource is good for students with dyslexia and language-based learning deficiencies.

The following collection of 11 photographs can be used as journal prompts, discussion starters, bell ringers, or for centers, small groups, or learning stations. These pictures provide opportunities for students to engage in mathematics through looking at pictures of numbers in arrays in the world. Facilitation notes are provided. This resource is good for students with dyslexia and language-based learning deficiencies.

The following collection of 10 photographs can be used as journal prompts, discussion starters, bell ringers, or for centers, small groups, or learning stations. These pictures provide opportunities for students to engage in mathematics through looking at pictures of mathematics in the world. Facilitation notes are provided. This resource is good for students with dyslexia and language-based learning deficiencies.

Students at all levels need many experiences with estimating. This first collection of fifteen full-color photographs can be used as journal prompts, discussion starters, bell ringers, or for centers, small groups, or learning stations. These pictures have been chosen and formatted with estimation in mind but serve many other academic topics as well as opportunities for making meaning through writing. Pictures include animals, plants, and inanimate objects and holidays. Facilitation notes are provided. 16 colorful images 3 pages of facilitation notes This resource is useful for students with Dyslexia and language-based learning deficiencies. We'd like to hear about your experience with our resources. Just give it a star rating then tell us what you think, simple as that!

This packet offers 11 diverse opportunities for writing in mathematics with over 30 individual prompts for middle school students. Writing in mathematics involves more than just putting word to paper. Words need to be carefully chosen to communicate ideas and concepts clearly. Writing involves all of the language of mathematics. Reading, vocabulary, notations and symbols, diagrams, charts, graphs, and metacognition all serve a role as students are engaged in writing in mathematics. Many and varied opportunities need to be provided for students to engage in original thought writing. And remember, just because a students can say something in words, it in no way shows that they can write those same thoughts. Those are two different skill sets. Writing also provides opportunities for the verbal learner to excel as well as the creative learner. This beginning assortment of writing prompts can be adapted as needed for the course, topic, and level of the students. The important thing is to write! Just asking, “Why?”, “How did you think about that?”, “What could be another strategy used here?”, and “Is your conclusion reasonable?” requires students to engage in more than just procedural mathematics. On the back page is a sample of how journal prompt cards can be made for learning station facilitation or to print on labels for ELL/ESL and struggling learners and beginning writers.

The following collection of 10 photographs can be used as journal prompts, discussion starters, bell ringers, or for centers, small groups, or learning stations. These pictures provide opportunities for students to engage in mathematics through looking at pictures of sculpture and art in the world. Facilitation notes are provided. This resource is good for students with dyslexia and language-based learning deficiencies.

The following collection of 66 photographs can be used as journal prompts, discussion starters, bell ringers, or for centers, small groups, or learning stations. These pictures provide opportunities for students to engage in mathematics through looking at pictures of architecture, fractions, decimals & percents, numbers in arrays, geometry, sculpture, and mathematics and art in the world. Facilitation notes are provided. This resource is good for students with dyslexia and language-based learning deficiencies.

This packet offers 10 diverse opportunities for writing in mathematics with over 35 individual prompts for intermediate students. Writing in mathematics involves more than just putting word to paper. Words need to be carefully chosen to communicate ideas and concepts clearly. Writing involves all of the language of mathematics. Reading, vocabulary, notations and symbols, diagrams, charts, graphs, and metacognition all serve a role as students are engaged in writing in mathematics. Many and varied opportunities need to be provided for students to engage in original thought writing. And remember, just because a students can say something in words, it in no way shows that they can write those same thoughts. Those are two different skill sets. Writing also provides opportunities for the verbal learner to excel as well as the creative learner. This beginning assortment of writing prompts can be adapted as needed for the course, topic, and level of the students. The important thing is to write! Just asking, “Why?”, “How did you think about that?”, “What could be another strategy used here?”, and “Is your conclusion reasonable?” requires students to engage in more than just procedural mathematics. On the back page is a sample of how journal prompt cards can be made for learning station facilitation or to print on labels for ELL/ESL and struggling learners and beginning writers.

Mathematics is an art form. It is full of patterns and through the study of these patterns students at all ages discover and develop understandings of the many structures of mathematics. The following brief collection of patterns can be studied by students of all ages. The primary mathematician counts to finish the patterns or builds the nest pattern in the sequence. The secondary mathematician who creates a model to represent the pattern in order to predict any term of the sequence. Students need opportunities to engage with and experience a variety of patterns. One of the Habits of Mind roles is that of a pattern sniffer. (See Habits of Minds Roles Poster.) Patterns are presented in four ways. There are number patterns, dot patterns, toothpick patterns, and even letter patterns. Students can be given the patterns all at once and initially just determine the next element or the next three elements. They can then move to developing models later in the year as the related topics are addressed. For primary students, use them as they fit in with the topics being studied or use them for investigations in learning stations or centers. Students can use number charts and manipulatives as needed.

This packet offers 8 diverse opportunities for writing in mathematics with over 35 individual prompts for primary students. Writing in mathematics involves more than just putting word to paper. Words need to be carefully chosen to communicate ideas and concepts clearly. Writing involves all of the language of mathematics. Reading, vocabulary, notations and symbols, diagrams, charts, graphs, and metacognition all serve a role as students are engaged in writing in mathematics. Many and varied opportunities need to be provided for students to engage in original thought writing. And remember, just because a students can say something in words, it in no way shows that they can write those same thoughts. Those are two different skill sets. Writing also provides opportunities for the verbal learner to excel as well as the creative learner. This beginning assortment of writing prompts can be adapted as needed for the course, topic, and level of the students. The important thing is to write! Just asking, “Why?”, “How did you think about that?”, “What could be another strategy used here?”, and “Is your conclusion reasonable?” requires students to engage in more than just procedural mathematics. On the back page is a sample of how journal prompt cards can be made for learning station facilitation or to print on labels for ELL/ESL and struggling learners and beginning writers.

Students need many experiences with estimating in their early years. Gumball Estimations offers students an opportunity to connect literacy while kinesthetically engaging in estimation experiences. A variety of suggested facilitation questions are provided as well as extensions to the main activity. Blackline masters are provided for use as needed. Note that the Gumball Estimations Mat is formatted to print on 11X17 paper to facilitate working with small hands. This resource is good for students with dyslexia and language-based learning deficiencies.

Primary mathematicians first model “put together” and “take apart” situations using concrete objects, drawings, etc. These concepts are then expanded to composing and decomposing numbers additively. A connection to students’ prior work with building sets is important as students are developing fluencies with their addition and subtractions facts. Children need many opportunities to experience these situations. Incorporating seasonal manipulatives allows children to practice these mathematical ideas in a contextual setting. To effectively facilitate these activities, be sure to cover the common addition and subtraction situations found in Table 1, CCSSM, page 88. Color masters are provided for both activities, the seasonal objects as well as the counters. Hyperlinks are also provided for manipulatives when applicable. This resource is useful for students with Dyslexia and language-based learning deficiencies. We'd like to hear about your experience with our resources. Just give it a star rating then tell us what you think, simple as that!

One Duck Stuck, by Phyllis Root, is a beloved children’s book. Not only does the story engage children it can also serve as a foundation for many mathematical investigations for primary mathematicians. The following 23 activities are a sample of the possible uses for these materials in the primary mathematics classroom. These activities are flexible enough to be used for leveled instruction in the primary grades, even into early intermediate grades. A second grader who is still struggling with counting can benefit from the counting activities denoted with kindergarten standards. Also many of these activities can be first introduced in small or large group instruction and then rotate out to a center or learning station. One interesting and important concept in mathematics is Pascal’s Triangle. The combination of One Duck Stuck and the related mathematical concepts that can be found in Pascal’s Triangle allows students a fun, unique, and engaging venue for developing mathematical literacy. The main focus standards from the CCSSM have been identified at the beginning of each cluster of activities. Notice that for many of the activities the standards transcend two or all three of the primary grades. This was intentional to show the possible development of the learning trajectories for a topic and the possibilities for leveled instruction. Geometry connections although thin are there as well, just not identified as focus standards. Materials are listed for each of the activities. The 128 pages include both black line masters as well as color masters have been provided. Suggestions for preparing the materials have been noted as well to facilitate making classroom sets for long term use.

Primary mathematicians first model “put together” and “take apart” situations using concrete objects, drawings, etc. These concepts are then expanded to composing and decomposing numbers additively. A connection to students’ prior work with building sets is important as students are developing fluencies with their addition and subtractions facts. Children need many opportunities to experience these situations. Incorporating seasonal manipulatives allow children to practice these mathematical ideas in a contextual setting. To effectively facilitate these activities, be sure to cover the common addition and subtraction situations found in Table 1, CCSSM, page 88. Color masters are provided for both activities, the seasonal objects as well as the counters. Hyperlinks are also provided for manipulatives when applicable. This resource is useful for students with Dyslexia and language-based learning deficiencies. We'd like to hear about your experience with our resources. Just give it a star rating then tell us what you think, simple as that!

Dominoes are one of the older and more versatile of manipulatives. Dominoes serve as a concrete representation for many mathematical concepts. The use of dominoes can serve as a bridge for many students to the more abstract understandings that need to be developed. Using dominoes to generate fractions, equations, and expressions engages students in a way that just working on a typical worksheet does not. Also, dominoes can be used to differentiate for diverse student levels as well as diverse problem sets. Having students select dominoes to generate a set of problems provides opportunities for students to thoughtfully think about the components of the problem as they are creating it. This collection of activities for secondary mathematicians offers a variety of experiences using dominoes. Activity pages including unknowns and comparisons, domino equations, and domino ratios are provided. Multiple charts per page are provided as well as blank charts for extensions. The two per page and four per page will fit nicely into the Mathematician’s Notebook. This resource is great for students with dyslexia and language-based learning deficiencies.