Earth Day is a great way to interest students in how math can be used to understand the world around us. Today’s topic is how you can use ratios, unit rates, and data distributions for students to compare different countries’ carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions.

My students have come to love math centers. They call it "game time," but I know it is really a time where they can apply their newly learned math skills. One of the activities used in the center is a card game of factors and multiples. The theme of this activity is Blizzards.

It’s a new school year and I’m already looking for new activities to use with my students, so that we can get to know each other and I can observe a little bit about their math skills. Today, I’m sharing with you a math icebreaker that will get students out of their seats and interacting with each other.

As we get started with the new school year, I am always thinking of ways to get to know my math students. Carefully choosing the right new school year activities sends a clear message to our students: “I am interested in who you are and what you think.”

I am so glad that you found this math blog among all the possible sites you might have landed on through the Internet, and I hope you keep with me as I continue to develop the blog. What you will find here is a collection of standards-based math activities, thoughts on lesson planning, trends in K–­­8 mathematics teaching and learning, a focus on the mathematical practice standards, and connections to children’s literature that can be paired with math lessons.