As the school year comes to a close, you may be wrapping up testing, mapping out how to pack your classroom, and thinking of your summer plans (woo hoo!). Before you run off into the warm sunshine of summer, take some time to reflect on the 2021-2022 school year. You’ve tried new strategies, added new activities to your repertoire, or decided to adjust your class norms. Whether you kept your “tried and true” or chose a new path, it may benefit you to think back on what worked for you through the school year.

Knowre Math has been named a finalist for The EdTech Cool Tool Awards 2022 in two categories: ‘e-learning, blended, flipped solution or remote solution’ and ‘math solution.’ This has been announced to a worldwide audience of educators, technologists, students, parents, and policymakers interested in building a better future for learners and leaders in the education and workforce sectors. 

Math and Statistics Awareness Month began as Mathematics Awareness Week in April, through a proclamation by President Regan in 1986. It extended to Mathematics Awareness Month in 1999 and was renamed Math and Statistics Awareness Month in 2017. The focus has always been to communicate the importance of mathematics to a larger audience.

As we enter April, let’s participate by promoting awareness in school and the community. There are a multitude of activities that can be coordinated to have fun and be informative. Students may not always be eager to dive into mathematics, but here are some activities that could brighten their perspective:

Amid the many changes that COVID has brought to education, you don’t want your students to feel leery of upcoming testing. You want to make sure that you have a plan in place to make sure that your students can put their best foot forward, but also make sure that they are not stressed out.

When we mention reading and writing, English and Language Arts classes usually come to mind. However, literacy is a staple in all subject areas. It is necessary for students to be able to effectively communicate their understanding and mastery in all subjects. As a teacher, I was guilty of not always giving my students the opportunity to practice reading and writing in math class. Think about it: we may ask students questions we think they can solve, but find that they are at a standstill when it comes to answering. This is not always due to the students’ lack of understanding, but their inability to effectively communicate what they do know. By providing opportunities to practice communication through reading and writing, we are helping our students effectively show their understanding and make meaningful connections to their learning.

Imagine this: You have just finished a lesson on adding and subtracting fractions. Your students have done a phenomenal job with computing given addition and subtraction problems. However, when it comes time to do word problems, they do not have the slightest clue where to begin.

As a middle school math teacher, I had this very same issue. My students did an amazing job with solving one- and two-step equations, but when it was time to do any word problems, their confidence disappeared into the ether.