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If you are anything like me than you have 50 blogs you follow and try to keep up with.  Between all the things that happen in everyday life, I have been so far behind on reading other teacher's ideas recently.  With most of us teachers still on holiday vacation, now is the perfect time to catch up on all your favorite blogs.  2014 was a big here here at The Math Maniac.  Things got looking a lot more professional over here after having my blog design done by Barbara Leyne Designs .  I have been very dedicated to blogging this year and am just a few short of 200 posts for 2014.  Without further ado, here are my top 5 most viewed posts for 2014.  If you want to check the posts out in their entirety, just click on the picture!  This one is a tie with 2 very popular posts.  One of them is very popular among primary teachers and the other is very popular for upper elementary and middle school teachers This one was part of The Fly on The Math Teach...

Happy Monday!  Today's post isn't getting done until late because I have been enjoying my vacation a little to much!  If you are still on vacation, I hope you are enjoying your final days and if you are already back to school, I hope your return went smoothly.   I will be finishing up our book study on  Children's Mathematics this Sunday and I have some great plans for January including a book study on Number Talks . If you have been following along with our Children's Mathematics book study and the past few Monday Math Literature posts than you know we have been looking at the importance of using multiplication and division story problems with primary students as a way to develop base-10 place value concepts.  This week, I once again choose one of my favorite winter stories to write some multiplication and measurement division story problems focusing on place value concepts.  These are meant to be used with primary students!  This week, I picke...

Welcome to the second to last week of our book study on  Children's Mathematics .   If you missed this week's Monday Math Literature post, you might want to check it out.  I took a suggestion from the book about using children's literature to inspire story problems that help build place value understanding and wrote some story problems to go along with Bear Snores On.   Head over to read more about it and grab a free set of problems.   If you are just joining us, it is not to late to join our book study.  Grab a copy of the book and maybe a friend or two and jump in when you are ready.  Also, if this December is just to hectic for you, I will be starting another book study the second week in January.  Read more details about both book studies here .   Here is the posting schedule for Children's Mathematics: December 7: Chapters 1- 3 December 14: Chapters 4 & 5 December 21: Chapters 6 & 7 December 28: Chapters 8 - 10 January 4: Chapt...

Happy Monday!  If today is your first day of winter break or summer vacation, I hope you are enjoying it!  If you are in school for a few more days, remember that the end is in sight.  I have some fun holiday plans coming up in the next two weeks so expect to see less posts from me for the next 2 weeks.  I will be posting on Sundays for our Children's Mathematics book study and I have some great plans for January including a book study on Number Talks .   If you have been following along with our Children's Mathematics book study and last week's Monday Math Literature post than you know we have been looking at the importance of using multiplication and division story problems with primary students as a way to develop base-10 place value concepts.  This week, I have chosen one of my favorite winter books by  Karma Wilson . Bear Snores On This was the first book written in the Bear series and is such a fun read aloud.  There is lots of action in ...

Welcome to week 3 of our book study on  Children's Mathematics .  I was so excited to dig into the chapter on base 10 concepts after last week's reading.  I also really liked all the strategies shared in chapter 7 and I love watching videos of kids solving problems.   If you missed this week's Monday Math Literature post, you might want to check it out.  I took one of the questions from last week's chapter about writing story problems based on a children's book and applied it to The Mitten.  You can check out my process and grab the set of problems I wrote . If you are just joining us, it is not to late to join our book study.  Grab a copy of the book and maybe a friend or two and jump in when you are ready.  Also, if this December is just to hectic for you, I will be starting another book study the second week in January.  Read more details about both book studies here .   Here is the posting schedule for Children's Mathematics: Decemb...

Happy Monday!  Yesterday, in my post about our book study on Children's Mathematics , I mentioned that I loved one of the review questions from Chapter 4 that suggested looking at a book or a unit of study you are working on and writing some story problems based on that book or unit.  I thought this was a great idea and will be posting my problems and books for the next few weeks as part of my Monday Math Literature  series.  If you haven't read Children's Mathematics, they make some great arguments for exposing primary students to multiplication and division story problems as a way to build their understanding of place value.  Today I wrote some problems to go along with a treasured favorite in the primary grades. The Mitten It is hard to believe this book is celebrating its 20th anniversary!  It is a wonderful adaption of a Ukrainian folk tale.  If you haven't read it, you should definitely check it out!  If you use this book with your student...

We are on to week 2 of our book study on  Children's Mathematics .  I am so enjoying this book and this week's chapters really made me think about how I teach kids and what kind of problems I expose them to.  It also helped me see how far I have come in my teaching practice and how much of what I have done has been based on Cognitively Guided Instruciton.   If you are just joining us, it is not to late to join our book study.  Grab a copy of the book and maybe a friend or two and jump in when you are ready.  Also, if this December is just to hectic for you, I will be starting another book study the second week in January.  Read more details about both book studies here .   Here is the posting schedule for Children's Mathematics: December 7: Chapters 1- 3 December 14: Chapters 4 & 5 December 21: Chapters 6 & 7 December 28: Chapters 8 - 10 January 4: Chapters 11 - 13 I will post each Sunday morning and share it on my Facebook page.  P...