Money, Measurement & Number Lines

Making Math Authentic and Meaningful in the Primary Grades

“One thing we know from psychology about the learning process is that the act of reaching into your brain, grabbing some knowledge, pulling it out, chewing on it, talking about it, and putting it back helps you learn. Psychologists call this elaborative encoding…. We’re trying to get math teachers to help students engage in that process of elaborative encoding.”

Jon R. Star, a psychologist and professor of education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. (“One way is the wrong way to do math. Here’s the right way,” The Harvard Gazette, 2021).

I look at the standards. I look at the instructional focus calendar. I look at the chapter tests. I want to see the big picture.

Seeing is believing.

Prepping is planning.

We did this together. I was on the other side. We talked about so much. We saw so much. A giant array. Columns. Rows. One hundred. Perimeter. Inches. Money. Tens. Concrete.