When teaching math to a child, there are three important questions to consider: Are manipulatives necessary for teaching math? What is the purpose of manipulatives? Are some manipulatives better than others? First of all, let's define ... Read More
Dr. Cotter on Place Value
Place value is the very foundation of arithmetic. Place value packages numbers into groups of tens and tens of tens. This makes calculating large numbers similar to adding single-digit numbers: 3 + 4 is similar to 30 + 40, 300 + 400, 3000 + 4000, and ... Read More
Dr. Cotter on Multiplication
Multiplication has been the mathematical downfall of many children (and adults!). It's not so much the problem of the algorithms, but rather it's the problem of the memorization of the 100 facts. Before expecting the child to learn the facts, we ... Read More
Dr. Cotter on Counting
Most people think of counting as the foundation of math; therefore, they teach kids to memorize the long string of 100 counting words. Next, to count objects, they teach them to touch each block in turn while saying the next word in the string. After ... Read More
RS2 Level H, Lesson 91
Susan wrote us: “Hello, my son and I are struggling with Lesson 91, with problems 9 & 10. Can we please have an explanation? Love your materials! Thank you.” Well, Susan, this took me a while to come up with a good clear explanation! Here’s my ... Read More
RS2 Level H, Lesson 82
Today’s blog is thanks to Joanna and her son, Hunter. They live in Florida and started with Level A and are now working on Level H! Here’s Hunter working on Level H, Lesson 82….. This lesson is on pyramids. One of the goals of the lesson is ... Read More
