Best Math Strategies for Your Kids!

Teaching students multiple strategies to solve math problems and letting them choose the strategy that works best for them fosters independence and understanding. Having a set of multiple strategies to pull from and being able to choose their own method to solve problems, helps students understand why it works and how they can use each to solve other math problems.

I teach many math strategies in my classroom explicitly with intent and purpose. My students know the reason why they need to know how to add or subtract in different ways and they also know how to do it, teach it and later apply their strategy knowledge to solve other, more complex problems. In my years of teaching experience, I have learned that teaching multiple strategies to solve problems gets students thinking critically and in different ways. Oftentimes, I am in the middle of teaching a math strategy explicitly in a mini-lesson and all of a sudden someone shouts, "You can also do this!" to which I reply, "How?" and a whole new conversation begins. This excites me as a teacher! I love it when my students are actively thinking critically and they shout out their thinking! That's one of the times I don't mind the shouting out. They are thinking and that's what I want. I never discourage the shouting out when a great idea pops in my students' head because it could just go away as easily as it came!

TEACH MATH STRATEGIES WITH INTENT

Teaching students math strategies are fun and can be simple. Plan ahead! First, choose the strategy you would like to use based on the development level of students. All strategies provide support for problem-solving, but some can be more helpful than others. It depends on the students' developmental level. After you choose the strategy, introduce it. You can choose a poster, a video, or create an anchor chart. 

As a whole class, apply the strategy to solve math problems. Displaying the math strategy while solving the problems scaffolds students' learning visually.  Choosing math problems that students can solve easily is key for your first mini-lesson. For example, in Kindergarten, I begin with a quick "hook." I give my students a concrete representation of addition. Students can share their understanding of the visual addition problem out loud by sharing their thinking process of how they solve for the sum. 

Also, teaching math strategies explicitly adds rigor to students' math vocabulary. Teaching math vocabulary explicitly during each mini-lesson helps students gain insight and they can better express their process when they share out loud. 

I introduce math strategies explicitly during the school year. I have taught multiple math strategies in many different ways throughout the years. Each year is a little different as I adapt my lessons to my students' learning abilities. Most often, I introduced each strategy in a whole group setting and then we apply the strategies in our math groups throughout the school year. 

As we move through the school year, students tend to choose the math strategy they feel most comfortable with to solve problems. The beauty of this is that I can see students' different levels of thinking as they work independently to solve math problems. It's wonderful to see, in action, the different ways in which students think and learn!

I empower my students to work independently during math because I teach them a variety of math strategies that they can pull from to solve problems. 

Do you teach explicit math strategies in your classroom? If so, I would like to hear your ideas in the comments below.  

If you would like to see the different math strategies I have used in my classroom to teach students to solve problems click on the images.

ADDITION POSTERS

SUBTRACTION POSTERS