Resources for Elementary Families

Math Expressions was adopted by BVSD in the spring of 2013 and implemented in the fall of the 2013 - 2014 school year. It was selected for being a rigorous, well articulated, research based program that aligns closely with the Colorado Academic Standards for Mathematics.

Math Expressions- Models, Methods, and Icons provides for you an overview of expectations, computational techniques as well as some of the instructional methods of Math Expressions.

Think Central is a powerful and extensive website for parents and students using Math Expressions, the adopted curricular materials for BVSD elementary schools. In this site you will find information about the program, get access to student texts, find out about strategies, terminology, and the research and philosophy behind the program.

Log In

To log into the site, follow this link to the log-in page. Student login, student number password available from teacher

Here are some things to help you get started.

• Think Central Overview for Parents (PDF, PPT)
• Video on how to find Homework and Remembering pages.
• Video Overview of Basic Functionality
• Student Welcome Letters (English, Español)
• Education Place: Education place is essentially a completely new site within Think Central. Here you will find other games, lots of information, and explanatory videos. Use this Education Place Guide to help you navigate those resources.

MegaMath is a series of games and activities that accompany Math Expressions. Ask your teacher which activities are appropriate for the current unit of study.

You can also link directly to the activity associated with the current lesson by opening the Student Activity Book on Think Central, navigating to the correct lesson, and then following the link, via the link button, to Mega Math.

MegaMath - Spanish

Arcademic Skill Builders : www.arcademicskillbuilders.com

Race with friends while learning your basic facts (and much more)

Calculation Nation: http://calculationnation.nctm.org/

Great games to help you think math.

BBC Skillswise : http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/maths

Math for grownups who want to help kids

NCTM Illuminations: http://illuminations.nctm.org/

Interesting interactives, and lessons (needs parent support)

Multiplication.com: www.multiplication.com

Lots of multiplication games

Johnny’s Math Page: http://jmathpage.com/

More and more games!

Khan Academy: https://www.khanacademy.org/

Tons of videos and interactive activities to review, learn more, and explore.

Ten Marks: https://www.tenmarks.com/

This site has some free game stuff and more.

Hooda Math: http://www.hoodamath.com/

Too many ads, but you guessed it, more games.

Interactive Math Sites: http://interactivesites.weebly.com/math.html

Games and other activities; more than just elementary math

Sum Dog’s Free Math Games: http://www.sumdog.com/en/Games/

Rice Lake Math: http://krisbritton.wixsite.com/ricelakemath/about1-c1x1t

Links to quality sites organized around specific skills

New Games on the Scene

https://supermathworld.com/

Endorsed by math gurus Dan Meyer and Jo Boaler. Worth looking at.

http://www.tivitz.com/

Getting some good press.

Awesome iPad Apps for Kindergarten - 2^nd Grade

Addimals - Combines strategic thinking with fluency drills for addition under 20. (might still be free) Teacher account enables data collection and reporting.

Find Sums – Find number partners up to 20.

Missing Numbers- Find missing addends in this well designed game.

Hungry Fish – Use addition to feed the fish the numbers they need.

Math Heroes 1 – Use your addition (and karate) to build fluency

Math vs Zombies-answering addition problems then shoot the zombies (costs money). What I like about this app is that the levels are well organized. Once the teacher becomes familiar with the topics of the levels it would be easy to target specific problem types.

Arcademics – Jet Ski Addition and Island Chase Subtraction – These two player to player race games are designed for building fluency with addition and subtraction. Play against your friends while they are in their own houses!

NCTM Concentration – Match numbers to pictures and words. FREE

Math Learning Center – Geoboard, Number Rack, Number Pieces, Number Line, Number Frames (all free)

Slate Math – Lots of early contexts. Really great stuff and newly updated.

Money- money matching decimals to amounts

Ants Lite - Counting

Fill the Cup - Nothing fancy on this free app, but the ideas are solid. Fractions, equivalence, and some basic number sense stuff all make this app worth a try.

Cupcake – Run a shop selling cupcakes and deliver them to the neighborhood on a coordinate grid. This app is well designed, fun and smart.

Awesome iPad Apps for 3rd-5th Grade

Mt. Multiplis- multiplication practice: Build fluency with multiplication while also building a deeper understanding of the distributive property.

Motion Math-Fractions (adaptive) (not free): A fun, somewhat addicting app that builds number sense and fraction understanding.

Sushi Monster: Kids eat it up. Practice addition and multiplication.

Wuzzit Trouble-(extension)-multiples: This game is an invention of Keith Devlin who has written a number of books about learning math. There is a lot of real math here, hidden in a pretty entertaining game.

Motion math-Zoom (good for place value, decimals): Probably the best place value app I have run into yet. I can imagine using this as an extension for kids in 2nd -3rd grade, as instruction in 4th and 5th and for intervention from then on up. Great stuff.

Thinking Blocks (also available as a website): This is a great site and aligns excellently with the comparison bars we see in Math Expressions.

Questimate: What fun? How many mice would be as long as a chicken? This is a great game to build estimation skills in cool contexts. Also touches on ratios and has an interesting emphasis on comparative language too.

DragonBox (extension) The idea here is to teach pre-algebra via a fun and engaging game.

Coop Fractions - Chickens and fractions?!? Who would have ever guessed they make such a great team.

Fill the Cup - Nothing fancy on this free app, but the ideas are solid. Fractions, equivalence, and some basic number sense stuff all make this app worth a try.

Cupcake – Run a shop selling cupcakes and deliver them to the neighborhood on a coordinate grid. This app is well designed, fun and smart.

Shapes – Fun for all ages. This beautiful app is a great way to explore with all sorts of polygons. You can even send nets of them to your email or to print. Hours of fun!

Over the last year, 48 of our 57 schools have worked collaboratively to create articulated plans to address how they meet the needs of our students who are are advanced learners in mathematics. This is not limited to students identified as Talented/Gifted or students who are accelerated in their mathematics learning. This includes all students who have advanced learning in mathematics. Find your school's advanced math learning plan in this drive folder.

Articles

Mathematics Learning is a Journey Not a Sprint- discussion about whether acceleration is always the right decision