Primary-level teachers can show their students that mathematics is all around them by turning classroom projects into opportunities for math practice. This across-the-curriculum activity gives pairs of students a problem-solving experience by having them figure out how to create journals with different numbers of pages. (SM)

Discusses why it is important to teach arithmetic, showing teachers how to match what they are teaching with children's real-world needs, presenting seven basics for teaching arithmetic today, and offering seven classroom strategies for implementing the instruction. The seven basics emphasize the importance of arithmetic skills and math facts as…

A discussion of how to use math manipulatives to teach elementary students focuses on essential program elements: what math manipulatives are and why they are used, common questions about math manipulatives, how one teacher introduced the geoboard into the classroom, and pattern block activities. (SM)

Three articles present elementary science, mathematics, and social studies activities. A hands-on science activity introduces students to microscopic water creatures. A math in action game has students build logic and number-sense skills. A social studies activity has students weave story cloths into conflict resolution. (SM)

Presents several across-the-curriculum activities for elementary teachers. Math activities include reading a book and dividing with beans. Science activities teach about caves and about the weather. A writing activity explains how to inspire students to write good stories. An art activity focuses on Chinese landscapes. (SM)

Simple, classroom-tested probability activities that capture students' interest, develop critical thinking skills, and reinforce addition facts are suggested. All activities involve investigating the probabilities of the sums that come up when two dice are tossed. (MT)

Textbook organization assumes that students can naturally make the jump from practicing a particular operation to applying it. But for students to apply their computational abilities, they need a variety of experiences that books alone cannot provide. Ways of providing these experiences are suggested. (MT)

Math can be the sort of homework parents respect, children enjoy, and teachers savor. Suggestions for achieving this are offered. (MT)

Graphing skills are growing in importance in our information society, presenting facts and concepts in newspapers, magazines, and on television. Graphs incorporated into teaching develop children's problem-solving skills. Ways to use graphs in the classroom are discussed, and examples are given. (MT)

Across-the-curriculum articles focus on four areas. A math activity describes optical illusions and the properties of shapes. A hands-on science activity presents the chemistry of secret messages. A writing lesson helps students capture the essence of character. An art lesson presents a project on medieval castles. (SM)

Presents literature-based elementary mathematics activities for the primary and intermediate grades. The activites are adapted from "Math and Literature, K-3," by the author of this article. (SM)

Presents activities that introduce mathematics to primary and intermediate level elementary students. At the primary level, students read a story about fresh cookies that must be divided and shared. At the intermediate level, instructions are provided for a game that introduces elementary algebra. (SM)

For many teachers, the storybook shelf is not the first place that they go to when they start to plan a math lesson. But children's books can be a great math teaching tool. They spark students' imaginations in ways that exercises in textbooks or workbooks often don't. In this article, the author shares three possible lessons based on favorite…

Alphabet Math is an investigation of the order of usage of letters in the alphabet. Children collect individual data then compare and interpret it to make inferences. The inferences are compared to analyses of larger samples. How this is done is described. (MT)

Offers suggestions for presenting multiplication to elementary students at the primary and intermediate levels. At the primary level, the emphasis is on introducing the concept of multiplication; at the intermediate level, the focus is on numeration and place value (using grids and a place value game). (SM)