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Making Math Add Up

A series on the difficulties students have learning math, and what methods some schools and teachers are using with success.

Working from concrete to abstract in Algebra 2

Kelloggsville Phil de Haan

Popsicle-stick Ferris wheels are just one more way to teach important mathematics concepts at Kelloggsville’s 54th Street Academy...

A formula for teaching algebra

Byron Center Erin Albanese

Forget cramming study guide notes before a test...

Math intervention aims to reach every student

Byron Center Erin Albanese

Different students may be in groups weekly, depending on what standards they have met...

Upping the equity quotient in math

Kentwood Erin Albanese

Leading Educators involves about 50 educators in Godwin Heights, Wyoming, Godfrey-Lee, Kentwood and Grand Rapids Public Schools who have signed on for a two-year commitment...

Figure this: numbers are like toys in Math Circle

Making Math Add Up Erin Albanese

‘It’s math for the sake of math – just for fun. In class you are taught math. Here you experience math’...

Turning the (multiplication) tables

Godwin Heights James Harger

The Michigan Mathematics Educators (MichME) initiative is changing the way math is taught in West Michigan schools, one teacher and classroom at a time. After four years, the program has rewired the way math is taught by more than 250 educators and administrators...

Performances for School Groups

Grand Rapids Symphony School News Network

The Grand Rapids Symphony is dedicated to providing exceptional opportunities for school groups and home school families to explore the world of classical music though performances in and around Grand Rapids, as well as in the schools.

They did the monster math

Making Math Add Up Erin Albanese

Students in Patti Reeder and James Rex’s classes were challenged to use exponential function to create a scenario in which zombies take over the world...

New approach lifts struggling students’ math scores

Making Math Add Up Erin Albanese

Thanks to streamlined coaching, students are filling in gaps in their basic skills so they can move forward in math

Planning an Outdoor Classroom, for Real

Godwin Heights Erin Albanese

Three classrooms, a memory bench and a sidewalk. Those are elements in ninth-graders Diamond Johnson, Madisyn Rogers and Jamya Sanders’ design for a greenhouse-themed...

Profiting from Basic Math

Making Math Add Up Erin Albanese

Though some may think it's crummy, 10th-graders Madalyn Austin and Rebekah Hoyle said The Snacky Sleeper is the perfect lazy-evening, popcorn-munching luxury: a "comfortable,...

Classroom energy + student enthusiasm = math success

Making Math Add Up Janice Holst

Four years ago, Cedar View fifth grade teachers Jennifer Kahler and Erin Cairy switched the traditional teaching style of explaining math concepts and helping...

Club Subtracts Fear from Math

Grand Rapids Charles Honey

Diamond Sparkman softly counts aloud as she measures the sides of a polygon displayed on a computer screen, trying to determine its area. “Seven...

New Technology Helps Kindergartners with Math

East Grand Rapids Morgan Jarema

Lakeside Elementary kindergartner Charlotte Kanaan stood beside teacher Shannon Mitchell and worked through a math problem, which her classmates could see thanks to a...

Math, Fun? With Creative Teaching and Baseball, Anything’s Possible

At Recess Charles Honey

Editor's Note: At Recess is an occasional humor column that takes a lighter look at schools and education. Funny things sometimes happen when you work...