Season One is done! I'm so grateful to each and every one of you for joining me each week to hear my favorite teaching tips and ideas around elementary math. I hope I've helped make your teacher life much easier, and I'm excited to reflect on what this season has meant to me in this Season One final…
Elementary Math Chat
by Annamarie Krejci, Elementary Math Teacher
Elementary Math Chat is a podcast for upper elementary math teachers looking for ideas and resources beyond the book. You'll hear recommendations for structuring your math block, setting up math centers, and differentiating activities, as well as engagement strategies and classroom management tips. From the first day of school to the last, this podcast will support you with teacher-tested and student-approved ideas that work! Annamarie Krejci (kret-see) is a former 4th and 5th grade math teacher of 20 years and the face behind Krejci Creations. By sharing what she's learned as a veteran teacher, she hopes to inspire and encourage teachers every step of the way. You can follow her on Instagram @krejci_creations or visit her website at krejcicreations.com.
Latest Episodes
The countdown is on...summer vacation is right around the corner! With all the special events that fall at the end of the year, the final week of school can be challenging to plan for. Every day has a different schedule, and the amount of instructional time also varies. If you need help planning act…
Summer is right around the corner, and so are those last-minute requests from parents wanting to know how to prevent the summer slide. This episode is chock-full of ideas to keep kids engaged with math over the summer, which means you'll have plenty of tips to share with your families!
This week, M…
This week, I share my favorite teaching tips and ideas for the second half of my area and perimeter unit. Those lessons covered solving for missing dimensions, problem-solving with area, and a review lesson to help students prepare for the test.
You'll hear ideas to help you teach these concepts in…
Area and perimeter was one of my favorite units to teach. I enjoyed helping students make real-world connections to what they were learning, and they enjoyed imagining that they were planting a garden or painting a bedroom wall. However, this unit came with its fair share of struggles.
In my experi…
Why was the quadrilateral late to school? Why did the right triangle go to the beach? The answers to these fun riddles are included in this week's episode with even more geometry tips!
This week, I share my favorite teaching tips and activities for the last three lessons in my geometry unit on cla…
Geometry is one of those topics that people either love or hate. I'll admit, as a student, Geometry wasn't my favorite. I could work with numbers all day long. But lines, angles, and theorems? It wasn't my thing.
However, as a teacher, I enjoyed teaching Geometry. It was a nice break from all the …
Multiplication facts are the building blocks of upper elementary math skills. Yet many students struggle to memorize these facts and rely on counting strategies and multiplication charts instead.
In this episode, Danna Rodebush from Teacher Tech Studio and the host of the Upper Elementary Simplifi…
Test prep is no joke! You and your students have worked extremely hard to prepare for state testing. When you finish that final test, I'm sure a sense of accomplishment and relief sets in…and it should! The hard part is over! So, take a victory lap and celebrate with a day of fun.
So, what can you …
You did it! You made it to the final day of test prep. What better way to celebrate than with a Glow Day? This celebration will be the highlight of your week and send your students into state testing feeling confident and ready to rock the test!
In this week's episode, I share everything you'll nee…
When it comes to test prep, the week before testing is crucial. There is so much you want to review but so little time left to do so. How do you decide what to cover in your whole group lessons? Should you pull small groups, and if so, what lessons should you review? What type of activities should s…
Ready or not, test prep season is here! If you're feeling a little anxious or unsure about the best way to prepare for state testing, I've got you covered! I'm dedicating the entire month of March to helping you prepare your students for state testing.
This week kicks off a 4-part series that will …
This time of year can be a challenge when it comes to handling classroom behavior. Rules that were once set in stone seem to be tested on a regular basis. Routines that were once seamless seem to be strained. You may feel like you've lost control of your entire class.
Well, teacher friend, it's tim…
If you are seeing a spike in student behavior issues this time of year, you are not alone. This long stretch without a break combined with too many indoor recesses can do a number on student behavior.
In this episode, I take you through the steps I took when handling student behavior issues and how…
Multiplying fractions is no problem, top times top and bottom times bottom…it's that simple, right? Well, not always.
In this episode, I share teaching tips, strategies, and activities to help build conceptual understanding of multiplying fractions. You'll hear tips for adding engagement to these …
Manipulatives are an essential part of elementary instruction. For years my go-to manipulatives were base 10 blocks, fraction tiles, and pattern blocks. That all changed when I attended a Greg Tang conference and learned about the magic of unifix cubes.
Previously, I thought these were better for …
With Valentine's Day right around the corner, it's time to spread the love and plan a few heart-themed activities! In this week's episode, I share two of my favorite Valentine's Day-themed activities that you and your students will love!
The first is a restaurant simulation where students experien…
There are so many things to consider when planning for your observation. Will you use the lesson from the workbook or create something from scratch? What kind of activities will you plan? Will you use manipulatives? Will your students work in groups?
It's no wonder that planning for your observati…
No matter how long you've been a teacher, it's normal to get nervous before an observation. They are a big deal, and you want them to go well!
So, how can you motivate your students to behave? How can you make sure your lesson is engaging and effective? What will you do if you have any issues with…
Do you struggle with what to do with your early finishers? In a perfect world, all of your students would finish everything at the exact same time, and you wouldn't have to worry about this. But the reality is, you're going to have students who finish early, and you don't want to give them busy work…