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Matt Felton-Koestler
Mar 13, 20201 min read
Need Some Math During School Closings?
I'm learning to use Desmos and I've created a few activities kids can try out at home. The activities below vary in difficulty...
325 views0 comments
Matt Felton-Koestler with Courtney Koestler
Jan 20, 20201 min read
Math at Casa
Asking math questions while waiting for lunch...
120 views0 comments
Matt Felton-Koestler
Aug 31, 20183 min read
Oatmeal and Algebra
This morning, over his morning oatmeal, I asked Parker to think about a classic math task. I began with a single hexagon with the dots...
100 views0 comments
Matt Felton-Koestler
Jul 31, 20184 min read
Summer Math: Context Matters
We recently visited Bay Beach Amusement Park while in Wisconsin (it's awesome by the way). Rides there cost between 1-4 tickets and...
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Matt Felton-Koestler
Mar 4, 20184 min read
The Trouble with Real-ish Problems
We've all seen math problems like this. Problems where the context or numbers are ridiculous. And what might we say to a kid in this...
312 views1 comment
Matt Felton-Koestler
Dec 8, 20175 min read
Decimal Notation versus Meaning
I observed a lesson in a classroom today and while observing I began to wonder what Parker would do with the problem with a little...
113 views0 comments
Matt Felton-Koestler
Nov 10, 20172 min read
Half of a Half of a ...
M: What'd you do in math today? P: Doubles and halves. M: Really, what numbers did you do half of? P: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 ,10 M:...
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Matt Felton-Koestler
Nov 9, 20171 min read
Fractions with a Side of Pie
Parker wanted pumpkin pie with dinner tonight. After his first slice he asked for more. So I said his payment was to answer: "what...
65 views1 comment
Matt Felton-Koestler
Nov 3, 20172 min read
6th Grade Number Talks: Building on "An Honest Mistake"
I've talked about Number Talks before. Recently I've had the chance to do a couple of number talks in a local sixth grade teacher (thanks...
3,009 views0 comments
Matt Felton-Koestler
Sep 28, 20172 min read
90 and 90 is...
Parker has told me that he knows what 90 and 90 is (or sometimes what 70 and 70 is). About. A. Million. Times. Here was our latest...
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Matt Felton-Koestler
Sep 28, 20171 min read
How Many Fives in 100?
P: I can count to one hundred by fives. M: Okay, let's hear it. P: 5, 10, 15, 20, ... 100 C: What would come after 100? P: 105 M: I...
8,840 views0 comments
Matt Felton-Koestler
Sep 25, 20172 min read
Halves and Hundreds
I'm reading The Poisonwood Bible for my book club and I just realized we meet this Sunday, not next Sunday, so I'm freaking out about how...
48 views0 comments
Matt Felton-Koestler
Sep 20, 20175 min read
Ours is not to reason why…
…just invert and multiply! This post is a bit longer and a bit more didactic than many of my others, but I think it's interesting all the...
246 views0 comments
Matt Felton-Koestler
Sep 15, 20175 min read
Watching Middle School Number Talks
This post brings together number talks, doing fractions, and ways to work on math with your child without doing drills. Recently,...
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Matt Felton-Koestler with Courtney Koestler
Sep 9, 20174 min read
Math Facts through Games
People often ask me how to teach kids math facts. Before I get to that I want to emphasize that young children (preschool, kindergarten)...
252 views0 comments
Matt Felton-Koestler
Sep 6, 20177 min read
What Does it Mean to DO Mathematics?
This post is different than most of my other What Do You Think posts. It's more of a big picture view focused on what it means to do...
3,177 views0 comments
Matt Felton-Koestler
Sep 2, 20175 min read
Try to Get Lower
On Meet the Teacher night before the school year started we got a little bag of math mainpulatives to take home. It says we need to keep...
65 views0 comments
Matt Felton-Koestler
Aug 31, 20172 min read
Number Talks / Dot Cards
On the walk home today Parker was excited to tell me about the number talk they had done in school because he got to share his strategy....
787 views0 comments
Matt Felton-Koestler
Aug 29, 20175 min read
Reading Each Orange Had 8 Slices
Last night Courtney and Parker were reading Each Orange Had 8 Slices by Paul Giganti, Jr. and illustrated by Donald Crews. They didn't...
205 views0 comments
Matt Felton-Koestler with Courtney Koestler
Aug 25, 20174 min read
Doing the S-Pattern Task with Teachers
I recently had the chance to do some math with a great group of grades 4-12 teachers from our local school district. They were taking...
1,514 views0 comments
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