Detailed plans for helping elementary students experience deep mathematical learning
The mathematical tasks in this guide will challenge your youngest students to do deep problem-based learning. These ready-to-implement tasks connect concepts, skills, and practices and encourage students to reason, problem-solve, discuss, explore, justify, monitor their own thinking, and connect the mathematics they know to new situations. In other words, these tasks allow students to truly do mathematics! Written with a strengths-based lens, this guide includes:
- Complete task-based lessons, referencing mathematics standards and practices, vocabulary, and materials
- Downloadable planning tools, student resource pages, and thoughtful questions, and formative assessment prompts
- Guidance on preparing, launching, facilitating, and reflecting on each task
- Notes on access and equity, focusing on students' strengths, productive struggle, and distance or alternative learning environments
Fennell, Francis M.: - Francis (Skip) Fennell is professor of education and Graduate and Professional Studies, emeritus at McDaniel College in Maryland. He is a former classroom teacher, principal, and supervisor of instruction, and past president of the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators (AMTE), the Research Council on Mathematics Learning (RCML), and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). He is a recipient of the Mathematics Educator of the Year Award from the Maryland Council of Teachers of Mathematics (MCTM), the Glenn Gilbert National Leadership Award from NCSM: Leadership in Mathematics Education, the Excellence in Leadership and Service in Mathematics Teacher Education Award from AMTE, the James Heddens Distinguished Service Award from RCML, and Lifetime Achievement Awards from both MCTM and NCTM. Skip's many publications including Achieving Fluency: Special Education and Mathematics (NCTM, 2011), and The Formative 5: In Action (Corwin, 2024) have been influenced by his classroom experiences and decades long focus on assessment, number sense, fractions, elementary mathematics specialists and teacher education.
Harrison, Desiree Yvonne: - Desiree Harrison is an elementary mathematics coach for Farmington Public Schools in Michigan, where she works with individual teachers and teams of teachers on increasing student engagement and learning, and implementing math routines. Currently, she serves as a board member for the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and is the immediate past president of the Detroit Area Council of Teachers of Mathematics (DACTM). In May 2020, Desiree became the latest recipient of the DACTM Christine Kincaid-Dewey Educator of the Year award, which is focused on service to the mathematics education community and increasing student engagement with mathematics. She is super passionate about and involved in the field of elementary mathematics education and hosts the Kids Math Talk podcast, which is for educators and parents of elementary students and is devoted to keeping the conversation about mathematics active and positive.
Karp, Karen S.: -
Karen S. Karp is a mathematics educator who focuses on the intersection of mathematics education and special education. She is a former professor at Johns Hopkins University and at the University of Louisville where she is professor emerita. Early in her career she received a Development Award from the Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation to support more seamless integration between general education and special education. She is the author or co-author of numerous publications including Assisting Students Struggling with Mathematics: Intervention in the Elementary Grades and Elementary and Middle School Mathematics. Karen was on the writing team of the NCTM/CEC Joint position statement on Teaching Mathematics to Students with Learning Disabilities. In 2024, she chaired the Topic Study Group on Teaching Mathematics to Students with Special Needs at the International Congress on Mathematical Education in Australia. She holds teaching/administrative certifications in elementary education, secondary mathematics, K-12 special education, and K-12 educational administration.
Kobett, Beth McCord: -
Beth McCord Kobett serves as Professor and Dean in the School of Education at Stevenson University, where she works closely with early childhood, elementary, and middle school preservice teachers. She brings experience as a classroom teacher, mathematics specialist, and university supervisor. Beth served on the NCTM Board and served as president of Association of Maryland Mathematics Teacher Educators. Beth has authored ten mathematics education books and supports professional learning efforts nationwide. She has been honored with awards such as the MCTM Mathematics Educator of the Year and Stevenson's Rose Dawson Award for Excellence in Teaching. Deeply committed to her students, she strives to create a supportive, strengths-based learning environment that fosters curiosity, collaboration, and meaningful growth.
