Before teaching a mathematics lesson, teachers may need to refresh their own understanding of a concept, skill or teaching method. Elementary teachers can use these websites, which are written for adult readers, as background information. Education World Math, educationworld.com, includes an extensive library of articles covering best practices in the math classroom. Elementary teachers can find activity ideas and learn about teaching techniques. The Math Forum at Drexel, mathforum.org, provides useful resources for math teachers, including online professional development and resource bibliographies. The Ask Dr. Math feature allows you to pose math questions and receive answers by email or search the archive of answers. Mathlanding, mathlanding.org, is a collaborative project developed by Maryland Public Television, The Math Forum at Drexel University and International Society for Technology in Education. The website provides journal articles, lesson ideas and a discussion forum to help math teachers develop their professional skills.
Websites that include prepared lesson plans and activities provide everything necessary for a complete lesson cycle and introduce elementary students to math topics and skills. PBS Learning Media, pbslearningmedia.org, includes math lesson plans with integrated media components that engage students’ attention. Related handouts and assessments are included with each lesson. The Learning Network Mathematics provides math lesson plans developed by "The New York Times." Each lesson correlates with an article that illustrates a math concept in a real-world context. Illuminations is a resource from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics that includes hundreds of math lesson plans for every grade level. Each lesson provides supplementary documents for note taking or practice, and many lessons include related online games and activities. The Dynamic Paper feature allows teachers to create and print customized number lines, shapes, spinners and other manipulatives that accommodate visual and tactile learners during math lessons. Thirteen Ed Online Mathematics is a collection of lesson plans developed by New York Public Media using public broadcast and web-based resources. The lessons challenge students to explore interesting, realistic math problems, like how to prepare supplies for a 1880s trail ride or calculate percentages during a virtual Smithsonian Institute scavenger hunt.
Resources that teachers can use during classroom instruction introduce and clarify elementary math concepts. Mathematics in Movies is Harvard Mathematics Department's collection of movie clips that include math concepts. Play these short segments to engage students’ attention and provide a relevant context for new material and skills. BrainPOP Math offers a collection of short animations that introduce and illuminate complex educational topics through a humorous and digestible format. The math section of BrainPOP includes animations and supplementary resources covering many math topics. The resources are available through yearly subscriptions; however, a few animations are offered for free, and are labeled as such. Many districts already subscribe to this service, so check with your district before paying for any additional content. The National Library of Virtual Manipulatives provides Java-based virtual manipulatives, such as base 10 cubes and probability spinners, which teachers can use to demonstrate math concepts during direct instruction. Students can also practice math skills independently using the site’s tools. Khan Academy, khanacademy.org, provides thousands of free instructional videos, including math topics from basic to advanced.
To keep students motivated, include online games and interactive media during independent practice. These websites provide numerous activities and tools to helps students practice math skills. Cool Math Number Games, coolmath-games.com, includes dozens of captivating games, like Crazy Taxi and Lemonade Stand, that allow students to review math skills including counting, arithmetic operations, money skills and fractions. Googol Power, googolpower.com, is a family business that creates and sells music for learning. The website’s Free Learning Resources page provides several useful and engaging tools including a radio that plays math-learning songs. Teachers can include these songs during practice and review activities to engage aural learners and musical intelligences. FunBrain Numbers, funbrain.com, includes math practice games with engaging themes like soccer, car racing and baking that elementary students enjoy.