Word Problems for Math Storytelling Day

September 25 is celebrated as Math Storytelling Day. On this day, those of us who love math can have fun making up and sharing math-related stories.

Stories can involve puzzles, logic problems, brain teasers, human relationships—just about anything, as long as math is involved.

Excel Math lessons not only include math word problems, but also more in-depth Create A Problem stories with math problems that are created by the students. 

Here's one you can use to challenge your students with today.

Click on the image title below to try it out for yourself.

Grade 3 Excel Math Create A Problem (Click here to download)

In the Excel Math Teacher Editions you'll also find brainteasers and logic story problems called Stretches.

These problems can be written on the board and left up all day for students to solve. Here's an example of a Stretch:

Carl is a carpenter who makes wooden stools. He has 10 stools. Some are three-legged and some are four-legged stools. They have a total of 36 legs. How many four-legged and three-legged stools does Carl have? (The answer is given below.)

And we'll end with a famous math riddle:

As I was going to St. Ives,
I met a man with seven wives.
Every wife had seven sacks,
Every sack had seven cats.
Every cat had seven kits.
Kits, cats, sacks, and wives,
How many were going to St. Ives?

The answer is one! Only "I" was going to St. Ives. The others were people he met along the way.

Read more . . .

Questions about how Excel Math lessons work? Leave a comment below.

Stretch Answer: Carl has 4 three-legged stools and 6 four-legged stools

For more Storytelling Day ideas, see our previous blog post: Storytelling Day Ideas for the Math Classroom

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Math Placement Tests: Off to a Great Start!

For over 35 years Excel Math has been helping students in Kindergarten through Grade 6 build solid math skills.

Did you know?

Excel Math provides grade level evaluation tools in English and in Spanish to help you determine where each student should begin with the program. These easy-to-use placement tests can be combined with basic fact skills tests to assess your students' readiness for math.

Use the placement tests to determine where a student should start in the Excel Math program.

Each Placement Test file contains six tests that evaluate a student's preparedness for Excel Math Grades 1 - 6.

Instructions for using the tests are included. 

Just send us an email when you're ready for the answers and we'll send them to you.

Read more . . .

Questions about how Excel Math lessons work? Leave a comment below.

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Back to (Math) Basics

For over 35 years Excel Math has been helping students build solid math skills. And those rigorous math lessons continue to help students succeed today

In Excel Math our Student Lesson Sheets include a section called Basic Fact Practice. Students complete these problems after the Lesson section and before the Guided Practice (unless you choose to use these problems as bell work).

Excel Math Student Lesson Sheet with Basic Fact Practice

In this way, basic math facts are practiced regularly. Students have a chance to get basic facts into their long-term memory and continue reviewing them throughout the year.

The Basic Fact Practice portion of the Student Lesson Sheet can be used as a way to start your math period or as bell work so students are on task the minute they enter the classroom. The problems will be fairly easy at first (helping students build confidence) but will increase in difficulty during the year. Excel Math gives students a chance to practice basic facts for several weeks before we ask them to use those facts in complex problems.

Basic Fact Practice is included on the Excel Math Projectable Lesson CDs. The facts can be projected onto a white board or wall so the class can focus together on the problems. The first slide shows the problems and the next slide shows the problems with the answers in red. You can use this section as a daily timed quiz or read the problems aloud before projecting them for aural practice of basic math facts.

Download a Basic Math Fact Practice worksheet from our website: http://www.excelmath.com/downloads/manipulatives.html

Or try our Online Timed Fact Practice:
http://excelmath.com/practice.html

Choose the Excel Math lessons that best fit your students' needs and let us send you a sample:

Common Core Editions—written to guide teachers and students through the new Common Core Standards. Teacher Editions include quarterly test tables that show the CCS concepts covered and in which lesson they were initially taught. See Common Core samples . . .

Texas Editions—a smooth transition to the new TEKS, introducing the new math skills now required at each grade level with our unique spiraling approach to get those concepts into your students' long-term memory. Texas Teacher Editions include quarterly test tables that show the TEKS concepts covered and in which lesson they were initially taught. See Texas samples . . .

Standard Excel Math Editions—our proven lessons with new teacher tips and online resources. Teacher friendly lessons and student successes make it a good fit for any classroom or homeschool situation. See Excel Math Standard Edition samples . . .

Questions about how Excel Math lessons work? Leave a comment below.

You may also enjoy these articles:

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