Welcome, March! Thanks for 43 years of math . . .

Welcome to March 2018! After 43 wonderful years, Excel Math closed its doors this week.

We want to thank all of those teachers, parents, and students who have partnered with us over the years.

Thanks for joining with us to build successful math students!

Over the past 43 years, hundreds of thousands of educators and students in Kindergarten through Grade 6 have seen outstanding results with Excel Math!

Our author, Janice Raymond, Ph.D. (pictured below in the white short-sleeved top), began Excel Math with a simple idea: create something excellent and continually improve it. The Excel Math retiring owner, Brad Baker, is pictured on the far right.

Over the years, we discovered that we had created something powerful. Without bragging, Excel Math was (and still is) really good!

In closing, we want to share with you some of the comments and stories we've received from our wonderful teachers, parents and students around the country.

You can read more on our previous blog posts. Enjoy!

"I love Excel Math! Some of my slower students were so excited about the CheckAnswer component.

I was surprised and pleased by their response. I could see their confidence improving right away!"

— Jennifer Price, 4th Grade Teacher, West Virginia

"In 1993, I was in the 4th-5th grade at an elementary school in Sweetwater, Texas.The math teacher I had used the Excel Math curriculum with us. It was the ONLY math class during my entire K-12 career where I was forced into a critical thinking mindset and was able to sharpen my problem solving skills. It was also the only class in my K-12 career in which I used the Excel Math worksheets.

The experience I had with Excel Math is forever etched in my memory as a turning point in my academic career, which shaped my mathematical problem solving skills. I eventually went on to earn an electrical engineering degree at Texas Tech University and now I work at General Atomics, right down the street from Excel Math! Thank you for all you continue to do for young math students."  — Jonathan Foster, Ph.D., San Diego, California

The Excel Math store is now closed, and we no longer have phone service. Feel free to email us at order@excelmath.com if you have questions. Please mail your final payment to us:

Excel Math / AnsMar Publishers, Inc.
P.O. Box 85
Poway, CA 92074

You can read the full press release about Brad's retirement here: www.excelmath.com/BLOG/AnsMarPressRelease.pdf and on our previous blog posts.

Our Facebook and Pinterest pages will be going away in the next few weeks.

Until then, feel free to leave your comments and stories about how Excel Math has worked for you and your students over the years.

Here's photo of the sun rising over the Excel Math office building in Poway (San Diego county). Thanks for 43 wonderful years!

Thank You, Teachers . . .

Dr. Janice Raymond (left) with her friend
and former AnsMar employee Amy

We're sending a huge shout-out of thanks to the teachers and parents who have used Excel Math with their students over the years. 

Thanks for partnering with us to build successful math students!

Over the past 43 years, hundreds of thousands of educators and students in Kindergarten through Grade 6 have seen outstanding results with Excel Math!

Our author, Janice Raymond, Ph.D. began Excel Math with a simple idea: create something excellent and continually improve it.

Over the years, we discovered that we had created something powerful. Without bragging, Excel Math was really good!

Educators such as you made us better and, as a result, we provided you with lessons that actually worked! 

Brad with one of his four grandsons

This is the power of partnership in education—great materials in the hands of talented educators dedicated to the success of their students.

So it was with mixed feelings that last month our owner and president, Brad Baker, announced his plans to retire from Excel Math. The Excel Math product line is now retired as well.

Brad looks forward to spending more time with his grandsons. 

Orders have all been shipped. We no longer have phone service so if you have a question, please send us an email: info@excelmath.com 

All of us would like to thank those educators, parents and students around the world who have used Excel Math and have shared their success with others.

Final orders are being printed now. The Excel Math store is closed. Please mail your final payment to us:

Excel Math / AnsMar Publishers, Inc.
PO Box 85
Poway, CA 92074

Thanks for 43 wonderful years!

Excel Math Is Retiring

Over the past 42 years, hundreds of thousands of educators and students in Kindergarten through Grade 6 have used Excel Math and have seen outstanding results!

So it is with mixed feelings that our owner has announced his plans to retire from Excel Math in January 2018. 

The Excel Math product line will be retired as well. Please place your order by Friday, January 12 to make sure we have your materials in stock. All orders must be finalized by that day.

Brad Baker, Owner and President of Excel Math reflected, 

“Without bragging, Excel Math is really good! All of us would like to thank those educators, parents and students around the world who have used Excel Math and have shared their success with others. It will be difficult to leave."

At the same time, Brad looks forward to spending more time with his grandsons.

He plans to retire effective January 31, 2018 and will retire the Excel Math brand at that time.

In the meantime, feel free to visit our website or email your PO to order@excelmath.com. Our web store will close on January 12, 2018 and final orders must be placed by that day. You will be able to email us through the end of January at orders@excelmath.com

You can read the full press release about Brad's retirement here: www.excelmath.com/BLOG/AnsMarPressRelease.pdf

We hope your year is filled with warmth and joy!

Giving Students Feedback in Your Math Class

New math standards are asking teachers to facilitate discussions and encourage collaborative problem solving among students in the math classroom.

Giving students effective feedback and helping them to "explain their thinking" will let you determine their depth of understanding. It will also give you a chance to clear up any misconceptions before moving on to more difficult concepts.

Excel Math lessons have discussion questions and teaching tips built into the Teacher Edition for Kindergarten through Grade Six.

Create A Problem Exercises begin with Grade 2 and provide a template for students to write and solve their own word problems, merging math with literacy. In Excel Math we suggest the teacher help students verbalize the problem-solving strategies they use as they solve problems.

Create A Problem from Excel Math lesson sheets for Grade 3

Describing the process can help their classmates understand that at times there can be several correct ways to solve one problem. Remind your students to show their work as they solve the problem so if they have errors in the solution, they can find and fix them more easily.

Explain that making mistakes and correcting them is the way to improve and learn. Excel Math includes a unique CheckAnswer system beginning in Grade 2 that lets students check their own work. Most of the time, students can find and correct their mistakes on their own.

When they need more help, a parent or teacher can help them work through the problem to find the correct answer.

Here are three steps to giving students effective feedback:

1. Ask if they understand the question or problem:

a. What information are they trying to obtain? Have them circle the question.

b. What information have they been given? Have them draw a line under the information that will be needed and cross out the information that will not be needed.

c. Do they have the information that they need to get the answer? Find out if the information they have is enough to answer the question.

2. If there is not enough information, ask the student to tell you what information they would need to answer the question or solve the problem.

3. If there is enough information, ask the student to tell you if they underlined the correct information that will be needed. Did they underline too much or little information to solve the problem? If so, have them fix it.

After following these three steps with your students, try using questions and statements rather giving answers when someone is having trouble remembering what to do to solve a math problem. You could ask:

What do you think you need to do first to find the answer?

Do you understand what the question is asking? Tell me in your own words. (This is a good place to make sure any vocabulary words used in the problem are clearly defined and understood.)

What steps should you take to find the solution?

Show me how you figured that out.

Tell me about the problem-solving strategy you used.

What other ways could you have solved this problem?

Take a look at the strategies you use to give your students feedback.

Do any of them need to be modified? Could you use the buddy system to have students help each other find the solutions? Share your suggestions in the Comments box below.

New to Excel Math? Preview elementary math lessons that really work for Kindergarten through Sixth Grade on our website: www.excelmath.com. 

Also find math resources for teachers, parents and students and download a sample packet at excelmath.com.

Happy Mole Day!

Know the math behind chemistry? Then you’ve likely heard of Avagadro’s number (6.023 × 10²³) that’s used as a basic unit of measure in chemistry. 

This number is more commonly referred to as a mole.

Mole Day is observed on October 23rd from 6:02 am to 6:02 pm, and can include anything mole related.

Activities can range from eating guacamolé to making a felt mole, experimenting with molecules, or researching the creation of mola textiles. The punnier, the better.

Here's a colorful framed mola our relatives picked up in their travels to Panama. The mola or molas is handmade textile art native to the islands of Panama.


Using the fabric of their choice, students can make a small stuffed toy mole to help them remember that a mole in chemistry is actually 6.023 × 10²³.

See our blog post from several years ago for a creative felt mole pattern:
Celebrate Mole Day In the Classroom

In  Excel Math, we help students apply math to everyday life. For over 40 years, Excel Math has help students excel in math. In fact, schools that use Excel Math see improved test scores and high student engagement with elementary mathematics—even after the first year! 

Here's what teachers and administrators are saying:

"I’ve used Excel Math for many years . . . and loved it!  In Laredo, Texas, I started using Excel Math with excellent test results. Each year produced 95% to 100% of the students passing their Texas State Tests. This also includes the two years I taught in Houston. I’m currently in Oklahoma, and will again use Excel Math with my 4th graders. 

I was nominated and won Teacher of the Year for my school campus, Hoover Elementary. I completely believe this happened because of the EXCELlent Math program you provide!!! I’ve used Excel Math for many years . . . and love it! I’m VERY excited to use this program again, and can’t wait to compare the scores from last school year to this. Thank you so very much!!"

— Susan Vilar, 4th Grade Teacher, Hoover Elementary School, Tulsa, OK

Take a quick tour of Excel Math here. Now fix yourself some guaca-mole using your favorite guacamole recipe.  Enjoy a snack break with some chips and dip while you read more about moles, mole day and Excel Math.  Use guacamole or any favorite recipe as a math word problem by having your students triple the recipe or divide it in half, adjusting the ingredients and quantities accordingly.  Have your class calculate how many tortillas you'll need if each student in the class gets a quarter or half of a tortilla.  Then let your students figure out how many tortillas they would need for 3 classes with 24, 26 and 30 students in each class.  Then try an experiment with molecules and density from Excel Math Grade 6 Activity. (Excel Math  Activities are hands-on projects in back of the Teacher Editions, not included on the Student Lesson Sheets): Begin by explaining the concept of density to the students.  Help them understand that every object or volume has a certain number of very small units called molecules.  Density is a measure of the amount of molecules in a given object or volume. Draw two figures like the following on the board and ask the students if they can tell which box has a higher density.  Help them understand that an object with a lot of molecules has a high density while an object with fewer molecules has a lower density. Explain that fluids such as water also have densities. Ask the students what would happen if you dropped an ice cube into a glass of water. Would it float or sink? Use a tally chart to record the class opinions. Ask them to explain the difference in density between the ice cube and the water. Then drop an ice cube in a glass of water so the class can see which hypothesis was correct. Talk about why the students' hypotheses were or were not correct. Read our previous post for more density experiment suggestions: Celebrate Mole Day In the Classroom How will you celebrate Mole Day this year? Leave a comment below to let us know. New to Excel Math? See samples on our website: ExcelMath.myshopify.com You may also enjoy these articles: Classroom Management Tips 5 Steps to Building Math Success  Base Ten Pumpkins Overcoming Math Anxiety in the Classroom

Base Ten Pumpkins for 10/10

Celebrate today's date of 10/10 with Base Ten Pumpkin Cards, a Free download for your class.

Print a set of cards for each student or have them share the cards.

Provide acorns, pumpkin seeds, buttons or raisins for counters.

Or have each student cut the pumpkin shapes from an extra set of cards.

Help your students practice addition, subtraction and counting on.

Pumpkin Seeds

This is a great way to welcome in the harvest season with math!

Complete instructions and colorful patterns are included in the Free Base Ten Cards PDF file.

You may want to roast some extra pumpkin seeds and salt them slightly so your students can snack on the seeds while doing the math.

Excel Math lessons for Kindergarten through Grade 6 have an intricate spiraling process that helps math concepts "stick".

Students learn math for the long term when they use Excel Math.

And because math concepts stay in front of students on a regular basis, they are able to retain concepts from week to week, month to month, and year to year without drill and kill and without having to cram for the test.

Schools using Excel Math see test scores rise, even the first year after Excel Math is used.

Here's what one teacher told us:

"I love Excel Math! Some of my slower students were so excited about the CheckAnswer component. I was surprised and pleased by their response. I could see their confidence improving right away!"

— Jennifer Price, 4th Grade Teacher, West Virginia

See what others are saying . . . 

You may also enjoy these articles:

Classroom Management Tips

5 Steps to Building Math Success 

Five-Minute Math Class Warm-Ups: Adding Time Intervals

Overcoming Math Anxiety in the Classroom