Eternal Light for WW1 Soldiers

Arlington National Cemetery

On June 15, 1864 Arlington National Cemetery was established by Brig. General Montgomery C. Meigs, who commanded the garrison at Arlington House. One of the first monuments to the slain Union soldiers erected under Brig. General Meigs' orders was a stone and masonry burial vault in the rose garden, 20 feet wide and 10 feet deep, contained  the remains of 1,800 Bull Run casualties. Meigs himself was later buried within 100 yards of Arlington House with his wife, father and son. Read more about the history of Arlington National Cemetery.

In Excel Math, we teach students how to calculate distance, area, perimeter, dates in the past, and lots more. Take a look at lesson samples for Kindergarten through Sixth Grade on our website: www.excelmath.com.

Madison Square Park
Photograph by Malcolm Pinckney, May 3, 2005

Sixty years after Arlington Cemetery was established, on June 4, 1924, an eternal light was dedicated at Madison Square Park in New York City in memory of all New York soldiers who died in World War I. (See photo below.) The massive ornamental pedestal is made of Milford pink granite.  Each side is inscribed with dedicatory tributes to those who served their country in World War I, and lists the names of significant battle sites.


Read more . . .

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

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Summer: A Season of Math Learning

Summer Math Learning—Eat It Up!

Summer is only a few weeks away, and it's a great time to sample the abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables filling our local farmer's markets and grocery stores. If you have an outdoor garden or an indoor pot of herbs, you can enjoy picking your own. 

As you shop, bring in a few extra fruits or vegetables to class, along with a scale. Show your students how to weigh produce and estimate the total cost based on the cost per pound.

Let them divide recipes into smaller serving sizes or double recipes to practice their math skills in real-life situations. Encourage them to try some recipes at home and freeze the leftovers. 

Talk about equivalent measurements such as 4 quarts = a gallon or 8 ounces = a cup. Do some baking together. Or, on hot days, make a batch of no-bake cookies or a tray of fruit juice pops. (Simply fill ice cube trays with fruit juice. Add a craft stick to each cube while it's still slushy. Let freeze, and enjoy!)

The Children's Nutrition and Research Center in Houston has put together a fun Healthy Eating Calculator you can have your students (and their families) use to encourage good nutrition over the summer months: www.kidsnutrition.org/HealthyEating_calculator.htm

Read more . . .

New to Excel Math? Visit our website to learn more and take a look at sample lessons: www.excelmath.com

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Fun with Fractions

In Excel Math we teach students how to use fractions, percentages and decimal numbers. Let's see how it's done (there are many ways).

First, what is a fraction?

The word fraction is used to describe one or more equal parts of a group. When we cut a pie or pizza or anything into equal parts, we create fractions of the whole.

The numerator is the top number (above the line).
It tells how many parts of the equal whole you are describing:

The denominator is the bottom number (below the line).
It tells into how many parts the whole has been cut or divided:

The fraction one-fourth can be notated as a colored box:

or as various shapes.

Since 1 of the 4 parts is shaded (in both examples), the numerator is 1. There are four total parts so the denominator is 4.

Download a free fraction practice worksheet for your students.

Read more . . .

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.

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Staying Fit Over the Summer Break

Helping Math Students Excel During the Transition to Common Core
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Summer: A Season of Math Learning

Plotting Some Real-Life Math

Here's a fun way to teach your students to read a map, measure distance, and create a line plot.

Give each student a ruler. Download ruler patterns and other free printables from our website. Print a map of a town or community (yes, you can download the map, too). Explain that in the United States, maps are laid out with north toward the top of the page, west to the left, east to the right and south toward the bottom of the page. Not all cultures draw their maps this way! 

Explain that when we look at a map, we look for the north-south-east-west symbol (the compass rose) that will show how the places on the map relate to “the real world”.  On the Map of Town, the compass rose is a simple arrow diagram. The colored one below is much more elaborate. Download a Map of Town for each of your students.

Let your students measure lengths of the streets (1 inch = 1 mile) and find the distance from the bike to various buildings in the city. Write the various distances on the board. Talk about which distances are greater than the distance to the Elementary School. Which distances are less than the distance to the bank? 


Compare several distances in this way. Help the class determine the greatest and least distances. Draw a number line on the board using half inch increments with these extremes. Or download a number line from our website. Mark an X for each distance shown. Xs can “pile up” above repeated values.

Ask your students, if they are walking east on C Street, is the Post Office on their left or right? What if they are walking west on C Street? Being on the left or the right depends on the direction in which they are walking. 

If you have time, let your students each draw a small map. It can be a map of an actual place in your town or an imaginary place. They can draw vertical and/or horizontal lines using graph paper, to show streets or sidewalks. Have them indicate the start with a stick figure, an animal or a bike. On a separate piece of paper, have each student use his own map to write directions to certain landmarks from the start. Make sure they print their names on the map and on the directions page.

When finished, have your students exchange their maps and directions with each other. See if they can follow the directions and read the map created by their classmates.

As they read the directions, the students can move their pencils along the correct line in the correct direction and make the end of the line the point of an arrow. This will help them have the correct perspective to be able to answer the question.

How do you help your students use line plots and read maps? Share your suggestions in the Comments box below.

New to Excel Math? Take a look at elementary math lessons that really work for Kindergarten through Sixth Grade on our website: www.excelmath.com. Also find lots of math resources for teachers, parents and students at excelmath.com.

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Staying Fit Over the Summer Break
Helping Math Students Excel During the Transition to Common Core
Listen Up! Keeping Students' Attention
Summer: A Season of Math Learning

Staying Fit Over the Summer Break

Help your students stay mentally and physically active over the summer months with math practice and lots of outdoor exercise. You may want to send home a list of summer suggestions to give parents some tools to avoid family boredom, burnout and the summer slump.

Excel Math Summer Lessons are an inexpensive way to keep your students learning math over the summer break. Read more on our previous blog post: Summer, A Season of Math Learning. Then take a look at lesson samples for Pre-Kindergarten through Pre-7th Grade at www.excelmath.com.

Students can hone their math skills with online Timed Basic Fact Practice, electronic flashcards, and games such as math Bingo. They can work on addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, or a combination of all four operations and then try to beat their personal best score. You can encourage parents to start a neighborhood math play group with these online math games and resources for students of all ages:

Calculation Nation - log in as a guest or get an account and play against others
Multiplication Jeopardy Game
The BBC has lots of creative online games at http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks2/maths/number/
Quizlet Electronic Flashcards

Read more . . .

New to Excel Math? Visit our website to learn more and take a look at sample lessons: www.excelmath.com

You might also like:
Summer: A Season of Math Learning

Helping Math Students Excel During the Transition to Common Core
Listen Up! Keeping Students' Attention

Excel Math Summer School Samples

Bridging the Gap to Common Core Math

How will you bridge the gap between your current math curriculum and the Common Core Standards? Excel Math can increase the rigor and mathematical practices of your math lessons without breaking your budget!

The Excel Math Common Core Teacher Editions walk you through the new vocabulary and Common Core standards (CCS) while giving you the tools you need to help students make sense of problems and persevere in solving them. New math activities for kindergarten through sixth grade encourage critical thinking skills. Discussion suggestions and open-ended questions let you lead your students to construct viable arguments, think critically, explain their reasoning, and respond to their classmates' thinking. You become the facilitator for class discussions, helping your students discover alternate problem-solving methods.

Excel Math has been proven to get results when used as a supplement or in a core position. Read more and download a Scientifically Based Research Report showing how Excel Math increases student test scores across all grade levels.

Download a sample of our Grade 3 Common Core Teacher Edition to get a sneak preview of the first ten lessons for third grade.

At AnsMar Publishers, we are committed to helping our  customers make a smooth transition to CCS with Excel Math. You can view Excel Math Common Core correlations for Kindergarten through Grade 6 here: www.excelmath.com/downloads/state_stds.html

Or, if you're looking for lessons that correlate with the TEKS and are STAAR ready, visit our Texas Connection web page:
http://www.excelmath.com/downloads/state_stdsTX.html

We are in the very early stages of creating our new Excel Math Common Core Teacher Editions. When each one is released, we will have an announcement on our website. Our goal is to have as many grades ready by fall 2013 as possible (focusing on grades 2-5 first, and then grades K-1 and 6). Our student lesson sheets are updated and are now shipping.
Read more . . .

You might also like:

Summer: A Season of Math Learning
Helping Math Students Excel During the Transition to Common Core
Listen Up! Keeping Students' Attention