Everyday, people face situations that call for adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing, and at least half of the time, these calculations are accomplished without the use of pen, paper, or calculators. Because figuring "in your head" is such an important life skill, it should have a regular role in classroom math teaching. This article…

An eight-step teaching guide to help elementary students become familiar with electronic calculators. (Author/SJL)

Presents math games for parents to use at home with their children to reinforce math skills taught in the classroom. Areas covered include: sorting and counting; number recognition; shapes; basic skills; measuring; and problem solving. (JMB)

Plastic Easter eggs are useful devices for teaching basic mathematics skills, from counting activities to graphing. Eggs are used to reinforce addition, subtraction, and multiplication skills; column addition, estimation, statistics, and other topics are introduced. Sample activities are described. (JL)

Describes an elementary arithmetic project that involves reading, writing, and counting skills. Students collaboratively create a tooth-shaped book designed to strengthen their counting skills as they celebrate losing baby teeth. The article also includes other activities to further extend the project. (SM)

In working out exercises in addition the author became convinced of the importance of the ones place of the mind and fashioned a carefully worked technique in order to free the student from having to think about technique. (Author/RK)

Describes the common causes of learning difficulties in math and offers a few suggestions for dealing with them. (RB)

Presents five math games designed to give students extra practice in basic math operations. Each game is easy to make and stores in a file folder. (SJL)

Presents a plan that includes daily drills, games, and take-home papers to help fourth-graders memorize the addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division tables. (SJL)

Presents ideas for teaching basic skills. Includes strategies for teaching about human rights, directions for making an adding machine to use in addition and subtraction drill, activities for developing effective discussion skills, and suggestions for teaching place-name geography. (JMB)

Index cards, masking tape, pizza shells, golf tees, and empty soda bottles can be used to make manipulative objects to be used in children's mathematics games. Twenty-two games that provide practice in number drills and problem solving are described, along with instructions for making objects needed for the games. (PP)

Discusses why it is important to teach arithmetic, showing teachers how to match what they are teaching with children's real-world needs, presenting seven basics for teaching arithmetic today, and offering seven classroom strategies for implementing the instruction. The seven basics emphasize the importance of arithmetic skills and math facts as…

Students who can compute mathematical problems in their heads have learned a skill that is important for estimating and for understanding the number system. Practice activities that can help students master mental computation skills are described. (PP)