Math articles for teachers and educators
If you’re looking for articles to help with math instruction, take a look through the links below for some of our most popular math-related blog posts. The posts include a wide range of articles and resources written in service of educators looking to improve student math outcomes.
Math resources and more
The articles below are organized into the following categories.
- Differentiated math instruction
- Math discourse
- Math assessment
- Math activities
- Podcasts
- Professional learning
- Holidays and events
- Real-world math
For still more articles, we encourage readers to browse across our ever-growing library of math activities, articles, and resources.
Differentiated Math Instruction
Math engagement strategies to help K-12 teachers engage students and optimize their math instruction
Try these 7 small-group math activities and lessons to make math learning fun and improve student outcomes
These strategies provide differentiated math instruction to K-12 teachers looking for ways to personalize their mathematics teaching.
This list of differentiation instructional strategies for middle school math teachers gives ideas for students of all backgrounds to engage in math.
Classroom math center ideas and activities for K-8 students to engage in small-group math activities.
Learn about and use math choice boards for elementary school, with templates for kindergarten through 5th grade
Math Discourse
Students should be engaged in solving and discussing tasks that promote reasoning and problem solving.
Learn about math talk, or the discussions that students and teachers have while engaged in learning math.
Learn about math talk, anchor charts, and how to use anchor charts to support math talk in the classroom.
Explore how math discourse questions are important for fostering critical thinking skills and achieving learning goals.
Learn what mathematical discourse in the classroom is, along with how to use math discourse in the classroom.
Explore classroom discussion strategies that can help you to engage all students while keeping them on track.
Math Assessment
Discover what interim assessments are, how they differ from formative and summative tests, and how they help educators track student progress, inform instruction, and improve academic outcomes.
Explore summative assessment examples in math, along with a definition of what makes math assessment summative and how it compares to other types of assessment
Math diagnostic assessment is defined, explained, and compared to other types of assessment, such as formative assessment and summative assessment.
If you are looking for a flexible and quick way to incorporate assessment into your math classroom, math exit tickets may be your answer.
This article discusses different math formative assessment examples to inform both your teaching and your students' learning.
There are three different types of assessments in education that serve different purposes depending on when they are administered: diagnostic, formative, and summative.
Math Activities
Build your youngest learners' numeracy and problem-solving skills with these math activities for kindergarten, complete with videos, teacher guides, and more.
These hands-on math activities for 1st and 2nd grade will enable young learners to solve word problems, add numbers, complete and create patterns, and much more.
These math activities for 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade will get your kids' math brains spinning and offer just the practice they need to master different concepts.
Get your elementary students hooked on math with these games and activities.
Try these free middle school math activities that cover budgeting, taxes, social media engagement, coding, and many more topics.
Get your learners ready for the next step in learning mathematics with these free high school math activities.
Podcasts
Middle school math intervention teacher Melody Jacklin shares strategies on creating relevant and meaningful math lessons, incorporating STEM challenges in math instruction, and getting students comfortable with productive struggle.
Secondary math teacher Russell Hanes joins us and gives insight on how to build students' confidence in math by embracing mistakes and shifting their mindset to see themselves as "math people."
We’re kicking off our season with third-grade teacher Mary Martinez Crippen from Miami, Florida. Mary became a viral sensation when she began tracking football stats with her class. In this episode, Mary gives advice on how to incorporate personal passions into your instruction, how to connect classroom learning to the real world, and how to include football into your own lessons.
Photo: Middle school math teacher Velnetta Runyon
Velnetta Runyon’s goal is to show students not to be afraid of math. She ensures that her middle schoolers are believed in and are pushed to their fullest potential. In this episode, see how she teaches perseverance from the first day of school.
Listen to Method to the Mathness, a podcast made for math educators everywhere.
When customs broker Stacy Salter took on teaching elementary as a second career, she had to learn the ins and outs of classroom management to build student relationships.
Professional Learning
Stronger math outcomes start with coherence. Learn how aligned curriculum, professional learning, and AI policy make the difference.
Learn how thoughtful language and curiosity-driven teaching can inspire every learner to embrace math with confidence.
Learn about thinking routines for math, including what they are, how they work, and strategies for when to use them.
Find out what are Open Middle math problems, along with why to use them and resources to find them.
Julie Grove, Vice President of Product Management and Strategy for Mathematics at HMH, tackles the question: math is deeply relevant to everyday life, so why doesn’t it always feel that way in a classroom?
What does good math instruction look like? Dr. Matt Larson shares five components of effective math instruction in the modern classroom.
This article provides a definition of low floor, high ceiling math tasks, along with benefits, examples, and strategies for designing them.
This article explains what is procedural fluency in math. Common myths are explored, along with how procedural fluency changes across grades.
Many teachers ask, what is conceptual understanding in math? This article explains the difference between conceptual understanding and procedural fluency and how to improve math understanding.
In order to teach math well, teachers need a specialized type of knowledge called mathematical knowledge for teaching.
Learn how to be an effective math coach and help teachers transform their classrooms.
Who is doing the work and overcoming obstacles in order to develop math muscles?
Holidays and Events
Celebrate 100 days of school with a free 100th Day of School gumball machine template. Explore projects, games, and activities.
Download these 100th day of school math activities for your classroom. These printables are suitable for students in Grades 2-5 and beyond.
Here are fun Halloween math activities for middle school and high school students. Try these activities to celebrate Halloween in your math classroom and ensure that your middle school and high school students can enjoy the holiday while in school.
Try these fun Memorial Day math activities to celebrate the holiday with your students using Memorial Day-themes games, lesson plans, and activities.
This Black Friday classroom activity can teach elementary students about spending and budgeting as well as decimals and percentages.
Check out these monthly calendar themes for school, complete with teaching resources for holidays and other days of significance for all grade levels.
Real-World Math
Explore HMH's Math at Work web series to hear insights from industry experts about jobs that involve math and more.
Get activity ideas to teach math through theater and learn about the math that happens on Broadway
Use this video to teach numbers and expressions in math class by investigating how different numbers look around the world and throughout history at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Learn about the role of math in cooking in the "Math Meets Culinary Arts" episode of HMH's Math at Work web series.
How is math used in business? Watch the "Math Meets Entrepreneurship" episode of HMH's Math at Work web series to find out!
Learn about the role of mathematics in fashion design with the "Math Meets Fashion" episode of HMH's Math at Work web series.
Explore how math meets homebuilding with this Math at Work web series episode answering the question: How do homebuilders use math in their careers?
Try these real-life math problems with solutions in your classroom, which are open-ended projects with a range of possible answers.
In a special Olympic edition of the Math at Work web series, paired with activities based on the Olympic Games, students will learn how important math is to the world of sports.
Get our FREE guide “Optimizing the Math Classroom: 6 Best Practices.”