Today we will be tackling a topic that several of you have said you want to learn more about: The CRA model, (Concrete Representational Abstract). Unfortunately, many teachers learned math in the abstract. However, now we get to create opportunities to build student understanding with concrete experiences, and make meaning of the math. It's exciting stuff, so press play!

It’s one thing for students to memorize a math fact, but it’s another thing entirely for them to understand it. When students rely on abstract symbols alone, their learning can feel disconnected, temporary, and fragile.

That’s where the CRA model (Concrete, Representational, Abstract) comes in. In this episode, we explore how this powerful approach helps students build deep, lasting understanding by connecting hands-on experiences, visual thinking, and symbolic reasoning.

You’ll hear how CRA can shift the way students think about math, and why this isn’t just a “primary grades” strategy. We’ll talk about what it looks like in practice, how to get started without feeling overwhelmed, and how this one framework can transform the way your students make sense of math.

Links mentioned in this episode:

✅ Math Practice 2

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Subitizing is a powerful way to build multiplication fluency with your students because it gives them an opportunity to visualize strategies that can help them quickly recall unknown facts. For many students, subitizing feels a lot less scary and a lot more fun than flashcards, or other more traditional forms of fluency practice. So press play and let's dig into HOW to use subitizing to build fact fluency with your students!

Traditional approaches to math fact fluency often emphasize speed and memorization, but there are more meaningful ways to support student learning. This episode explores how subitizing, a visual strategy commonly used in the early grades, can be extended to build multiplication fluency through pattern recognition and numerical reasoning.

Learn how intentional visual routines can strengthen number sense and help students internalize multiplication facts through understanding, not rote recall. This discussion offers practical insights for teachers looking to make fluency work more engaging and effective across the elementary grades.

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If you loved this episode, please take a minute to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. With your support, we can reach even more teachers looking to make math meaningful for their students. Thank you!

Subitizing is an important skill that helps lay the foundation of understanding wholes and parts, which evolves into addition, subtraction, and later multiplication and division. In this episode, we’ll discuss the two types of subitizing, dig into ways we can encourage these skills, and understand the natural progression of subitizing skills to follow with your students. Sound good? The press play!

In this episode, we explore how the ability to instantly recognize quantities without counting supports deep mathematical understanding. This foundation matters not just in the moment, but across a child’s development. From early number sense to part-whole relationships and fluency with operations, subitizing lays critical groundwork.

We take a closer look at how these ideas unfold over time, how to support them intentionally, and how to spot what your students’ strategies reveal about their understanding and fluency development.

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Subtraction often gets stuck in a single storyline: “take away and count back.” But what if students had the chance to think differently, to reason about subtraction in ways that are more efficient, more intuitive, and more meaningful?

In this final episode of our fluency series, we revisit what makes subtraction challenging and explore how students shift from early strategies to more flexible thinking. You’ll hear how simple comparisons and visual tools like number lines and story problems can open doors to new strategies and deeper understanding.

You might also be surprised by one instructional move that could transform your approach to subtraction fluency, and it's definitely already in your curriculum. Let’s rethink how we help students see subtraction not as something to memorize, but as something to truly understand.

Links mentioned in this episode:

✅NCTM’s The Five Fundamentals

More from us:

👉 Follow us on Instagram @meaningfulmathco

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If you loved this episode, please take a minute to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. With your support, we can reach even more teachers looking to make math meaningful for their students. Thank you!

Have you ever stopped to think about just how many math facts there are? If you consider all four operations, there are hundreds of math facts for students to learn. Students need to learn strategies to solve math facts and develop a conceptual understanding of the operation as opposed to relying on memorization!

In this episode, we continue our fluency series by exploring what makes subtraction uniquely challenging, and how students gradually move from early counting strategies to more efficient, reasoning-based approaches.

You’ll hear how subtraction fluency develops over time, why memorization falls short, and how to help students build flexible, lasting understanding while still honoring where they’re starting. This episode sets the stage for a deeper, more meaningful approach to subtraction within 10 and 20.

Want to learn more? Let’s go!

Links mentioned in this episode:

✅NCTM’s The Five Fundamentals

More from us:

👉 Follow us on Instagram @meaningfulmathco

⭐️ SUBSCRIBE AND REVIEW

If you loved this episode, please take a minute to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. With your support, we can reach even more teachers looking to make math meaningful for their students. Thank you!

There’s a big difference between solving a math problem and understanding the math behind it. In this episode, we continue our discussion on addition fluency by exploring how students begin to move beyond early strategies and discover more efficient, flexible ways to add within 10 and 20.

You’ll hear how intentional routines like Number Talks, and visual tools like dot images and ten frames can help students uncover strategies on their own and build the kind of number sense that sticks. It’s not about rushing them to mastery; it’s about giving them the space to reason, make mistakes, and find what makes sense.

This episode is part two of our addition fluency series, and it’s full of practical insights for creating a math classroom where strategies aren’t memorized, they’re discovered.

Links mentioned in this episode:

✅NCTM’s The Five Fundamentals

More from us:

👉 Follow us on Instagram @meaningfulmathco

⭐️ SUBSCRIBE AND REVIEW

If you loved this episode, please take a minute to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. With your support, we can reach even more teachers looking to make math meaningful for their students. Thank you!

When we talk about fluency, speed, and accuracy usually steal the spotlight, but there’s a lot more going on beneath the surface. In this episode, we unpack what true fluency really means and why it’s about more than just getting correct answers quickly.

You’ll learn about the four components of fluency, explore the phases students move through on their journey toward mastery, and reflect on what first and second-graders are actually expected to know by the end of the year.

We’ll also explore the early strategies students bring with them, and why it’s important to honor those approaches while gently guiding them toward more efficient ones.

This is the first episode in a two-part series designed to help you support meaningful, strategy-rich addition fluency in your classroom. Let’s slow down, go deeper, and give students the foundation they really need.

Links mentioned in this episode:

✅NCTM’s The Five Fundamentals

More from us:

👉 Follow us on Instagram @meaningfulmathco

⭐️ SUBSCRIBE AND REVIEW

If you loved this episode, please take a minute to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. With your support, we can reach even more teachers looking to make math meaningful for their students. Thank you!

We are diving into our 8th and final math practice: Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning, and how it helps students move beyond shortcuts to develop real number sense. This practice is all about noticing patterns, finding structure, and making math more efficient and meaningful on their own terms.

You’ll hear how routines like Number Talks can create space for those “aha” moments, where students spot a strategy and own it because they discovered it themselves. It’s a powerful shift from being told what to do, to figuring out what makes sense.

Links mentioned in this episode:

✅Standards For Mathematical Practice

✅Math Practice 8

More from us:

👉 Follow us on Instagram @meaningfulmathco

⭐️ SUBSCRIBE AND REVIEW

If you loved this episode, please take a minute to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. With your support, we can reach even more teachers looking to make math meaningful for their students. Thank you!