I want my math class to feel like a place where all students can collaborate, try new things and talk through ideas together. A place where students aren’t scared to be wrong – because making mistakes is part of learning. 

Some students arrive a little resistant to math because of their past experiences. Relationship-building is how I move them – getting to know them and showing them, over and over, that this is a safe place to make mistakes.

Other students arrive with advanced math skills, and our data shows those students can stall instead of growing if they’re not sufficiently challenged. I want an environment that meets both needs and brings all students together in a vibrant math community.

Below are five practices that help me build this culture every day – celebrating productive struggle, giving students ownership, revisiting unfinished learning in engaging ways, and making space to connect around math with peers and family.

1. Celebrating Mistakes With “Teacher Mail”

One small tool that makes a big difference is Teacher Mail. Teacher Mail is a little postcard I fill out and send home. It has quick checkboxes like “worked well with others,” “showing great improvement” and “excellent behavior,” and then it has a blank line where I can write something specific. I sign it and hand it to the student to take home and stick on the fridge.

I like to use Teacher Mail to highlight that math mistakes and challenges are part of our everyday celebrations. I might write, “Never gave up on a hard word problem.” “Used strategies to reach success ” or “Kept a positive attitude when challenged.” From the beginning of the year, students hear and see that mistakes are expected and valuable. We talk about it in our daily community circle, we point to our growth-mindset board and we practice saying, “It’s OK – I’m going to keep going.” The Teacher Mail postcards make that belief tangible and help communicate it to families, too.

2. Students Owning Their Goals and Progress

Our class goal is simple: grow. If a score isn’t what a student hoped for, we talk about it as information, not a judgment. What will we try next? To make that real, students keep data binders. They can open to a page and see their own improvement. When an objective needs attention, we use a flexible small-group model across teachers that lets students get targeted support. We see movement because the help matches the need.

This year, I added checklists to give students more control. Instead of rotating everyone through the same stations, each student works from a checklist that fits where they are. I actually keep four versions, aligned to skill levels and if a student needs more practice with subtraction with regrouping, their checklist points to that station. If they’re ready to go deeper, they might tackle a scavenger hunt or a three-digit challenge. I label station baskets with dry-erase stickers so I can adjust quickly.

We also use exit tickets to steer next steps. If a student misses, say, 3.2A, the note says, “Go to your TEK (learning objective) basket.” They grab that basket and get exactly what they need. It keeps everyone moving – just not all in the same way.

3. Daily Math Talks Instead of Paper Warm-Ups

We replaced traditional paper warm-ups with math talks. The reason is simple: With paper, some students finish fast while others wait for the answer. In a math talk, everyone’s in it.

I choose prompts based on what I’m seeing in student work. After a place-value assessment showed we needed more practice decomposing numbers – especially expanded notation – I put that in our “math quadrant box” for the week. Students grab whiteboards and we go. I can stand where I see their work, coach in the moment and invite students to peek at a neighbor’s strategy and talk it out.

Because students are constantly seeing and naming strategies, confidence grows. When I spotlight a student’s approach – “Look at how this strategy works” – you can feel the energy rise. The room becomes a place where explaining your thinking is normal, helping a neighbor is normal and revising your ideas is normal.

4. Revisiting Past Standards – Playfully

Flexible structures like math talks also create space for practicing standards from past grade levels without diminishing access to grade-level work.

One of the things we need more practice with is money. Our students don’t see cash often anymore, so skills like counting money can fade. Even though third grade isn’t required to teach it in depth, I sneak it in through daily routines so students keep access to grade-level learning while shoring up what’s unfinished.

Our math specialist created a calendar board where each day highlights a different coin – including the newer quarter designs. On whiteboards, students practice strategies like skip-counting and adding values. Because it’s hands-on and quick, engagement stays high and the practice sticks.

I also use Odd One Out – four images or equations where students decide what doesn’t belong and why. Lately it’s sets of coins or word problem representations. They have to justify their choice, which nudges them to count, reason and argue with evidence. It feels like a game, but it’s serious thinking.

5. Bringing Families Into the Learning

When families know how to jump in, they do – and students feel that support.

Every week, my partner teacher and I send a family newsletter with what we’re learning in math and links for support at home. I’m a big fan of the website Brainingcamp. I can generate codes for specific students who need virtual manipulatives, like base-ten blocks for regrouping, so they can practice at home even when they can’t take materials with them.

We also share photos through our messaging app, so families can see math in action. And because the language of math has changed for many adults, we send quick videos and/or QR-coded supports showing how to help with strategies like subtraction with regrouping.

We’re All Moving Forward – Together

When students know mistakes are welcome, when they can see their own progress, when unfinished learning gets folded in without shame – and when families feel invited in – students lean in. And when students who are already ahead have room to keep growing, the whole class benefits. That’s the culture I desire to build: Everyone belongs in the thinking, everyone gets what they need and everyone moves forward – together.