Brick Math is the leading math manipulative program for K-8 students, no matter the students’ experience or previous understanding of math. Brick Math is so successful because it incorporates several key teaching strategies proven by research to help students achieve success.

Today we’ll explain the first teaching strategy: Transferring knowledge learned from concrete to abstract.

​Math is abstract. A number is actually a concept – not really a thing in the physical world. Students need to learn what the idea of “1” means before they can begin to do anything with numbers like count, add, or subtract. A concrete tool like a LEGO® brick is a physical representation of the concept of the number. One stud on a brick represents the number 1, for example.​

​The Brick Math methodology starts with students using LEGO® bricks to make models of the numbers and the math problems. Students say they can “see” the math when they model with the bricks. Here’s an example of modeling the sum 4 + 3 with bricks:

​The final step that cements the learning is using words and numbers to explain the model they have just built and drawn. Students write or tell why the model describes the math problem, and they write the math sentence that the model is showing. In our example, they would write “4 + 3 = 7” and explain in words that the model shows four studs on one brick and three studs on another brick, and when they are brought together, seven studs in all. This last step of explaining the problem in words reinforces the concept.
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​This three-step teaching method is very effective in building deep, true understanding of the math. The physical representation with bricks helps students learn what the math means, and the steps that transfer the learning from concrete to abstract ensure that students really comprehend the math.

Brick Math is a K-6 math curriculum that uses LEGO® bricks to model  11 different math subjects: Counting, Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division, Basic Fractions,   Basic Measurement, Fraction Multiplication, Fraction Division, Advanced Measurement and Geometry, and Decimals. It works well for homeschooling, math intervention, enrichment, and as a whole-school program. Materials are simple and affordable.
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If you teach math or have a student at home who is learning K - 6th grade math, check brickmath.com. The website includes videos for both teacher training and direct instruction of students. You can learn more about how Brick Math improves students' math test scores and hear what people who are using Brick Math have to say about the program. ​

We're going back to basics for this month's FREE Brick Math Lesson of the Month -- way back! Taken from Counting and Cardinality Using LEGO Bricks, this month's lesson is titled "What Is a Number?" To get the December 2021 Lesson of the Month on numbers, plus a new lesson each month, click here.  You'll also find a quick video of the lesson that demonstrates building the math models with bricks.

The lesson uses 1x1 bricks to show what numbers really mean. Counting each brick gives students the opportunity to use an important learning skill: one-to-one correspondence. This lesson also serves to introduce some of the Brick Math methods that are used throughout all the Brick Math subjects. It's a great one to try with your youngest learners!
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Brick Math is a K-6 math curriculum that uses LEGO® bricks to model  11 different math subjects: Counting, Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division, Basic Fractions,   Basic Measurement, Fraction Multiplication, Fraction Division, Advanced Measurement and Geometry, and Decimals. It works well for homeschooling, math intervention, enrichment, and as a whole-school program. Materials are simple and affordable.
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If you teach math or have a student at home who is learning K - 6th grade math, check brickmath.com. The website includes videos for both teacher training and direct instruction of students. You can learn more about how Brick Math improves students' math test scores and hear what people who are using Brick Math have to say about the program. 

​It’s not too early to begin thinking about summer school.
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As parents and educators are painfully aware, math comprehension has suffered during the pandemic. Schools are planning summer school programs to help students catch up on math skills. At Brick Math, we're hearing from lots of schools who want to use Brick Math in their upcoming summer school programs.

​Brick Math, the program that teaches math using LEGO bricks, is a great supplemental curriculum that allows educators to laser-focus on specific student needs. Because it is subject-based, Brick Math can be used in small groups or even individually to create a custom curriculum. And because the same Brick Math brick set is used for all the subject areas of the Brick Math curriculum, students can make progress in several math subjects during the summer.

​Brick Math is also expanding its offerings for the upcoming summer session:
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• All the Teacher and Student Editions will be available in Spanish by summer 2022
• The Brick Math curriculum will be extended through K – 8th grade with three new books: Data and Statistics, Ratio and Proportions, and Pre-Algebra

​Please contact us at www.BrickMath.com for more information about how Brick Math can help your students this summer.

The FREE Brick Math Lesson of the Month for November 2021 is on adding fractions with like denominators, using LEGO bricks to model the fractions.  To get the November 2021 Lesson of the Month, plus a new lesson each month, click here.  It's accompanied by a quick video of this same lesson, to help you understand how to teach with the Brick Math method. You'll find it is easy to teach and fun to learn!

This lesson perfectly illustrates the idea of adding two fractions that have the SAME denominator. The simple trick of using bricks of the same color to show the like denominators of the fractions really helps students grasp the concept. Students will quickly understand the idea when you teach it this way. 

Brick Math is a K-6 math curriculum that uses LEGO® bricks to model  11 different math subjects: Counting, Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division, Basic Fractions,   Basic Measurement, Fraction Multiplication, Fraction Division, Advanced Measurement and Geometry, and Decimals. It works well for homeschooling, math intervention, enrichment, and as a whole-school program. Materials are simple and affordable.
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If you teach math or have a student at home who is learning K - 6th grade math, check brickmath.com. The website includes videos for both teacher training and direct instruction of students. You can learn more about how Brick Math improves students' math test scores and hear what people who are using Brick Math have to say about the program. ​

Wow -- it's fall already! For October 2021, the Brick Math Lesson of the Month is a treat for learning basic subtraction concepts. To get the October 2021 Lesson of the Month, plus a new lesson each month, click here.  

Subtraction can be tricky for a young student to learn. Addition makes sense -- adding to or joining -- but subtraction is taking away, or the inverse of addition, and students need to understand the concept clearly. That's where Brick Math comes in. The lesson shows how to model the action of subtraction in a  hands-on way that makes subtraction concrete and real.

The lesson includes both the Teacher's Lesson Guide and the corresponding Student Workbook pages. And the lesson also includes a link to a video of Brick Math author Dr. Shirley Disseler demonstrating first addition, and then subtraction lessons using this technique. Read the lesson, watch the video, and then try it with your own student(s)!

Brick Math is a K-6 math curriculum that uses LEGO® bricks to model  11 different math subjects: Counting, Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division, Basic Fractions,   Basic Measurement, Fraction Multiplication, Fraction Division, Advanced Measurement and Geometry, and Decimals. It works well for homeschooling, math intervention, enrichment, and as a whole-school program. Materials are simple and affordable.
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If you teach math or have a student at home who is learning math, check brickmath.com. The website includes videos for both teacher training and direct instruction of students. You can learn more about how Brick Math improves student math test scores and hear what people who are using Brick Math have to say about the program. ​

The September 2021 Brick Math Lesson of the Month teaches addition using ten-frames to model the math. To get the September 2021 Lesson of the Month, plus a new lesson each month, click here. 

​Since our number system is based on 10, ten-frames are a great way to teach addition within a general framework of the number 10. They really help students "see" more than and less than 10, which is vital for building conceptual understanding of addition and subtraction.

This basic lesson demonstrates adding 3 + 4 = 7, using two ten-frames to model the problem, and a third ten-frame to show the result. Notice that when modeling on a ten-frame, it helps to build the answer as a full row of 5 studs and a second partial row of 2 studs. This further reinforces the concept of the ten-frame.

Two videos are included with this lesson of the month. In the first video, author Dr. Shirley Disseler shows how to build ten-frames with bricks, and in the second video, she demonstrates this lesson. Watching Dr. Disseler teach Brick Math lessons is a great way to get comfortable teaching lessons to your student(s).

Brick Math is a K-6 math curriculum that uses LEGO® bricks to model  11 different math subjects: Counting, Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division, Basic Fractions,   Basic Measurement, Fraction Multiplication, Fraction Division, Advanced Measurement and Geometry, and Decimals. It works well for homeschooling, math intervention, enrichment, and as a whole-school program. Materials are simple and affordable.
​
If you teach math or have a student at home who is learning math, check brickmath.com. The website includes videos for both teacher training and direct instruction of students. You can learn more about how Brick Math improves student math test scores and hear what people who are using Brick Math have to say about the program. ​

​The August 2021 Lesson of the Month comes from the Decimals book. To get the August 2021 Lesson of the Month, plus a new lesson each month, click here. 

​For the first time, we’re showing you Part 2 of a lesson, or “Show What You Know.” This comes after the teacher has demonstrated the skill in Part 1 of the lesson (“Show Them How”), with the students working along with their own bricks. In Part 2, the teacher poses a problem for the students to work out while the teacher observes and coaches.

​In Part 1, students have learned how to model decimals in a 100 x 100-stud decimal grid.  In Part 2, students are first asked to model 0.42 in a decimal grid with bricks. Next, they are asked to try modeling any combination of studs that adds up to 0.30. In the Decimals book, the example illustrated is 0.14 + 0.16. The 100 x 100 decimal grid is a very useful tool to explain the concept of decimals to the one-hundredth place.

​Author of the Brick Math series, Dr. Shirley Disseler, demonstrates how to teach this decimal addition lesson in a one-minute Brick Math video, which is also part of the August 2021 Lesson of the Month. Watching the videos on the website really helps a teacher or parent understand how to guide a student through the Brick Math curriculum.

During the pandemic, the math skills of many elementary school students have dropped significantly. In the coming school year, educators are faced with the challenge of helping students both regain skills and learn new material.
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The latest thinking on how to help students who have lost math skills during the COVID year is to accelerate instruction rather than hold back. Guidance from the US Department of Education is to move ahead with grade-level math instruction, but include new strategies for learning where students show deficits. 

Brick Math is the perfect solution for teachers and schools looking for a way to help students whose math skills have faltered in the past year. The K – 6th grade program uses LEGO bricks to model math, an innovative approach that helps students quickly learn mathematic basics that range from Counting through Advanced Geometry. Since the program is modular, it can be brought in to address specific learning deficits a student may have. For example, if a teacher finds that a student missed out on learning decimals last year, the Brick Math program of instruction for Decimals will help that student move back up to grade level work quickly.

​Here’s how Brick Math can help a student who has lost math skills over the past year:
1. Determine what area of math the student is having trouble with (for example, understanding decimals).
2. Bring in the Brick Math subject area as needed (in the example, use the methods in the Decimals Teacher and Student books). The program focuses on helping the student quickly understand and master the topic.
3. Now the student is ready to rejoin the whole class in grade-level math.

Happy summer to everyone! It's been a looooong school year for teachers, students, and parents—not one we hope to repeat again!

Here's a new Brick Math Lesson of the Month for you to try. We think the Brick Math program will be especially helpful in the upcoming school year for kids who have lost some math skills during the pandemic year.​

The Brick Math Lesson of the Month for July 2021 is on Division Basics. It's a great way to introduce the concept of division to a student. The lesson uses LEGO bricks to model three basic division problems: 4 ÷ 2 = 2; 8 ÷ 4 = 2; and 6 ÷ 3 = 2. When a student builds the problems with bricks and counts the studs on each brick, the idea of division is made simple to learn. 

To get the July 2021 Lesson of the Month, plus a new lesson each month, click here. The lesson is accompanied by a short video that illustrates the brick building process for each problem. Watch it before you teach the lesson to your student(s), or watch it along with your student(s)!

​Brick Math is a K-6 math curriculum that uses LEGO® bricks to model  11 different math subjects: Counting, Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division, Basic Fractions,   Basic Measurement, Fraction Multiplication, Fraction Division, Advanced Measurement and Geometry, and Decimals. It works well for homeschooling, math intervention, enrichment, and as a whole-school program. Materials are simple and affordable.
​
If you teach math or have a student at home who is learning math, check brickmath.com. The website includes videos for both teacher training and direct instruction of students. You can learn more about how Brick Math improves student math test scores and hear what people who are using Brick Math have to say about the program. ​

​The lesson also includes more problems about adding decimals:
     0.40 + 0.2. + 0.04 = ?
     0.41 + 0.32 = ?
     0.2 + 0.34 = ?
     Use bricks to model the solution
Once you’ve solved all these problems, you’ll know how to add decimals, and you’ll be…as smart as a fifth grader!