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 The Brick Math Lesson of the Month for April 2026 helps students learn the concepts of "more than" and "less than." Taken from the first book in the Brick Math series, Counting and Cardinality, the lesson teaches students to use the correct vocabulary and understand exactly what it means, by modeling with bricks. You can get this free lesson by clicking here. You'll also get a new free Brick Math lesson every month after that.  The lesson starts by modeling a square number, then adding one extra brick stud to show one more. Students are asked to describe the model, build their own models, and draw their models, all to firmly establish the concept of more than in the students' minds. If they are ready, the greater than symbol and terminology is introduced now as well. The lesson then continues with the complementary idea of less than.  If students are ready, the lesson ends with introducing the term compare by looking at different brick models. In this one simple lesson, students will learn a lot of basic math vocabulary and concepts to build on as they move on to Addition and Subtraction.  The Brick Math curriculum is divided into 13 separate content areas: Counting, Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division, Basic Fractions, Basic Measurement, Fraction Multiplication, Fraction Division, Advanced Measurement and Geometry, Decimals, Data and Statistics, and Pre-Algebra.
Students can start anywhere in the curriculum. Brick Math can be used as a complete math curriculum or brought in as a supplement to help students who aren't having math success with other programs. Check BrickMath.com to learn more!
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 This month, the Brick Math Lesson of the Month teaches students the concept of missing terms in subtraction. The lesson is taken from Brick Math Subtraction, and you can get this lesson by clicking here. You'll also get a new free Brick Math lesson every month after that.  It's important for students to learn about the relationship between numerical operations. This lesson helps students understand the relationship between addition and subtraction, and develop their own strategies to solve related problems. This helps students later with mental math and fact recall.  This lesson starts with a problem where the missing term is the difference, which is what students will expect, but in the next problem, the missing term is the subtrahend. Using bricks plus the paper diagrams help students learn a sophisticated concept quickly and easily.  The Brick Math curriculum is divided into 13 separate content areas: Counting, Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division, Basic Fractions, Basic Measurement, Fraction Multiplication, Fraction Division, Advanced Measurement and Geometry, Decimals, Data and Statistics, and Pre-Algebra.
Students can start anywhere in the curriculum. Brick Math can be used as a complete math curriculum or brought in as a supplement to help students who aren't having math success with other programs. Check BrickMath.com to learn more!  Brrr! It's cold out there! But luckily, we're not living through Groundhog Day every day, so we know eventually it will warm up in time for spring (at least, we always hope for it here in Vermont!). While you and your students may be stuck indoors, here's a multiplication game you can play that will help them practice multiplication facts and remind them WHY multiplication works the way it does. It's from Brick Math Multiplication , and you can get this lesson by clicking here. You'll also get a new free Brick Math lesson every month after that.  The Blocks and Bricks Game is best played with two players. To start, each player has some bricks and a baseplate, along with a scoring sheet. They need one die to share. Player 1 starts by rolling the die twice: the first number is the multiplier, which the player models by building that number of blocks of space on their baseplate. The second number is the multiplicand, which the player models by putting the correct number of bricks in each block of space. Then the player counts all the bricks used, which answers the multiplication problem, and completes their scoring sheet for this roll. Player two does the same using the numbers rolled by Player 1. Then it's Player 2's turn to roll to start the next round.  In the game play directions, we suggest four rounds of play. At the end, the players add up the total number of studs in the solution column. If the players have compared and discussed their answers, they should have the same number in the solution column -- a tie game!  The Blocks and Bricks Game is a great way to introduce Brick Math to your students while they earn basic multiplication concepts. Modeling math with plastic bricks makes learning fun for everyone!
The Brick Math curriculum is divided into 13 separate content areas: Counting, Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division, Basic Fractions, Basic Measurement, Fraction Multiplication, Fraction Division, Advanced Measurement and Geometry, Decimals, Data and Statistics, and Pre-Algebra. Students can start anywhere in the curriculum. Brick Math can be used as a complete math curriculum or brought in as a supplement to help students who aren't having math success with other programs. Check BrickMath.com to learn more!  The FREE Brick Math Lesson of the Month for December 2025 is in response to a question from a teacher: "Can you help me explain regrouping to my students?" We certainly can! Decomposing is another term for regrouping, and this lesson helps student understand the concept. The lesson comes from Brick Math Addition. To get this lesson, click here, and you'll also get a new free Brick Math lesson every month after that.  It's important that students start thinking in terms of groups of ten as early as possible, since our number system is base ten. The lesson here shows students how to add, and it also shows the answer in terms of ten. The problem adds the numbers 4 and 9, and shows the answer as 10 + 3, or 13.  Students will use this knowledge as they move forward learning to add and subtract. Using bricks to model the base ten concepts makes them easy for students to understand, and also makes it easy for teachers to teach! The lesson starts with the Teacher lesson plans for the first four pages, followed by the three corresponding pages in the Student workbook. Try this lesson of the month with your students to see the power of Brick Math in action!  The Brick Math curriculum is divided into 13 separate content areas: Counting, Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division, Basic Fractions, Basic Measurement, Fraction Multiplication, Fraction Division, Advanced Measurement and Geometry, Decimals, Data and Statistics, and Pre-Algebra.
Students can start anywhere in the curriculum. Brick Math can be used as a complete math curriculum or brought in as a supplement to help students who aren't having math success with other programs. Check BrickMath.com to learn more!  The free Brick Math Lesson of the Month for November 2025 covers a topic that many students find difficult to understand -- working with fractions that have different denominators. This lesson is taken from Brick Math Basic Fractions. To get this lesson, click here, and you'll also get a new free Brick Math lesson every month after that.  After students have learned to add and subtract fractions that have the same denominators (for example, 3/8 + 2/8), it's time for them to learn how to add two fractions that have different, or unlike, denominators. In this lesson, students model the addition of 1/4 + 2/3. Before they can add the numerators, they must learn to find the Least Common Denominator to make the denominators the same. This lesson uses a wonderful technique called the "fraction train" to show clearly how to find the Least Common Denominator.  Using the studs on the bricks, students learn that the Least Common Denominator for this problem is 12. They model the two fractions with that denominator, then add the numerators. Along the way, students answer questions and explain in words why the math works. The Brick Math methods help students develop a deep understanding of math. The lesson starts with the Teacher lesson plans for the first four pages, followed by the three corresponding pages in the Student workbook. Try this lesson of the month with your students to see the power of Brick Math in action!  The Brick Math curriculum is divided into 13 separate content areas: Counting, Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division, Basic Fractions, Basic Measurement, Fraction Multiplication, Fraction Division, Advanced Measurement and Geometry, Decimals, Data and Statistics, and Pre-Algebra. Students can start anywhere in the curriculum. Brick Math can be used as a complete math curriculum or brought in as a supplement to help students who aren't having math success with other programs. Check BrickMath.com to learn more!  We're well into the swing of the new school year, and Brick Math is the choice of so many educators and homeschoolers for their K-8 math curriculum. It works as a general curriculum, and also for intervention, supplement, and enrichment. This month's free Brick Math Lesson of the Month is on quotitive division and comes from Brick Math Division. To get this lesson, click here, and you'll also get a new free Brick Math lesson every month after that.  Students need to learn both quotitive and partitive division. Partitive division involves taking a group of objects and dividing the objects into equal groups of a certain number. Quotitive division looks at the concept of division in a different way. It demonstrates how division is actually repeated subtraction. Quotitive division helps students connect division to subtraction in the same way that they learn to connect multiplication to addition.  This lesson about quotitive division starts with modeling a whole of 20, then counting down by 4s to zero. Each step is represented by a brick with 4 fewer studs, clearly showing students the repeated subtraction. At the end of the problem, the subtraction sentence 20 - 4 - 4 - 4 - 4 - 4 = 0, shown by the brick model that has been built, converts to the division sentence 20 ÷ 4 = 5. The lesson then continues with a second problem, starting with a new whole of 16 and counting down by 2s to zero, demonstrating 16 ÷ 2 = 8. The lesson starts with the Teacher lesson plans for the first four pages, followed by the three corresponding pages in the Student workbook. Try this lesson of the month with your students to see the power of Brick Math in action!  The Brick Math curriculum is divided into 13 separate content areas: Counting, Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division, Basic Fractions, Basic Measurement, Fraction Multiplication, Fraction Division, Advanced Measurement and Geometry, Decimals, Data and Statistics, and Pre-Algebra.
Students can start anywhere in the curriculum. Brick Math can be used as a complete math curriculum or brought in as a supplement to help students who aren't having math success with other programs. Check BrickMath.com to learn more!  The FREE Brick Math Lesson of the Month for September 2025 comes from Brick Math's Subtraction. To get this lesson, click here, and you'll also get a new free Brick Math lesson every month after that. This lesson teaches students how to subtract within 20 and uses a strategy called "ten-frames," which helps students see the numbers as they relate to the number 10. This is key to helping students think about math in the base 10 system, without talking about that terminology yet.  The lesson starts with pages from the Teacher Edition of Brick Math Subtraction. The first model shows the concept of subtracting 6 minus 4. The next model shows 12 minus 8. In each case, the models are built on ten-frames, which help to show the numbers in the context of 10. The lesson uses important subtraction vocabulary words like subtrahend and difference.  The last two pages of the Lesson of the Month come from the Student workbook for Brick Math Subtraction. These are the pages students use as they follow the teacher's lesson. In these pages, the students respond to questions and draw the brick models as they build them. This is all part of the Brick Math learning method, which starts with building models, then drawing the models, and then explaining the math in words. It's a proven method that gets real results with students.  The Brick Math curriculum is divided into 13 separate content areas: Counting, Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division, Basic Fractions, Basic Measurement, Fraction Multiplication, Fraction Division, Advanced Measurement and Geometry, Decimals, Data and Statistics, and Pre-Algebra.
Students can start anywhere in the curriculum. Brick Math can be used as a complete math curriculum or brought in as a supplement to help students who aren't having math success with other programs. Check BrickMath.com to learn more!  Happy summer, everyone! The Brick Math Lesson of the Month for July 2025 is on Partitive Division, which means dividing into equal shares. To get this lesson, click here, and you'll also get a new free Brick Math lesson every month after that. Partitive division is the kind of division that takes a whole and breaks it into equal parts. It's a great introduction to fractions as well as division.  In this lesson, the concept of division is presented as a real-world problem: sharing pieces of candy equally among friends. The bricks, with their easy-to-count studs, make it clear how many pieces will be in each group, as well as how many groups will be created. This is one of the most basic ideas in learning division, and it is illustrated so well using bricks! This Lesson of the Month shows pages from the Division Teacher Edition first, and then shows the corresponding workbook pages for students to use from the companion Division Student Edition. Students move from a concrete representation of the math to a more abstract representation by drawing the models, then finally to a fully abstract understanding of the math when they describe it in words. In this way, Brick Math helps students gain a deep, true understanding of math, which sets them up for future success as they move through the K-8 curriculum.  The Brick Math curriculum is divided into 13 separate content areas: Counting, Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division, Basic Fractions, Basic Measurement, Fraction Multiplication, Fraction Division, Advanced Measurement and Geometry, Decimals, Data and Statistics, and Pre-Algebra.  Students can start anywhere in the curriculum. Brick Math can be used as a complete math curriculum or brought in as a supplement to help students who aren't having math success with other programs.
Check BrickMath.com to learn more!  The FREE Brick Math Lesson of the Month for June 2025 comes from Basic Fractions, and it teaches students about equivalent fractions. To get this lesson, click here, and you'll also get a new free Brick Math lesson every month after that. Understanding the concept of equivalent fractions is important for learning to simplify fractions, a key skill. It's especially important when students are learning to add and subtract fractions with unlike denominators.  In this lesson, students learn the meaning of equivalent, then model equivalent fractions of sixteenths and twelfths. After students have mastered this concept, they will move to the next lesson, which is learning to find a common denominator so a fraction can be added and subtracted.  This Lesson of the Month shows pages from the Basic Fractions Teacher Edition first, and then shows the corresponding workbook pages for students to use from the companion Basic Fractions Student Edition. Students move from a concrete representation of the math to a more abstract representation by drawing the models, then finally to a fully abstract understanding of the math when they describe it in words. In this way, Brick Math helps students gain a deep, true understanding of math, which sets them up for future success as they move through the K-8 curriculum.  The Brick Math curriculum is divided into 13 separate content areas:
Counting, Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division, Basic Fractions, Basic Measurement, Fraction Multiplication, Fraction Division, Advanced Measurement and Geometry, Decimals, Data and Statistics, and Pre-Algebra. Students can start anywhere in the curriculum. Brick Math can be used as a complete math curriculum or brought in as a supplement to help students who aren't having math success with other programs. Check BrickMath.com to learn more!  MAYbe it's time for a new Brick Math free Lesson of the Month! Let's go back to Addition, and give you a lesson that is foundational to many other lessons throughout the Brick Math curriculum. This one teaches students about place value, and also shows how to add using the place value method. To get this lesson, from Brick Math Addition, click here, and you'll also get a new free Brick Math lesson every month after that.  In this lesson, the bricks are used to show the place values of ones, tens, and hundreds. A 1x1 brick models the ones place; a 1x2 brick models the tens place; a 1x3 brick models the hundreds place. Students start by creating models of 3-digit numbers. Once they understand how to model numbers, they use brick models to help them add numbers. It's a great way to explain the concept of place value, which is pivotal to so much math content that students will encounter in the years to come.  This Lesson of the Month shows pages from the Addition Teacher Edition first, and then shows the corresponding workbook pages for students to use from the companion Addition Student Edition. Students move from a concrete representation of the math to a more abstract representation by drawing the models, then finally to a fully abstract understanding of the math when they describe it in words. In this way, Brick Math helps students gain a deep, true understanding of math, which sets them up for future success as they move through the K-8 curriculum.  The Brick Math curriculum is divided into 13 separate content areas:
Counting, Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division, Basic Fractions, Basic Measurement, Fraction Multiplication, Fraction Division, Advanced Measurement and Geometry, Decimals, Data and Statistics, and Pre-Algebra. Students can start anywhere in the curriculum. Brick Math can be used as a complete math curriculum or brought in as a supplement to help students who aren't having math success with other programs. Check BrickMath.com to learn more! |