Railroad track for MOVE IT Math™ logo train
Equals as balanced key for understanding and lasting success in basic math ASMD Actions key for addition subtraction multiplication division as actions Number facts counting key for figuring out the number facts Fair trades key for understanding base and place value Fractions key for adding subtracting multiplying dividing with fraction circles
Fair trades key for understanding base and place value

Since 1974, thousands of children in classes using MOVE IT Math™ have learned arithmetic and done so years in advance of children locked into any of the major textbook series for elementary school math, including those published by Harcourt School Publishers, Houghton Mifflin, MacMillan McGraw-Hill, Saxon, Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley (enVision MATH), and the University of Chicago School Math Project (Everyday Math). They all stifle childrens mathematical growth with their sluggish, mind-numbing development of , , , and of whole numbers with huge percentages of children still “not getting it.” Not rectifying this issue alone could cost the nation (not billion) over the next 80 years!

While governor of Texas (1991-1995), Ann Richards said “MOVE IT Math is a quantum leap ahead of traditional math instruction now taught in Texas classrooms.... The question will be how much of it we can do and how fast we can put this program on track.” (). Today, more than 20 years after her pronouncement, America still bemoans how poorly its students rank in math in international testing (about 25th); politicians still campaign on promises to “fix our schools;” and the business community still rails to fire the “bad” teachers.

Nothing changed! Under a new administration, the University of Houston cancelled the MOVE IT Math™ methods courses for practicing elementary school teachers that previous administrations had promoted for more than a decade, and not one of more than 200 Texas newspapers, radio stations, and TV stations that were told of it questioned the university’s decision. Neither did any of the politicians who were contacted: 152 Texas congressmen and congresswomen, 31 Texas senators, 32 Texas members of the US House of Representatives, and 74 US senators, including then senators Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama. Meanwhile, the elementary school math curriculum has become so test-driven and encumbered with practice tests that teachers are hardly able to teach arithmetic at all.

The main reason so few American children excel in arithmetic is not bad teachers. It is a bad curriculum. In MOVE IT Math™, success in arithmetic is built on understanding and thus lasts. In all other programs, it is built on memorization and thus lasts for only a while (, , ). Worse, in all other programs, the doling out of numbers a digit at a time in the early grades (2-digit numbers in grade 1, 3-digit numbers in grade 2, and 4-digit numbers in grade 3) ensures boredom. Moreover, adding and subtracting such small numbers in the early grades doesn't reveal the patterns that arise from doing so with bigger numbers that show how a place value numeration system works—the main idea in understanding arithmetic.

Our mission is to rally a nationwide movement that will insist that the current underperforming elementary school math curriculum be reworked to ensure that learn arithmetic, which they must if they are to learn algebra—the gateway to higher mathematics and science. This they must if they are to be competitive in the worldwide competition for jobs that are becoming increasingly technical ().

Please join us in showing that all kids can learn arithmetic and that the current elementary school math curriculum, regardless of the publisher, is woefully inadequate in its development of the subject. We have been doing that for more than 35 years but are new to the Internet and only recently able to widely disseminate what we do. Click on the MOVE IT Math™ train below to learn how to teach arithmetic effectively to every child.

Everyone Can Learn Math train

No fees or registration required! All of the lessons for the hands-on activities that were used to teach the children in Part 1 of the videos on the preceding page are included in that may be downloaded from this site for as little as 95 cents each. No materials to buy if you use the templates provided to make those used in the activities: a , , and .

 

 

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Project GRAD USA increases graduation rates
Grade 1 boy making a fair trade in base 3 with blocks that match up
Grade 3 Hispanic boy exploring the meaning of fractions with fraction circles
Elementary school African American girls adding long columns of big numbers
ALLKIDSARITHMETIC
ALLKIDSMATH
Equals as balanced key for understanding and lasting success in elementary school math Equals as balanced key for understanding and lasting success in arithmetic ASMD Actions key for addition subtraction multiplication division as actions ASMD Actions key for addition subtraction multiplication division as actions Number facts counting key for figuring out the number facts Number facts counting key for figuring out the number facts Fair trades key for understanding base and place value Fair trades key for understanding base and place value Fractions key for adding subtracting multiplying dividing with fraction circles Fractions key for adding subtracting multiplying dividing with fraction circles