Recently, there have been 6 shifts in New York State towards the Common Core Standards for Math.

Jumping Joey’s Number Line agrees with these Common Core Standards shifts. As Educators, we feel that the Common Core Standards will lead to increased academic achievement.

“Common Core Standards Shift 1: Focus”

With this shift, students focus on essential work, increasing mathematical skills and forming a firm foundation that they can utilize. Jumping Joey’s Number Line works to strengthen all four operations of arithmetic seeks to instill a mental number line, which students can use to calculate. Such a mental number line has been shown by psychologists to increase academic achievement, test scores, and grades.

“Common Core Standards Shift 2: Coherence”

With this shift, students look to understand how learning connects across the grades. Jumping Joey’s Number Line is an integrated program where elements fit together in a coherent way leading to increased knowledge.

“Common Core Standards Shift 3: Fluency”

With this shift, students are asked to increase their speed and accuracy of simple calculations. Each of Jumping Joey’s Number Line Products works with repetition and practice to increase number fluency, which build structure for advanced concepts.

“Common Core Standards Shift 4: Deep Understanding”

With this shift, teachers demand more than just the right answer; understanding the work is of increased importance. Jumping Joey’s Number Line works to build problem solving skills and increase confidence with numbers, so students can take on math challenges.

“Common Core Standards Shift 5: Application”

With this shift, students are asked to apply number concepts in context. Jumping Joey’s Number Line supports both numerical and word problems and allows the student to make connections between the two.

“Common Core Standards Shift 6: Dual Intensity”

With this shift, students are asked to practice and understand. Parrot math is not an option. Jumping Joey’s Number Line is an engaging, enjoyable, effective, and efficient tool that is motivating and builds long-term understanding.

As the Common Core Standards continue rise in importance, Jumping Joey’s Number Line is there to support students, teachers, and parents.

Matthew Mandelbaum and Jamie Cohen are parents and learning specialists and are the creators of Jumping Joey’s Number Line. Jumping Joey’s Number Line is an innovative, child-centered, multi-sensory arithmetic learning system for Pre-K through Elementary. Jumping Joey’s Number Line fosters enjoyable, engaging, effective and efficient mathematical experiences, where students are motivated and build a strong math foundation with long-term understanding. Students feel successful and excited about learning opportunities, and confident in their emerging abilities.

A four-year old girl gets a present. “It’s not really a toy,” her mom says. “It’s a useful present; but you are going to have a lot of fun with it. It will unlock the wonders of numbers. Plus, you get to use you whole body with it.” The girl’s excited; she likes numbers. Together, they open the box and unroll the thick canvas strips making a 10-foot by 3-foot rectangle. On the canvas is a line of numbers with smiling faces below each one. “It is a friendly face,” the girl says to her mom. Then, her mom takes out a package of colorful dice and shows them to the girl. Her eyes light up. She’s never seen dice like these before. They read through the directions book and she rolls two 12- sided dice. 8 and 7! The girl runs to the face below the 8 and then jumps 7 faces to land on 15. “8 + 7 = 15?”, she asks. Then, she looks down. “8 + 7 = 15,” she says with raised confidence. She pauses to think. She smiles! She beams! “8 + 7 = 15!” she understands. She wants to roll again. And again. “Let’s do this every night! I like Jumping Joey”, she says. She sings, “Jumping Joey likes to smile! Jumping Joey likes math! Jumping Joey likes to jump!”

After experiencing Jumping Joey’s Number Line® Floor Mat with her daughter for a few weeks, the mom reflects: “We had been working with our daughter on number recognition and counting, but math was just not an enjoyable activity for us to share until now. With Jumping Joey, we now look forward to the time we spend on math. Our daughter has quickly moved through the first level of play and is now far more advanced than just a few weeks ago.”

Similar stories to this one about a child’s discovery of numbers are happening time and again as children come to know Jumping Joey’s Number Line. Originally designed to help a kindergartner develop number facts and problem solving skills, the product line grew and is helping more and more students. For instance, one boy who was struggling in second grade used Jumping Joey’s Number Line as he learned to jump the Number Line in his head. He immediately began to succeed. His mother thanked me with tears! He continued to improve year after year. She recently told me that he has moved to an elite middle school. Math is his favorite subject and he has a 98 average.

Your child can enjoy similar experiences with Jumping Joey’s Number Line.

Matthew Mandelbaum and Jamie Cohen are parents and learning specialists and are the creators of Jumping Joey’s Number Line. Jumping Joey’s Number Line is an innovative, child-centered, multi-sensory arithmetic learning system for Pre-K through Elementary. Jumping Joey’s Number Line fosters enjoyable, engaging, effective and efficient mathematical experiences, where students are motivated and build a strong math foundation with long-term understanding. Students feel successful and excited about learning opportunities, and confident in their emerging abilities.

When children first begin their mathematical journey, it is important that they develop a concrete understanding of the meaning of numbers. Using hands-on materials is important so they can experience numbers to understand what they mean.

An important number concept is developing a genuine understanding of the order of numbers. For example, children need to understand the value of the number 8 and that it is one bigger than 7 and 1 less than 9. Creating a framework for how to understand the relationship between numbers is important in helping them build long-term understanding. Using a number line (such as Jumping Joeys Number Line) helps children develop their sense of number, as well as how numbers are organized. In order for children to learn these concepts, they need a concrete way to experience these relationships…what better way than jumping up and down the number line as they do with Jumping Joey’s Number Line? By utilizing these products, children have the opportunity to internalize these basic number concepts in a multi-sensory way, which helps them have a deeper level of understanding. All future math learning builds upon these basic number concepts.

We must do all we can to give children the tools to learn these necessary ideas. Tools for building these concepts in the Jumping Joey’s Number Line catalogue include the Floor Mat and Place Mat. Here, children can practice these skills using both large motor and small motor muscles.

As parents, it is important to understand how your child’s school teaches math. Find out if they are using number lines, hands-on tools, and visual aids to help your child learn basic math concepts. Support the learning at home with Jumping Joey’s Number Line.

Matthew Mandelbaum and Jamie Cohen are parents and learning specialists and are the creators of Jumping Joey’s Number Line. Jumping Joey’s Number Line is an innovative, child-centered, multi-sensory arithmetic learning system for Pre-K through Elementary. Jumping Joey’s Number Line fosters enjoyable, engaging, effective and efficient mathematical experiences, where students are motivated and build a strong math foundation with long-term understanding. Students feel successful and excited about learning opportunities, and confident in their emerging abilities.

When working with children, one needs to have a clear rationale. To help children learn in an optimal way, it is important to be sensitive, understanding, and compassionate. To that end, our approach to working with children and families and to creating educational products are guided by the following principles:

•One purpose of a fine education is to build an expanding knowledge base across subjects and to refine ways of communicating it clearly.

•As learning specialists and educational product developers, we help children advance their critical thinking skills, intellectual curiosity, and motivation to love learning through multi-sensory tools that are grounded in standards-based pedagogy.

•We support the range of learners, scaffolding student growth to promote achievement.

•We strive to make learning relevant and engaging so that students can make meaningful connections between the subject matter and their prior knowledge.

•One of our job functions is to broaden student intellectual opportunities. We seek to help students find connections between seemingly divergent ideas to spur creativity and innovation.

•We aim to foster a collaborative learning environment with solid educational products where students feel energized by delving into the topics and working together to build understanding.

•We look to promote independence and interdependence among students to yield high levels of self-efficacy and community participation.

•We believe in active cooperation among educators, parents, and students to maximize success.

•We drive to foster lifelong learners who yearn to make contributions to the world.

•We seek to cultivate the maturation of the whole person, integrating academic, social, and emotional constructs so that students grow with wisdom, consciousness, resilience, and joy.

• As parents, educators, educational product developers and former students, we know how to create both a rigorous and warm learning experience.

•We take the responsibility of teaching, learning, and educational product development very seriously. We have the utmost respect for learners and look to help them on their path of development.

Child-centered learning is a key component to what we do and what we build. It allows us to focus on the individual needs of each student, which empowers them to develop their own unique abilities, and lets them feel the pride of ownership that comes from real learning. When children use our products, they take on the responsibility of learning themselves and feel the excitement of doing work as scientists/mathematicians/researchers who can actively think and construct their knowledge. They build critical analysis skills and long-term understanding. With this philosophy at hand, students can grow their self-efficacy for the task and increase self-confidence, which improves their overall academic and social-emotional functioning. This philosophy drives our understanding of children and is the foundation of our success. It can be shared with others looking to help children in their development.

Matthew Mandelbaum and Jamie Cohen are parents and learning specialists and are the creators of Jumping Joey’s Number Line. Jumping Joey’s Number Line is an innovative, child-centered, multi-sensory arithmetic learning system for Pre-K through Elementary. Jumping Joey’s Number Line fosters enjoyable, engaging, effective and efficient mathematical experiences, where students are motivated and build a strong math foundation with long-term understanding. Students feel successful and excited about learning opportunities, and confident in their emerging abilities.

The holiday time presents a welcome respite from the daily grind of the school calendar. It is a time for rest, relaxation, and reflection. The giddiness felt by children before a holiday break is palpable. While it is important for all children to take a break and regroup, it is also key that scholastic skills and some sort of routine do not fall to the wayside.

Parents looking to keep their children’s skills sharp over the holidays should follow these suggestions for an enjoyable, engaging, intellectual holiday break.

1) Maintain some sort of academic routine. If you and your child read street signs together, count change or practice reading the time on the clock, keep that up in a relaxed, natural way.

2) Read each day for 20 minutes. If your child is resistant to reading, choose a book with a topic she is interested in or pick a magazine she enjoys. You can also read together. Make it a special time.

3) Practice math skills with products like Jumping Joey’s Number Line. This product is fun and keeps kids active; use it when you have some downtime to reinforce skills in an interactive way.

4) Review academic content throughout the vacation through inquiry. Ask your child questions and solve problems together. The holidays are a great time to talk about being thankful; discuss what you all are thankful for and have write or draw about together.

5) Make family time a chance for storytelling to develop narrative skills. Storytelling is an important way for children to learn about their family’s background and past experiences. Structure it in a way so children are learning key concepts such as beginning, middle, end and don’t forget the 5 w’s and 1 h (who, what, where, when, why, how).

6) Incorporate learning into holiday traditions like cooking and setting the table. Have your child help with measurements and counting through these fun holiday activities.

Give the gift of learning and your entire family will be rewarded. Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday season!

Matthew Mandelbaum and Jamie Cohen are parents and learning specialists and are the creators of Jumping Joey’s Number Line. Jumping Joey’s Number Line is an innovative, child-centered, multi-sensory arithmetic learning system for Pre-K through Elementary. Jumping Joey’s Number Line fosters enjoyable, engaging, effective and efficient mathematical experiences, where students are motivated and build a strong math foundation with long-term understanding. Students feel successful and excited about learning opportunities, and confident in their emerging abilities.

For many children, transitions can be challenging. Let’s just clarify exactly what we mean when we say transitions; we are referring to the time when children need to make any sort of change during the typical day. It could be a big transition, such as saying goodbye to mom and dad in the morning; or it could be one of the many smaller transitions that occur during the school day, such as switching from one activity to another. This may include having to stop what they’re doing and clean up, even if they want to continue working.

Transitions such as these happen frequently during the school day; and for many children, they can be the hardest times of all. Some children become overwhelmed by the need to switch gears, possibly locations, and mindsets. Sometimes, if they don’t have enough structure, they become unsure how to behave or know what to do, and they unnecessarily fail to display good student behaviors.

There are many ways to help them. Both teachers and parents can alleviate many challenges that happen during transitions by following these few guidelines:

1. Children need clear expectations and they thrive on routines.
When they know what is happening next and they understand what they are supposed to do, they can feel more at ease making a transition.

2. Many children need directions broken down into smaller parts. This can be less over stimulating. For example, instead of telling them to put their pencils in one place, their folders in another, get their jackets, and line up at the door, try telling them the directions one step at a time or provide a visual with pictures or words that outline each step.

3. Making a personal schedule that they can use for the day’s framework is helpful in letting them know the order of the day and the times. If they are old enough, you can provide the times, or you can draw pictures of what the clock will look like at each particular time. As adults, think about how many times a day we check our schedules.  Children benefit from the same structure; we just need to provide it for them and help them learn how to use it. In addition, wearing a watch can be useful for many children and individualized alarms could be set to give children an awareness of the time they need to change activities.

4. Warnings are vital. Children need to know when an activity is almost over or when they need to leave a place. When the warning is given, don’t just tell them to change, reinforce it by telling them to put the finishing touches on their work or to get ready by thinking about what they are going to do next.

If you find that your child needs help with transitions, try suggesting these school-based strategies when advocating for him or her and/or use them at home.

Matthew Mandelbaum and Jamie Cohen are parents and learning specialists and are the creators of Jumping Joey’s Number Line. Jumping Joey’s Number Line is an innovative, child-centered, multi-sensory arithmetic learning system for Pre-K through Elementary. Jumping Joey’s Number Line fosters enjoyable, engaging, effective and efficient mathematical experiences, where students are motivated and build a strong math foundation with long-term understanding. Students feel successful and excited about learning opportunities, and confident in their emerging abilities.

Math anxiety is a very common phenomenon, which is unfortunate because it can ruin a school experience and have children miss out on loving learning.

When there is fear of math, children can choke up. This issue can get so big that it overshadows the work itself and can be detrimental to a child’s development in school. When a child feels afraid, she believes that she cannot do an assignment, even if the skill level is there. As that fear grows, new learning cannot take place and the child loses ground in developing necessary skills and concepts.

Recently, research published in the journal Cerebral Cortex by Dr. Sian L. Beilock and colleagues demonstrated that math anxiety overtakes brain functioning, making it difficult to process problems. As the researchers have found, and as we have found in our own work with children, if students are able to recognize the anxiety before it takes over and can transform it, they can be successful in math.

Here are two of our tips for how to overcome math anxiety.

When a student feels overwhelmed about math, there is a sense of meekness. She feels dominated by the topic. In addition, she begins to focus on the anxiety instead of the math itself, which divides attention, giving less time for problem solving and more time for worry. The solution is to capture fear and transform it into power.

To counter the fear, students should empower themselves by becoming “warriors of math”. They should think of a time when they feel in control and are strong, for example, perhaps while playing sports, acting in a play, or making a piece of art. Or they can think of a hero that they can identify with. Parents can help them recall the feelings felt during these times. They can also talk about past experiences of overcoming adversity and succeeding. In doing so, a shift in attitude will occur, as the student feels more confident. Parents can then help their children channel these feelings onto math. Parents can say something like, “Just as you feel in this situation, you can feel the same way during math. Imagine what it feels like to be a strong, confident math person. You are that person.”

Doing so shifts the mindset, takes the energy off the anxiety, and turns it to the positive, which is highly motivating. With the warrior attitude, students can attack the problem or attack the test, instead of being afraid of them. It is hard to be afraid and be a warrior at the same time. Practicing this mindfulness readies students for work and success.

Once this enthusiasm is in place, students should focus on the problems at hand and see themselves as mathematicians or scientists who actively engage in solving problems. They should get actively involved and investigate, stopping to pause, ponder, and wonder. These behaviors prompt curiosity, which counters anxiety. Parents can help in this matter by discussing the importance of math in daily life and by sharing how they, too, do serious work. Parents can model working behavior.

Being the strong warrior and an engaged mathematician/scientist is the antithesis of having math anxiety. Once this mindset is in place, students can focus on the math skills with an open mind, exuding confidence, hope, and interest, which will raise academic achievement and self-confidence.

Matthew Mandelbaum and Jamie Cohen are parents and learning specialists and are the creators of Jumping Joey’s Number Line. Jumping Joey’s Number Line is an innovative, child-centered, multi-sensory arithmetic learning system for Pre-K through Elementary. Jumping Joey’s Number Line fosters enjoyable, engaging, effective and efficient mathematical experiences, where students are motivated and build a strong math foundation with long-term understanding. Students feel successful and excited about learning opportunities, and confident in their emerging abilities.

It a common phenomenon, the child you know at home may not behave in the same manner during school. When you hear about your child from teachers, you might think, “I am surprised; that’s not my child.” Don’t worry; it’s normal.

Children are often different at home and at school. School represents a whole new set of challenges and expectations for your child that he might not experience at home. There are new structures and rules in place and children do not have the same degree of familiarity that may be in the home.

Two goals of school are socialization and acculturation. This process takes place throughout the school year, as the child learns to be both an individual and a cooperative group member. Without the familiar comforts of home, your child might be trying out ways to behave in the process of forming his identity.

The best practice for dealing with the difference between home and school is to comprehend it. Here are some tips:

1. Seek to understand the behaviors and the motives behind them.

2. Learn to develop empathy for your child, as he negotiates his world.

3. Listen to your child’s teachers so you can get a full picture of what is going on. They have a great perspective on the activity in the classroom.

4. Try to make analogies between home and school behavior to look for parallels.

5. Talk to your child about the differences between school and home; see if he has insight.

6. Form a partnership with your child’s teachers and discuss the relationship with your child so he knows that everyone is on the same page.

7. Be aware that if the behaviors at school are not the best student behaviors, your child, his teachers, and you can create a plan to make modifications. (See how to advocate for your child.)

8. On the other hand, if your child’s behavior at school supercedes what is happening at home, work with teachers and your child to celebrate the developments at school and make changes at home to continue progress being made. (For example, see how to ask for help.)

Being open to the multi-faceted nature of your child’s personality allows you to enjoy discovering your child’s development and promotes a better academic experience at home and at school.

Matthew Mandelbaum and Jamie Cohen are parents and learning specialists and are the creators of Jumping Joey’s Number Line. Jumping Joey’s Number Line is an innovative, child-centered, multi-sensory arithmetic learning system for Pre-K through Elementary. Jumping Joey’s Number Line fosters enjoyable, engaging, effective and efficient mathematical experiences, where students are motivated and build a strong math foundation with long-term understanding. Students feel successful and excited about learning opportunities, and confident in their emerging abilities.

Around this time of year, parent conferences occur. Often, this is your first opportunity to sit down with your child’s new teacher and individually discuss your child, hopefully in-depth. Here are a few tips to keep in mind to make the most of your first conference of the school year.

1. Remember that the teacher is still getting to know your child, whereas you know your child best! Remember to find the balance of hearing the teacher’s point of view and sharing your valuable information, too.

2. Write down a few specific questions prior to the meeting. Conferences tend to go quickly and there is usually a lot to discuss. You want to make sure that you will remember what to ask.

3. Take notes during the meeting. Often times you leave a conference and have a general feel for how it went but you may not recall specific information. Write down some key points to help you after the conference is over.

4. Give the teacher a chance. You go in with certain expectations based on your previous experiences, good or bad. Hear her out. Let her prove to you that she is working hard to get to know your child and meet his/her specific needs.

5. Make sure to set goals at the end of the meeting. You want to walk away from the conference feeling as though you have a common goal that has been set for your child. There should also be a plan for reaching that goal and a plan for how to communicate about it in the future. Will you email, have phone calls or wait until the next conference to check in on the goal? Be clear about what the goal is and how it is going to be measured to ensure your child is making progress. (See our tips on advocacy for details.)

Fall conferences are challenging for both parents and teachers. You want to get off on the right foot with your child’s teacher to make the best of your child’s school experience. Following these pointers can help you to do that. In the spring, conferences are quite different…we’ll have more on that later as the year progresses.

Matthew Mandelbaum and Jamie Cohen are parents and learning specialists and are the creators of Jumping Joey’s Number Line. Jumping Joey’s Number Line is an innovative, child-centered, multi-sensory arithmetic learning system for Pre-K through Elementary. Jumping Joey’s Number Line fosters enjoyable, engaging, effective and efficient mathematical experiences, where students are motivated and build a strong math foundation with long-term understanding. Students feel successful and excited about learning opportunities, and confident in their emerging abilities.