Conferences

Where to find us, and what we're presenting.

Clever Day at NCTM 2026

Booth 1731 · Denver · October 28–31

Will today be a clever day? All week we’re running Mind Workouts at the booth — one problem, and the real challenge is solving it in a way nobody else did. Come find out how you think.

Wednesday — We open the booth and welcome educators. Matho games running all day, with prizes to win.

Thursday — Four speaking sessions (below), and our team is at the booth all day to answer your questions. Stop by to play think!O and walk away with a giant pencil.

Friday — Three drop-in sessions inside the booth: fluency games, fractions with concrete models, and word problems with visual models. Times and details below.

It's a packed few days. Come be clever with us.

SESSIONS

Unlocking Number Sense: Playful Pathways to
Decomposing Numbers in PK–2

PreK–2 · Deepening Content Knowledge

Number sense isn’t about counting faster — it’s about helping children see numbers as flexible, friendly, and understandable. In this hands-on session, you’ll act out addition and subtraction stories, play the fluency-building routines behind the work of Bay-Williams and SanGiovanni, and examine real student work to see how even our youngest learners can begin assessing their own understanding.

You’ll walk away with:

  • Story and movement routines that give real meaning to addition and subtraction symbols
  • Research-based games that build fluency at each child’s own level
  • Simple assessment strategies PK–2 students can use themselves

 

Presented by

Donna Lamonte — Mathodology. Presented Assessing What Matters: Witnessing the Mathematical Brilliance of ALL Learners at NCTM 2025 in Atlanta, and leads Mathodology’s virtual course Developing Mathematical Roots: Nurturing Early Math Through Play in Pre-K.

Amanda Cody — Ridgefield Public Schools. Presented Fostering Math Success for Multi-Language Learners and led math onboarding for Ridgefield Public Schools in 2025.

After the session, come find us at Booth 1731.

Beyond Timed Tests: Build Fast, Flexible Math Thinkers

Grades 3–5

Timed tests were supposed to produce automaticity. They haven’t — what they reliably produce is anxiety and students who decide they’re bad at math. So what works instead? This session lays out research-based fluency stations: engaging practice, individual feedback, and self-checks that show growth without a stopwatch. The bonus is time — stations free you up for the small-group instruction you never get to.

Focus is multiplication and division, with take-aways for addition and subtraction.

You’ll walk away with:

  • Station activities that give students meaningful practice, not drill
  • Classroom structures that make fluency instruction actually run
  • Routines that make strategies visible instead of hidden
  • A step-by-step plan you can launch in your own room

 

Presented by

Sarah Schaefer, M.Ed. — Founder of Mathodology and author of think! Mathematics and Developing Roots. She has worked in K–12 mathematics education since 1995 and has trained teachers in public and private schools nationwide.

Jennifer Bay-Williams — University of Louisville. At NCTM 2025 in Atlanta she presented on assessing basic facts for fluency and on developing fluency with students whose brains learn differently.

After the session, come find us at Booth 1731.

From Counting to Reasoning:
Enhancing Students' Efficiency with Addition and Subtraction

PreK–2

Some students are still counting on their fingers long after they should have moved past it. This hands-on session shows you how to get them from counting to strategy. You’ll work the math as a learner first, then sort addition and subtraction strategies to practice choosing the efficient one — the metacognitive step students rarely get taught. You’ll also watch real classroom video and see two kinds of student journals: one for reflecting on strategy choice, one for surfacing misconceptions.

You’ll walk away with:

  • Strategy cards and sorting routines that make students choose, not just compute
  • Two journal structures — one for reflection, one for catching misconceptions
  • Explicit steps for moving students from concrete tools to abstract thinking
  • Classroom video of students reasoning, and how to read what you’re seeing

Presented by

Dr. Yeap Ban Har — Author of the think! Mathematics series, used internationally. He taught for over a decade at Singapore’s National Institute of Education and has worked with educators in more than 30 countries. At NCTM 2025 in Atlanta he presented on math journals, questioning, and bar modeling.

Ana Delgado — Certified Mathodology trainer. Presented Assessment as Learning: How Rubrics Support Teacher Observation and Empower Student Self-Assessment at NCTM 2025 in Atlanta.

Amanda Cody — Ridgefield Public Schools. Presented Fostering Math Success for Multi-Language Learners and led math onboarding for Ridgefield Public Schools in 2025.

After the session, come find us at Booth 1731.

Empowering Students to Master Fractions: Building Lasting Confidence Through Foundational Understanding

Grades 3–5

Are fractions where your students lose confidence? This session builds a foundation that holds. Starting from what children already understand about whole numbers, you’ll use paper strips, squares, and rectangles to see how the four operations extend naturally into fractions — and why the rules work, not just what they are. You’ll also analyze real student work to pinpoint where a learner is and what comes next.

You’ll walk away with:

  • Concrete models — paper strips, squares, rectangles — for naming, representing, and operating on fractions
  • The conceptual links that make fraction rules make sense, instead of rules to memorize
  • A way to read student work, spot the gap, and choose the next step

 

Presented by

Dr. Yeap Ban Har — Author of the think! Mathematics series, used internationally. He taught for over a decade at Singapore’s National Institute of Education and has worked with educators in more than 30 countries. At NCTM 2025 in Atlanta he presented on math journals, questioning, and bar modeling.

Ana Delgado — Certified Mathodology trainer. Presented Assessment as Learning: How Rubrics Support Teacher Observation and Empower Student Self-Assessment at NCTM 2025 in Atlanta.

After the session, come find us at Booth 1731.

BOOTH SESSIONS - FRIDAY OCTOBER 30TH

Fluency Without the Flashcards

• Friday, 9:30–10:30
· Booth 1731
· Sarah Schaefer

Drill builds speed. It doesn't build flexible thinking. Play the fluency games we run with real classes — then walk away with the games themselves, ready to use in your classroom tomorrow.

Play it here. Teach it Monday.

Fractions, Made Concrete

• Friday, 11:30–12:30
· Booth 1731
· Dr. Yeap Ban Har

The unit everyone dreads explaining. Concrete models make the hard part obvious — no tricks, no mnemonics, nothing that falls apart by April.

Watch a hard thing become easy.

When the Problem Isn't the Math

• Friday, 1:30–2:30
· Booth 1731
· Dr. Yeap Ban Har

Your students' math abilities differ. So does their reading comprehension — and a word problem tests both at once. Ban Har shows how visual models give every student a way in.

Stop by and try one.

THANK YOU

You spent part of your conference getting better at teaching math. Most people don’t do that with their own time.

Whatever you take from a session or from the booth, we hope it turns up on a Tuesday in February when the lesson isn’t landing. That’s what we build for.

Bring this to your school —
Talk with our team about what this looks like in your building.

Start the Conversation