Treating math as a team sport re-engaged and energized a class of Pennsylvania fifth-graders and helped them win the Prodigy National cup, outscoring students from 70,000 other schools, writes teacher Michaela Sicuranza. Team activities and competition "can reshape how students learn" through a common goal, consistent practice, collaboration and encouragement, Sicuranza says -- but "set[ting] the stage for a positive, low-stress experience" is vital.

Pairing computer science education with culturally response teaching has positively impacted elementary school students, especially for girls, Black and Latinx students, according to a report from the Research Alliance for New York City Schools. Practices such as showcasing the achievements of female, Black and Latinx computer science pioneers and examining algorithmic bias led to improved attitudes and confidence.

AI math solvers act as interactive learning partners for students, explaining complex problems step by step to improve understanding and confidence. TechBullion evaluated several tools -- Gemini, Microsoft Math Solver, Photomath, WolframAlpha and ZuloAI -- on accuracy, clarity of explanations, ease of input and actual free access, and explains the differences among them.

Val Chapman, a retired stockbroker, is teaching financial literacy to fourth- and fifth-grade students at Franklin Elementary School in Oakland, Calif., through her program, Financial Literacy for Kid$. The program, founded in 2020, aims to break the cycle of poverty by educating students about money management, saving for college and entrepreneurship.

Andy Storm, owner of Mathnasium Twin Cities, offers ideas for easy Halloween-focused math learning, such as estimating the number of candy corns in a jar or pumpkin seeds on a plate. MathGeekMama had her children estimate how many toilet paper squares they'd need to turn themselves into mummies, starting with just an arm.

Practice geometry with shapes carved in a pumpkin. Or, for littler ones, shapes drawn on a pumpkin or made out of pumpkin seeds.

A bucket of Halloween candy can teach children to make patterns, sort, add, divide and graph. Estimating can be used to teach rounding. If they want some of their Halloween candy every day for a month, how many pieces would they get based on their haul?

Students can count the number of houses they visit and figure out the average number of candy pieces they received per house.

If they're not going door to door, they can estimate the amount of candy they'll need to pass out and whether it will fit in the bowl they're using to hold it -- and then they can check the online Omni Calculator to see how close they got. (Have you taught how to measure the area of a sphere yet?) Students can graph how many tiny kids, elementary kids and teens came to their door, or the number of different costumes (or will all the visitors dress as a Labubu?).