Welcome to the World of Hands-on Math! PROGRAM BACKGROUND

Math Teachers Press, Inc., was founded in 1981 by Caryl K. Pierson, an educator for 35 years, who was frustrated by the materials available to teach math. While teaching math to non-English speaking students, she discovered the power of manipulatives to convey abstract concepts even when there is no common language between the instructor and the student. After further study and review of the research supporting the use of manipulatives for all students, she and her team of experts developed the Moving with Math program to use manipulatives to teach all essential math concepts from pre-kindergarten through pre-algebra.

A comprehensive list of objectives was produced after validation in extensive classroom testing. These objectives closely parallel those of traditional teaching materials, state and local tests and standardized achievement tests.

The program goals closely parallel those of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Curriculum and Evaluation Standards which emphasize using manipulatives, reasoning, communication, connections and problem solving at all levels. Real world problems and problem solving strategies, such as drawing pictures, acting out problems and finding the pattern, are an integral part of each lesson plan. At the primary level, a new program which integrates children's stories has recently been developed.

All instructional material is developed by classroom teachers, who are aware of the need for simple and effective program support. Comprehensive and scripted teacher guides provide step-by-step instruction to reduce time spent on lesson planning. Our goals are to provide all students the best quality math program and to assist teachers with an easy, successful method of implementation.

That’s why we say that the Math Teachers Press
program is ESSENTIAL for your math needs.