![math vocab math vocab](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/2c/ca/4a/2cca4a5f6fc4796da6293681a1057ae7.jpg)
![math vocab math vocab](https://www.k-5mathteachingresources.com/images/Preview-Gd2-Vocab.jpg)
Here are a few ways that I encourage my students to routinely infuse formal math vocabulary in the classroom, and a few terms that I'm a particular stickler about with my students: Expression, Equation, Number Sentence I make a big deal out of it (you don't usually learn this until 6th grade, but we're tackling it today, because I know you can handle it). Also explain to them that it will help them in the long run and helps them better understand math concepts. While it takes a bit of extra time to incorporate this vocabulary as you are teaching concepts, my students love it when they sound like official mathematicians! I do a lot of pre-teaching to explain that while some of the more informal terms aren't always inaccurate and certainly not wrong, it's so much more impressive to use formal math terms. However, I truly believe that encouraging students to use correct, precise math vocabulary increases their comprehension and ability to tackle math word problems, improves performance on standardized tests (which almost always use proper, precise math vocabulary), and gives every child a little boost as they progress through the grade levels. I know I've seen it said that using math vocabulary isn't crucial to student success- some opponents even argue that it is confusing for kids and adds an extra degree of difficulty to math tasks. Sorry.” It gave me pause because, while I did, in fact, know that many educators believe this to be best practice, it occurred to me that I rarely put this into action in my own classroom. It was just the reminder I needed about the importance of math vocabulary and just how critical it is to use formal math vocabulary as much as possible during everyday conversation with my students…and encourage them to do the same. “Make sure they say 5 plus 5 EQUALS 10, and not 5 plus 5 is ten,” she reminded me before quickly apologizing with an abrupt, “I know you know that. As she was going through her schedule with me, she made a quick aside. Since I was so close to my due date (and we all know how school buses are…), we decided it would be best if the interventionist and I swapped duties for the day. A few years ago, I was heavily pregnant, and my students were scheduled to go on a field trip three hours away from the school.