Maria's Math News, February 2026

Hello again! I hope everyone (on the Northern hemisphere) is staying warm! I've been feeling plenty chilly this month so far.

Math Mammoth news
ISBN numbers for printed books
Do MM pages feel overwhelmingly busy to your child?
Make an Equation at MM Practice
Are your students thinking in your math class? I mean REALLY thinking?
Just for fun!

1. Math Mammoth news

Not a whole lot to report... we're working on both grade 1 (new edition) and Kindergarten to have them published later this year.

The next sale for MM digital products will be in mid-March.

I just purchased Addition and Subtraction 2C and my son who was struggling with borrowing in subtraction is already catching on so well. He did page 19 where you explain breaking apart 10s and then asked me to reprint it so he can do it again (twice!). The Dark Blue series is truly a Godsend for anyone struggling with a specific subject but not wanting to switch to a whole new curriculum. My budget is very limited and I really appreciate you for providing this series at such a reasonable cost.

With gratitude,
Katie

2. Printed books and ISBN numbers

Did you know? You can ask any bookstore to order Math Mammoth printed books from Ingram, the world's largest wholesale book distributor. All you need is to give them the ISBN number(s) of the title(s) you want.

We provide a spreadsheet listing all of the ISBN numbers on this page.

I also recommend using the ISBN number when you search for Math Mammoth books on Amazon. That is because if you just search with the title, you might accidentally purchase the black-and-white version if you're not careful. Amazon tends to place those higher in the search than the color versions. (That is because the bw ones are printed by KDP which is an Amazon company, whereas the color books are printed by Lightning Source.)

3. Do MM pages feel overwhelmingly busy to your child?

Here are some ideas of how to adapt Math Mammoth to work with that situation.

Cover the other problems on the page with pieces of paper or sticky notes.
Take screenshots (digital version) and crop them to include only a few problems, then print.
Have the child fill in the answers on a tablet, using the annotation tools that most PDF apps have. Then they can zoom in to each problem.
Write the problems on a separate paper (graph or grid paper is suggested).
Print in black and white (from the digital version) or purchase the bw version of the curriculum from Rainbow Resource (or for some grade levels, at Amazon). No color can be less distracting to some children.

I also asked my followers on FB if they had any more tips, and there was quite a discussion.

Here are some highlights:

AJ: We print single-sided and cut the pages into sections. 🙂
SvK: I thought the pages were just right, not too "busy."
ETP: I’m happy the way it is. My son likes that he typically doesn’t have to do every problem. Math Mammoth has been a game changer for us after trying several other programs.
KH: We just cover the bottom half or whatever with a sheet of construction paper. No worries here.
ZD: We love your curriculum! I highlight 1/3 to 1/2. If they get those wrong, we do more.
HS: Good suggestions! A couple of things that have works for us:
- I tell my kids how many of each question type I want them to do, then let them choose which ones and mark them with a highlighter before starting.
- Sometimes I do the writing for them while they think and tell me what to write down. Or, for some things in the early grades, just let them answer orally instead of writing them down at all.
- Writing out the question on a white board so they can do the work there. White boards have some kind of magic, I don’t know why it works but it does!
KM: My kids love when they only have to do 1/3 or 1/2 of the problems. They feel like they're getting a great deal!
LH: Our routine is first circling half the problems. They feel better knowing I’m not making them do it all. We add more in if they don’t grasp it right away. I think it’s just fine as is.

Back to me...

BTW, not sure if anyone has thought of the fact that if there were, say, only 1/2 of the problems per page than what there is now, the price of each book would be quite a bit higher. Page count is a major factor in determining the printing cost. Right now that cost is close to 5 cents a page (color printing at Lightning Source). Plus there is a fixed fee on top of that, plus the bookstore selling it has to get its share.

Pricing of print books is kind of interesting... for example, if the printing cost was, say, $10, then the retail price has to be set to more than $22.22... because bookstores prefer to buy at a 55% discount from the set retail price.

The math goes like this.
Say right now the book is 200 pages and the printing cost is $11.68.
=> the retail has to be set at least to $25.95. (That $25.95 would be with no compensation to the author.) Make the book 380 pages instead by spreading the problems out... then the print cost is $20.63 and the retail at a minimum is $45.85.

That would be a $19.90 increase, or a 77% increase in retail price (and these calculations are omitting any author compensation.)

That said, what bookstores do is they then advertise the book at 10-20% off of retail to make it look good. So the retail price set at the printing company does not end up being quite what the consumer pays.

Then someone suggested that the worktext could have only half of the problems, spread out more, and then the other half would be in a separate workbook (like in Singapore Math). I'll consider the idea, but probably it will be impossible to please everyone in this matter... whichever way things go, some people will be happy and others will not.

(We do already offer skills review workbooks that provide YET additional review problems.)

4. Make an Equation at MM Practice

This online activity practices the order of operations and logical thinking.

You are given several numbers and a target number. Your task is to make the target number using your chosen math operations and the given numbers. Remember to use the correct order of operations!

You can choose what type of numbers get used, the operations to use, the number of numbers, and the number of problems.

For example, for third grade, to practice addition and subtraction, choose only addition and subtraction, single-digit, two-digit, and three-digit numbers, and a maximum of three numbers to use. (Here is a quick link for those exact options.)

For fourth grade, one idea is to choose single-digit numbers and multiples of ten, and addition/subtraction/multiplication. Here is a quick link for that.

Experiment with the options as you like!

Make an Equation

5. Are your students thinking in your math class? I mean REALLY thinking?

I found a really good post on Facebook and I shared it on my FB page.

I hope that even those of you without a FB login can see it. Shelley Gray gives five examples of changing math problems from the usual "calculate this" into a version that requires thinking, and truly checks if they have understood the concept.

QUOTE
Often we think that if students can answer questions on a worksheet, they understand the concept. But this is not always the case. A worksheet with correct answers can mean that the student is good at repeating a procedure they have been shown or good at memorizing, but it does not mean that they deeply understand a concept and are able to reason about it. Here are some examples of some simple shifts you can make to promote thinking and reasoning rather than mimicking.

6. Just for fun!

Thanks for reading! 🙂

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Till next time,
Maria Miller