In a world more ideal than the one we have, the emerging principles of universal design for learning would  guide curriculum and determine the range of learning tools available to all learners.  In  an ideal world, I don’t believe that children would be grouped by age for learning purposes.  It’s obvious that children of the same age vary greatly in terms of aptitude, learning style, learning needs and learning “readiness”.

Teachers who adopt a UDL approach in classrooms where children are grouped arbitrarily by age,  need resources that meet diverse learning needs.  That’s why I’m encouraged by a math resource shared by Richard Byrne.

KidsNumbers.com is from the Kids Know It Network.  The developers of KidsNumbers certainly have the right idea.

KidsNumbers.com is the absolutely free math resource designed by teachers, specifically for students and children of all ages. A place where students can practice all aspects of math, including addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, in a fun and pressure free way.

KidsNumbers isn’t the answer for everyone; but it does offer a systematic approach to learning and re-enforcing fundamental math concepts and skills. This approach will be helpful for some learners.  There are activities, games, and even worksheets that can be printed and completed with a pencil.

This is a great example of the kind of resource that I believe teachers need to have available to help meet the range of learning needs in their classrooms.