Counting Circles: I was introduced to Counting Circles by my amazing friend Sadie Estrella. It is a wonderful way to have students practice their mental math skills, as well as recognize the different strategies that they each use to solve a problem mentally. Our first Counting Circle had students counting up or adding on by 1/2 starting by 3 1/4. Seemingly easy...but it took a while for the students to catch on to the pattern. Their strategies were right on point and I look forward to many more Counting Circles!