Book excerpt: The best way to prepare students for the Common Core State Standards in Math is through daily practice. This book provides engaging, practical lesson starters you can use each day to help middle school students become proficient in the complex mathematical thinking required by the Common Core. The lesson starters in this book are... reproducible and ready-to-use in the classroom; aligned with the five domains of the Common Core State Standards in Math; written to elicit the type of deep thinking that students need to succeed on the non-traditional PARCC and Smarter Balanced assessments; and powerful formative assessment tools to assist teachers in diagnosing student misconceptions so that daily lessons can be fine-tuned to meet the immediate learning needs of their students. Lesson starters not only aid instruction but also cut back on classroom management problems, since students get to work right when the bell rings. This book will help you engage students, save planning time, and bring all students to success in math!