Guided by the views of the Principles and Standards for School Mathematics, NCTM has created a new three-book series designed to help teachers support high-quality mathematics learning for diverse student populations in the classroom. The articles in the Grades 6-8 book demonstrate how connecting real-life activities with mathematical concepts and building on students' knowledge and experiences, can help them excel in the classroom. Strategies that can immediately be implemented to help students form better connections with the content they are studying are also described.