MathStuff

 Hi All, Have you done any shopping lately? Say for Thanksgiving? or Black Friday? Probably you have a receipt or two lying around. It always a good idea to help kids build awareness of math around them in their daily lives. Share receipts if you want some real numbers for some real math. One way to do this is by making a copy of the same receipt for each student, share this with the class, and ask students to take a few minutes to read through it and highlight or underline anything of interest. Have students share back what they have noticed both in terms of numbers and words. This really is a text to be read. Project the receipt on a screen or on the board and note what students point out.  Boy, there's a lot of numbers and it tells us a lot about the different ways numbers are used.  For example, here's one item from a receipt: 8.5 OZ TRISCUIT     0078752334322     2.08 So, just on one item, we have numbers used for weight (8.5 ounce box), n umbers used for identification (t

Hi All, Kids like detective stories. Think Encyclopedia Brown and Jigsaw Jones. "Number Detectives" is based on using number concepts to provide clues to help players figure out a "secret number." I first came across this idea in a series of books by Dale Seymour called, Getting Smarter Every Day (Dale Seymour Publications, an imprint of Pearson, 2000). He called his "Who Am I?" This sounds simple, but can lead to some really good discussion and learning. Here's an example from Seymour's book for Grades 5-7, though I think younger students can handle these. 1.  If I were tripled, I would be seven greater than if I were doubled. Who am I? At first read, many kids are thinking, "Huh? Wait. What?" (Same with me actually.) But tell the class, "Let's think about what we know here. Look for some key words or phrases and underline ones that might be good clues." Maybe "tripled," "doubled," and "seven great

  Hi All, If you don't know Marilyn Burns yet, please check out her books and blog. She has been writing for over 50 years about teaching math. Here's a lesson from an excellent book she wrote, 50 Problem-Solving Lessons Grades 1-6 (Math Solutions, 1996). I put my little spin on it, but it was in Burns' book and attributed to Carolyn Felux of Converse, Texas. Begin by talking with the class about cakes, a subject near and dear to many kids. What are some favorite flavors? What are some shapes cakes come in? Do people cut all cakes the same way? Write answers on the board and draw some of the cake's shapes and ways they can be cut. Give students some 8 1/2" by 11" sheets of white copy paper. Say, "Let's pretend this is a cake. What shape is it?" (rectangle) "Right. Now use a pencil and divide the cake up into four equal pieces. So, divide it into fourths." Allow students time to complete this. Encourage them to get more paper and do it

  Hi All,   Keeping track of lots of things can be challenging. Tally marks are a great way to help with this. For example, you can use tally marks to keep track of how many times someone sharpens their pencil (Teachers: You know what I'm talking about!) Tallies are useful during observation, particularly in outdoor settings, for example when keeping track of birds at a bird feeder. And of course, there's voting! One very simple, but fun activity my classes have always enjoyed, uses a can and a bunch of pennies. Give each student a pencil and a piece of paper. Review or introduce the idea of using tally marks to keep track of things. The big advantage of tally marks is they provide a written, organized record of something that might not be easily countable or even visible.  It's important to emphasize to kids how bundling a group of 5 tallies by making the 5th mark across the other 4 is key for an easy count later. Compare a solid row of 20 tally marks and 4 groups of 5 as