MathStuff

 Hi All,   Math Talk Last week a video, this week an article! This blog continues to evolve. :) I originally wrote this piece for https://www.weareteachers.com Which is a very cool website run by some friends. You might want to check it out.  The suggestions below focus on helping kids to express their mathematical thinking. Ways to get into some serious "Math Talk." The Bad Engineer I used to always tell my classes a story about the bad engineer who went to a town council meeting. The council was looking for proposals to build a new bridge for the town. This engineer comes in and shows the council a drawing and a model for his proposed bridge design. They look it over and then ask him why his design is the best. He answers, “Because it just is.”   I would then ask my class, “Would you consider this a satisfactory answer if you were on the council?” There is always a unanimous “No!” in response. I then ask why not, and they usually say something al...

  Hi All, Number lines are great to introduce early on with kids so they learn sequence, counting, and how numbers relate to each other. You can also use them with older students too as you create numbers lines with fractions and decimals. Today we're going to learn about a lesson called "Secret Number Lines." It's a great lesson for first graders, but can easily be adapted right up through middle school depending on the numbers you use and the counting sequences you select. And we're going to use video to do it. Look out! No makeup! Here's the link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_WvsMT0mxxMA3l8kSXxzqOhgHiA886BB/view?usp=sharing By the way, this video was created for an audience of first graders, not adults, but sometimes watching someone else teach it, is the best way for us adult-teacher-types to learn about a lesson. Hope you enjoy. Best, Bob

 Hi All, Kids find big numbers fascinating and fun.  I've had more than a few students come up to me over the years and ask, "What's the biggest number?" My best response is to read them this book: Can You Count to a Googol? by Robert E. Wells (Albert Whitman, 2000) This is a great read aloud. Robert Wells progresses from 1 to 10 to 100 to 1,000 to 10,000 and on all the way to a Googol. His drawings tell the story in a clear, easy to follow, entertaining manner. As you read aloud have students get involved as follows: 1. Give each student a copy of this paper and a pencil.   2. As they listen to the story and see the pictures, have them record each new number as it appears in the book. You can do the same on a large chart or screen. Debrief the illustrations, noticing how Wells uses grouping of different objects (like monkeys, bananas, eagles, boats, etc.) to keep them organized and easy to count. 3. Help students notice how when we write large numbers, we group the ...

  Hi All,   FRACTION FLASH! Not Your Typical Flash Cards!   This simple game was designed for comparing fractions and building fraction number sense, but it can be used with any kind of numbers; whole numbers, decimals, negative numbers, exponents, or even a mix. Game:   1. Give each student a set of ten blank index cards. (or preprint number cards on a sheet of paper and have students glue this on to a piece of card stock and cut them out.) 2. Choose numbers you want to work on and have students copy them on to their cards. A good beginning set of numbers for fraction learning would be: 1/2, 1/4, 1/3, 1/8, 3/4, 7/8, 2/4, 4/4, 2/3  3. Have students lay all cards out face up on their desks. 4. Write a comparison statement on the board such as "More than 1/2." 5. Say, "Choose!" As quickly as they can, students choose one of their cards that is true for that statement and hold it against their chests so no on else can see the number. (This sequenc...