Ever since I heard this story, I’ve been working to change my communication with children about what is important. I think this comic says it better than my soapbox speeches. And you can substitute anything else for math, but I chose math because I hear that all the time. *If you’re stuck on helping your child with a concept, try khanacademy.org or other sites like mathplayground.com to refresh your skills and make learning fun for both of you. For more on why this is important, see this Scientific American article titled The Secret to Raising Smart Kids. It has some citations to research showing…
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If you teach math, or want to enrich your children’s understanding of numbers, here is a set of activities that children will enjoy while learning a lot. You may have heard about Multiple Intelligence Theory. One thing it tells us is that we evolved to have intelligence not only in verbal and mathematical learning, which are the main focuses in our schools, but in a number of different areas. That’s why some of us learn better through music, or nature, or art, or bodily movement. This activity is a kinesthetic (movement-based) way to teach some important number facts. I’ve found…
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It’s been a while since my last post on iPad apps, and in the meantime a lot has happened. For one thing, I have downloaded and tried quite a number of math apps. I’m going to start a round-up of some of the most useful apps as I have time. First up: exciting news! The Number Bond software, that I lamented being only on Mac or PC for so long, is now ported to iOS. As far as I can tell, having downloaded only the addition/subtraction version, it’s pretty much exactly the same as the computer version. This has its…
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A teacher recently asked me a question: “What do I do with the student who is strong enough in his math concepts, but he has no idea about Singapore Math approaches like number bonds, and he starts our school late in the year?” For her and other teachers in the same boat, I’m making this “cheat sheet,” which is targeted at elementary school children who start mid-year in Math in Focus or Primary Mathematics. 1. Number Bonds Number bonds show the ways in which numbers relate to each other. They can also be thought of as “part-whole” pictures, in which you…
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With March (and spring!) right around the corner, many teachers are already thinking about celebrating Pi Day, or March 14. This is a great day to celebrate how much fun math can be. I was inspired all over again by this music video using Pi to make music. If you would like to make Pi Day fun for your students, there are lots of fun ideas in this lesson plan, available from Teachers Pay Teachers for $1.99. I also offer a free downloadable Pi Poster showing almost 1,500 digits of pi. My students always love these. Enjoy!
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As the fall gets into high gear, I will be getting on the road again. If you’re in New York, try to attend NYSCATE this year and register for my session on Singapore Math on Sunday, November 20. If you can come on Saturday, I will be giving a three-hour workshop on NaNoWriMo in the classroom, which will be fun and hands on. I will also be offering six Singapore Math full-day workshops this fall, starting in October and ending in December. The schedule and links to register for those, and for the conference, are at the bottom of my…
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I recently watched a video of a teacher helping a student master tens and ones using ten frames and unifix cubes. While the video showed some of the ways Singapore Math teaches number sense well, a few things about the teaching style struck me. These are pertinent to tutoring because it was a one-on-one situation. One thing that stood out was that the teacher sometimes gave the answer to the student before the student had a chance to think. This is a mistake that is so easy to make; the tutor knows the answer, and the child doesn’t, so why not tell…
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A new reality show called Teach premiered on A&E on October 1. It follows Tony Danza as he enters the teaching profession as a high school literature teacher, with no prior teacher training. I was fully prepared to dislike this program, as the preview indicated it would be another feel-good show about a former actor getting a chance to make a difference in young people’s lives. Why, I thought, aren’t they featuring an excellent non-celebrity teacher? But I was pleasantly surprised. Teaching is a hard profession. It’s even harder if you want to be good or excellent at it. The…
