Marvelous Math with Mrs. Rose

Math websites for older students seem to abound, but sometimes it’s hard to find those “just right” sites for younger children.  I’ve always been impressed with NCTM’s “Illuminations” site and, when facilitating an Electronic Workshop yesterday after school for K-2 teachers, we found one website that our teachers of these younger students just loved!

Students can make “Ten Frames,” which is a great activity to develop number sense, while discovering all the addends that “make ten.”  Recognizing number pairs that, when added together make ten, is an integral concept in our base-ten number system.  Working with these virtual manipulatives gives students the opportunity to construct numbers and to further develop fact fluency.

Visit “Making Ten” at:   http://illuminations.nctm.org/ActivityDetail.aspx?ID=75

Dear Parents, Students, and Teachers,

We’re always looking for more interactive, fun, and efficient ways to build FACT FLUENCY in our students–whether it’s addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division.  Please try out this website that I’ve recently discovered (recommended by a colleague—thank you Mrs. Amber Bishop!), which is incredible.  Not only does it give students a motivating way to learn math facts and develop fluency, it tracks their learning, offering them what’s most developmentally appropriate to work on next!

Please give it a try and let me know what you think!

Click on:

www.brainormous.com

Have fun!

Mrs. Rose

Please visit the page link at the top banner of this blog called “WONDERFUL WEBSITES.”  Here, you’ll find some great Math websites for practice and enrichment, as well as these new websites I’ve just added:

ALGEBRA BOOT CAMP, which provides free downloadable resources, questions, and solutions on various algebra topics.  Click on:  www.algebrabootcamp.com

MATH PLAYGROUND, a site for elementary and middle school students to practice math skills, play logic games, solve word problems, and watch math videos.  Click on:  www.mathplayground.com

ENJOY!!!

I’m so happy to welcome back old friends and new friends to a new school beginning!  It was great seeing so many smiling faces as students and their families visited at both Island Avenue School and Ryerson School last week, then again as we started our first official day with students on August 28th!

Please know that I would LOVE to hear how you practiced Math over the summer!  Remember the MATH SUMMER FUN PACKET that I told you about and that is uploaded to our school and district websites?

Click here to see what I’m talking about:

summer-math-fun-updated-2008

You can still complete the sheet of “How I Practiced Math Over the Summer” ~ it’s not too late!  Please return it to me at school by September 30 for a little something special.  I’m SO PROUD of all who practiced Math with your family over the summer, whether it was by playing a game while traveling; checking out some of my favorite Math websites; or playing the card games of “More” or “Pig” with a friend!

PLEASE RETURN THE LAST PAGE ONLY (COMPLETED, OF COURSE!) OF THAT PACKET TO ME BY SEPTEMBER 30TH!

In a long-awaited report from the National Mathematics Advisory Panel Report (NMAP), released by the U.S. Government in Spring 2008, we find some important–but not too suprising– news.

“Children badly need both automatic recall of math facts and understanding of big concepts, in effect de-clawing both sides in the decades-long math wars,” according to this report.

In other words, there is a place for fluency of math facts (automatic recall) as well as the ability to construct concepts and understand philosophy.  Brain research shows that ability in mathematics should be looked at as less of a talent and more of a result of hard work.  Polls show that the U.S. is one of the few countries where residents believe that children are either born with math talent or not.  This research supports the belief that confidence in math, and thus prowess and talent, can be developed through exposure, practice, and effort.

The contents of this national report were welcomed by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM).  It is very important to communicate with our students, parents, teachers, and administrations that effort counts and that students who believe that working hard will make them smarter in math actually do achieve better.

Students . . . so let’s practice those Math Facts in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.  There are lots of fun ways to accomplish this besides traditional flash cards.  Try games with manipulatives like dice, dominoes, playing cards, etc.  Read on for more ideas and great websites that offer exciting ways to master Math Facts!

Parents—Help your children develop strong number sense by practicing subitizing skills with everyday materials like dice and dominoes.   Subitizing is the ability to “see” numbers at a glance, without one-to-one counting.  Research shows that students who have strong subitizing skills can more easily manipulate and partition numbers, which aids in computation and calculation of numbers.  Most youngsters can “see” a group of three objects or less quickly.  They will break larger number patterns into smaller groups to find the value.  Playing dominoes and dice games where children see a quantity quickly at a glance further develops subitizing skills, which is the underpinning of developing fluency in basic Math facts.