Archive for the ‘Teaching Math’ Category

I renewed my love of Yahtzee a few months ago, in a little cottage in Hawaii when my husband and I discovered it was the only board game in the place. We were trapped inside at 7pm every night with our three month old baby and spent many hours playing this fun and competitive game. Yahtzee [...]

When we conceived the idea for DreamBox Learning online math games, we knew that homeschoolers would be people we understand and relate to. After all, we have a lot in common. Homeschoolers believe in taking no chances with their kids’ education. DreamBox agrees. Homeschoolers believe that hands-on, individualized learning is crucial. DreamBox agrees. While these [...]

It is always nice to have a fresh perspective on old traditions, but math on a holiday? Many kids will groan if their parents suggest such a thing. There is a way to make the connection between Thanksgiving and math, but it’s always nice to start off this lesson with a story. Thanksgiving is a time of year when teachers traditionally review the great harvest, discuss the Native American and pilgrim lifestyle, and help students find time to give thanks about something in their lives. It can be hard for kids to make the connection about people from hundreds of years ago, even if there is a common thread of giving thanks. In the Thanksgiving Wish, author Michael J. Rosen writes about a non-traditional Thanksgiving in modern times. A power outage, a missed grandmother, as well as Jewish and Asian traditions line the edges of this touching story.

This video clip illustrates to humorous effect how important place value is. It's pretty easy to see how a child without the understanding of place value might accidentally create a math solution like Ma and Pa Kettle. Ma & Pa Kettle Math: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7106559846794044495&hl=en

As we get closer to launching DreamBox Learning’s first product, an online adventure game that teaches serious math, and we see more and more kids in beta testing, we’re realizing how many advantages there are to online learning games. In the classroom children get the very real benefit of interacting with their teacher and with other students. Online learning has distinct advantages too. That’s because online teaching can be tailored to individual students in a number of important ways. Benefits:

1. Online learning is self-paced
2. Sophisticated online education products can offer self-selected learning.
3. Online learning games encourage engagement.
4. Online education can support a range of learning styles.
5. Advanced online tools can provide real-time assessment
6. With an internet connection, there are no geographical barriers
7. Learning happens when it’s most convenient.
8. Online learning enhances computer and Internet proficiency.

Understanding the charts and graphs in the media these days can be tricky, to say the least. Statistics can be displayed in numerous ways to lead, or mislead, a person’s thinking about a topic. Case in point: a turn in the stock market by 4 points is very different than a turn by 4%. Learning to analyze data is an important skill that children need to learn so they can make decisions based on accurate information in the future. Analyzing, collecting, and organizing data is something even very small children can begin to understand. It is also such a great way for kids to make connections with math in the real world.

Grandma and Grandpa were coming for a visit, so I revisited my mini-library of favorite classroom books to read with my young son. He was very excited about the visit, especially after reading The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant. He was particularly interested in where Grandma and Grandpa would sleep. Together we identified all of the beds in the house. Then we counted the number of people that would be here, including our 2 guests. Finally, we matched each person to a bed. This one-to-one correspondence practice is the foundation for basic counting.

As an elementary teacher, I’ve utilized literature in my classroom to help kids make connections about math across the curriculum. Over the years, I’ve collected quite a few books that kids love to read while also helping to develop their ideas about numbers. Often, it’s a book that can grab a hold of a child and make math come to life for them. They suddenly realize that math is not simply numbers on a piece of paper, but pictures, objects, and patterns that you can see and touch.

It’s almost Fall and pumpkin season is coming alive. I’ve seen signs for corn mazes, harvest festivals, and of course, Halloween candy out in the shelves at the store. I love this time of year! One thing I love to do in my classroom is explore the anatomy of pumpkins with my students. Even though [...]

I took time off from work the other day for a very important occasion with my 5 year old son: a chance to meet his new Kindergarten teacher and classmates, and preview his new classroom! As he met his teacher, made shy “hellos” and “high fives” to the other kids in his class, and looked around, I couldn’t help but think about what he would learn this year, what his big “wins” and big “challenges” would be, and whether we had prepared him well enough.