December Resources for Math Teachers
Looney Math Consulting offers resources for math educators in the form of word problems, book recommendations and helpful links.
Featured Blog: Fearless and Fabulous in First Grade(Not just for First Grade!)
From Ahhh It's Math Time ... :
"I was sitting at my reading table, teaching guided reading. I had stopped for a minute to look around and check on my kids while they were working in their learning centers. As I sat there I started thinking.Why am I teaching literacy in small guided groups?Answer: Because not every child reads on the same level or at the same pace. So you can guess what my next thought was.Why am I NOT teaching math in small guided groups?Answer: Ummm... because that's not the way we do it?
There it was, the old "That's the way we've always done it, " had reared it's ugly head right there in my classroom!....Read more on the Fearless and Fabulous in First Grade website
Book Recommendation:
Teaching Numeracy: 9 Critical Habits to Ignite Mathematical Thinking, Pearse & Walton, (2011)
Perhaps, the most compelling book I have read in a while! Powerfully impactful!
Here's an excerpt from the preface:
American students are losing ground in the global mathematical environment. There, we said it. Now that we’ve put it on the table, we assume you’re not surprised. If you bought this book, you probably feel it in your mathematical bones, so to speak. That knowledge gnaws at teachers, administrators, board members, and politicians; it is a truth that is slowly eating away at the American student’s chances of taking the mathematical lead in deep thinking.We are a world leader, with government-funded public education, highly trained teachers, a vast majority of involved parents, and millions of students who genuinely want to learn.
How can we be so far behind the rest of the world mathematically?
The answer is quite simple: because our students have a weak number sense.Many students know how to do the math but do not know how to think through the math. There is an enormous difference.
As educators, we kept asking ourselves one question: How can we empower American students to think? That question, and many more, drove us toward research, and through our research we discovered a movement that is basically uncharted territory in American classrooms but is the driving force in many of the same countries that consistently outscore us. That movement is called numeracy.
This book is the result of over 10 years of research in the field ofnumeracy. Using this research as a springboard, we’ve tried everythingoffered in this book in the math classroom. What we discovered wasstaggering: When offered the opportunity, students were empowered tothink critically and became truly numerate. In this book, we lay a clear andwell-researched path that we hope will empower teachers to fill theirmathematics instruction with numeracy and deep thinking. Researchmixed with practical ideas is, in our opinion, a magical brew for teachers.