A Flurry of Ideas for Winter Math Activities
It’s finally autumn, and here in Chicago that means there’s a feeling of foreboding in the air about when winter’s going to hit. A small comfort in the changing weather is that it offers some opportunities for winter math activities, specifically those that are relevant to students’ personal experiences. Perhaps as a part of a…
4 Children’s Books to Shape Up Geometry Skills
From recognizing octagonal stop signs to remembering where the cookies are stored, children encounter geometry early and often. Regularly engaging children with some of the names, rules, and applications involved in geometry will allow them to make the most of their natural skills in this area. There are plenty of children's books that kids love…
5 Steps to Take to Have a Successful Math Class Discussion
Math is often taught as a step-by-step process: add up the columns, carry your twos, and hope you don’t get confused on the way. While learning procedures is vital, presenting math in a less rigid manner can also be beneficial to students. Facilitating class discussion is a particularly powerful method for teaching mathematics. It challenges…
Math Investigations: A Fresh Lead in Creative Math Learning
Teachers in the Innovations Project have been making use of the Contexts for Learning Investigations, a series of mini-lessons, games, and storybooks based around overarching math learning goals. The developers of this series argue that math should not be viewed as a history lesson, teaching formulas and concepts that mathematicians "invented" centuries ago. Instead, math time…
Beyond Base-10: Three Unusual Counting Systems
Counting is one of the first mathematical skills that children develop. While counting to ten is a major milestone, it is also a temporary roadblock because children run out of fingers to count on! From there, we see that each decade, or series of ten, is a mini-milestone for young students to conquer. Note how…
Collaborative Research Suggests Math Is Found in Preschool Play
On August 25th-27th, 2014, Collaborative Director Jennifer McCray presented in Jyväskylä, Finland on children's play and the math that is involved in preschool playtime. While many conflicting ideas exist about how to improve math teaching in preschool, recent research suggests that providing plenty of time to play, with a teacher observing and interjecting pointed questions and ideas, may be…
6 Tips When Discussing Math with the English Language Learner
At the 2014 Innovations Celebration, Innovations instructor Rebeca Itzkowich and associate instructor Jill Sapoznick led a seminar entitled “Navigating Language in the Math Classroom," in which they explored language-related issues that can arise during math time. Some of the ideas in this presentation came from Supporting English Language Learners in Math Class (2009, Math Solutions) by…
Exploring “Math Talks” with Math Problems for 2nd Grade and Beyond
Teachers often shy away from delving too deep into the subject of math, as it can quickly become a source of confusion or frustration for them or their students. This trend is easily magnified by the fact that in early childhood curricula, language arts is often viewed as a higher priority. “Math Talks” or “Number…