May 2004 Tip
Summer school is right around the corner for many of you. Keeping lessons fresh while reteaching math concepts is always a challenge.
As you are thinking about how to help those students who did not master grade level skills, remember that hands-on and problem solving will give you longer-lasting positive results when working on those concepts.
Start now going through all of those dusty folders you’ve collected that have great ideas in them you’ve never had time to use, those great
lessons that you’ve brought back from NCTM, Regionals, or local staff development opportunities. Check out websites like:
http://illuminations.nctm.org/ from
the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics website, or
http://lucas.tea.state.tx.us/PAI/TTB/ which is the Texas Education Agency’s Teacher Toolbag, and
http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/ from Public Broadcasting System. Each of these is filled with lesson plans you can use with you students.
Look for lessons that will cover many expectations at one time so that students see the connections in mathematics.
Make sure that the lessons include lots of manipulatives to build the concepts and that students have ample time to discuss the
mathematics they are learning.
Above all, make your math room an exciting place to be and to explore. If you have a digital camera, take pictures of mathematics in action - people in the grocery store, construction workers, artisans at work, nurses and doctors, cars on the highway - ANY photo of people at work or play. Print them out on 8 _ x 11 paper and caption the pictures, “Think about it. What math do you see? Can you see computation at work? Estimation? Measurement? Are people using patterns to find solutions? Where is the probability? Could graphing help them understand the data easily?” Take as many pictures as you have weeks of summer school, then focus on one picture a week to find the mathematics. Use these as a springboard for your daily lessons.
And, if your students are 2nd grade up, they do need to master those basic facts. Put away the timed paper/pencil tests for these kids. Pull out the matrix idea first to see which facts they are still lacking (see Fritzie Tips, May 2003). Then use an assortment of games and activities as homework to help them master those facts. Remember, basic facts should NOT be the focus of summer school.
There are terrific ways that parents can help their students at home once you have helped to identify the basic facts that the individual students are missing. Here are a few home ideas to get you started.
Fact Family Quilt Blocks:
Make a block for each fact that you don't know. Cut apart, then put back together again as a quilt puzzle.
The more facts, the bigger the puzzle. Students should look for the patterns in the families.
Fact Family Houses:
Students create a house for the Fact Family of every fact they don't know. The "windows" are movable strips so
that students can take them off and put them on again "puzzle" fashion.
How Many Ways to Make It?
Students have to create as many “fact” ways of finding a product or sum as they can in a set time. For example, ask,
“How many ways can you make 12 with your basic facts?” Depending on the student’s level, students could answer addition,
subtraction, multiplication or division problems that answer 12. This also makes a fun warm up for beginning of class.
It’s more than just basic facts because students have to dredge up as many combinations as possible that could include any operation.
Another helpful tool is, of course, FASTFacts, a software product that helps kiddos master those facts. Check out www.LMMATH.com for sample downloads. Parents might also be interested in purchasing this affordable program for home computers.
With a lot of pre-planning and a little creativity, your students will soar this summer and have fun in your math class. And if the KIDS are having fun, probably you are too! Now THAT’S a summer school to look forward to!! J
Have a great rest of the year! See you about mid-June with thoughts on word problems and problem solving to get you thinking about your 2004-2005 problem solving solutions!
Happy May!
Ms Fritzie
