Share news about happenings in the field of elementary school mathematics education, views on matters pertaining to teaching and learning mathematics in the early childhood or elementary school years, and reactions to previously published opinion pieces or articles. Find detailed department submission guidelines at http://www.nctm.org/WriteForTCM. Jane F. Schielack
From coast to coast, America is filled with different types of fascinating landmarks. This set of problems offers a mathematical road trip visiting the famous sites. Math by the Month features collections of short activities focused on a monthly theme. These articles aim for an inquiry or problem-solving orientation that includes four activities each for grade bands K–2, 3–4, and 5–6.
Students benefit from hands-on tasks exploring number, area, and fractional relationships when the value of a whole changes. This activity uses pattern blocks to explore different designs with different constraints (e.g., a target value, a set number of blocks, or a final shape) while changing the value of the whole. For example, if the trapezoid is worth 1 1/2, create different sizes of triangles and find their value.
Try these meaningful alternative approaches to helping students make sense of word problems.
Try these suggestions to increase the mathematical participation of each student.
As NCTM prepares to celebrate its centennial, the organization is also poised to implement in-depth strategic planning that positions the Council for a second century. The NCTM publishing program—and in particular, the journals program—has been instrumental in providing teachers with content to meet the needs of each and every learner and to help practitioners adapt to the ongoing pedagogical and technological changes in the educational landscape.
Students must actively engage in exploring math. That is why I am always looking for tasks that will allow my students to to explore problems using the Common Core's (CCSSI 2010) eight Standards for Mathematical Practice (SMP). These standards are vital for developing a deepening understanding of math. They allow students to cultivate skills and thought processes that aid in wiring their brains into being deep thinkers and problem solvers. These skills transcend the classroom and are needed to be successful in the world. I also want my students to revisit ideas that we have already touched on and continue to examine.
Making student thinking visible improves the feedback loop for the learner, the teacher, and the entire class.
As educators, we know that to have effective mathematics instruction, we must promote mathematical problem solving while encouraging discourse (NCTM 2014), yet finding tasks that both challenge and engage students can be difficult. We discovered that the Yohaku, a Japanese number puzzle, provides a format that was both challenging and thought-provoking when implemented in a secondgrade class in a Virginia elementary school. The number puzzle involves having students fill in squares with numerical values such that each column and row creates the same value. We discovered that students enjoyed the puzzle and that it supported their own construction of number sense.
Redesign well-known playground games, such as hopscotch, to connect physical movement with mathematics play. Postscript items are designed as rich grab-and-go resources that any teacher can quickly incorporate into his or her classroom repertoire with little effort and maximum impact.
Teachers engage in sustained peer collaboration about formative assessment with a focus on students' mathematical thinking.
What is the most exciting day of the school year? Field trip day! Organizing a smooth field trip requires mathematical thinking. After solving these problems, have students create math questions about their own field-trip experiences.
Welcome to A-town! All the residents of A-town have names that start with the letter A! Could you live here? Join these students as they solve problems around their neighborhood. Remember, math is everywhere.
Activities generated from a children's book can support youngsters in developing conceptions of measurement.
Hundreds of species of animals around the world are losing their habitats and food supplies, are facing extinction, or have been hunted or otherwise negatively influenced by humans. Students learn about some of these animals and explore multiple solution strategies as they solve this month's problems. Math by the Month features collections of short activities focused on a monthly theme. These articles aim for an inquiry or problem-solving orientation that includes four activities each for grade bands K–2, 3–4, and 5–6.
Adapt area measurement tasks to work within curricular boundaries while offering students opportunities to explore and grow.
Geometry is much more than learning vocabulary and identifying shapes; it involves developing spatial sense—an intuition about shapes and the relationship between them. In this Let's Build It activity, students reason about geometric shapes and their attributes as they use newspaper dowels to build two- and three-dimensional structures.
Share news about happenings in the field of elementary school mathematics education, views on matters pertaining to teaching and learning mathematics in the early childhood or elementary school years, and reactions to previously published opinion pieces or articles. Find detailed department submission guidelines at http://www.nctm.org/WriteForTCM. Jane F. Schielack
Introducing a problem to children is always exciting when your goal is to challenge them in more than one way. The Base-Ten Block Challenge, published in TCM's January/February 2018 issue, has two layers to the activity. Conceptually, it has the challenge of using familiar materials more flexibly. In addition, this problem incorporates the strategy of Complex Instruction (CI), which aims to make group participation more equitable for all members through using random grouping and tasks with multiple entry points as well as ensuring that all students are accountable for understanding (Featherstone et al. 2011). A grade 2 class in Guelph, Ontario, Canada, took on this challenge, facilitated by a program coordinator in collaboration with their classroom teacher, Mrs. Beth Smith.
Share news about happenings in the field of elementary school mathematics education, views on matters pertaining to teaching and learning mathematics in the early childhood or elementary school years, and reactions to previously published opinion pieces or articles. Find detailed department submission guidelines at http://www.nctm.org/WriteForTCM. Jane F. Schielack
