Math Matters

Place value understanding is an essential building block of mathematics and forms the solid foundation on which students build operations with numbers. Check out the blog page www.mathfilefoldergames.com for lots of great ideas, including this week a list of 47 online learning games for kids on Place Value. Click this link for more: Place Value Games

Great news: Sumdog's math skills are now aligned to the Texas Standards.
To switch to these standards for your whole school, visit:
http://www.sumdog.com/teacher/skills
Once you've done this, you can view the standards by going to Sumdog's students page:
http://www.sumdog.com/student
Here you'll need to click on the purple skills box, and then on the small tab to the left of the list of skills.

Students use A&D Statements to analyze a set of "fact or fiction" statements. In the first part students may choose to agree or disagree with a statement or to state that they need more information. In addition, they are asked to describe their thinking about why they agree, disagree, or are unsure. In the second part students describe what they can do to investigate the statement by testing their ideas, examining what is already known, or using other means of mathematical inquiry. See the example for an idea of how to set up your own A&D Statement for an upcoming topic. Send me your best example and lets compile them!

Students often have difficulty solving problems because they start working on a solution as soon as they finish reading the problem. Instead they should try to understand the problem and then develop a problem-solving plan, like experts do. Some ideas:

1. Ask students to represent (pictures or symbols) and describe problems they are solving and how they solve problems, including relevant information, what is irrelevant, what type of problem it is, etc).
   
2. Have students compare their solution method with those of an expert (could be a classroom expert or the teacher if no other source is available)
   
3. Have students compare how they solve one problem with how they solve other problems, some of which are similar and some that are different.
   
4. Instead of having students carry out the solution, have them select a sequence of operations needed to solve the problem. Have them refer back to the problem statement to make sure the plan fits the problem.
   
5. Have students evaluate a problem solving plan that may not be accurate or efficient and give suggestions as to how to revise the plan to make solving the problem more efficient or simpler to solve.
   

How could you break down the steps?

How is _____ and example of _____ (or how is it similar to)?

How does _______ effect _______?

What do you already know about _____?

What things do you think of when you think of _____?

If you had to choose between _____ or ______, which would you choose and why?

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