Writing to Learn Math: Writing helps students stretch their thinking and make sense of new ideas.
Do you want your children to develop the ability to reason creatively and figure out things on their own?
Help kids practice slowing down and taking the time to fully comprehend a math topic or problem-solving situation with these classic tools of learning: Notice. Wonder. Create.
Writing to Learn Math: At its heart, geometry is all about seeing connections and relationships.
Do you want your children to develop the ability to reason creatively and figure out things on their own?
Help kids practice slowing down and taking the time to fully comprehend a math topic or problem-solving situation with these classic tools of learning: Notice. Wonder. Create.
Writing to Learn Math: What did the author mean? Put the thought in your own words. Do you agree or disagree? Why?
Do you want your children to develop the ability to reason creatively and figure out things on their own?
Help kids practice slowing down and taking the time to fully comprehend a math topic or problem-solving situation with these classic tools of learning: Notice. Wonder. Create.
Writing to Learn Math: Measurement is our way of connecting numbers to the things we find in the world, in daily life.
Do you want your children to develop the ability to reason creatively and figure out things on their own?
Help kids practice slowing down and taking the time to fully comprehend a math topic or problem-solving situation with these classic tools of learning: Notice. Wonder. Create.
This post is adapted from my book Let’s Play Math: How Families Can Learn Math Together—and Enjoy It.
Do you ever take your kids’ math tests? It helps me remember what it is like to be a student. I push myself to work quickly, trying to finish in about 1/3 the allotted time, to mimic the pressure students feel. And whenever I do this, I find myself prone to the same stupid mistakes that students make.
Even teachers are human.
Writing to Learn Math: You can spark creative thought by removing any need to worry about spelling or punctuation rules.
Do you want your children to develop the ability to reason creatively and figure out things on their own?
Help kids practice slowing down and taking the time to fully comprehend a math topic or problem-solving situation with these classic tools of learning: Notice. Wonder. Create.
I’ve written before about supplementing your children’s experience of math by playing games and reading good books.
But as I’m working on my new book, I wanted to add another valuable supplement that we often overlook. So here’s a preview excerpt from Charlotte Mason’s Living Math…
One of the stretch goals for my Charlotte Mason’s Living Math Kickstarter campaign is to add a math journaling prompt to the end of each chapter. So, I’ve been playing around with ideas to get readers writing.
Since the book’s all about how to build mathematical reasoning, I’m looking for ways to prompt creative thinking and flexibility in math calculations.
I found some fun ideas in Guy Gattegno and Martin Hoffman’s Handbook of Activities for the Teaching of Mathematics (which you can download here), including the following riff off a puzzle created by Lewis Carroll.
There’s a new math journaling prompt this week.
Have your kids tried it yet?
This week’s prompt features one of my explain-your-reasoning to get kids thinking (and writing) about math while avoiding the formality that turns so many students away from geometry proofs. Or you might prefer last week’s prompt, featuring a classic math brainteaser and encouraging students to create their own related puzzles.
Or, if you’re reading this post later and missed those, there’s another great new prompt this week for you to explore.
Check it out:
I’ve been getting questions about my Math Journaling Adventures books:
“I’m so excited to try math journaling! We bought your Logbook Alpha, and my 11-year-old math-averse son is trying to be a math rebel at every turn.
“But I feel uncomfortable with the idea of rebellion. Doesn’t he need to learn how to solve math problems the right way?”
One of my favorite things about math is that there really is no “right” way to solve math problems.
As I pointed out in my ongoing Mental Math series, even a problem as basic as 6+8 can be approached from many directions. So perhaps I should say, the “right” way is however the student wants to make sense of the problem.
In math, sense-making and reasoning are always the most important things.
