Strategies for Teaching Elementary Mathematics

A resource to improve the teaching and understanding of elementary mathematics. Home Page Content Pedagogy Technology Activities Posted by: ldegarci | April 27, 2009

Exceptional Learners
Students with Special Needs / Struggling Learners Gifted Students Posted in Uncategorized Posted by: degarcia | April 20, 2009 Comments Off

Big Idea: Relations and Functions

BIG IDEA #12 RELATIONS & FUNCTIONS: Mathematical rules (relations) can be used to assign members of one set to members of another set. A special rule (function) assigns each member of one set to a unique member of the other set. Examples of Mathematical Understandings: Mathematical relationships can be represented and analyzed using words, tables, graphs, and equations. In mathematical relationships, the value for one quantity depends on the value of the other quantity. The nature of the quantities in a relationship determines what values of the input and output quantities are reasonable. The graph of a relationship can be analyzed with regard to the change in one quantity relative to the change in the other quantity. The graph of a relation can be analyzed to determine if the relation is a function. In a linear function of the form y = ax, a is the constant of variation and it represents the rate of change of y with respect to x. The solutions to a linear function form a straight line when graphed. A horizontal line has a slope of 0, and a vertical line does not have a slope. The parameters in an equation representing a function affect the graph of the function in predictable ways. Web Links: http://www.purplemath.com/modules/fcns.htm http://www.mathwarehouse.com/algebra/relation/math-function.php http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Function_(mathematics) http://www.nointrigue.com/docs/notes/maths/maths_relfn.pdf Standard 2 Students will use patterns, relations, and algebraic expressions to represent and analyze mathematical problems and number relationships. Objective 1 Analyze algebraic expressions, tables, and graphs to determine patterns, relations, and rules. Describe simple relationships by creating and analyzing tables, equations, and expressions. Draw a graph and write an equation from a table of values. Draw a graph and create a table of values from an equation. Activity: http://illuminations.nctm.org/LessonDetail.aspx?ID=L293 Comments Off Posted in Uncategorized Posted by: degarcia | April 20, 2009

Equations and Inequalities- Caitlin Hauser

Why This is a Big Idea: 3rd Grade Standards: Represent numerical relationships as expressions, equations, and inequalities. Order and compare whole numbers on a number line and use the inequality symbols <, >, , and = when comparing whole numbers. Represent numerical relationships as expressions, equations, and inequalities. 4th Grade Standards: Objective 2 Use algebraic expressions, symbols, and properties of the operations to represent, simplify, and solve mathematical equations and inequalities.

5th Grade: Use algebraic expressions, inequalities, or equations to represent and solve simple real-world problems. 6th Grade: Describe simple relationships by creating and analyzing tables, equations, and expressions. Write, interpret, and use mathematical expressions, equations, and formulas to represent and solve problems that correspond to given situations. Properties of Equality

Properties of Equality If the same real number is added or subtracted to both sides of an equation, equality is maintained. If both sides of an equation are multiplied or divided by the same real number (not dividing by 0), equality is maintained. Two quantities equal to the same third quantity are equal to each other.

EQUATIONS & INEQUALITIES: Rules of arithmetic and algebra can be used together with notions of equivalence to transform equations and inequalities so solutions can be found. Examples of Mathematical Understandings: A solution to an equation is a value of the unknown or unknowns that makes the equation true. Properties of equality and reversible operations can be used to generate equivalent equations and find solutions. Techniques for solving equations start by transforming the equation into an equivalent one. A solution or solutions to a linear or quadratic equation can be found in the table of ordered pairs or from the graph of the related function. Techniques for solving equations can be applied to solving inequalities, but the direction of the inequality sign needs to be considered when negative numbers are involved. More Information: An equation is simply an assertion that two expressions are related by equality. In mathematics, an inequality is a statement about the relative size or order of two objects, or about whether they are the same or not. An understanding of equalities and inequalities is so important. Students at a young age should be exposed to the importance of equality and the true meaning of an equal sign. Children can also be exposed to inequalities at a young age. Its important for students to develop their own understanding of equalities and inequalities so they can apply future mathematics principles to these big ideas. A lot of mathematics rely on using equations and that is why it is such a big idea that needs to be used inside the classroom.

An equation is a sentence involving numbers, or symbols representing numbers where the verb is equals (=). There are various types of equations: 3+4=7 True Equation 3+4=9 False Equation 2x+5x=7x Identity Equation

x+4= 9 Conditional Equation Equations are used to state the equality of two expressions. Inequalities are demonstrated through the following signs:

The notation a < b means that a is less than b. The notation a > b means that a is greater than b. The notation a b means that a is not equal to b, but does not say that one is bigger than the other or even that they can be compared in size. In all these cases, a is not equal to b, hence, inequality. These relations are known as strict inequality The notation a b means that a is less than or equal tob (or, equivalently, not greater than b); The notation a b means that a is greater than or equal to b (or, equivalently, not smaller than b);

Lesson Plans: http://www.uen.org/Lessonplan/preview?LPid=11051 Commutative Cookie activity for 3rd graders where students create a commutative equation. http://www.instructorweb.com/lesson/numbersequal.asp what the equal sign means. Lesson plan for kindergartners or 1st graders on understanding

http://www.uen.org/Lessonplan/preview?LPid=16330 Lesson Plan for 4th graders on understanding what is an equation and what is not an equation. http://www.uen.org/Lessonplan/preview?LPid=16326 Lesson plan addressing different strategies to solve equations for 4th graders. http://www.uen.org/Lessonplan/preview?LPid=6103 Lesson plan for 4th graders on symbols in inequalities. http://www.uen.org/Lessonplan/preview?LPid=11207 Lesson plan for 4th graders on relationships between equations. Helps students understand equal values. http://www.uen.org/core/lessonList.do?courseNum=5050&itemId=3022 A list of 5th grade lesson plans on equations. Games: http://www.math-play.com/Equation/Equation-Game-Online.htmlMatching equations with answers. For upper Level elementary grades. http://www.math-play.com/One-Step-Equation-Game.html Another equation game finding answers to equations for upper level grades. http://education.jlab.org/sminequality/question.php?7466566 Speed math inequality game for 5-6 graders. Posted in Uncategorized Posted by: degarcia | April 17, 2009

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Integrating Math and Literature

Literature can be a great resource when teaching mathematics. Integrating literature and math can both teach students literacy and motivate them to stay engaged during math time. Some suggest that the literature connection motivates students (Usnick & McCarthy, 1998), provokes interest (Welchman-Tischler, 1992), helps students connect mathematical ideas to their personal experiences (Murphy, 2000), accommodates children with different learning styles (Murphy, 2000), promotes critical thinking (Murphy, 2000), or provides a context for using mathematics to solve problems (Jacobs & Rak, 1997; Melser & Leitze, 1999). http://www.apples4theteacher.com/resources/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=65

Ways to use Childrens Literature in Teaching Mathematics

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. To provide a context or model for an activity with mathematical content. To introduce manipulatives that will be used in varied ways (not necessarily as in the story). To inspire a creative mathematics experience for children. To pose an interesting problem. To prepare for a mathematics concept or skill. To develop or explain a mathematics concept or skill. To review a mathematics concept or skill. List by Welchman-Tischler (1992) http://www.apples4theteacher.com/resources/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=65

Integration Ideas
Many types of literature can be used to integrate with math such as picture books, short stories, novels, folktales, poetry, songs, news articles, and more! Some books explicitly present problems in the context of the reading but others are implicit and will require some creativity. Here are some compiled lists:

Picture Books
Annos Counting Book by Mitsumasa Anno Annos Counting House by Mitsumasa Anno Annos Mysterious Multiplying Jar by Mitsumasa Anno The Napping House by Audrey and Don Wood One Monkey Too Many by Jackie French Koller and Lynn Munsinger How Much is A Million? by David M. Schwartz A Million Dots by Andrew Clements The Hersheys Milk Chocolate Bar Fractions Book by Jerry Pallotta The Greedy Triangle by Marilyn Burns Sir Cumference and the Great Knight of Angleland by Cindy Neuschwander Sir Cumference and the Sword in the Crone by Cindy Neuschwander Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi by Cindy Neuschwander The Grapes of Math by Gregory Tang and other books by Greg Tang Round Trip by Ann Jonas Eight Hands Round by Ann Whitford Paul Compilations: http://www.edselect.com/mathbooksbowen.htm http://childrenspicturebooks.info/articles/picture_books_for_math.htm http://teacher.scholastic.com/reading/bestpractices/pdfs/mbmath_TitleList.pdf

Folktales
Goldilocks and the Three Bears The Three Little Pigs Three Billy Goats Gruff Rapunzel (hair length, time for hair growth)

Poetry
Marvelous Math: A Book of Poems by Lee Bennett Hopkins Math Poetry Book: Linking Language and Math in a Fresh Way by Betsy Franco http://literacyconnections.com/Tang.html

Songs
A list of songs that can be integrated with math can be found at the following website:http://www.songsforteaching.com/

More Information:
Education World WiZiQ Scholastic

References:

http://www.apples4theteacher.com/resources/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=65 Bahr L. Damon & de Garcia A. Lisa, Elementary Mathematics Is Anything but Elementary 2010 Integrating Reading and Mathematics Uploaded by lee-Luther on WiZiQ Tutorials Posted in Uncategorized Posted by: degarcia | April 13, 2009

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Surface Area

Surface Area: In general, the surface area is the sum of all the areas of all the shapes that cover the surface of the object. In order for students to understand surface area, they first need to understand concepts such as base, height, diameter, radius, pi, etc. Surface area can be a challenging concept for students because of the different formulas that are used when dealing with different geometric shapes. http://www.math.com/tables/geometry/surfareas.htm -This is a link to a website that lists the formulas to find the surface area of specific shapes. Standards Here are the links to the Utah State Core Curriculum for teaching surface area. http://www.uen.org/core/core.do?courseNum=5060 -5th grade core for surface area. It is found in Standard 4. http://www.uen.org/core/core.do?courseNum=5050 -6th grade core for surface area. It is also found in Standard 4. The standard from the NCTM for 5th grade is listed like this: Geometry and Measurement and Algebra: Describing three-dimensional shapes and analyzing their properties, including volume and surface area. Students relate two-dimensional shapes to three-dimensional shapes and analyze properties of polyhedral solids, describing them by the number of edges, faces, or vertices as well as the types of faces. Students recognize volume as an attribute of three-dimensional space. They understand that they can quantify volume by finding the total number of same-sized units of volume that they need to fill the space without gaps or overlaps. They understand that a cube that is 1 unit on an edge is the standard unit for measuring volume. They select appropriate units, strategies, and tools for solving problems that involve estimating or measuring volume. They decompose three-dimensional shapes and find surface areas and volumes of prisms. As they work with surface area, they find and justify relationships among the formulas for the areas of different polygons. They measure necessary attributes of shapes to use area formulas to solve problems. (http://www.nctm.org/standards/focalpoints.aspx?id=334) Lesson Plans-Here are some links to some websites that have great ideas for surface area lesson plans: http://www.uen.org/Lessonplan/preview.cgi?LPid=21572 http://io.uwinnipeg.ca/~jameis/PAGES/MYR64.html http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/lessons/SurfaceAreaAndVolume/ http://www.iit.edu/~smile/ma8808.html Activities-Here are some links to some websites that have great activities that can be used to teach surface area. The first two links are especially good ideas for teaching surface area of cylinders. http://www.uen.org/Lessonplan/downloadFile.cgi?file=21572-2-27998Net_of_Cylinder.pdf&filename=Net_of_Cylinder.pdf This link is a printable net of a cylinder that students can cut out and then fold in order to see how the different shapes make up a cylinder. http://mathteachermambo.blogspot.com/2007/08/surface-area-activity.html-This is an idea of finding the surface area of spheres by using oranges. http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/maths/files/areapractical.doc -This link is a worksheet that students can complete in the classroom. It has to do with finding the surface area of certain things in the classroom.
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Volume
Volume is the amount of space taken up by a three dimensional object. Elementary students learn volume in relation to rectangular prisms, triangular prisms, and cylinders. Student should be familiar with length, width, and height, as well as the circumference of a circle. Students should also be able to find the area of two dimensional shapes. Standards UEN is a great resource for finding out the grade level standards in Utah.5th grade and 6th grade both have standards which cover volume. Lesson Plans for Teaching Volume Fill Em Up

Candies R Us Getting Serious About Cylinders-Surface Area and Volume Cube Models Interactive Websites for Teaching Volume 3D Model Maker Demonstrates Rectangular and Triangular Prisms Interactive Overview of 3D Shapes Reviews the volume of various 3D shapes Interactive Cube Volume Simulation demonstrates how to find the capacity of a rectangular prism Posted in Uncategorized Posted by: ldegarci | April 13, 2009

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Measurement
US Customary and Metric Systems Area and Perimeter Surface Area Volume

Posted in Uncategorized Posted by: degarcia | April 13, 2009

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Area and Perimeter

NCTM Standards http://standards.nctm.org/document/appendix/meas.htm NCTM standards and expectations for k-12 UEN Core Curriculum http://www.uen.org/core/core.do?courseNum=5040- Utah Core curriculum for 4thgrade. Area is Standard 4 Objective 2. There are lesson plans and links included for the standard. http://www.uen.org/core/core.do?courseNum=5050-Utah Core curriculum for 5thgrade. Area is Standard 4. There are lesson plans and links included for the standard. http://www.uen.org/core/core.do?courseNum=5060- Utah Core curriculum for 6thgrade. Area is Standard 4. There are lesson plans and links included for the standard.

Definitions/Formulas -Area describes how much surface a shape take sup in square units. -Perimeter is the measurement in units of length of the outer edge of an area. -The terms width and length can be compared and connected to the words rows and columns. -Width: Width is the short dimension of any object. -Length: Length is the long dimension of any object. -Square- A polygon with four equal side and all angles = 90 degrees. A = S^2

-Triangle: A polygon with three corners or vertices and three sides or edges, which are line segments. A = 1/2bh

-Parallelograms: A parallelogram is a quadrilateral with two sets of parallel sides. The opposite or facing sides of a parallelogram are of equal length, and the opposite angles of a parallelogram are of equal size. A = L x W

-Circle: A circle is a simple shape consisting of those points in a plane which are the same distance from a given point called

the center. Misconceptions -Perimeter and Area are always the same -Perimeter and Area are interchangeable -Square units means the object is a square

Student examples of misconceptions - Brynne says that the area inside a fixed-length loop of string is always the same because the length is always the same.

- Darill says that if the area of a rectangle is 50 square cm, then the perimeter is always 30 cm.

How to best teach -Inquiry: Studies have proven that inquiry is one of the best ways to teach mathematics. Inquiry implies that students explore and solve mathematical problems through trial, error, and personal experience rather than simply being handed equations or given answers. If concepts are derived for self, this information is much more likely to become solidified in the students mind and aid in concrete understanding. The three parts of inquiry include launch, explore, and summarize. -Building figures with square tiles

-Drawing models with 1-1 corresponding pictures using graph paper -Using open arrays or sketches and labeling them with numbers -Real life connection: Students learn area and perimeter best when they can make connections to real life examples. Ideas include tiling a room, surface area for pool covers, fencing, and room layouts.

Lesson Plans -Using Inquiry to Teach Measurement Deriving the area of a quadrilateral Launch Cycle 1 Teacher shows picture of a quadrilateral made from graph paper on board or overhead. She asks students to discuss with their partner how many square units is inside the quadrilateral. Explore Cycle 1 Students discuss with a partner. Summarize cycle 1 As a class students share answers and strategies of how they figured it out. Some will have counted, some using repeated addition, and some using multiplication. Teacher makes sure to introduce the vocabulary of length and width.

Launch Cycle 2 Teacher states that the students are going to figure out a strategy that they can use with any rectangle, even if they dont know what the measurement of the sides are. She hands the small groups with several quadrilaterals they can explore. Explore Cycle 2 Students work in small groups to find the areas of their quadrilaterals and try to generalize a way to find the area of any quadrilateral. Summarize Cycle 2 As a class, students discuss that they notice that are multiplying one side times the other side, or length times width, in each figure. When asked to write an equation to show this, they write: length x width = area. The teacher further asks them to write the equation using letters to stand for the words, so students derive l x w = a.

Supplements http://college.cengage.com/education/bahr/elementary_math/1e/resources.html This site includes information for purchase as well as a few free useful links for teachers.

http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/activities/PerimeterExplorer/?version=1.5.0_16&browser=safari&vendor=Apple_Compu ter,_Inc. Generate shapes to explore perimeter in an interactive and fun way! http://www.brainpop.com/math/geometryandmeasurement/areaofpolygons/preview.wemlUse this site for free information or sign up for cool videos. Free 5 day trial.

Resources Bahr L. Damon & de Garcia A. Lisa, Elementary Mathematics Is Anything but Elementary 2010 Wikipedia. Retrieved April 15, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page Posted in Uncategorized Posted by: degarcia | April 13, 2009

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Children with Special Needs / Struggling Learners

Exceptional Learners Struggling Learners and Students with Disabilities Everything about our educational system is changing, including the students who are in our classrooms. Between dramatic increases in the numbers of minority students and legislation such as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the No Child Left Behind Act, classroom teachers are experiencing a different population of children than in decades past. Today, it is not uncommon to have children with language, poverty, and learning issues all within the confines of the general education class (Bahr & De Garcia, 2010).

What kinds of behaviors indicate struggling learners? Can students with disabilities learn how to do every kind of math? In what areas do these students struggle most? What can you do to accommodate students with specified disabilities such as ADHD, Dyscalculia, or Autism?