Making Math Fun for Students!!

It is wonderful that two of my beloved colleagues (Geri Wilson and Kenney Jeffries of Shadow Hills Elementary) have expressed their views on the importance of math in the Idaho Statesman Schools section.  The title of the article was Help Kids Master Math and it was there that they offered tips to help students retain and learn number skills.

 

“Idaho kids”, says Bill Roberts of the Statesman, “never test better in math than they do in fourth grade, Statewide test scores show a frustrating decline in math beginning in fifth and going through 10th grade.  ?.Lots of people are looking at what can be done to reverse the trend.  But you don?t have to wait for the experts.  We talked to fourth and fifth grade Boise teachers about what parents can do at home to encourage and nurture kid?s math skills.”

 

Shadow Hills teachers Geri Wilson and Kenney Jeffries shared some wonderful ideas such as:

1.     Make math relevant and real

2.     Hand our some numbers and have kids create word problems

3.     Make a budget by having them decide  how to buy things

4.     Quick math quizzes in the conversation for fun

5.     Get cooking by showing math while preparing food

6.     Play with fractions by asking life questions that uses fractions

7.     Toss the dice by playing games with dice

8.     Look for patterns

9.     Have kids take measurements

10. Play math games

 

Here are some more Ways to Make Math Fun says Kathryn Martinez! of http://www.easyfunschool.com/article1106.html

 

Math can be one of those really challenging subjects to get the kids to see the fun in. Below are some of the fun things that I?ve done with my children to get new math principles across:

 

1. Why do I have to learn this anyway? — How many times have you heard this? One way to combat this is to have your child to find as many different examples as they can of how math is used in every day life. Examples could be: —balancing a checkbook —games (even professional games like football, basketball, soccer, baseball, etc.) —using money —cooking —cutting a cake or pie into equal pieces —sewing —building a house —planning a vacation, road trip, budgeting, etc.

 

2. ?Geometry is stupid! And I?ll never get it!!? — I felt this way myself a few times. —Let your child look for geometric shapes around the house, playground, grocery store, or other areas. Make a chart or list of the findings. —Give them some graph paper and see how many different geometric creations they can create. —Watch a woodworking show or check out some wood working books at the library. How do the craftsmen use geometry?

 

3. ?What the heck is a ratio?!? ? Ratios were used more earlier in history when literacy wasn?t as prevalent as it is today. It was used for packing a musket gun. It was used in recipes. It was the method that pharmacists used to make their medicines up. —make up a prediction, such as ?I think that one out of every five kids at the playground between noon and one will be wearing a hat. Make up a plan to check your prediction then carry it out. Compare your prediction with the results.

 

4. What better way to show off your math skills than to plan a party? Decide how many people you are going to invite. How much food will you need to order or make per person? Figure out the budget for your party and how much you are going to spend on food, party supplies, etc..

 

5. Design a piece of playground equipment. Use geometry, symmetry and measurement. You can even make a scale model using clay, balsa wood, wire, or other construction materials.

 

6. Draw your house or bedroom to scale. Or, design a new house or bedroom.

 

7. Graphs: Keep track of the weather, the foods you eat, how you spend your time, or other activities. Plot a graph using this information.

 

8. Fill a container will jelly beans, m-n-m?s, cottonballs, popcorn kernels, etc. Have a contest to see who can most closely guess the number objects in the jar. The can measure the container, measure one of the kinds of objects in the container. This can teach the concept of volume.

 

9. Make up a secret code. Write a secret message in that code and then let someone else figure the code out ? or you can give them a key to work with.

 

10. Use metric measurements to measure: —your height —the length of your arm —the length of your foot —your weight —the dimensions of a room — the temperature indoors or out Now make these same measurements using standard American measurements. Compare the differences in measurements.

 

There are many things you can do to make math a fun part of your school day. The more you do, the more you will think of.

 

Here are some fun websites for parents and for kids to explore that will help kids master math……..

math.rice.edu/~lanius/Lessons/index.html

www.coolmath4kids.com

www.aplusmath.com

www.mathsisfun.com/

www.genkienglish.net/maths/

users.tellurian.net/teach/mathfun/

www.gnarlymath.com/gnarart1.html

 

Dr. Lamebrain performing one of his most baffling illusions

If you following this link you will see me perform one of my favorite magic tricks.

http://www.facebook.com/v/2125775518249

For information for having Bob as a guest speaker or for products you will find him on the web at……..

http://www.odysseylearningadventures.com/

Introduction to Math Magic

Mr. X gives an introduction to the concepts, uses and applications of Math Magic.  This is the first of a dozen math magic videos.  There are some math magic tricks coming soon.

To find more information explore  http://www.odysseylearningadventures.com/

Motivational Magic Brain Bite #2: Success for Teachers

Dear teachers,

A while back I spoke at a Math Conference in Idaho. The theme of the conference was “Finding Success in Mathematics. Before I gave my workshops, the leaders of the conference opened with these comments…….

Success-what is it? It is mysterious, evasive, and can feel elusive—just out of reach. We research methods; we seek results; we stalk success. We live for when students have those “aha” moments-to us that is success.

One dictionary defines success as the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors. Termination? Not in education. In our world, success is germination- we plant seeds, but we may not see the flower.

If as Sir Winston Churchill said, “Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm”, then educators are by their very nature successful. We react to student needs-seeking solutions year after year, rejuvenated each fall with the thought of the lives we will touch.

Finding success in mathematic may seem daunting. After all, the very word comes from the Greek for “all things worth knowing.” That’s a lot! Mathematics arises whenever there are difficult problems that involve quantity, structure, space, or change, logic, set theory, applied mathematics, and more recently to the rigorous study of uncertainty.

When we use Best practices of instruction, use differentiation to meet individual needs, provide interventions when students have areas of weakness, research shows us that students can show results. They can find success! And we can celebrate those successes!

For information on having Bob as a guest speaker or for products you will find him on the web at……..

http://www.odysseylearningadventures.com/

Characteristics of a Good Problem Solver

 Good problem solvers have confidence in their ability to learn and their ability to solve problems.

Good problem solvers tend to enjoy solving problems.

Good problem solvers rely on their own judgment.  Though they know there is wisdom in counsel, they respect their own decision-making abilities.

Good problem solvers are not fearful of being wrong or of making mistakes.

Good problem solvers are not fast answerers.

Good problem solvers are flexible and are often capable of seeing more than one answer to a question or a problem.

Good problem solvers know the difference between fact and opinion and understand the need for valid evidence.

Good problem solvers do not need to have an absolute, final, irrevocable solution to every problem.

Good problem solvers have methods for approaching and solving problems.

Good problem solvers think about their thinking and review their problem solving methods in order to sharpen these tools for future problems they will encounter.

Game Crossing #3:An Efficient and Effective Lesson from Games

An Efficient and Effective Lesson from Games

A few weeks ago I was noticing how my students were playing chess.  Many of the younger students spend many moves to achieve what experienced players would have done in just a few moves.  For example, one young student could not set up a standard end game checkmate. The student called check and moved the pieces around the board for 20 moves and was called a draw by the umpire. One boy in a similar situation accidentally achieved the checkmate but took many needless moves.  This got me thinking about the difference between effectiveness and efficiency in game play. 

Effective choice: Accomplishing a task decisively but with possible excess of time, material, and/or effort.
Efficient choice: Accomplishing a task with precision, economically with little or no excess of time, material and/or effort.

One day I used this illustration to explain the difference to the students.  Imagine that there is a fly on the wall and I wanted to kill it.  I dramatically took out an imaginary rocket launcher to blast the bug.  I would definitely kill the bug but I would knock down the wall and the building in the process.   I related the fact that it is not necessary to capture all the pieces in chess like Pac Man gobbling up points.  In fact, capturing pieces can waste time if it does not help achieve the goal of checkmate.  Destroying a wall to kill a fly might be very effective but not at all efficient.

Another example I gave the class is how to solve a large maze (in our part of the country we have human sized corn mazes during October).  An effective method to solve a large maze is the right-hand-rule algorithm.  This is where the player keeps his hand on one of the walls and goes wherever it leads and eventually escapes.  (Many recent maze makers in trying to circumvent this algorithm have constructed loops and false trails leading to other false trails.)  The point is that players may use the only algorithm they know and though being effective is not very efficient, fun or elegant.

In my problem solving classes I have an imaginary tool box for the problem solving tools. When students do not know the various tools they invariably use trial and error as if harder tasks could be solved if only I had a larger hammer.

In chess, as well as in other games I strongly suggest having more than one reason for every move.  This serves at least two purposes: one is that the opponent will not know which reason to respond to and two, so that the move will accomplish more than one goal.  Having more than one reason for every move practices subterfuge as will as the strategy of economy. 

In solving jigsaw puzzles with my 2^nd grade class, I took this opportunity to discuss the same issue.  Solving jigsaw puzzles is a wonderful metaphor of strategic thinking.  When asked how to solve a jigsaw puzzle I often get the answer “one piece at a time”.  So I take one piece out of the box and then fished the box for a matching piece.  This method may work but is not very efficient. 

After much discussion the class came to this pretty efficient method:

1.  Dump pieces our and turn them all face up on the table.

2.  Sort the pieces by edges and inside pieces.

3.  Locate the corners and construct the frame of the puzzle.

4.  Sort inside pieces by color and design.  Use the picture as a guide to have the finished product in mind.

5.  Switch modes of thinking constantly by:

Finding pieces to go in a particular space and look for a space for a particular piece.

Looking for unique pieces and for similar pieces that can be categorized.

Often I give my 6^th grade gifted students math problems that have an easily found “effective” number crunching method and a not so easy to be found but elegant “efficient” method Some students in a rush will start the number crunching method and give up after getting lost in the arithmetic. But others stand back from the problem and take the time to find the more elegant method.

 This all reminds me of Sun Tzu’s comments in the Art of Strategy

 “Those who are skilled in executing a strategy bend the strategy of others without conflict: Uproot the fortifications of others without attacking and absorb the organizations of others without prolonged operations.”

 The other side of the issue is that efficiency can replace effectiveness.  Players can be so possessed with being efficient and multitasking that the quality of the activity is endangered.  A recent news report covered how youths can multi task on the computer but to the expense of quality understanding.

 So what is the difference between Effective and Efficient?

Being efficient means producing results with little wasted effort.  It’s the ability to carry out actions quickly. However, by so doing, you may not necessarily be achieving effectiveness. Effectiveness allows you to accomplish the worthwhile goals you’ve chosen.

Simply: Efficient is doing things right, while Effective is doing right things.

Being efficient means you spend less time on something, you spend less money on something or you spend less effort (or number of workers) on something.

Being effective means you do your job well. In other words, the output (finished product) is of high quality.

• Effectiveness is about “doing the right things”.
  It is about maximising value, creating the right outputs, knowing what needs to be done.
• Efficiency is about “doing things right“.
  It is about minimising cost, using the right processes and inputs, knowing how to do things.

Success comes from getting them both right — getting the right balance between the two.

Problem Solving: A Student’s Guide for Math Without Thinking

 PROBLEM SOLVING: A Student’s Guide

This set of rules will get you through even the longest assignment in the minimum time with little or no thinking. 

Rule 1 

If at all possible, avoid reading the problem.  Reading the problem only consumes time and causes confusion.

Rule 2

Extract the numbers from the problem in the order in which they appear. Pay no attention for numbers written in words.

Rule 3

If rule 2 yields three or more numbers, the best bet for getting the answer is adding them together.

Rule 4

If there are only two numbers which are approximately the same size, then subtraction should give the best results.

Rule 5

If there are only two numbers in the problem and one is much smaller than the other, then divide if it goes evenly-otherwise, multiply.

Rule 6

If the problem seems like it calls for a formula, pick a formula that has enough letters to use all the numbers given in the problem.

Rule 7

Never, never spend too much time solving problems.

 

Math Positive Affirmations

Math Positudes (Positive affirmations)

 I’m becoming a good math student.

 I’m learning more math each day.

 I’m capable of learning math.

 I have good abilities in math.

 I am relaxed, calm, alert, and confident in math.

 My math improves every day.

 I can understand math if I give myself a chance.

 I like math because it’s useful in everyday life.

 Working out math problems is fun.

 Math is more and more exciting each day.

 Math is creative.

 Math is stimulating.

 Math helps me to get to where I want to go.

 Math methods help me solve everyday problems.

 Act as if it were impossible to fail.

 The more you learn, the easier it gets.

Luck is often disguised as hard work.

 If you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.

 Success is a journey, not a destination.

 Inch by inch, it’s a cinch.

 Failure is a success if you learn from it.

 Get an education in school and you’ll have it for life.

 If you play victim, you give up your power to change.

 You’re as happy as you make up your mind to be.

 Your greatest advantage is your ability to learn.

 I choose to respond positively, NOT react.

 Learning is a big part of my life.

 Be bigger than your problems.

 I succeed by asking questions.

 The difference between ordinary & extraordinary is the little “extra.”

Math Magician helps Students to Want to Study Numbers USA

By Courtney Cobb – Journal Writer

POCATELLO, IDAHO – A new spin has been put on mathematics as Tendoy Elementary students use some magic to study various math concepts.

Bob Bishop, the Math Magician, has delighted students in kindergarten through sixth grade and teachers with his magic skills and math abilities over the past week.

“Math is so necessary in life,” he said. “It’s not just making math fun, but it’s also trying to attach some sense of understanding for students.”

Fifth grade teacher Vicki Reeder’s class had the opportunity to spend some time with Bishop while working on problem solving skills.

Students worked with calculators, the box of magic, learned how to do multiplication tables with their fingers, played a game called fast and loose and other activities.

During a game of fast and loose, Bishop produced a single chain and proceeded to fold it into a series of loops.

Students were asked to pick a loop and place their finger inside it. If they had guessed correctly the loop would stay around their finger. However, if they guessed incorrectly, the loop would slip away.

“You will win if you know mathematics, but you’ll lose if you don’t,” Bishop said.

Students learned how to follow the loops and determine the correct place to put their fingers.

Bishop has been performing for students and other audiences for 10 years and says he continually teaches students and teachers how math can be fun.

He said many students work with arithmetic but don’t fully understand problem solving skills.

With the help of a little magic, students are forced to observe the environment around them for any changes and think about possible outcomes.

“Generally students don’t really care to do math because it’s not fun,” Bishop said. “By making it interesting and proving to them they can do it, it helps to raise their self-esteem and interest level in math.”

Bishop will perform along with Tendoy Elementary students at 6:30 p.m. today for a Math Night.

Fifth grade student Quinci Shelley is acting as Bishop’s assistant during the show and said she can’t wait to perform for other students.

“I think it’s cool and it’s a good opportunity for us,” she said. “Some people don’t like math, but when they see this show it sparks their interest.”

Fifth grade student Brant Leo will lead the audience in applause, but said working with Bishop has been great because he’s learned new things.

“He’s helping students to improve their math by using cool tricks,” he said.

Bishop also worked with teachers after school and gave them various activities they can do with students in their classrooms.

“By making math fun, students will learn to enjoy it more and it will give them a sense of pride as they figure out difficult problems,” he said.