Fun Math Lessons

Pilot program adds fun to math lessons

"Our results in math have just been nothing short of phenomenal," said Superintendent Lloyd Snow. "It has been not months gained, but years. The impact on kids is profound."

Limestone Technology Academy was the only Oklahoma pilot site for the innovative math program last year.

Based on a Russian math curriculum, the online program is offered by Reasoning Mind, a national nonprofit dedicated to improving math literacy in the U.S. The group has headquarters in both Moscow and Houston.

The software was developed by Russian scientist Alexander Khachatryan, who had moved to Houston and was unhappy with the way his children were being taught mathematics.

The Tulsa Community Service Council has led the charge to bring Reasoning Mind to Oklahoma, said Lori Kerns, Sand Springs assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction.

What sets it apart from other software curriculum programs is that teachers receive training to use the software as a teaching tool and teacher interaction with students is considered integral to the program's success, she said.

"It's not a one-size-fits-all program," Kerns said.

Not only does the program use artificial intelligence to continually adjust for each individual's learning needs, but it also becomes a diagnostic tool for teachers to determine each student's strengths and weaknesses.

On top of that, kids are engaged in learning because it's fun. They love it, Kerns said.

"Whenever elementary students are excited to go into math lab, that's a good thing," she said.

Gail Armstrong, Oklahoma's Reasoning Mind project coordinator, said the program doesn't simply augment traditional classroom instruction with online games and exercises.

"Reasoning Mind is also unique in its emphasis on a program that serves as a student's core curriculum," she said. Students can use the program both at school and at home.

Armstrong agreed that intensive teacher professional development is an important hallmark of the program's success, along with its portability and relatively low cost.

"Just two trained teachers per school can reach the entire second- to sixth-grade population and demonstrate impressive results," she said.

As successful as the program has been at Sand Springs as well as in school districts throughout Texas and California, the poor economic climate has made funding difficult, Armstrong said.

Fun Math Activities for Preschoolers: Extinguish Math Fears with ...

Fear of math is not something that babies are born with, but is actually learned over time. The challenge for parents will be to overcome their own tendencies to dislike math and present brave faces to their children.

Rest assured, the task of showing enthusiasm toward math is not as difficult as it sounds. Luckily, there are numbers, shapes, and patterns to be found in almost every conceivable activity that parents and children do together. Parents can help teach their children early math skills by playing store bought math games or the homemade ones below, and perhaps bring the pleasure back to a subject that has ghastly memories associated with it.

Counting Game: How Many Fruits in the Salad?

What better way to introduce the notion of "tens" than to create a healthy snack together? Make a fruit salad by cutting up soft fruits such as bananas and melon with a safety or dull butter knife. Then, cut a few red and green grapes in half. Once the fruit has been prepared, the children can take turns adding ten pieces of each fruit to a medium bowl until there are a total of 100 pieces.

This activity will also work for regular vegetable salads or even trail mix. Use creative ingredients such as nuts, popcorn, mini marshmallows, yogurt-covered raisins, and chocolate chips, or check out this tropical fruit salad recipe using shredded coconut and lime juice.

Measuring Game: Comparing Sizes of Clay Snakes

Usually the first recognizable object that kids will model out of clay is a snake, and this will be the perfect opportunity to do some measuring. (For very young children, measuring might be more successful with blocks rather than a ruler.)

Asking questions such as "How many blocks long is that snake?" or "Can you make a snake that is 5 blocks long?" will get children to think about comparing sizes and introduce concepts of long, longer, and longest. A harder challenge might be to make the longest possible snake out of the clay and then measure it.

Shape Game: Going on a Shape Hunt

Shapes can be found anywhere, such as in the house or yard, at a playground, or even at the mall. For a shape hunt, parents can provide a list of drawn shapes to their children, who then try to find as many of the shapes listed as possible.

At home, sticky notes can be used to mark shapes that have already been counted. A limit can be set on the number of shapes to be found, or the game can be turned into a timed contest to see who can find highest number of shapes. Bonus points can be awarded when children can figure out how many shapes they have found in total.

Cool Math - free online cool math lessons, cool math games & apps ...: #fun

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