Engaging+Elementary+Students+in+Math

=DEFINITION = === Making Math Relevant and Engaging for Students- Teaching in a way that students are not bored, actually pay attention, and find math fun! ===
 * Making Math Relevant and Engaging for Students **

**OVERVIEW **

For too many students in the elementary grades, math is often seen as too frustrating or irrelevant to students' lives. Of course, this perception is carried through to middle and high schools, and perhaps even intensified as curricula in these grades include geometry, calculus, etc. In order to dispel the notion that mathematics is boring or irrelevant, elementary educators have started to incorporate different methods into their instruction. Many methods attempt to engage students more fully by moving beyond the practice of having students approach math principles through repeated worksheets. Worksheets often remove the joy of exploring mathematics and foster the negative perceptions towards the subject matter. Educators are endeavoring to make learning about mathematics more hands-on, more relevant and student-centered.

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__**Blogs **__
 * RESOURCES **
 * **Let's Play Math** // is a blog from a homeschooling educator who wants to make K-12 math fun by providing a great list of books, games, videos, pictures and activities, as well as practical information for teachers trying to engage students with Math! //
 * **Math Coach's Corner** // is a blog from a math coach with 16 years experience in grades K-5 that shows different activities and pictures of teaching math in action, again with practical applications for classroom teachers. //
 * **Miss Kahrimanis's Blog** // is a nice example of a 6th grade math teacher keeping a blog and sharing information about their math class. Not only does she show classwork/homework in Math, but she adds a bit of her personality to the blog. //

__**On-line games and Sites **__
 * **Math Playground** // This site is very dense with games, online manipulatives, practice sessions, logic puzzles, and videos covering elementary math topics. The videos range in quality, but seem to be made and submitted by students, many using classroom SmartBoards. The videos cover different topic areas covered, including fractions, arithmetic, decimals, percentages, ratios, etc. //
 * **Fun Kids Online Math Games** // This site is also dense with different online activities and games covering all grades (from kindergarten through middle or even high school). The games cover such topics as counting, comparing, decimals, fractions, factors, geometry, algebra, etc. //

__**Books/Articles **__
 * **Comic-Strip Math **//, //**by Dan Greenburg **//. From the publisher, as found on Amazon.com: "Math + Comics = Learning That’s Fun! Help students build essential math skills and meet math standards with 80 laugh-out-loud comic strips and companion mini-story problems. Each reproducible comic and problem set reinforces a key math skill: multiplication, division, fractions, decimals, measurement, geometry, and more. Great to use for small-group or independent class work and for homework! For use with Grades 3–6." //
 * **Hands-On Math Projects with Real-Life Applications, Grades 3-5 **, **by Judith A. Muschala **. From the publisher, as described on Amazon.com: //<span style="color: #008000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Each easy-to-implement project includes background information for the teacher, project goals, math skills needed, a student guide with tips and strategies, and reproducible worksheets. Projects are designed to help students meet the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Standards and Focal Points, and chapters are organized to show how math relates to language, arts, science, etc.--demonstrating the importance of math in all areas of real life." //

__**<span style="color: #8b098b; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Videos **__
 * //<span style="color: #008000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Dor Abrahamson, a UC Berkeley professor talks about re-imagining mathematics as a way to think, to make sense of the world, and the importance of "grounding all this scribbling in something concrete." //

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 * <span style="color: #008000; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">This is an example of an elementary Math teacher using active and cooperative learning strategies to cover math content. The students in these examples look like they are actually enjoying learning math!

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 * <span style="color: #008000; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">//School House Rock!! These videos were produced for and shown on television as commercials in the 1970's and early 1980's. The videos incorporate songs and different characters that children could relate to and each deal with a different mathematical theme. The following video explores the number zero, but there are many more videos covering different content material. Here is a link to the lyrics for the different School House Rock math videos//.


 * **//<span style="color: #008000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Finally, a site that brings together clips from movies from all genres in which math is used. Note: some of these clips are not kid-friendly. //**