The Joy of Teaching Math
Then came school. Math was nothing but numbers written on paper. Easy to do but very boring and seemingly unrelated to life. Breezing through each worksheet, page of math problem and even finishing the 7th grade math book mid-year, math became a hated subject to be put aside as quickly as possible.
I vowed that the day I graduated from high school would be the last day I ever took a math class. I succeeded in that goal all through college but when I wanted to get my Elementary Teaching Certificate the state of Vermont had other ideas. So I signed up for a summer class in teaching math.
Math and the Table of Contents
- Math is More than Numbers
- Integrating Mathematics
- Teaching Math
- The Calendar
- Geometry
- Patterns
- Numbers and Counting
- Writing Numerals
- The Four Operations
- Add, Sub, Multiply or Divide
- First Grade Math with Mrs. Thompson
- Place Value
- Telling Time
- Measurement
- Symmetry
- Symmetry in Maple Leaves
- Math Games
- My favorite Math Books for Early Grades
- My Favorite Math Manipulatives
- Guestbook for the Love of Math
- About the Teacher who Loves Math
Math is More than Numbers
The Day I came to Love Math
Math can be found in Blocks
The first day of class the professor brought out pattern blocks and Cuisenaire rods. He asked us to play with them. We made patterns. We built walls. We made towers that tumbled down onto the desk with a sound that only natural wood can make. These blocks felt good in your hands with smooth edges and brilliant colors. He started to explain the mathematics behind the structures we were building.
Mathematics is based on patterns and when you build a pattern block wall, you are using mathematics. When you put a Cuisenaire rod that is 2 cm long next to one that is 3 cm long it is the same as the one that is 5 cm long. (2+3=5)
Then he got me completely hooked when he showed us how to play music on the Cuisenaire Rods.
This was math that was alive. Math that made sense. Math that I could use happily and willingly to teach the wonders of math to children.
I wish I could remember this professor's name. I guess at the time the revolution I found in discovering my love of math was more important to me. Now I hope to thank him by passing on this love to other teachers and homeschoolers.
Integrating Mathematics
Mathematics does not have to be taught in isolation.
Math can be found in Quilting
Math is fun, artistic, musical, historical, scientific, active, something to write home about.
Mathematics can be taught using fun, interactive learning materials as part of unit studies and as an everyday part of life.
All children can learn and enjoy math when given the right materials and opportunities. The best games for learning math involve children working together to discover the mathematical principles behind the activity.
Children should be expected to make up their own math games and play those games with others often.
Math can be enhanced by explaining what you have learned to others and by writing down those explanations in math journals.
What needs to change in mathematical education?
Fetching blurbs now... please stand byMore hands-on learning.
TasiL says:
Not a math mom but my husband is.. More hands on learning would be great for kids.
Posted November 07, 2009
theraggededge says:
Show them the patterns.
I hated math as a child; I went to 7 schools and they all taught differently so I was way ahead in English and very, very behind in math. It turned me into a mathphobic. In my 30s I went back to college, fell in love with Excel and begun a tentative love affair with numbers. We homeschool and I love showing my kids patterns in numbers and nature. My son loves doing times tables because it 'makes his brain fizz'.
Posted August 07, 2009
Teddi14 says:
We need more hand on Math & integration into other subjects. Most kids are visual learners and hands on visual
Posted July 09, 2009
More paper and pencil practice.
lingstar says:
It's not just paper and pencil learning...it's understanding how to mentally figure out mathematics as well. Beat the Calculator has some nifty resources for that.
Posted June 04, 2009
Michey says:
I think we have to get read of calculators in schools and learn more about the basics, use the brain to add, subtract and so on
Posted May 08, 2009
Joan4 says:
Basic concepts and lifetime skills - how to budget, how to buy groceries, how to pay taxes. I am concerned that our children are not learning how to balance their checkbooks! Wish they all had teachers like you!
Posted April 23, 2009
Teaching Math
Turning Theory into Practice
Math Manipulatives for Teaching Time
Photo Credit: Math Manipulatives for Teaching Time
on Flickr, Creative Commons.
Each day since that class I have found new ways to make math come alive. When we discovered live sand dollars on the beach in Costa Rica to counting buttons with children in a small Vermont school I found that children responded with equal enthusiasm. How their eyes light up with understanding as they see 4 X 6 = 24 after arranging square pattern blocks into a rectangle with 4 blocks on one side and 6 blocks on the other.
Oh, you mean those numbers really mean something?, one child said to me one day.
When I homeschooled my own children I discovered ways to teach even algebra using Cuisenaire Rods and that hands-on approach has made it possible for my daughter to teach children mathematical concepts that her high school teachers and college professors were not able to get across to certain students.
I have found that the hands-on approach gives children the concrete understanding of mathematics that makes abstract mathematics comprehensible.
The Calendar
Calendar Math
Teaching the Mathematics of the Calendar
Calendar Time is the time to introduce Mathematical Concepts
Teaching about the Calendar and seasons of the year can often relate to certain holidays, animals whose habits are notable during certain seasons or simply measuring the days of the week, month, or year.
Calendar Time is when we review concepts we have learned and when new concepts are introduced. If you look at the calendars on the Bluebird Math and Frog Math you can see the way that a calendar can be used as a guessing game to help children recognize patterns.
We always sing a song of the days of the week and the months of the year. By having the headers of the months on display with this month's header missing, children can see how the months change throughout the year.
We use tally marks to show how many days of school have passed. Because tally marks are crossed for each of the 5's it is a wonderful time to practice counting by 5's as this teacher is doing with her children.
We circle each pair of fives when tallying and then count them by 10's building up to the 100th day of school.
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Bluebird Math
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The bluebirds are busy building nests, laying eggs and helping young children learn all about math. The basis of all math is discovering and describing pattens found in the natural world. This lens offers dozens of math activities, workjobs and cente...
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Interactive Bulletin Boards
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Bulletin Boards can be more than just decoration on the wall. By making it interactive, a bulletin board can become another center in your classroom. You will find bulletin boards to teach math at calendar time and word walls for learning to read and...
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Bluebirds of the Meadow
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Summer nears and the bluebirds start nesting along the fenceline. The children are fascinated with the way they fly back and forth to build their nests. They become the focus of our next Unit Study, Bluebirds of the Meadow. As your little bluebirds...
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Frog Pattern Math
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When planning activities for your Frog Unit Study you might think that math would be an abstract subject that has nothing to do with frogs. In this lens we will explore ways to integrated math into your study of frogs and tadpoles. Mathematics is ba...
Geometry
Geometry for the Frog Unit Study
Integrating the study of geometry into the Frog Unit Study theme.-
Frog Geometry
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As teachers and homeschoolers we often think of math a subject totally unrelated to the theme we are studying. In this lens I hope to dispel l this myth. Using the frog theme we will explore geometric shapes. From the circular bubbles rising up from...
Patterns in Math
Patterns
Mathematics is all about recognizing and describing patterns. I the Raccoon Unit Study children make patterns using coasters with raccoon and corn pictures on them.
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Raccoons in the Corn
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Raccoons love to investigate. In this unit study we will be investigating the lives of raccoons with both fiction and non-fiction books, sensory table explorations and even a visit from a wild raccoon. Let Bobby Coon teach you about life on the Gree...
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Frog Pattern Math
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When planning activities for your Frog Unit Study you might think that math would be an abstract subject that has nothing to do with frogs. In this lens we will explore ways to integrated math into your study of frogs and tadpoles. Mathematics is ba...
Numbers and Counting
Counting
Counting from 1 to 10 leads to counting by hundreds, learning place value and eventually an understanding of numbers into the billions.
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Understanding a Billion
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Everyone is talking about spending billions of dollars to save the economy but how much is a billion? We all know how to count to 100. We count by 10's, 5's and 2's but when the numbers get higher it becomes more and more difficult to comprehend jus...
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Learning to Count with Frogs
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Learning to count can be a joyful hop around the Frog Pond. With this froggy theme, children count their way around the frog board, count the flies the frog eats and count the hidden frogs. From counting to 10 to helping in annual Frog Monitoring pr...
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Pumpkins and Place Value
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Pick the biggest pumpkin you can find. Cut off the top and smell the fresh pumpkin smell. Carving a Jack O'Lantern leads into a mathematical unit study of place value that incorporates all five senses. Counting pumpkin seeds into groups of 10...
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Skip Count, Skip Count, Count by Two's
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Skip Counting is what you do when you count by 10's, 5's or 2's. All young children learn to Skip Count but did you realize that this is one of the beginning steps to learning multiplication. This lens has rhymes, songs and activities for teaching S...
Writing Numerals
Writing Numerals
Photo Credit: writing numbers
on Flickr, Creative Commons.
Activities described in Cursive Writing can easily be adapted to teaching how to write numerals.
Learning Roman Numerals leads into counting by 5's then on to counting the minutes when learning to tell time.
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Roman Numerals, I to MM
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Roman Numerals may be found where you least expect them. Look up at the clocks on public buildings and down on the cornerstones. Check out the copyright date of your favorite movie or book. You might even find roman numerals on your watch. Learning...
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Penmanship: The Art of Teaching Handwriting
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As a child I remember Mrs. Thompson, my first grade teacher, gently putting her hand over mine and guiding me in forming the letters. We wrote on green lined paper with dotted lines down the middle. After we had practiced for a whole week we were all...
The Four Operations
Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Division
The Four Operations
Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Division
Most of my lenses will have activities and ideas for teaching the four operations. Here are the lenses that highlight math manipulatives that make learning those operations fun.-
Natural Math Manipulatives
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A hands-on approach to learning new concepts involving all 5 senses makes understanding easier and quicker for learners of all styles. Here you will find manipulatives that intrigue, excite and encourage exploration. From wooden blocks to needle fel...
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Hands-on Math Activities
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Children learn and truly understand mathematical concepts best when engaged in hands-on activities and games. By manipulating everyday objects, playing games and finding out ways of solving everyday problems children gain a true understanding of the...
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The Fun and Games of Pre-Algebra
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Over time children learn to add, subtract, multiply and divide. Hopefully they have been taught using creative math manipulatives so that they have a concrete understanding of those skills. As a final step before Algebra, children are taught percent...
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Enjoying Educational Games
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What do kids do best? Play of course. Why not encourage this natural tendency by providing your children with great entertaining games that just happen to be educational as well. Educational Games such as Mancala and Set teach math concep...
Add, Sub, Multiply or Divide
Unit Studies with Four Operation Activities and Games
Add and Subtract the lemmings as they climb the hills and jump off into the snow.-
Froggy Math Facts
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Continuing the Frog Unit Study this lens is all about adding and subtracting with frogs. Children learn best when given hands-on multi-sensory projects and games that relate to the overall subject being studied. With dozens of frog related addition...
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Lemmings: Falling into the Sea of Knowledge
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When the winds start to howl and the snow begins to blow you can capture your student's attention with this innovative Arctic Unit Study focusing on lemmings. Your little lemmings will be excited to learn with a theme that includes little furry crea...
First Grade Math with Mrs. Thompson
Mrs. Thompson asked the first grade girls to go to the front of the room. Then she asked the boys to go to the front of the room. Then she told us that 3+2=5. You see, there were only 5 children in my first grade class.
This is the first math lesson that I can remember and the only one that I can remember for years. What was it about that lesson that made it so memorable? I believe that it was the concreteness of the activity.
For years I was always one of the best math students in the class. I was always able to get the right answers but I never enjoyed math. Math never made sense to me. It was just playing with numbers.
Place Value
Place Value
Place Value
Organizing objects into groups of tens, hundreds and beyond.
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Pumpkins and Place Value
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Pick the biggest pumpkin you can find. Cut off the top and smell the fresh pumpkin smell. Carving a Jack O'Lantern leads into a mathematical unit study of place value that incorporates all five senses. Counting pumpkin seeds into groups of 10...
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Frog Unit Study: Hopping to Learn
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Take trips to the frog pond. Become a frog and play games and sing songs, gobble up the insect words and swat the fly verbs. This lens will give you dozens of ideas, resources, hints and tricks to create frog-themed activities for both homeschool fam...
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Understanding a Billion
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Everyone is talking about spending billions of dollars to save the economy but how much is a billion? We all know how to count to 100. We count by 10's, 5's and 2's but when the numbers get higher it becomes more and more difficult to comprehend jus...
Telling Time
Telling Time
Learning to Tell Time
Many mathematical skills have to come together in order for children to learn how to tell time.
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It's Turkey Time!
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Wild Turkeys nearly became extinct in the 1930's but times have changed and turkeys have benefited. Now turkeys are often found in fields and on the edge of the woods. In this unit you will learn about Wild Turkeys, read turkey facts and stories, pl...
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The Mouse Ran Up The Clock
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It's time to learn how to tell time. Here is a unit study that teaches children to tell time, understand lapse in time and the evolution of the understanding of time through history. Learn about devices for measuring time, clocks, egg timers and...
Measurement
Measurement
Measuring a Snail
From measuring sand dollars at the beach to filling sacks of beans to understand the weight of woodchucks. Math is a part of every unit study.
Measure weight, length and depth with the river otters.
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Woodchucks Under the Porch
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Woodchucks chuck wood and Groundhogs determine the coming of spring. They eat your garden, dig holes under the porch but look adorable when they are first born and start to venture out of their dens. Watching the woodchuck babies venturing out from...
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River Otters: Playful Friends of the Woodlands!
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Learn about River Otters through games and hands-on learning centers. Decorate your classroom with a Woodlands Riverbank Theme. Learn the habits of River Otters, the food they eat and how they raise their young. You will find suggestions for both fi...
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Sand Dollars: Math on the Beach
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One day at the beach in Costa Rica my daughter and I were digging in the sand making sandcastles when we ran across a live sand dollar. Finding a dead exoskeleton would have been exciting but finding a live sand dollar was unbelievable! We held it i...
Symmetry
Symmetry in Maple Leaves
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Maple Math
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Look at this beautiful collage of a Maple Leaf with buttons on softly colored paper. The leaf was cut in half at the line of symmetry. The buttons are also arranged with three on each side of the Maple Leaf also creating a symmetrical pattern. The...
Math Games
Math Games
Playing Math Games
Games require lots of repetition in a fun way. Games can replace worksheets and pages of mathematical equations.
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Enjoying Educational Games
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What do kids do best? Play of course. Why not encourage this natural tendency by providing your children with great entertaining games that just happen to be educational as well. Educational Games such as Mancala and Set teach math concep...
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Learning Math While Playing Yahtzee
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It is amazing what you can learn while playing a seemingly simple game like Yahtzee. It's not just rolling the dice. In the game of Yahtzee you try to score the highest points by rolling a combination of numbers. These numbers are added up and the hi...
My favorite Math Books for Early Grades
Teaching Math the Fun Way
These books have ideas that work well in either a classroom setting or when homeschooling and also offer ideas for parents who just want to play with their children.
Hands-on Math is based on Math Their Way by Mary Baretta Lorton. It describes the elements of setting up the Calendar mentioned above and gives concete examples of hands-on activities for each area of math that is normally taught to young children. Hands-on Math has blackline masters for creating math workjobs as well as elements of the calendar.
Count-on Math offers hundreds of math related activities and experiments using items normally found around the house. One of my favorites is setting up a hanging cone with sand in it to watch the pattern made as the sand pours out the bottom.
My Favorite Math Manipulatives
CUISENAIRE RODS INTRO. SET WOOD
Each block measures 1 X 1cm with lengths from 1 to 10 cm. Make sure to buy the wooden ones. They feel better and are the only ones that can be used to play music.
Amazon Price: $16.99 (as of 12/05/2009) 
PATTERN BLOCKS WOODEN
Again, be sure to buy the wooden pattern blocks. You will use them for a lifetime and you deserve the best.
Amazon Price: $29.91 (as of 12/05/2009)
Guestbook for the Love of Math
Have you found passion in Mathematics?
Measure and Transport of Coal, c.1528
Verard, Antoine
Buy at AllPosters.com
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- ftuley ftuley Oct 28, 2009 @ 9:23 pm
- Great lens, I really enjoyed reading it. 5 stars and favorited! Thank you for sharing.
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- Evelyn_Saenz Evelyn_Saenz Oct 14, 2009 @ 5:53 pm | in reply to Rajays
- Thank you, SquidAngel.
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- Rajays Rajays Oct 14, 2009 @ 11:23 am
- A Brilliant Lens! Blessed by a Squid Angel
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- Teddi14 Teddi14 Jul 9, 2009 @ 11:12 pm
- Excellent lens! I will be teaching math again next year & I will definitely come back here!!!! Please visit my special education lens and add the link to this lens & your other education lenses. I have a number of different categories. 5*'s
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- vbright105 vbright105 Jun 27, 2009 @ 11:00 pm
- Another great lens, Evelyn. Your lenses teach quite a few adults along the way too!
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- CCGAL CCGAL Jun 27, 2009 @ 10:54 pm
- Math, Reading, and Music are disciplines that stimulate brain growth in children; math & music teach children how to think - both are much needed in our schools. Bless you for teaching. Great lens.
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- KarateKatGraphics KarateKatGraphics Jun 10, 2009 @ 10:45 am
- The sixth grade math this past year was already pushing my limits! Relearning concepts in order to help with homework has been good for my aging brain, though ;) Wonderful 5***** lens
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- kschoch kschoch Jun 3, 2009 @ 9:53 pm
- Another great one for you! Glad you were chosen for this prestigious group of Rocketmoms!
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- enslavedbyfaeries enslavedbyfaeries May 25, 2009 @ 11:27 am
- Oh, how I wish I shared your passion for math. Maybe if I'd had a teacher like you I would have been more excited to learn. Brilliant collection of lenses!!
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- Evelyn_Saenz Evelyn_Saenz May 23, 2009 @ 11:22 am | in reply to EverythingMouse
- Thank you SquidAngel!
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- EverythingMouse EverythingMouse May 23, 2009 @ 11:15 am
- This is a brilliant lens. Blessed!
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- Evelyn_Saenz Evelyn_Saenz May 9, 2009 @ 4:57 pm | in reply to a_willow
- Thank you, SquidAngel!
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- a_willow a_willow May 6, 2009 @ 7:42 am
- This is outstanding lens Evelyn! And I see some ideas I'll show to my husband! :) Blessed by an Angel!
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- annetteghallowell annetteghallowell May 5, 2009 @ 7:12 pm
- You have definitely figured out the way to math with a young child...How about a college student!?
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- Wysiwigs Wysiwigs Apr 30, 2009 @ 2:53 pm
- Nice lens and some terrific ideas!
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- OhMe OhMe Apr 29, 2009 @ 3:02 pm
- Oh me! Oh my! You can even make Math interesting. Amazing. I love your remembering your first math lesson with the old photos. Neat.
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- Treasures-By-Brenda Treasures-By-Brenda Apr 27, 2009 @ 6:27 am
- Great lensography about Evelyn and Math; I love the personal writing!
Blessed by Brenda.
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- Heather426 Heather426 Apr 24, 2009 @ 4:51 pm
- Wonderful,helpful lens. I agree, it would be nice if more teachers were like you! I had an aunt Evelyn and loved her so that's always been a name I love. Math has always been enjoyable to me and I am a loan officer, so I use it every day. 5* lens.
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- hlkljgk hlkljgk Apr 24, 2009 @ 3:15 pm
- this is a great lens. as a high school math teacher (well, i was :) in a standard public school and an alternative public school, i have come to appreciate the differences in learners and their needs. it's so important to not get stuck in one method which may alienate an entire group of students.
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- NanLT NanLT Apr 24, 2009 @ 1:17 pm
- My 6 year old son with Aspergers absolutely loves numbers and is always asking me what X Y equals. I think I am going to get all sorts of good ideas for ways to continue his interest in things mathematical in your lenses. The other day he was asking me about Roman Numerals, and now will sometimes speak to me using those, and he has a basic understanding of binary numbers.
Way ove rmy head!
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- Evelyn_Saenz Evelyn_Saenz Apr 23, 2009 @ 8:04 pm | in reply to Joan4
- Thank you so much for your very kind words. I would so love to teach teachers. I guess if I was to write my Bucket List that would be one of the things on it. In order to do that, however, the whole direction of education would have to make a big turn toward a kind and gentle look at the needs of children rather than factory testing.
Until that time, I write my lenses, hoping that I will be able to inspire others to see the delight in teaching children, creating learning opportunities and giving children the time to love learning.
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- aj2008 aj2008 Apr 23, 2009 @ 10:18 am
- Joan has said exactly what I would have said! Another inspirational lens Evelyn!
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- alteredkat alteredkat Apr 23, 2009 @ 9:47 am
- 5* and a very helpful lens...fab resources! Math was never my strong subject...thankfully my eldest is more like his dad...we'll see about the youngest ...
(I agree with Joan too!) :o)
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- Joan4 Joan4 Apr 23, 2009 @ 6:33 am
- Every time I see one of your lenses, I just wish all teachers were as creative and dedicated! lol I am just thankful you are so willing to share your super ideas on line. Would be great if you could teach teachers, huh? Wow!
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- Jimmie Jimmie Apr 23, 2009 @ 12:48 am
- I love how all your math resources are here in one spot, tied together with a wonderful narrative of your own journey through math learning and math education.
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About the Teacher who Loves Math
By TwitterButtons.com
Evelyn's Hands-On Learning Blog Log.
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Evelyn Saenz: Lensography of a Teacher
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My passion is teaching and finding ways to teach children in fun, hands-on, creative ways. The unit studies I make on Squidoo reflect my view that learning should be integrated and no skills should be taught in isolation. I believe that each topic s...
