Introducing Difficult Mathematics Topics in the Elementary Classroom

<p>This exciting text for the pre-service elementary teacher provides hands on mathematics lessons they can use to introduce mathematical concepts and skills that students find particularly challenging. Each chapter is divided into four sections:</p><li> The Activity employs an engaging thought experiment to help the reader "visit a classroom" to understand how the lesson used to introduce the concept or skill would materialize in the class. </li><li> The Mathematics provides the necessary mathematical background used in the lesson to make the actual teaching/learning situation comfortable for both the teachers and the learner. </li><li> The Plan provides the reader with an actual lesson plan to engage the Activity in the classroom setting. </li><li> Putting It All Together pulls the previous sections together with a summary of the chapter as well as further information for making the lesson successful.</li><p>By providing models of what excellent lessons on a given topic look like, knowledge of the mathematics involved, and a concrete lesson plan structure this much-needed resource is the definitive mathematics planning vehicle that every teacher will want before they set foot in their own elementary classroom. </p> Introduction 1. How Children Learn Mathematics (and Why it Doesn’t Happen!) 2. Median: Finding What’s in the Middle 3. Rounding: The Mystery of ‘Rounding up for 5’ 4. Skipping Multiplication (or at Least Through it.) 5. Learning to Use Division 6. Fractions: What’s it all About? 7. Fractions: Adding Unlike Things? Impossible! 8. Fractions: Dividing into Small Pieces 9. Decimals: Operations Before Rules 10. Measurement: Make your Own Ruler 11. Area: Skipping Through the Rows 12. Volume: It’s Like Look at an Apartment House ….. 13. Mean: How Much Does Each Get? 14. Percent: Leveling the Field of Comparison 15. Order of Operations: An Agreement? Did You Get the Memo?