Math Monday (3.07.11 edition)

My friend Sherry at Living and Learning has started a new meme for math. I'm really looking forward to discovering new approaches to teaching math. I've always been a literature/history person, so finding interesting ways to cover that material has been easy. Math is a different story.

We are currently using Math U See, and I love it. I love the instructional DVD and the workbook. I feel more comfortable when I can thumb through (and show off) her completed workbook pages. However, DD no longer enjoys MUS. She loves the workbook itself, but no longer enjoys working the problems IN the workbook. At the first sign that she cannot perform perfectly, the wheels come off and frustrated tears ensue.

So, I revised. I use the MUS workbook as a content guide and we've ditched the DVD sessions for now. I try to find at least two interesting math-focused picture books at the library; two recent favorite math-related books have been Mission: Addition by Loreen Leedy and Anno's Hat Tricks by Akihiro Nozaki and Mitsumasa Anno.


We play lots of board and card games: Monopoly, Sum Swamp (which I highly recommend) and Cubes (which is a great game, but a bit of a challenge for her now. She'll grow into it.).
 
I also dusted off the Hundred chart, which really helped solidify skip counting by 2s and 10s.
 
She begs to play the free (!) math games on http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/ and http://www.primarygames.com/. In spite of unfounded disdain for computer games, I introduced her to these sites and the games have helped me to assess her math skills and have given her greater confidence in her math ability. I may have created a monster! 
 
I'm on a quest to think differently about math: not as the dreaded, let's-just-get-through-it subject, but as something fascinating, mysterious and maybe even fun. I hope you all will participate in Math Monday. I can't wait to read how other people slay the math dragon.