Behind the Math Mindset at
Bridge Elementary
Catherine Bradshaw, 5th Grade Teacher -
Jean Kelly, Mathematics Specialist -
Resources
· Teacher Website - look at classroom teachers’ websites for online resources. Many teachers have links to activities for reinforcing skills at home.
· Stretch to Go - a home practice program for grade 3 - 5 students who use FasttMath - https://samconnect.scholastic.com/auth/pages/Login?zone=STRCH&ucn=600005943
· KenKen - kenkenpuzzle.com - math puzzles at various levels. Gives students practice with math facts, logical thinking and perseverance.
· Bed Time Math - bedtimemath.org - click the Today’s Math Fun tab for the problem of the day. Problems are meant to start a quick 5 minute math discussion between parent and child. Each problem offers three levels of questions.
· Greg Tang - gregtangmath.com - online math games to help develop number sense. Our favorites - Kakooma, Math Limbo and Numskill
· You Cubed - youcubed.org - a website from Standford University with a mission of inspiring teachers in math education. Contains videos about brain science and mindset. This website is meant as a resource - it does not provide online games for student practice.
In this school, we believe…
Everyone is a math person.
Questions are really important.
Math is about creativity and making sense.
Math is about making connections and communicating.
Math is about learning not performing.
Depth is more important than speed.
Mistakes are valuable.
Mistakes are where the new learning goes!
1 / / Makes sense of problems and perseveres in solving them.· I make sense of problems and choose an appropriate strategy to solve them.
· When I am stuck, I ask questions, try a different strategy or collaborate with peers.
· If I don’t understand the whole problem, I look for parts that I do understand.
2 / / Attends to precision
· I am careful and accurate when I use math vocabulary, symbols, and labels.
· I check to see that I have answered the question asked.
3 / / Reasons and explains
· I can use pictures, numbers and words to show how I solved a problem.
· I can find the important information in a problem and make connections to the context.
· I can explain my thinking and try to understand the strategies and ideas of others.
4 / Models and uses tools
· I can show my thinking in more than one way.
· I can choose a correct tool or make a model to show how I solved a problem.
5 / / Sees structure and generalizes
· I can use what I already know to help me solve new problems.
· I can apply what I know about the structure of the base ten system and the four operations to find solutions.