Teachers often express to Marulyn Burns their worry about the need to "cover the curriculum." In response, she draws on one of her favorite quotes: "You don't want to cover a subject; you want to uncover it." This quote is from "The Having of Wonderful Ideas and Other Essays on Teaching and Learning" by Eleanor…

Over the years, the author has learned that illustrated books can help dispel the myth that math is dull, unimaginative, and inaccessible. They can spark children's mathematical imaginations in ways that textbooks and workbooks often don't. Picture books can also help students who love to read--but think math isn't their thing--experience the…

Everyday, people face situations that call for adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing, and at least half of the time, these calculations are accomplished without the use of pen, paper, or calculators. Because figuring "in your head" is such an important life skill, it should have a regular role in classroom math teaching. This article…

Math can be the sort of homework parents respect, children enjoy, and teachers savor. Suggestions for achieving this are offered. (MT)

More than two-thirds of American adults fear and/or loathe mathematics. This book looks at why math has the dreadful reputation that it does and provides a chance to face math phobia and help others. This book delivers a positive message about what math can and should mean to all and how children can be kept from adopting the negative attitudes…

This book poses more than 100 questions that new and experienced K-6 teachers often ask themselves and provides in-depth answers to these questions on the following topics: (1) "Preparing for a Successful Year"; (2) "Planning Effective Math Instruction"; (3) "Leading Class Discussions"; (4) "Number Sense and the Basics"; (5) "Using Manipulative…

Presents two writing activities for math class that help students explore contexts for multiplication and write multiplication stories. (SR)

Innovative teachers can make writing as an integral part while teaching math to students. The teachers will have to implement the math instruction that enables students to organize and consolidate their mathematical thinking through communication, analyze and evaluate the mathematical thinking of others, and use the language of mathematics to…

Describes a game whose goal is to make the largest three or four digit number possible from numbers appearing on successive rolls of a die. Discusses the written strategies developed for this game by third and seventh grade students. (RS)

Describes a learning strategy which asks students to write questions that can be answered from the information posted on a graph that they created. (MG)

Describes an activity used with a fifth-grade mathematics class in which students solved a problem and wrote a convincing argument to prove their solution made sense. (SR)

Using questions to help students think mathematically and solve problems is discussed. The teacher's role is described, with a classroom example involving questions about a specific problem. (MNS)

Outlines one teacher's questioning of the understanding of computational processes by her students in mathematics class. Points out the importance of teaching the context of meaning and its application in mathematics. (MD)

Providing students with realistic problems will facilitate a better understanding of and reason for computation. Specific suggestions for introducing and for increasing problem-solving skills are described. (CJ)

Mathematics instruction can be approached as a cognitive skill, as illustrated by these elementary-level classroom activities. (LH)