Archive for April, 2010
Posted by SFleming on
April 28, 2010
Fractions are high on the list of tricky math topics for upper elementary and middle school students. Let’s face it– many adults have trouble with fractions! Don’t let your child fall behind in math just because fractions are confusing. Try these three great tips to tame the Fraction Monster so your child no longer dreads math class.
Tip # 1:
Get concrete! Most difficulties with fractions begin because early on in the education process, your student didn’t quite ‘get it’ when the teacher explained how fractions ‘work.’ The class moved on, but your student did not. It’s never too late to correct that problem. Just take some time to back up and reteach the foundations of fractions in a way that your student can understand. For most people, this involves using manipulative items that can represent fractional relationships. Learning at this concrete level, where things can be seen and touched and moved around, must be firmly cemented in place before more abstract thinking about the concept (using numbers, papers, pencils and worksheets) can take place.
Here are some techniques:
Draw boxes on paper and divide them up into fractional parts. Color the portion that represents the numerator (top number) and remember that the bottom number equals the total number of parts (colored and uncolored). It’s called the denominator. Show over and over again that 2/4 is the same amount of colored shape as 1/2. Talk about the process of changing from 2/4 to 1/2 in terms of dividing numbers and in terms of combining boxes. When your student has mastered the 2/4 to 1/2 conversion, work with other variants of 1/2, like 3/6, 4/8 and so forth. Then start to work on other common fractions like 2/3, 1/4, and 3/4.
Make identical paper squares in many colors. Leave one square whole, and cut the others into halves, thirds, fourths, and so on. Manipulate the pieces to discover what parts will cover up other parts exactly to find equivalent fractions.
Tip #2:
Be sure your student has mastered basic addition, multiplication, division and subtraction facts. It helps so much to be able to command these simple math problems without relying on a calculator for every single step of the process. Memorizing the math facts will allow your student to see instantly that 16 and 24 are both multiples of 8, and eliminates guess work when trying to rename or simplify fractions.
Tip #3:
Make sure your student is paying attention to the vocabulary of math. Terms associated with fraction work that should be on the tip of the tongue include
—> numerator: the top number of the fraction that represents parts of the whole being used or considered.
–> denominator: the bottom number of the fraction that represents all of the parts of the whole.
–> common denominator: matching numbers on the bottoms of fractions to be added or subtracted.
–> simplify: to combine fractional parts evenly to make larger pieces and still cover the same amount. 2/4 simplifies to 1/2. Use division to do this.
–> rename: to change the name of a fraction by multiplying or dividing the denominator and numerator by the same number.
–> greatest common factor: the largest number that divides evenly into other numbers (like the top and bottom numbers of a fraction).
–> least common denominator: the smallest number that is a multiple of the denominators being considered.
–> improper fraction: fraction larger than 1, with the larger number on top as the numerator, as in 21/4. It is equal to a corresponding mixed number.
–> mixed number: whole number with an added fraction, as in 5 1/4. It is equal to a corresponding improper fraction.
Posted by SFleming on
April 27, 2010
Book reports, critiques and other responses to literature are fixtures in most language arts curricula. Teachers use them to assess a student’s understanding and analysis of their reading. One key element in most of these assignments is the summary of the text, so it’s important that your student learn to summarize. Here’s one method that can help.
Start by having your student summarize smaller pieces of writing. Try a paragraph or even a single long sentence. Challenge your student to find key words in sentences, or distill the paragraph into one or two sentences that contain the most important ideas. This takes practice, so don’t be discouraged if the first attempts are off-base.
Once your student has the knack of summarizing paragraphs, you’re ready to work on a book. Read a section. This could be a paragraph, a page, or a chapter. Have your student write down a specific number of important events or bits of information learned from that assigned section. Check his or her work to see if you agree. With practice, your student will learn to restate entire books in one or two paragraphs, and summaries will almost seem to write themselves!
Posted by admin on
April 25, 2010
Schools around the country are steadily increasing their requirements for mathematics education, and lamentably, many high schoolers are finding it difficult to keep up with these demands. Some areas require four years’ worth of math classes for graduation, and at least one state mandates that students pass an Algebra II class to get a diploma. Match this up with students who are calculator-dependent and cannot perform even the simplest of calculations, and the picture gets pretty grim. High school students are struggling with the increased math requirements and literally spending hours on homework assignments. Parents ask what they can do to help their students be more successful in math, and the simplest answer is to make sure basic computation skills are mastered (preferably in elementary school).
No matter what age your pupil may be, though, it’s not too late to firm up the basic calculation skills. If your child or teen is struggling with math, check his or her competency at computation. It’s vital that students master these basic skills so they can be successful with more abstract concepts.
Think of math skills as forming a pyramid of sorts. We all know that when you build a pyramid from toy blocks, you can start with a bottom row of five blocks, put a row of four on top of them, then a row of three, a row of two, and finally a crowning single block on the very top. The triangle-shaped wall of blocks is pretty stable if you’ve balanced all of the pieces correctly.
Math skills are much like this pyramid. The blocks on the bottom row represent mastery of basic computation skills, like memorizing math facts and understanding place value and regrouping. The upper levels of blocks represent skills like working with fractions and decimals, learning algebraic concepts, and even things like calculus and higher math.
Take our thought experiment one step farther and push a block or two out of that bottom row in the pyramid. These missing blocks represent basic computation skills, remember. What happens to the entire pyramid if those blocks are misplaced or missing all together? The entire structure is shaky at best, and usually will not stand at all. Math is just like that. Without the basic skills in place, it’s nearly impossible to master the higher level concepts.
So now is a great time to make sure your math student has the skills needed to strengthen up that math pyramid. A student entering grade 3 should be able to complete the 100 basic addition and subtraction combinations with nearly 100% accuracy. By the end of grade 4, students should be able to answer all the 100 basic multiplication and division facts with nearly 100% accuracy. By grade six, the time to answer 100 basic facts in all four operations should be down to nearly 3 minutes, with five minutes being a maximum time needed to answer with nearly100% accuracy.
Want to check your student’s performance? The links below offer printable math worksheets suitable for checking how students are doing and for practicing.
Free Addition Worksheets
Free Subtraction Worksheets
Free Multiplication Worksheets
Free Division Worksheets
