@CynthiaDadmun Thank you so much for the book suggestion. Always love a good recommendation for a read. I just ordered a bunch for promoting creative thinking. You referred GATE tests. What are they?
Sleeping Queens is a favourite at our house too. Rat-a-Tat Cat is another card game made by the same company.
@mrs123 can you describe the multiplication model scavenger hunt? I seemed to have missed that.
Regrettably I cannot take credit for the concept maps :) I just found a couple on the internet to illustrate the two types of concept maps I've used (I should have made that more clear) - although I must come up with an excuse to create a concept map that includes unicorns and dragons ;)
After we've had a shower or a bath my son jumps at the opportunity to use the foggy bathroom mirror.
Thanks Cynthia for sharing a method for encouraging critical thinking. I'd love to hear about other people's creative suggestions for promoting critical thinking or "correcting errors" (especially for younger children)
I've been playing around with how I correct my son if he's adding something. Here's a scenario from today depicting one method that I find works well: He asked me how much I spent on buying tickets to his school musical. I said twenty dollars. He asked me how much I spent on each ticket-I said I bought four tickets, so how could we figure out how much I spent on each ticket. Instead he volunteered a guess, "hmmm... $7 is closest". Instead of saying that's not right or correcting him, I ask him to explain how he came up with that
number (*I picked up this suggestion from someone else in this forum). He said I added them together. We did the addition together and when we got to 28 (7+7+7+7) he explained that he missed one seven when he did it and got $7 so thought that was the answer. So, I rephrased the question and asked, "if four 7's equals $28, do you think I spent more than or less than $7 per ticket?" He said less, paused and then said $5 because two 10's is 20 and two 5's is ten.
sorry the link for the 9 times tables did not post:
I agree with both of these points. Thank you for sharing. I had never thought of why as lazy but I like that perspective, especially for older children. Now that my son is approaching six years old, I can see the long-term benefit of getting him to ask more specific questions. He's also a child that is very focused on getting the right answer, so I've been responding with "I'm not sure let's explore" a lot more then I used to. Then we try to come up with different ways to do a task or different ways to look at the question. By taking this approach I try to focus more on the process then the importance of finding a right answer-that can come later.
I'm not sure what context you are asking this question, but in general terms a concept map is a visual representation that illustrates how different concepts are related. You can create them in different ways. I have used pictures to create concept maps (e.g., http://www.accessexcellence.org/AE/AEPC/WWC/1995/concept-map-4.gif) as well as more traditional formats (e.g., http://blogs.nature.com/ericwubbo/CMapSummary.jpg) Typically, as material is understood "better" (aka more deeply) concept maps become more sophisticated. Examples of how you can use them: 1) show learners how ideas fit together either before or after ideas are presented, 2) help to clarify your understanding of how several concepts fit together, 3) as a work in progress as you learn material. The key to a concept map for me is to think of it as a work in progress - revise, revise, revise
Fantastic! We too have participated in the Music Together Program. I love the parallel you have highlighted here - Math immersion. I have been so inspired by this website that I approach math differently with my son - it's a part of our lives all the time. I'm still working on integrating it "naturally" into our days but I've noticed such a difference in him. He's only six and the other day I borrowed a toonie from someone and he said mom now your -2 but if I give my allowance you'd have two dollars. I never would have thought to introduce adding negative integers, multiplication, fractions, division, decimal points, to my son at this age had it not been for this website. Then today I over heard him ask his dad if he could use the laptop to play on the calculator. He sat there for a while typing in random equations and seeing what came up. I could over hear him trying to say the numbers and math sentences. Then he switched it on me and asked me to say the numbers...I'll say it is far easier said then done when you are given a 13 digit number. :) Anyways a long winded way of saying thank you @Tia Knuth for the reminder and thank you @MariaDroujkova for the commitment to math literacy that you share with so many people and how you have forever touched our lives. You have left a true legacy that will live on in our children :)