Math Resource with Excellent Interactive Math Activities

In my 4th grade math classroom I use an awesome math resource, Hands-On Standards. I cannot imagine what it would be like without this book. Hands-On Standards has various interactive math activities. Every activity incorporates math manipulatives which helps make math fun for the students.

How I Did Not Make Math Fun

If your children are bored on a daily basis during math time then chances are that you are not making math fun for them. That is okay because as an educator I have been guilty of it myself time after time. Teaching methods have changed from when I was a child in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. I recall the teacher standing in front of the classroom while she wrote arithmetic problems on the board and you were expected to solve them. Like I mentioned before I have been guilty of doing this and expected my students to soak it in. However, as I have progressed as a teacher I see the importance of making math fun for our students. When introducing a new mathematical concept during the math core lesson make sure you are using math manipulatives because children are very hands on. This will help reduce their chance of becoming bored easily. Also students need to start from the concrete and eventually move to the abstract. Using math manipulatives to teach math concepts will help build the foundation for that particular skill.