Leonda Naomie October 7, 2020 Math Worksheet
Today we all know that benefits of math are considerable. Math is not a subject one learns by reading the problems and solutions. American children have very little practice with multi-step problems, and very few opportunities to think their way in to and through problems that don’t look like ’all the others’. With a packed curriculum and the increased emphasis on testing, our children are taught tons of procedures – but procedures disconnected from when to use them, and why. Sustained thinking – the key ingredient to math success – is painfully absent in too many math classes.
Another problem with almost all worksheets is that they don’t prevent incorrect answers. Self-checking worksheets just let the student know they did something wrong–after the fact. I am a firm believer in the concept that, if at all possible, learning should be structured in small chunks in such a way that there is very little possibility for error. Worksheets often allow for mistakes to be made and then to be repeated many times. A mistake that gets practiced is extremely difficult to correct. This especially happens when worksheets are used as time fillers or baby sitters and the work isn’t really being supervised.
There are some new materials being developed now based on what we are learning about how the brain learns. These brain-friendly materials should be an improvement over what has existed. I recently bought a book by Marcia L. Tate titled ”Mathematics Worksheets Don’t Grow Dendrites.” I highly recommend her book. She gives a great deal of information on alternative activities that are better for your child’s brain development and for learning.
Therefore creativity is a must for worksheets to be successful. Regardless if you are trying to review math, science, reading, writing, health, or social studies, your goal should always be to try and create something that will generate desire in the students to actually want to do it. If you can do this, the battle is practically over already. For example, since I want to make sure my students get accustomed to reviewing the various math concepts and standards we’ve learned all year, I have them practice regularly. I want them to get to a point where they are so familiar with grade level math content, that solving these types of problems becomes automatic.
Track Record, Another advantage of these math worksheets is that kids and parents will be able to keep them to serve as their references for review. Since worksheets are easy to correct, students will be able to identify the items and areas that they had mistakes so that they will be able to correct those deficiencies. Keeping record is really a good thing; As a parent, you will be able to go back through them and assess their strong and weak areas. Keeping track you will be able to track your child’s progress as empirical evidence.
1st grade math worksheets and my Mom’s math teaching style. Math won’t be as terrible as it seems if parents take interest in preparing their little ones for math before school age. I grew up not understanding how it is that people talk about math as difficult as they do, it was my best subject at school. It was easy because of my upbringing that ensured that math and I got acquainted long before school. My mother who was a primary grade teacher told me how she began teaching me math in different guises at home before I got to school age.