Strategy Lessons

Filling the Gaps

When we first began using problematised situations in classrooms we discovered that frequently the students:

• had very limited mental computation strategies
• often could not identify what operations were required
• had seldom applied mathematical thinking to realistic situations.

Initially teachers were a bit depressed by the gaps that the problematised situations made visible in the student thinking and began to ask "What do we need to do to fill the gaps?"

The answer was explicit teaching of strategies. Teachers have become accustomed to using worksheets and text book pages rather than in identifying the target strategy that students need next and planning a focussed lesson.

With this in mind we developed the series Strategic Maths Number. This series takes a systematic developmental approach to introducing a broad range of number concepts, mental computation strategies and methods of representation.

Goal Setting with the Top 5

Each unit in these books opens with a clearly specified Top 5. These are the core goals of the unit and are written in child-friendly language so that everybody knows what the learning scope is. This also allows teachers to individualise for different students.

There is a teaching learning sequence for each goal with supporting IWB materials and games for practice rather than the standard drill and kill. Each unit concludes with a related problematised situation and assessment rubric to allow busty teachers to identify how effective the learning has been and to know whether more is needed or whether it is time to move on to the next unit.

There is also a Letter to the Family which informs parents of the current goals and provides suggestions for parents to assist their child often making the real world connections that are sometimes overlooked in school.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To Purchase

The books in this series are available from Blake Education. Click here to go to their website for further details.