New from Ann and Johnny

Yes, it has been a long time between blogs but we got sidetracked. We were invited to write four books for the Targeting Maths series, published by Pascal Press.

The books were launched in May and we are very excited by them and decided we really should share the excitement. We wanted to create a resource that would explicitly teach and support problem solving strategies based on what we know about teacher and student needs in developing positive dispositions to problem solving.

The books span Year 3 to Year 6 and each book opens with two step-by-step units on how to sort out a problem, understand what it is about, what it is asking you to find out and how to draw a picture or diagram to show the problem and its important information.

Unit 1: Understand and draw the problem
Unit 2: Identify the steps and choose an operation

In our experience students do not have these steps at their fingertips and give up saying “The problem is too hard.” even though most times the actual maths required to solve the problem is well within their reach.

The units in the books go on to explicitly teach specific problems solving strategies as follows:

Unit 3: Make a model and use Guess, Check and Improve
Unit 4: Spot and use patterns
Unit 5: Make an organized list and work systematically
Unit 6: Draw a picture or diagram
Unit 7: Draw a table
Unit 8: Work backwards and try a simpler case

Each unit and strategy have a matched investigation to challenge students developing problem solving prowess.

You can check out the books here.

Enjoy!