Hello and happy near year 2025! Oh, time flies so fast it's unbelievable! For this month, we have a little bit of a hodgepoge... mostly lots of MM related updates. |
1. Math Mammoth newsHere are the upcoming sales:
When you search on Amazon for "Math Mammoth Grade 5-A", Amazon brings up FIRST the older, 2020 edition. The newer, 2023 edition, does NOT show up, not even further down the page.  And thus, that book has sold many more copies than the NEWER edition. This means that someone or many someones probably have an edition mismatch, since for the student book 5-B they probably got the newer edition (based on sale numbers). My question is: Is there anyone out there who still NEEDS the older, 2020 edition, print version? If yes, could you let me know (reply to this email). If not, I could disable/cancel it and thus fix this problem so that people won't accidentally end up with an edition mismatch! (If you do need it, there is the option of us making it available at Lulu, or for you to use the digital version and print from it yourself.) To avoid getting edition mismatch when buying printed books, you can use the ISBN numbers available here. Got some fan mail! From two different children!   |
2. A new activity at Math Mammoth Practice: Comparing Fractions! With this activity, you can practice comparing fractions on several different difficulty levels. For the easiest problems, include only a few denominators and choose to include the pie images (for 2nd/3rd grade). The student can click on the pie slices to color them in, thus enabling them to compare the given fractions visually. For 3rd grade, you can choose the options "Same denominator" and "Same numerator" to compare fractions such as 3/8 and 5/8, or 2/3 and 2/4. The next level is to use the benchmark numbers 1/2 and one to help compare fractions. For example, to compare 1/3 and 4/5, we can see that 1/3 is less than 1/2, wheras 4/5 is more than 1/2. Thus, 4/5 is greater than 1/3. The option "Any" makes random fractions to compare, based on your chosen list of denominators. The "Challenge" mode shows you two fractions that are fairly close to each other, which means you may often need to actually calculate to find which is greater (e.g. to find equivalent fractions with the same denominator, or to multiply criss cross). These two options are most useful for 5th and 6th grades. You can also choose timed or untimed practice, and the number of practice problems. |
3. Scope and sequence I made a scope & sequence document for the Math Mammoth curriculum across all grade levels... I hope it helps! |
4. How should students show their work for math word problems?One time (about 10 years ago!) someone asked me about showing work in math word problems, and I feel this is a good topic to bring up again.Personally, in the lower grades, I'd ask the child to EXPLAIN their thought processes orally, and then gradually teach them to write something on paper. The main thing students in grades 1-3 need to write is the actual calculations they did, not only the final answer. For example, if they added 23 and 87 to get the answer, they should write 23 + 87 = 110 and include the units of whatever it was, such as $23 + $87 = $110 or 23 cm + 87 cm = 110 cm. In the upper elementary grades (4-6) I'd like to see students write sentences and/or words in addition to the calculations so that another person can follow their solution. I'll give some examples. (from 4th grade) Mr. Jefferson travels from Paducah to Lexington and back, three times a month. What is his total mileage? (A map shows that the distance in question is 255 miles.) An example solution showing the work: One round trip is 255 + 255 = 510 miles. Three round trips are 510 + 510 + 510 = 1,530 miles. (from grade 4) Mick earned $345 from strawberry picking, and Jeanine earned three times as much. How much did they earn in total? A concise solution showing the work: Jeanine: 3 × $345 = $1,035 Total: $345 + $1,035 = $1,380 A bit more wordy solution showing the work: Jeanine earned 3 × $345 = $1,035. In total, Mick and Jeanine earned $345 + $1,035 = $1,380 Both should allow another person to follow the reasoning. (from grade 5) A T-shirt cost $10.50, but now it is discounted by 2/5 of its price. Annie buys ten shirts with the discounted price. What is her total bill? An example concise solution showing the work: Cost of one shirt: $10.50 ÷ 5 = $2.10 3 × $2.10 = $6.30 Total bill: 10 × $6.30 = $63.00 A bit more wordy solution: One shirt costs 3/5 of $10.50, which is $10.50 / 5 × 3 = $6.30. Then ten shirts cost 10 × $6.30 = $63.00. David pays a 20% income tax on his $2,100 salary. a. How many dollars is the tax? b. How much money does he have left after paying the tax? These are very simple questions so this time writing the calculations is enough. a. $2,100 / 10 = $210 2 × $210 = $420 or $2,100 / 5 = $420. b. Again, all that's necessary to show the work is to write a subtraction: $2,100 − $420 = $1,680 (from 6th grade) 14. A herd of 40 horses had some bay, some chestnut, and some white horses. Thirty percent of them are bay, and 45% are chestnut. How many horses are white? An example solution showing the work: 100% − 30% − 45% = 25%. So 25% of the horses are white. 25% is 1/4. And 1/4 of 40 horses is 10 horses. OR Percentage of white horses: 100% − 30% − 45% = 25% 25% of 40 horses is 10 horses. So 10 horses are white. In a nutshell: The purpose of writing down the work allows someone else to follow the person's thought processes. This is of course important for students to learn no matter what their future occupation: they need to be able to explain to others how they solve a problem, whether a math problem or a problem in some other field of life! One more tip: You could ask a fellow student or sibling to read the student's work to check if it can be followed and understood! |
5. The number 2025I don't know what the year will bring... though I'm confident we will see some good things! I do know time seems to be passing SO fast, it's unbelievable. Already 2025!See some mathematical facts about 2025! It's an interesting number! |
6. Just for fun!
Thanks for reading! 🙂 Feel free to forward this issue to a friend/colleague! Subscribe here. Till next time, Maria Miller |
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