K-6 Mathematics Resources

On Tuesday's math class, we had the opportunity to look at the resources that are provided to teachers who are in kindergarten to grade six. I was surprised at the amount of materials that was available for each grade. I was not expecting to see a big binder of teacher guides, filled with in depth material on each chapter. There were example problems, explanations, student workbooks, and other resources to aid learning.

I was shocked at the number of picture books that were available in kindergarten, grade one, and grade two. Having children read about mathematics is a great way for them to be introduced to math concepts and foundational problems. They would also get used to seeing important terminology that will be important to know for the future.

One of the downfalls that I noticed when going around to the different tables and checking out these resources is that when we reached grade three the materials were much less 'kiddie'and colorful, and there were not any pictures books for the children to read. I thought that this was a little strange since grade three is still a primary grade and that children that age still need to motivated. If I were teaching this grade I would bring other resources into the classroom that are more stimulating to children in grade three.

Since these resources are only to be used as a guide, the classroom teacher can chose which parts of the resource to use and where to bring in additional resources that would be beneficial in learning the required material. For a young teacher, it may take a while before being comfortable enough to bring in resources that might work in the classroom. I think that math lessons should not always be text oriented, but it is definitely comforting to have something to use as a guide especially in the first few years teaching or when in a unfamiliar grade.

I found it interesting to see many problem-solving questions in the text books with other equation-like problems. My own experiences with problem-solving was that it was separate from other mathematics (for the most part), so it was nice to see how the mathematics resources has changed.