Learning : Concept Mastery

Primary Grade Challenge Math   -- all these book are by  Edward Zaccaro is a teacher of mathematically gifted children 

- deeper level of mathematical understanding and thinking skills in young children while nurturing a love of mathematics. (Grades 1st - 4th)


And it explains the higher mathematical concepts in the way a younger child's mind would work! It's like the author remembers well how he thought when he was a kid and wrote the book from that POV. You can see the light go on in the child's eyes when that algebra or logic concept clicks! 


Challenge Math For the Elementary and Middle School Student
I particularly liked this book because each unit (chapter) is all-inclusive. There is a great lesson at the beginning followed by practice and then three levels of questions. The only supplement I needed to create was a method of assessing my students

Real World Algebra 

58 of 58  found  helpful:

58/5.0 out of 5 stars Algebra tutorial, November 25, 

I used the book to tutor my son and his test grades went from 60s to 90s. He finished the year with a solid B average and is now one of the top students in Algebra II and easily maintains an A average. He is even able to help other students, because Mr. Zaccaro's book gave him such a good foundation in the subject.


I am a gifted facilitator but that doesn't mean I am an expert in every subject area! This book helped me understand the logic of Algebra for the first time in my life! It helped me understand Algebra in a way that I could explain to my students and that made sense! My students enjoyed the little stories that helped them remember the rules of Algebra!


- complicated facts easy to understand. after I got over the cartoonist layout of the book, I realized how much I was actually retaining. 

Becoming a Problem Solving Genius

Every math student needs a tool belt of problem solving strategies to call upon when solving word problems. In addition to many traditional strategies, this book includes new techniques such as 
 - Think 1, the 2-10 method, and others developed by math educator Ed Zaccaro. Each unit contains problems at five levels of difficulty


Examples: [In Chapter 1] 160 divided by 1/3 = 53 1/3.

Algebra Teacher's Activities Kit: 150 Ready-to-Use Activitites with Real World Applications

Functions: wow these are answers, we can imagine the problem .
asr: a) Here are few my few variations:  give these answers and ask students to write the ORIGINAL problem Statement.
a2) use case: say you went to on office trip to find out prices of an item and needs to report back to Office , you can not tell that big prose as resources are limited ( time , bandwidth etc.. ) you can simple transmit/give these equation ( CIA missions etc.. )
b) have students in 2 groups , let group 1 answer orginal question , group 2 pick those answers and produce original question ( if a student answer is bad the other group student who got may not produce Original problem statement correctly , this shows them the importance of answering in STANDARD Form where other can understand ).
c) Have a python program read these answers and code a program internally and prompts interactively  Hours/month , when student gives input  it calculate and OUTPUTs final price .  This shows the importance of Programming to students.
 c2) show the spreadsheet of AT&T mobile minutes usage and send the bill to customer at end of month.
 d) ask student to log their mintues of Mobile usage and time slots  9-10 am 10 minutes , 10-12 am 3 min. texting etc.. ask the Evil Telecom manger to come up with a scheme to increase revenue by 10%  with new RATE plans .

Answer Phrases:  good one to twist students mind ...

Inequality:This Amazon book shows  Kids needs Drill of these kind of problems in order to
 a) appreciate what is the real use of  > < >=  etc. in real  life
b) since this is REAL life use case , the concept imprints in their minds with these kind of example drills ( good candidate for our e-Learn concept TOPIC )

Solution: A solution to an equation is a NUMBER that makes the equation TRUE when the number is substituted in the equation.
asr: WOW this kind of simple statement make it clear to the students.  we should ask to answer the question in QUIZ .
 - we need this kind of quiz Qs not just multiple choice , it will test how student not get confused with already answered questions, how he marks found answers and NOT to look at them for next solution .