About Teaching Mathematics: A Kindergarten Through Eighth Resource [Paperback]

Burns (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1992

This comprehensive and popular resource addresses the toughest issues teachers face in mathematics teaching. It demonstrates how to replace traditional math teaching with strategies that focus on students' thinking and reasoning and presents the case for teaching mathematics through problem solving. With more than 240 classroom-tested activities, this essential teaching resource has been invaluable to more than 100,000 teachers.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This book is a great resource for teachers. It provides essential information to help teachers understand how children learn mathematics. This book is a nice companion to NCTM s Principles and Standards for School Mathematics. It also gives background information and student activities that go hand in hand with Principles and Standards. I read the first edition of Burns s book many years ago, but I still find it to be energizing because it speaks to the soul of teachers who believe that mathematics is more than 2 + 3 = 5. Author Marilyn Burns is synonymous with problem solving. She has been, and continues to be, a leader in the world of mathematics. The book is divided into four parts: Raising the Issues, Problem-Solving Activities in the Strands, Teaching Arithmetic, and Mathematical Discussions. A bibliography, blackline masters, and a list of activities compliment this book. Each part contains a great deal of information and numerous activities for kindergarten through eighth grade. It is a true teacher s resource. Part 1's background information helps readers better understand mathematics education. It is very insightful and makes valuable suggestions for answering tough questions concerning the how of mathematics, such as how mathematics is being taught compared with how it was once taught. Part 3 includes a section on extending multiplication and division that was not in the first edition. Part 4 is entirely new and not to be missed. The activities presented in this book require the students to use the NCTM s Process Standards. Some classic problem-solving activities can be found, such as If a = $.01, b = $.02, . . . , what is the value of your name? and the classic handshake problem. The first-year teacher or the veteran teacher can find this book to be beneficial. The activities are not grade specific because they can be used in different grades. Learning is an ongoing process for both students and teachers, and this book will help both groups learn more about mathematics. I highly recommend it to teachers. --Review by Mary Lou Damjanovich from Teaching Children Mathematics, by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). Reprinted with permission from Teaching Children Mathematics. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 286 pages
• Publisher: Marilyn Burns Education Associates (April 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0941355055
• ISBN-13: 978-0941355056
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,951,708 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Marilyn Burns is a renowned math specialist and has been teaching for more than thirty years. She is the creator of Math Solutions and the author of numerous books and articles.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars About Teaching Mathematics, April 8, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: About Teaching Mathematics: A Kindergarten Through Eighth Resource (Paperback)

This book is required reading for a class I am taking called "Diagnosis and Remediation of Math Learning Disabilities" at Teachers College. This is a very nice book. Sometimes, I think the professors here make us buy too many books, but I have actually read and used this one. It has many fun games and activities for grade K-8. These activities engage their interest and/or make abstract concepts more concrete. I have used the activities as extra-credit projects for my 9th grade math class. Some of the activities are challenging, even for a ninth grader. If you bought only one book for the class, this would be it.

43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great K-8 Resource, February 10, 2004

By 

Stephen Armstrong (Hadley, Ma USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: About Teaching Mathematics: A K-8 Resource 2nd Edition (Paperback)

Marilyn Burns' 23 years' experience teaching math is found in this great resource book. The first section is organized in NCTM strands: measurement, probability and statistics, geometry, logic, patterns and functions, and number. The second section (a little less than half the book) is about teaching arithmetic: number concepts, place value, addition and subtraction, mulitplication, division, fractions, decimals, and percents. Each concept has whole class lessons, independent activities (menu), and assessing understanding.

This is a teacher resource, not a curriculum book. Burns' approach is half-way in between the two poles of math education: algorithmic math and conceptual math. Her point of view is "practical," with the teacher in mind.

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30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great resource!, July 21, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: About Teaching Mathematics: A Kindergarten Through Eighth Resource (Paperback)

I just finshed a Marylin Burns week long workshop and was given this books filled with hundred of activities. I was impressed with the high level of math that could be pulled out of what at first impression looked like simple activites. These hands-on lessons required very little prep time and can be used at a variety of grade levels. This is the direction math is heading in our district and this resource is worth every cent.