Math Trailblazers
What is it?
Math Trailblazers is a program that actively engages students in solving a wide
variety of problems. Based on standards published by the National Council of Teachers of
Mathematics, (which was also used to help frame our own state
standards), Trailblazers includes a careful
balance between concepts and skills. Many of the activities involve using the scientific
method where children learn to develop and apply important mathematical skills and
concepts in meaningful ways. Students find multiple ways to solve problems which provide
meaning to pencil and paper procedures.
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The Trailblazers Curriculum
What You Can Do to Help.
Ask your
child’s teacher how you can support their efforts to hold your children to high
standards.
Monitor homework and progress in school. Included in this
brochure are suggestions for what you can do at home.
Be encouraging! This is a new way of learning for many of
us. Stay involved. Look for newsletters, vocabulary lists, glossaries, and writing
assignments.
Read graphs (USA Today, news magazines) give
opinions as to how the information was organized and why!
“The curriculum framework envisions
all students in the Commonwealth achieving mathematical competence through a strong
mathematics program that emphasizes problem solving, communicating, reasoning and proof,
making connections and using representations.” (MA Frameworks adopted August 2000).
Throughout the Trailblazers program students are given opportunities to show how
their mathematical thinking is developing, use mathematical language to communicate
discoveries, reveal misunderstandings and explain why they occur, and express their
attitude toward mathematics. Here are a few ways you can help develop your child’s
abilities to read and write in mathematics.
As you child is attempting to solve a math problem begin
by asking them:
What do you know?
What are they asking you to do?
What do you need to find out?
Once the problem has been framed you might continue by asking them:
What strategies have you been learning about or
practicing in school to help you solve problems? (Draw a picture, make a table, look for a
pattern, solve a simpler problem, work backwards, make a list, estimate.)
What mathematical concepts or ideas did you use or could
we use to solve this problem?
Tell me one thing you learned in doing this problem? What
does that have to do with what you were doing in school? What part was easy? What part was
hard? Should you write down a question you still have to ask someone when you go into
school tomorrow? |
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Math Vocabulary
There is a strong relationship
between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension. The MCAS asks students to not only
read “math” but write about it as well. In each unit in Math Trailblazers your
child will be learning new vocabulary words that will strengthen their learning and
achievement in the area of math. Some of this vocabulary may or may not be new to you. For
example, if you were to visit a first grade class at Steward you would hear youngsters
talking about trapezoids and hexagons. Furthermore, they would even be able to tell you
how a square is like or unlike a rhombus. In the fifth grade at Proctor School, students
know the difference between categorical values and numerical values. They are also
learning when to use the median, the mode or the mean to find the “average.”
These new challenges may be different from the challenges we faced as children.
When students use technical math terms in
relation to other terms, they are thinking critically. Throughout Trailblazers
students are given opportunities to talk about math, and write about math. This
will enhance their ability to apply mathematics in their world, and demonstrate that
proficiency on state tests, such as the MCAS.
Each teacher has been given a glossary of
terms included in the Trailblazer program
at each grade level. Students will be using these words in many different opportunities.
Some of the math vocabulary words may even appear on weekly spelling lists, or as part of
FCA’s (focus correction areas) in their writing. I’ve included a way you can
work with your child at home.
Begin by asking your child about what
topic they have been studying in math. Are there any special words they’ve been using
or learning? Look for new vocabulary in newsletters from teachers or in student’s
homework assignments. As you learn these new words together make a word list for math,
build the list as the year goes on. Put each word on a flashcard. Using the card initiate
a word sort. The object of the word sorting is to group words into different categories by
looking for shared features among their meanings. This activities provides an opportunity
to teach and learn from each other while discussing and examining words together. Another
option is to select five words, of which four have a relationship, and one does not. Ask
your child which one doesn’t belong. Have them explain their thinking.
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