Using Stories to Teach Maths Ages 9 to 11

Steve Way

Description

Make the teaching of Maths a more exciting and creative cross-curricular experience! This new series provides original and fun stories, sketches and poems to use as the basis for teaching objectives from the Mathematics Programme of Study. The stories are supported by differentiated lesson plans and original resources such as card games and suggestions for kinaesthetic activities. Ages 9-11 stories include: Sneaky Circles, Hank Bullman rides into Certain City, Space Chase, Mediaevel Mode, Metric Measures Poem, Ratio Poem. The stories have been road-tested in schools and the children thoroughly enjoyed them!

Informations

• Publié par: Andrews UK
• Date de parution: 27 février 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781909102101
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Title page
Using stories to teach
Maths
Ages 9–11
Steve Way & Simon Hickton



Copyright page
Originally published by
Hopscotch, a division of MA Education, St Jude’s Church, Dulwich Road, London, SE24 0PB
www.hopscotchbooks.com
020 7738 5454
©2011 MA Education Ltd.
2012 digital version by Andrews UK Limited
www.andrewsuk.com
Written by Steve Way & Simon Hickton
Designed by Emma Turner, Fonthill Creative, 01722 717057
Illustrated by Brian Way
All rights reserved. This resource is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed upon the subsequent purchaser.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.
Every effort has been made to trace the owners of copyright of material in this book and the publisher apologises for any inadvertent omissions. Any persons claiming copyright for any material should contact the publisher who will be happy to pay the permission fees agreed between them and who will amend the information in this book on any subsequent reprint.



Introduction
Hello! We hope you enjoy using this book and that the ideas in it help add to your toolbox of resources for teaching mathematics.
About the series
The main idea behind “Using Stories to teach Maths Ages 9 to 11” was to provide a way of looking at maths that the children have to learn in school from a fresh angle. This means that their learning can be enhanced by looking at maths ideas in different ways. Using the stories can be a fun way of helping the children with their learning and their revision. It also helps children to understand maths by encountering it in different contexts, such as the imaginary situations in the stories and in real-life situations. Every different way in which a child (or an adult!) comes across a maths concept enhances a child’s ability to learn and understand the concept and to remember it. The age categories we have put each story in are of course only a guide as all children are different and they can be of interest and use to older or younger children in the same or different contexts.
By making maths fun the barriers to learning that they often create (“I can’t do maths”, “maths is boring” or similar phrases that they may have picked up from others) can be dissolved and the children gain more confidence and facility to understand and use mathematical concepts and this can lead to a far more positive approach and attitude to the rest of their mathematical learning. Certainly having used these stories and poems in many schools around the UK we are confident that the children will enjoy engaging with them and learning from them.
The stories and poems in the book have been written and road-tested over a number of years in schools across the UK. They were originally written using the Mathematics Programme of study as a guide to provide ideas for pieces we could write. For this reason we hope that between them the stories and poems can provide a resource for initiating or supporting work for many of the learning objectives of the Mathematics Programme of study.
Therefore in the teacher’s notes we also suggest follow up work, often incorporating worksheets or the illustrations that accompany the pieces, which you can use to create a whole lesson around each piece. Of course suggested lesson plans are only a guide and so you can pick and choose the suggestions and ideas that will work best in your school, with your class etc.
Reading the stories
When you read the children the story we recommend that you read them the story twice. The first time as a story in its truest sense – a story they can listen to and enjoy as a piece of narrative, without it being broken up and dissected as it’s told. Hopefully the enjoyment they get from the story will enhance their enjoyment of the mathematics they are learning. However on the first reading of the story, they may have been so involved in the plot etc that they miss some of the maths ideas that are used in the story. So on the second reading you can get the children to focus on the maths ideas that weaved into the story by stopping at the points where a new concept enters into the narrative and discussing its role in the story, using an enlarged copy. This also means that the children will be able to enjoy seeing – and learning from! – the illustrations as well and many of the children will enjoy reading the story with you.
Using the lesson plans
Within the planning we have added reference statements headed WALT, WILF and TIB as these or similar systems are often used to ensure lessons are focussed, objective led and in context for the learner. They help summarise purpose of the lesson, what is required of the children in order for them to successfully learn that lesson and why what they are learning is important.
WALT stands for “We Are Learning Today.”
WILF stands for “What I’m Looking For.”
TIB stands for “This Is Because.”
The worksheets sheets are designed to support the learning the children are making in mathematics. We recognise that completing them will often require literacy skills, which in some cases the children will not have at the required level. In order that the work remains focussed on mathematics we suggest that you, your classroom assistants etc scribe for such children so that their capability in mathematics is not held back by specific difficulties with literacy.
We hope you enjoy using this book and would welcome all positive suggestions/criticisms that might enhance future volumes!
Contents
Sneaky Circles
A problem solving story involving circles to find a relationship between the diameter and the circumference – with the aim of explaining a generalised relationship in words. Two friends have a race. Henry (the dim athletic one) runs around the circumference of a huge circle thinking that’ll give Thomas (the clever non-athletic one) who’s running across the diameter a bit of a chance!
Maths topic(s): Problem solving involving circles/2D shapes.
Hank Bullman rides into Certain City
An introduction to the ideas of chance/probability. Hank Bullman finds that if something has happened in the past the citizens of Certain City are certain it’s going to happen again on that day. For example though it’s so hot that “even the dust was covered in dust”, several people are certain it’s going to rain because it rained three days ago.
Maths topic(s): Introduction to probability, general terms for probability, certain, likely, unlikely etc.
Space Chase
An interactive story where the children are recruited into the 25th century police force. The evil Megiddio has escaped from incarceration on a Prison Planet, despite having been frozen in a suspended animation unit. Not only that he’s stolen the Space Commander’s cop craft and is heading off into Sector 47 to destroy the life-forms on as many planets as possible. The sector’s only hope is that the police chasing him in their cop craft and the children can inactivate the devices he sets off on each planet, which can only be done using exciting maths! Should they succeed, each device will supply one part of a code that could be used to inactivate the stolen cop craft! Good luck may the Revithalibnock be with you!
Chapter one: Nums and Doms
Maths topic(s): Equivalent fractions.
Chapter two: Another Time Bomb (apparently)
Maths topic(s): Problem solving using the four rules of number
Chapter three: Planet Factor
Maths topic(s): Factors of numbers
Chapter four: Currency Conundrums
Maths topic(s): Conversion of different units of money
Chapter five: Star Ratio
Maths topic(s): Simplifying ratios
Chapter six: Conversion Conundrums
Maths topic(s): Conversion between different units of measure
Chapter seven: A Whole Range of Averages
Maths topic(s): Calculation of mean, median and mode
Chapter eight: Times-Table Trauma
Maths topic(s): Times tables
Chapter nine: Cornered by Custard, Consumed by a Crocodile and Concerns about Corners
Maths topic(s): Features of triangles and 3D shapes
Chapter ten: DIY Dilemma
Maths topic(s): Volume and surface area
Chapter eleven: The Cops Square up to Megiddio
Maths topic(s): Square numbers
Courtroom conundrums
Conundrum one: Prosecuting Percentages and Fighting Fractions
A courtroom drama in which Fahrana Fraction battles it out with Paul Percentage exploring the connections/differences between fractions and percentages and aiming to convince the judge and watching crowd that their form of maths is the best.
With…
Conundrum two: Decimal Dilemmas
A sequel to the previous story in which decimals are discussed in relation to percentages and fractions, when Paul Percentage and Fahrana Fraction meet the Decimal family on their honeymoon. When could be a better time to forget everything else and discuss mathematical concepts?
And…
Percentages, Fractions and Decimals Poem
A poem comparing percentages, fractions and decimals and how to convert one to the other.
Maths topic(s): Use of Percentages, Fractions and Decimals.
Medieval Mode
A story exploring use of mode, range, median and mean. Having travelled around the world Sir Cumference inherits a castle full of donkeys from his father (Sir Cull). He decides to see how well his ser