Everyday Math

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Home : 2004 : July : 6

Everyday Math
By Lin

I have a few questions for you.
1. What state are you in? I'm in NJ
2. What grade do you teach? I teach 4th)
3. How long have you been teach EM?
4.Do you like the program and which series are you doing? I like
it very much
5.Did you district go full blast into the series or by grade and with in-servicing of parents and teachers? we took our time
I have been involved with EM for thirteen years and did my thesis on math manipulatives toys or tools in 1999. (with a Everyday Math teaching in mind)
I am a fourth grade teacher of 9 years with background in kindergaten, first and second grades

and a math program advisor for math nights and an after schol club in my district for the total school as well as 2nd, 3rd and 4th graders for 13 years. We are about 500-600 students in our building with a K-12 district. Several elementary schols.

I enjoy teaching the series but will confess that there are draw backs as with every program. Children have to think outside the box and so do parents. Our parents are the most difficult to win over in the program, but we win and lose this battle. I align EM to reading since we read left to right, why can't we do math left to right too! 50 facts in one minute is a challenge, but we always deal with children that do not learn their basic facts. Without the facts the rest of math is hard. Partial sums, differences, products and quotients, as well as developing an algorith are dificult. So is the elapsed time and the geometry, But the kids can do it, The column addition,and the new signs for multiplication and division can be overwhelming for some kids. I carefully teach each lesson and sometimes make small groups to get a new point across.