Mindset Mathematics: Visualizing and Investigating Big Ideas, Grade K

Engage students in mathematics using growth mindset techniques The most challenging parts of teaching mathematics are engaging students and helping them understand the connections between mathematics concepts. In this volume, you'll find a collection of low floor, high ceiling tasks that will help you do just that, by looking at the big ideas at the kindergarten-grade level through visualization, play, and investigation. During their work with tens of thousands of teachers, authors Jo Boaler, Jen Munson, and Cathy Williams heard the same message—that they want to incorporate more brain science into their math instruction, but they need guidance in the techniques that work best to get across the concepts they needed to teach. So the authors designed Mindset Mathematics around the principle of active student engagement, with tasks that reflect the latest brain science on learning. Open, creative, and visual math tasks have been shown to improve student test scores, and more importantly change their relationship with mathematics and start believing in their own potential. The tasks in Mindset Mathematics reflect the lessons from brain science that: There is no such thing as a math person - anyone can learn mathematics to high levels. Mistakes, struggle and challenge are the most important times for brain growth. Speed is unimportant in mathematics. Mathematics is a visual and beautiful subject, and our brains want to think visually about mathematics. With engaging questions, open-ended tasks, and four-color visuals that will help kids get excited about mathematics, Mindset Mathematics is organized around nine big ideas which emphasize the connections within the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and can be used with any current curriculum.

Introduction 1 Low-Floor, High-Ceiling Tasks 2 Youcubed Summer Camp 3 Memorization versus Conceptual Engagement 4 Mathematical Thinking, Reasoning, and Convincing 5 Big Ideas 9 Structure of the Book 9 A Note on the Structure of Kindergarten 15 Note on Materials 17 Manipulatives and Materials Used in This Book 17 Big Idea 1: Understanding the Physical Quantity of Number 21 Count a Collection 23 How Many Do You See? 30 Making a Counting Book 40 Big Idea 2: Using Fingers as Numbers 47 Feeling Fingers 49 Show Me with Your Fingers 64 Hand Mirrors 70 Big Idea 3: Talking about and Making Shapes 77 Talking about Shapes 79 Make a Shape 93 Building Blocks 97 Big Idea 4: Seeing Numbers inside of Numbers 103 Dot Talks 105 Snap It! 118 Which is More? 123 Big Idea 5: Putting Numbers Together 135 Growing Bigger and Bigger 137 Roll the Dice 144 Foot Parade 151 Big Idea 6: Describing and Sorting Objects 159 Sorting Supplies 161 Sorting Emojis 168 Sorting Buttons 174 Big Idea 7: Seeing and Making Patterns Everywhere 181 A World of Patterns 184 DIY Patterns 195 Kinder Dance Party 200 Big Idea 8: Stretching Counting toward 100 205 Counting Larger Collections 207 Making a Collection 213 Hundred Chart Patterns 219 Appendix 231 About the Authors 235 Acknowledgments 237 Index 239