Watch MANGO Math founder Mary Curry explore ways that parents and teachers can become better positive math role models, and help students develop a positive attitude towards math by making math more enjoyable, accessible and fun.

Mary is the featured guest on The Balancing Act’s Parent-Teacher Corner, a collaboration with the Learning First Alliance and its member organizations.  The segment features MANGO Math’s fun and hands-on curriculum and approach to math learning.

MANGO Math Founder Mary Curry will appear on an upcoming segment of The Balancing Act, America’s premier morning show that’s about women, for women and trusted by women. The segment, “Math Matters: Innovative Activities to Build Confidence and Skills”, will feature an interview with Ms. Curry as part of The Balancing Act’s ongoing Parent Teacher Corner series.

Snohomish, WA (PRWEB):  Classroom teachers are always on the lookout for new classroom activities, but rarely have the time or resources to develop them. Sensing an opportunity, Mary Curry, a working mother and former elementary school teacher, took the plunge during the height of the recession and founded MANGO Math to provide classroom teachers with a fun and engaging supplemental math curriculum. Just two years later, MANGO Math’s K-8 math curriculum is used in classrooms and math enrichment programs in school districts across the country. Now, MANGO Math’s message and success is about to be shared nationally through The Balancing Act, America’s premier morning show for and about women, on Lifetime Television.

“We need to become better math role models for our children and students”, says Ms. Curry of MANGO Math. “Math develops critical thinking and problem solving skills that are integral to success later in life. As a parent and an educator, I feel that it’s important to build a positive attitude towards math in our children at an early age, both at home and in the classroom. Math is involved in some way, shape or form in every facet of our lives. At MANGO Math, we strive to make those connections meaningful and fun for our kids. I’m excited to have the opportunity to share our vision and success with The Balancing Act’s national audience.”

“We’re looking forward to having MANGO Math join the “Parent Teacher Corner” series on The Balancing Act on Lifetime TV,” says Doug Campbell, Executive VP of Programming for BrandStar Entertainment’s The Balancing Act on Lifetime Television. “The Balancing Act viewers on Lifetime will learn about how MANGO Math helps not only teachers, but also parents by providing enjoyable math activities that help build confidence and skills in math.”

The Parent Teacher Corner, the Balancing Act’s ongoing series on education, was developed to empower teachers, administrators, parents and community with the information that can incite change. The Parent Teacher Corner is a partnership between the Balancing Act and The Learning First Alliance and their illustrative members such as the National Association of Elementary School Principals, American Association of School Administrators, National Middle School Association, American School Counselor Association, National Staff Development Council, Learning Forward, and the National Association School Boards of Education.

The segment will be taped in March 2012, and will air sometime in the second quarter of 2012.

 About “The Balancing Act” on Lifetime Television:

The Balancing Act TV show is produced by BrandStar Entertainment and airs daily on Lifetime Television at 7:00am (ET/PT). The Balancing Act on Lifetime Television is America’s premier morning show that’s about women, for women and trusted by women. For information or to view a show, visit http://thebalancingact.com.

About MANGO Math:

Based on Common Core math standards, MANGO Math’s math crates and math totes are filled with fun games and activities that reinforce and deepen the understanding of core mathematical concepts for each grade level. Classroom teachers, schools and school districts, before and after school programs, and parents across the United States use MANGO’s math lessons, math games and math activities to create fun and enjoyable learning experiences. To learn more about Mango Math, visit http://mangomath.com To receive updates and daily math teasers, follow MANGO Math on Facebook (Facebook.com/mangomath), or on Twitter (twitter.com/mangomath).

A tough habit to break

From a very young age students are taught to add by using their fingers to count.  This can be a very difficult habit to break and can be an impediment to developing good number sense later on.

Even when I ask students to sit on their hands to stop using their fingers to count, you can still see their little fingers moving under their legs!  How do you get students to stop using their fingers and to start using their head?

Using objects and picture arrays are a great way to start.  After that, using the simple number grids that follow will make it easy for students to learn their basic math facts, without using their fingers.

Learn These Six Relationships.  The following number grid shows the addition facts for all numbers 1-10.  By mastering the following six rules, a student has all of the tools necessary to calculate all but 8 addition math facts from 0-20.

• Any number +1
• Any number +10
• equations for the sum of 10 (i.e., 6+4, 7+3, etc.)
• doubles (2+2, 3+3, etc.)
• sums of 10 “plus or minus” 1
• doubles “plus or minus” 1

In the number grid below contains all addition math facts for the numbers 1-10.  The  ”+ 1″ and “+10″ are highlighted in tan:

Figure 1: +1, +10, doubles and sums that equal 10

Getting a student to understand that adding “1″ to any number will result in the next number in sequential order is an easy enough concept, as is adding “10″ to any  number.

Thereafter, have students learn the equations for the sum of ten (the blue squares in figure 1), and then learning all doubles (the red squares in figure 1).  

Playing games like MANGO’s Double Down, Cue and Azuki Addition are great, fun ways to learn these simple rules.  With repeated play children should be able to memorize these math facts in the same manner they can identify a color or simple sight words.

Once they have those facts down, have students work on “sums of 10 + or – 1″ (the light blue squares in figure 2 below), and then “doubles + or – 1″ (the light red squares in figure 2 below):

Figure 2: multiples of 10 "plus or minus" 1; doubles "plus or minus" 1

For students struggling to memorize their math facts, these six shortcuts allow them to better understand and extrapolate the relationships that underlie these simple rules to come up with the correct answer, without resorting to their fingers.

Memorize these 8 math facts.  Once these simple rules are learned a student only needs to memorize the following 8 math facts to know all of their addition facts from 0 to 20:

2 + 4                2 + 5                2 + 6

8 + 3                8 + 4                8 + 5                8 + 6

7 + 5

Teach Addition and Subtraction at the Same Time.  Rather than teaching addition, then subtraction, I suggest teaching both at the same time.  Learning addition and subtraction together helps show the relationships among the numbers involved, making it that much easier to  memorize and learn.   If a student knows that 6 + 6 = 12, then learning 12 – 6 = 6 at the same time creates a relationship among those numbers as well as the relationship between addition and subtraction that may not be grasped by learning them separately, and certainly not by finger-counting.

Do you have other good ideas for breaking the finger-counting habit?  Let us know!

Math needs a makeover along the lines of what Reading is Fundamental has done for literacy.  On those rare occasions when you hear “I love math!”, it’s often traced to the positive influence of a single person – maybe a teacher, relative or other role model – that broke with stereotype and opened a student’s eyes to the simple fact that math is everywhere, and accessible to all that take a positive approach to unlocking its mysteries.

Say “math” to any group of people – children or adults, teachers or students – and the reaction will be a decidedly mixed bag.  The vast majority will say they “don’t like math”, or that they “are not good at math”, or that it was their least favorite subject in school.

In 1966, a former teacher name Margaret McNamara started a program that has become the oldest and largest non-profit literacy program in the United States.  Today, we all know that “reading is fundamental” – we read our children bedtime stories at the earliest age, and most children know their ABC’s and simple sight words before starting Kindergarten.  Very few of us spend a similar amount of time with our children building math literacy at an early age.

Math needs a makeover along the lines of what Reading is Fundamental has done for literacy.  On those rare occasions when you hear “I love math!”, it’s often traced to the positive influence of a single person – maybe a teacher, relative or other role model – that broke with stereotype and opened a student’s eyes to the simple fact that math is everywhere, and accessible to all that take a positive approach to unlocking its mysteries.

Whatever our personal math demons, as parents and educators we owe it to our children to become more engaged in raising the level of math literacy in the United States.  It starts with building positive perceptions about math at an early age and a better awareness of its pervasiveness in our everyday life.

Become a math role model.  Take some time every day to point out the math in our everyday lives:

• The geometry of everyday things – why are certain things shaped the way they are?  What would happen if they were shaped differently?
• The relative order of things – bigger/smaller, heavier/lighter, first/last.
• The critical thinking and problem-solving involved with everyday decisions – why might taking the” long way” home save me time at certain hours of the day?

The bottom line is our attitudes about math have a major impact on how our children or students approach and perceive math.   Keep it positive, keep it fun, and keep it relevant by celebrating the math in everyday life.

Do you have some good examples of math in everyday life?  Share them with us!

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A recent study finds that  third-graders use their brains in an entirely different way when solving math problems than their second grade counterparts.

Using functional MRI’s, scientists presented 90 second and third grade students with basic arithmetic problems.  The MRI’s measured brain activity as each child solved simple, and then more complicated, math problems.

While 2^nd graders’ minds approached both the simple and more difficult problems in much the same manner, 3^rd grader students used a different part of the brain for the easier problems then they did for harder problems.

While researchers aren’t sure whether this shift in brain development is  caused by math classes and concepts, or by a natural progression in the growth of a child, certainly teachers and parents can play a key role in identifying curriculum and methods that can further help to foster this key period of early brain development.

We are now enrolling students for our summer math enrichment programs at our Snohomish, Washington learning center.  Contact us for more information or to enroll today!

Contact us for more information or to enroll today!

From National Summer Learning Organization

Math enrichment and other learning programs can have a significant positive impact in reducing learning loss during the summer months.

The National Summer Learning Organization, interviewed Duke University Professor Harris Cooper about his seminal research regarding summer learning loss, which he conducted in response to proposed federal cut in summer programming during the early 1990′s.

National Summer Learning Association

According to Dr. Cooper’s research:

• Students across the board lose some math skills, and may lose up to one to three months of learning during the summer months.
• Summer learning loss is greater in math than in reading, and is greatest in math computation and spelling.
• Disadvantaged students are disproportionately affected, with lower achievement scores than middle-class students.

According to Dr. Ruth Peters, citing statistics provided by Ron Fairchild, Executive Director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Summer Learning:

• 56% of students want to be involved in a summer program to keep up with schoolwork or prepare for the next grade.
• Teachers typically spend 4-6 weeks re-teaching material that students have forgotten over the summer.

Clearly, summer learning programs have a significant positive effect.  The best summer programs tend to have the following characteristics:

• smaller, individualized programs with parental involvement tend to be more effective.
• small programs tend to be more nimble, making them more efficient at planning, decision-making, and using available resources
• summer programs should wrap up close to the beginning of the school year in order to prevent summer learning loss.
• Programs should be planned to complement the upcoming school year.

Our MANGO Math curriculum is ideal for summer, after school or other math enrichment programs.  Our hands on math games and activities are structured for small group environments, are based on Common Core and NCTM standards, and are ideal for introducing, reinforcing or mastering math concepts.  To learn more about our curriculum and how it can be used for your after school or summer math program, contact us.

Price: $369.00

Designed specifically for grades 6-7-8 and ideal for classroom and small group use, the Mango Math Pre-Algebra Crate is based on NCTM and Common Core standards and contains 25 innovative, fun and re-usable math games and activities.  All crates come complete with individually packed activities (great for homework!), teacher’s notes, and manipulatives.

Pre-Algebra Deluxe Math Crates: Math Strands, Activities and Standards