Really great book which is useful both for parents and teachers. I've enjoyed using the lessons at home to emphasis what they are learning in school. It's has a great structure which is easy to follow and you can select which lesson works makes sense for your child at that time. Definitely more for an adults use with kids not for a kid's independent use. ( )

I really like this series of books. They have a logical layout, they build on the next principal, and it integrates real life thinking. One of my kids struggles in math but loves real life situations and so this has been a hit. They can work in groups which also takes the pressure off one kid and I love that it develops mathematical thinking. The book is in black in white so it isn't super visually appealing but that is the only downside I see. ( )

I was so excited for the opportunity to read and review this supplement/enrichment guide. It was very easy to follow and understand the lesson plans and it gave materials list and also an expected completion guide for each of the lessons. I will say in my opinion that many of these lessons would only work well for groups of less then 5-6 kids who have a very good understanding of math. I look forward to seeing how well it works with my "kids" in the future ( )

I was happy to read this book and add it to my collection of resources. This resource is full of various activities that encourage students to think and understand mathematical concepts. I liked that each lesson included a lesson plan, hand outs, and a rubric for assessment. I appreciated that the lessons are interdisciplinary. Although I am a middle school math teacher, I will incorporate some of the ideas in this text into my upcoming units. Currently I am working on how to incorporate the lesson that asks students to create a small business and graph cost and income into my next linear equation unit. I think my students will have a blast with it. Thanks! ( )

I suppose that in every generation or so, there are those who take issue with the prevailing method of teaching mathematics in schools. In my youth, parents bemoaned the arrival of "New Math" that meant two-plus-two-equals four is not good enough! Advanced mathematics and the critical thinking skills to support it had helped to sky rocket the United States in the global race to the moon and in American education. Ordinary parents in the 21st Century are still griping about the complexity of math and "The Common Core" (see: https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/22What-Parents-Rail-Against-Common-Core.... Math just doesn't 'come naturally' to everyone (nor does music, nor drawing, nor writing, to name a few). A cultural divide exists where math experts--most of them inherently gifted--fail to appreciate the ease and facility for computation and critical thinking that their gift provides.
Hanks, Lampert & Plum's book "Thinking Like a Mathematician, is (as they state) for the "exploration of math concepts with high-ability students" (p.6) and is a helpful tool for educators straddling that cultural divide. The first chapter, "What is a Mathematician?," introduces students to the the Frayer model, which although it is a graphical representation, it is a concept often employed in language arts for teaching vocabulary. The authors appear to be taking a "whole curriculum" approach to handling content, making their presentation apprehensible to those with ordinary interest in math or for developing critical thinking skill. ( )