My husband came home from an educators’ conference with several new books and one of them caught my eye in addition to hearing him mention it several times. The name of the book is Mathematics: Worksheets Don’t Grow Dendrites. It is written by Marcia L. Tate who is an educational consultant. She has written several books that have the Worksheets Don’t Grow Dendrites mantra in their title and this one is about math. She maintains that learning occurs the best when it centers around activities that involve and engage the student. This is a concept that I have believed for years, but finding or dreaming up enough activities to teach all the math concepts in my curriculum is quite a challenge—something I have spent many years doing.
As I began to flip through the book, it became obvious that it is a valuable resource. Chapter 2 is titled “Drawing and Artwork”. I see a project for “Gallon Man” which is used to help children remember the number of quarts in a gallon, pints in a quart, and cups in a pint. My middle school students have a hard time remembering this and here is an art project that can help! I love it: art projects that teach math!
The other chapters look good too, with a lot of practical ideas that can be used or expanded. You know, my husband loses things pretty easily and this book just might disappear for a while!
