Teachers Resource Books

Math Puzzles and Patterns for Kids, Grades 2-4

Move beyond the norm in your math classroom and challenge students to think critically with Math Patterns and Puzzles for Kids. Exploring the hottest concept in puzzle solving—math logic puzzles—Math Patterns and Puzzles for Kids teaches students how to use reasoning to solve some of math's biggest conundrums: real-life patterns and puzzles such as:

• Fibonacci's sequence,
• Sudoku puzzles,
• tangrams,
• Pascal's triangle, and
• magic squares.

Students are taught the basic premises behind each challenging puzzle and are then asked to use the skills they have learned to solve multiple versions of each puzzle.

About the Author

Kristy Fulton has been teaching first grade for 14 years. She is also currently pursuing a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction at the University of Texas–Arlington. She earned her B.A. in English from UT–Permian Basin in 1992. Kristy has been recognized twice as a Model Educator by Renaissance Learning, and has received two Classroom Innovation grants from First Choice Power Company.

From Publishers Weekly

Curriculum Companions Two Jr. Groovy Tube books combine a tale with teaching elementary math skills. In Who Will Fix the Royal Windows? by Joanne Mattern, illus. by Paula Pertile, children use pattern blocks (in the shape of squares, diamonds, triangles, trapezoids and more) to reconstruct stained glass. Packaged with beads and laces, What's for Dinner?, also by Mattern, illus. by Nancy Davis, teaches counting and patterning. (Apr.)
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description

Building early math skills has never been so much fun! With every turn of the page, stories are woven with laces, colorful beads, and jewel-tone pattern-play blocks that can be used right on or in the recessed pages of the book. Each Jr. Groovy Tube Book comes with a clear spine to store the hands-on manipulatives. At the end of each story, kids will extend their learning with games and are encouraged to create their own designs.

Crash! Oh, no. The king and queen's beautiful stained-glass windows are all in pieces! Children are invited to help the artists and rebuild them. They can arrange the pattern-play block pieces into the recessed pages as the artists try to remember how the windows originally looked. This is a fun and easy introduction to recognizing shapes, building patterns, and understanding spatial relationships and symmetries.