Math Matters: Understanding the Math You Teach, Grades K–8 (Second Edition)

I am a 3rd grade teacher and a math specialist. If I had to take only a few books onto a deserted island, THIS would be one of them. If you teach math, it should be on your shelf and within easy reach. I often have referred to this as the Bible of math teaching. The chapters are organized around strands of math and the table of contents is quite thorough.This books has very clear and easy to understand explanations about the math you teach. It breaks down the layers of math and helps teachers consider what underlies the math content. It offers multiple ways to think about math topics and helps teachers consider how to scaffold their lessons. This is not a book for lesson planning or using with children. It is a book FOR teacher learning. It helps teachers understand the math and all of the ins and outs so that they might be better math teachers. When I go to teach a new unit, I ALWAYS go back and read the section about the math I'm about to teach. I'm never disappointed and I always learn something new.I think this is the very first book that new math teachers should buy. As a coach, I would buy one for every teacher I supported.

The author's explaination of problems, and the challenging questions allowed opportunities for critical thinking, and problem solving both indiidually, and with a group. The material is easy to read and the information and questions could be easily weaved into lessons to help promote and enhance students' critical and analytic thinking and problem solving skills.

I LOVE this book and it is exactly I wanted. As a educator of middle school aged children, I strive to teach for conceptual understanding. I am not particularly strong in Geometry but Math Matters provides the math background information I need to teach Geometry better and offers activities that I can use in my classroom to help my students develop an understanding of the concept. Completing the activities, prior to assigning them to my students, helps to strengthen my understanding as well. I simply love the book and it is worth every penny I paid for it!

This book explains how basic math is taught in classrooms where school districts have adopted the "Common Core" curriculum. I believe it is intended to help existing educators, especially those with considerable tenure, understand the dumbo jumbo alternatives to the basic math most adults learned in school up until the turn of the century. Parents over thirty who can't understand how to help their children with homework, can learn how to convert the math back to normal and if these parents want to get started while waiting for the book, start by helping your children memorize the multiplication tables. This alone will put them miles ahead of their classmates.

A good book for teachers but would have liked more examples given for the early primary and elementary years.Questions are good within the chapters.

I purchased this book for a masters class and it was really a worthwhile read. This is a great book that looks in depth at areas of mathematics we have to teach in K-8 education. The book includes several activities which I highly recommend doing as you read! I learned things about prime numbers, multiplication, and many other subjects which I had either long-since forgotten or never actually learned. This book helped me to reevaluate how I was teaching mathematics and how I can present information in a way that will help students internalize number concepts rather than just memorizing processes.

This is not just a text book approach to math for students. It offers teachers many options, ideas, and approaches to the math for students. It also provides reminders of the thought process and the math involved in given situations. I appreciated the "review" for me and therefore, for my students. Things I would have taken for granted, I now realize must be reviewed for the students. Thank you.

Math Matters is a must read for all math teachers of all grades. This book emphasizes the importance of comprehending math concepts on the deepest level, only then can a math teacher really be a benefit to students. This book sheds light on the fact that it is possible to teach math and not really fully comprehend math concepts; (this is why it is difficult to find a math teacher who teaches math in a clear easy to understand way)once you are aware of this fact you are on your way to becoming a true math teacher!!!