Learning Resources Rainbow Fraction Tiles with Tray

I taught math for nearly 25 years. I tried to get Saxon in my classroom but they weren't "sexy" enough for the teacher committees that review for the school district (which I was always on, every 7 years we got new books). Another reason they never got into the schools is that at the book conventions where teachers & administrators go to evaluate the texts, the bigger text book manufacturers would literally 'wine & dine' us in Las Vegas. Some take you out to restaurants, most have food/drink in a motel suite & pitch their books. As a result, 'easy' teachers suseptible to marketing ploys would fall for those companies with the most freebies. When they get back & go before the school board with their recommendation, it was never the best text for kids. I always lost out to the 'sheeple' who would go with me to the conventions & fall for the free food & goodies. The only good part was getting free teacher complete sets I could use for certain lesson plans where the text we were stuck with wasn't good enough. However, most teachers just go thru the text from beginning to as far as they feel comfortable teaching to. "Read the ch. & do the questions at the end". Such crap. It's no wonder our students are far behind in math. With Saxon that would never happen. Lots of review before going to the next concept. Each builds on previous concepts which are reviewed constantly so no kid would be lost. As it is, teachers go on to the next page in the book whether students understand concepts needed before that page or not. After leaving the public school system, I homeschooled my grandson until 6th grade when I went along with the "they need socialization with other kids" nonsense. I wouldn't fall for that again either. He tested out in 12th grade math when they tested him before entering 6th grade. They could only put him in 7th grade they said (even tho he tested in nothing less than 8th grade in any subject). From that time on he went backwards. I should have kept on homeschooling. Next year he is a Senior in HS & has begged me to return to homeschooling him again but I feel he should do his Senior year at the school so he can learn what he needs for college & to graduate with his classmates (which have never accepted him & give him a bad time for being a computer nerd & smart!). He has had to play dumb to fit in & has dropped his standing in GPA which burns my butt. The school loves him as he brings up the average test scores for the end of year tests taken for his class/grade level. He still tests high. He just doesn't like doing homework as he already knows it & can't see the logic in doing it (even tho most teachers count it as at least 50% of a students grades. Also ridiculous & another example of the systems being broken). Saxon is the only way to go. It is complete from beginning to end & I think even non-teachers would have no problem teaching from these books. I bought these to teach my youngest grandson this summer as he is behind. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to visit for the summer after all. By the way, as a math teacher, if you have kids that don't do well or say they "hate math", USE HANDS-ON MANIPULATIVES! I taught mostly 'non-mathers' as I call us. (Yes, I too hate math. I have a Masters Degree in math by default. I was so bad at it, I kept taking more classes to get better. I ended up having so many units, it would have been foolish not to use them for a masters degree!) So I know how to reach kids who don't like math. Use hands-on items to show the concepts, not just do the exercises in the book!!! For kids like my grandson who take to math, don't use manipulatives. It holds them back. They "see" math in their heads & manipulatives frustrate those 'mathers' (as I call them). But us non-mathers only "get" math when using hands-on items to get us to understand concepts. If you have the money, buy the manipulatives they sell with the 3rd grade books. They will be used for more grade levels as well. But too expensive for me now. I searched the internet & found vastly cheaper items. A small kit plus some single items. But I have an advantage, I know what ones work & which ones are needed.(What? I still have to write another twenty words before this review can be accepted? Crazy! Three more to go.)

A helpful tool to keep at home to help kids with maths!

Bought it as a Christmas gift for my nephew and he absolutely adores it.

Geande

Wish I had one when I was a kid! Gives them a better understanding of fractions. Very cool.