Ah, math. That subject of which we all just love to teach and our children love to learn. </dream world>
Truth be told, I'm not half-bad at doing math. I kind of have a math-ish brain. Sewing is a math-based skill. I'm down with it.
But. I don't teach it so well and I'm not afraid to say it. I'm also not afraid to keep searching for resources that will help me do the job. With this in mind, I was happy to review the new enVision Math for 6th grade from Pearson.
Here's how Pearson describes their new program:
Envision a math program that engages your child as it strengthens their understanding of math. enVisionMATH uses problem based interactive learning and visual learning to deepen conceptual understanding. It incorporates bar diagram visual tools to promote problem-solving skills, and it provides data-driven differentiated instruction to ensure success. The best part is that this success is proven by independent, scientific research. Envision more, enVisionMATH!
Grade 6 hardbound edition, organized by math topics contains daily lessons that provide a Visual Learning Bridge, teaching math concepts step-by-step with purposeful, sequential illustrations while connecting interactive learning with guided and independent skill and problem solving practice.
I very much appreciated the pre-lesson review questions (think: spiral-ish) but I also appreciate that these reviews come at the very beginning of each section and not with every single beat-you-over-the-head-with-review lesson.
Here's an example of the intro to Topic 9:
From there, there are six days of lessons (9-1, 9-2, 9-3, etc.), each on its own 2-page spread, focusing on the current concept. More past concept review will be offered at the beginning of Topic 10. This is a nice balance, I think.
The teacher's guide is both a major piece of awesome and a major drawback, in my estimation. It is only available on a CD-ROM. If you are a flipper, like I am, you like to see the whole picture quickly and easily, flipping back and forth around the lesson you are on, seeing what's coming, what has already come, etc. Granted, you can still do that with the CD-ROM, but I think you kind of already have to know what you are looking for when you flip.
With that being the major drawback, I do actually really love this digital resource. Going back to my chapter 9 example, I can click Topic 9 and get a screen like this:
There are extra printables that are available right where they should be. When reading through a section of the teacher guide it is easy to think, "Wish I had an extra page to review this concept right here!" Presto: Click the "printable resources" tab and you've got it.
The program also has one other interesting feature in the CD "Quiz Show" which provides an interactive math game for kids on the computer.
Some of the questions are super easy and some are actually pretty tricky. I just played a round with my just-finished-6th-grade daughter. We got *most* of them quickly. There were a couple that took more time (and this is a timed activity) and so we rushed and missed them.
All told, that's actually quite a bit of punch for the $99.99 selling point and it's all non-consumable material, so you can use it with multiple kids.
See what others had to say about the new Pearson Math Resources here!
Disclaimer: The product was provided for the purpose of review. No other compensation was received. All thoughts are my own. I keep a proper disclosure statement available here.
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