Home

Services

Math and Instruction

About

real life

  • Real Life Math VS “Mathy” Math

    In working with students, parents and IEP teams, I find that there is an assumption that math at some point, possibly beyond arithmetic, is simply a science fiction movie that is minimally related to real life. I hear from students as well as adults, statements like, “algebra, when are we ever going to use it?”…

  • Comparison Shopping – Real Life Example

    Comparison Shopping – Real Life Example

    Saw the following price tags, shown in the two photos, at an office supply store. $4 for 4 batteries or $9 for 8 batteries. To compare we can double the smaller pack to see that 2 packs would cost $8 for 8 batteries for a better deal. Another method is to use unit rates. Rates…

  • Authentic Work Experience

    Very clever activity implemented by the teacher who runs the Life Skills program at our school. She created envelopes (below) for each teacher. The envelopes do not contain any content but are used for practice sorting mail for the students in the program. The students in the program sort and deliver them to our mailbox.…

  • Sausage Fractions – Real Life Example

    Sausage Fractions – Real Life Example

    I have 3 kids and was cooking sausage for them. There were 5 sausage links available (below). How do I give each the same amount? Fractions! Each child gets a full sausage link. I then cut  the remaining 2 sausage links into 3 parts, 1 for each child. 1/3 of a link.   Each child…

  • Opportunities for Parents to Engage Students with Math

    Opportunities for Parents to Engage Students with Math

    Math is often considered an esoteric set of information that is disjointed from the reality people face, aside perhaps from money. Sadly, in school, especially in older grade levels, math is indeed presented this way. A situation as simple as riding an elevator provides opportunities to show and engage a student with math applied in…

  • Relations Introduction Video Lesson

    Relations Introduction Video Lesson

    This video provides instruction to introduce the definition and conceptual meaning behind algebraic relations. Relations Video

  • Snow Math

    Here’s a common word problem used for linear functions and equations (y=mx+b): There are 6 inches of snow on the ground. Snow is falling at a rate of 2 inches per hour. Write a linear equation showing total snow as a function of time (in hours). The equation would be y=2x + 6. Often the…

  • Corresponding Angles in Stain Glass

    Found this (above) cool example of corresponding angles (see photo below for explanation). This window photo could be a nice introduction to this type of problem by printing it out on paper and having students match angles as the teacher shows the photo on the Smart Board or screen.

  • Unit Rates

    Real life applications in of themselves will not make a concept real for many if not most students with special needs. They likely need the concept broken down into more concrete form (CRA). For this problem I would fudge the numbers and have 42 oz at $6 (7 oz per dollar) and a 5 oz…