Monday, January 17, 2011

Mental Math - Seeing the Numbers


by Kayla Fay - www.goaskmom.com - goaskmom@goaskmom.com - Editor of “An Ounce of Ketchup” - A Newsletter for Moms of Children with ADD or ADHD - Used by permission

Right brainers see math problems in their head. I don't see anything much in my head. I think in words and concepts, which my whole family thinks is a sign of brain dysfunction! When the phenomenon of seeing an image of a math problem was presented to me, I began asking everyone how they did mental math. I asked my brother, who is very right brained, and he assured me he saw the problems in his head. Later that day, he heard me prompt one of the boys to "drop the zero." He looked at me in amazement, and said, "I just saw the zero fall…and bounce." Find some math problems for your kids to do in their heads. Teachers have books of them, and you can Google for webpages of problems and techniques. My very favorite mental math resource is Fun with Figures!  It's full of brilliant mental math shortcuts that are truly amazing. When I first read the book, I kept calling the kids in the room to try each 'trick'.  If you prefer hard copy resources, try Fast and Fun Mental Math.

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