Handbook for Primary Mathematics Teachers

The Handbook for Mathematics (Primary) aims to serve as a practical guide and resource for all who teach primary school mathematics. Tapping on the wealth of experience of the writers, the book is filled with teaching tips, relevant examples, lesson plans and ideas for activities. This handbook also incorporates new strategies in the teaching of mathematics and cites the latest changes in the primary mathematics curriculum (in Singapore).

The writers of this book are teachers in Singapore.

The areas covered in this handbook include:

• Heuristics for problem-solving
• Tips for teaching
• Enrichment activities
• Assessment in Mathematics
• IT in Mathematics

The information provided in this handbook is by no means exhaustive. It is hoped that innovative teachers will exercise discretion in adopting and modifying the suggested strategies and activities to meet the needs of their pupils.

The above is an extract from Handbook for Mathematics teachers in primary schools (reproduced with the permission of the publishers).

The book is divided into 7 sections. The first discusses a variety of problems solving approaches, such as acting out the problem, working backwards, making a table, or drawing a model. The second section focuses on one of these approaches, drawing models. The examples given in this section pertain primarily to Primary Mathematics 5 and 6 levels. The third section provides ideas for teaching some topics, including some important points that are not explicitly stated in the texts. It does not give the level that the topic is encountered in Primary Mathematics. The fourth section has a variety of enrichment activities. It does not give the corresponding level from Primary Mathematics, but there are 1-2 activities for each level, with more of the activities applying to later levels. The fifth section gives guidelines for creating tests containing multiple choice, short answer, and word problems items and for assigning point values to test items. The sixth section explains how to use MS Word to create figures and graphs for tests. The last section contains 11 worksheets to go along with the teaching ideas in the third section.

The book is not separated by grade levels.

Singapore's recommendation:

This book is a good reference for an overview of the entire Primary Mathematics series as a whole. It has some teaching ideas, but it does not have lesson plans for specific levels. It is probably more useful for those teaching Primary Mathematics 4-6 than for those teaching earlier levels and it is suitable for all teachers (school and homeschool) of primary mathematics.

Table of Contents:

Section 1: Heuristics for Problem-Solving

• Framework of the Mathematics curriculum
• Commonly used heuristics
• Thinking skills
• Examples of non-routine problem-solving

Section 2: Model Drawing

• Stages of model-drawing
• Examples of problem-solving using the model-drawing approach

Section 3: Teaching of Some Topics

• Whole numbers
• Fractions
• Decimals
• Mensuration
• Statistics
• Geometry
• Percentage

Section 4: Enrichment Activities

• Whole numbers
• Geometry
• Open-ended questions

Section 5: Assessment and Test Construction

• Assessment methods
• Construction of test/examination paper
• Table of specifications
• General principles of writing test items
• Types of test items (with examples)

Section 6: IT Skills in Mathematics
How to:

• show drawing toolbar
• configure measurements in centimeters
• snap to grid
• draw a measured line at an angle to the horizontal
• create concentric circles
• draw circular number discs
• draw regular mathematical geometrical figures (including fractional figures and pie charts)

• Fractions
• Mensuration
• Geometry
• Percentage
• Assessments (TOS, examples of sums based on cognitive levels, non-routine sums)

Samples

• Section 2: Model-Drawing: Examples of problem-solving using the model-drawing approach
• Section 3: Teaching of Some Topics: Whole Numbers 1.2 Place Values
• Section 4: Enrichment Activities: Whole numbers

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