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Sample Open Court Math Problems |
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The various character in the stories and problems have
peculiarities that the children come to know. Mr. Sleeby, for
example, is always forgetting things; Ferdie is always
jumping to conclusions without thinking, Mr. Breezy is always
giving more information than is needed and so makes easy
problems seem difficult. When the children approach a certain
story or problem, they do so not with an attitude of 'This is
a story in which I have to add;, but rather one of 'This is a
story in which I have to pay attention to what numbers are
important.' In this way they become used to thinking rather
than only to carrying out arithmetic operations mechanically.
Because the stories and problems are filled with surprises, the children can never fall into a comfortable, nonthinking rut. The stories are real stories designed to be read to the children by an adult. As a story unfolds, the children are asked questions. that prompt them to think ahead of the characters--to spot what is wrong with what a character has done or said, to anticipate what is going to happen as a result, or to think of other possibilities that the character hasn't considered. The thinking problems that follow the story are inn the same vein, but much shorter." There is a story for every 5 to eight lessons. Principal characters: The children learn to recognize the peculiarities of the characters and to avoid them in their own thinking, e.g Agatha Misty is a detective who always jumps to faulty conclusions on insufficient evidence. the children learn to reassess evidence and conclusions drawn from it.Mark often asks questions that help people clear up their problems. The children learn to anticipate Mark's questions. Miss Asker is always asking children questions that help them figure out answers to their problems. The children learn how to break down hard questions into easier ones. Ferdie, overconfident and impulsive is always leaping to conclusions. The children learn to consider the facts that Ferdie ignores. Portia his younger sister, is more cautious and thus provides a balance to Ferdie's impulsiveness. Cousin Sharon, Ferdie and Portia's older cousin, tries to get the better of people in deals. The children learn to look twice at what seem to be bargains. Manolita thinks that everything happens by magic. The children learn to figure out how things really happen. The teachers guide gives more than just the answers to the problems in the workbook. It is geared to the classroom, but very adaptable to the homeschool. Lower grades also have response cubes. They come with a little booklet that also contains games you can play with them. Different colors and sizes of numbers indicate place value. One example of a short problem dealing with Cousin Sharon's bargains: "These towels are 99 cents each," said Cousin Sharon, "so 2 of them will cost $2.99. But as a special bargain I'll take 10 cents off, so they'll cost you only $2.89." What's wrong with Sharon's bargain? (Two towels should cost only $1.98 at the regular price.)
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