Printable Math Worksheets are often abused. Some teachers use them to fill up time, instead of doing any real teaching.
If you've got a whole classroom of fifteen or so kids (or even thirty!) all hunched over their desks working through a series of worksheets, it looks like something is happening.
Sometimes it is. Sometimes it's not!
Printable math worksheets can be a real boost to a teacher's arsenal, but they shouldn't be the only method a teacher uses. They shouldn't even be the primary method.
Let me tell you some good ways to use printable math worksheets in your classroom.
One great way to use them is to make them relevant to the child's interests.
Kids often find math in general irrelevant to their lives.
A math worksheet that revolves around something the child is interested in can catch that student's attention.
Let's suppose you have a child who is really interested in art. A worksheet designed around art, say figuring out how much wood you would need to build a picture frame, might be much more interesting to that child than a worksheet without a theme.
I read an article recently in The Columbian, a paper from Washington state.
In this article, which you can access by clicking on any of the links provided, there's a student who is not really interested in doing math. The reporter notices that she's just doodling.
She's trying, though. If you'll notice later in the article she says that math might be useful for her to understand prices of the artwork she hopes to sell when she grows up.
How could a teacher exploit this child's interest in art to help her with her math? By making the math worksheet relevant to her interests.
Instead of just multiplying numbers, for instance, the teacher could set up the math worksheet as a series of problems where you find the area of a canvas or a wall that you're about to paint. Now that the student is not just doing rote arithmetic, but figuring out something meaningful to her, you might be able to get and keep her attention.
This student is also interested in zookeeping. Yet another world of interests easily funneled into math problems.
Worksheets are sometimes viewed as non-creative substitutes for more complex problems. Used correctly, a properly written math worksheet that actually addresses a child's interests can have much more of an impact.
The only problem is finding the worksheets in the first place.
There are a number of sites on the Net where you can download math worksheets.
Also, here's a subscription based website that gives you access to not only more worksheets than you could ever use, but a lot of other teaching tools.
Just click here to access it.
I'd love to know about your experiences with math worksheets. Just let me know.
