Do you use a math journal?

[fairy4tmama]

If you use math journaling will you please tell me about it. I have been wanting to start a math journal with my kids (3rd and 1st) but for some reason I am having trouble getting it going. We are a pretty mathy household, we do a lot of informal talking and playing with math in everyday life. We are using Miquon, living math books, First Lessons in Arithmetic, and and my third grader likes and uses Hooked on Math. Oh and we just got Life of Fred Apples yesterday.

 

I feel like having a math journal would be great, but I am just not sure where to start. What do YOU put in your math journals. How often do you use it. Do you only take them out when you are adding to them or are there other ways that you utilize your math journal? What format do you use (spiral, bound, loose leaf, blank, lined, graph)?

TIA

[MinivanMom]

We don't use math journals, but I've seen them used in public school gifted programs. One class used them as a way to work language arts into math. The kids were regularly assigned to describe math processes verbally. As far as I could tell it was frustrating the mathy kids and giving an artificial grade boost to the more verbal kids. I wasn't very impressed. Another class was using them for open-ended problem solving. The teacher would give the class an equation each week with all of the numbers missing from it. The kids used tiles numbered from 1-9 to try and figure out what numbers fit to make the equations work. They recorded this on loose-leaf paper. They were making it into a math journal along with applied math problems they did along with their science (these were 4th graders).

 

I think a math journal is a fabulous idea. I bet you could use one of those composition books that has graph paper inside instead of regular lined paper. You would have to define the purpose of it pretty well, though, or it could easily fall by the wayside.

[fairy4tmama]

You would have to define the purpose of it pretty well, though, or it could easily fall by the wayside.

 

Exactly, I think perhaps you have it on what I am struggling with. Without a well defined purpose it just seems like busy work. Thank you, your post was really helpful! I feel like a math journal could be a great way for my kids to see the math work their doing in a more comprehensive way (given the multitude of resources we are employing). I am grasping a bit to try and do with math the journaling what we do in our other subjects. The reason we journal in other subjects is not so much to have proof of what we are learning (although that is a nice fringe benefit) but rather as another means of learning, as Kfamily so eloquently described in another thread with regard to narration-

 

"Listening to a reading is the mind's way of taking in information. So, listening is the input side of it. The mind puts the information away and this act is an act of learning. But, narrating the reading requires the mind to use different skills to process what has been read. It requires the child to act on the new information and present in an orderly manner. This is an output side to learning. Narrating takes information and puts it through two processes rather than one. This ensures a depth of learning."

 

I also like having learner created materials for reinforcement. However, I still don't feel like the purpose is well defined enough for me to figure out how to execute it KWIM.

Edited October 21, 2011 by fairy4tmama
eta to add quote by Kfamily

[arliemaria]

I've never heard of a math journal, but I am excited to hear more about it now.

[fairy4tmama]

Arliemaria here are some links about math journals

 

http://math.about.com/library/weekly/aa123001a.htm

 

http://www.calicocookie.com/mathjournal.html

 

http://mathwire.com/writing/writing1.html

 

This site was my original inspiration several years ago (obviously this idea has been germinating in head for a while)

http://www.mathsquad.com/mathjournal.html

 

I am still hoping that more people will chime in :bigear:.

[Kathleen.]

I started doing a math journal my my pre-k now in Kindergarten child. My Now 2nd grader was doing one at school that was more about writing which I thought didn't sound very fun. I looked on the Internet and found a lot of ideas. They mostly look like ones from the calico cookie site mentioned.

 

What I mostly do is have copy paper in a section of their binder labeled Math Journal where I write out a question that goes along with what we just learned (Miquon and Singapore Math). For example, the first one (when my youngest was in pre-K last year) was about using a Play-Doh purple scoop to scoop out Cuisinaire rods and count how many. Then draw a picture of the results. So my younger one scooped out the white rods and counted out 8 and then drew a picture of it.

 

We love math in our house and this just seemed like a fun way to do what we learned in a different way. So just take what they are already learning and make up something fun to do with it. :)

[fairy4tmama]

Thanks Kathleen it is so helpful to hear how others do things. How often do your kids work in their math journals? Do you ever read back through earlier entries with your kids? Do you only solve or write about "problems" or are there other things they write/draw about in their math journals?

[MrsBasil]

This blogger has several posts about how she uses them.

 

http://blogshewrote.blogspot.com/search/label/mathjournal

 

I love her blog and find her math section very interesting.

[fairy4tmama]

This blogger has several posts about how she uses them.

 

http://blogshewrote.blogspot.com/search/label/mathjournal

 

I love her blog and find her math section very interesting.

 

Oh how funny I love blogshewrote and have been to her blog numerous time but I have some how missed her math journaling posts. Thank you, I clicked over to her blog and have been reading about her use of math journals for 20 minutes now(and still I'm reading).

[threeturn]

Here is a fantastic Squidoo lens on the subject. http://www.squidoo.com/math-notebooking

 

I too have wanted to do them, but have yet to work it in. Off to read the lens again.

[Halcyon]

This sounds a bit like what we do, but I never labelled it as a math journal--i like that! We put in fun activities, steps to complicated procedures, math vocabulary that needs review, "tricks", and games. I also put notes in there about interesting things I read about (speed math comes to mind) and books to try out. I don't think it's quite what you meant, but for us, in a way, it is a math journal!

 

ETA: after looking through some of the links, I think it would be really fun to have a math journal exclusively for my younger, who adores writing but reluctantly does his math work. Maybe there's a way to "do math through writing" with games and puzzles. Will have to give this more thought. Thank you everyone for the links and ideas.

 

ETA2: I also really like the idea on the blog listed above where she writes about "writing out" the process clearly for a given type of problem, and then putting that in the notebook so the child can refer back to it, and review. We've been doing that for a bit now with Lial's BCM and it's really helped both MY thought process and my son's.

Edited October 23, 2011 by Halcyon

[happycc]

used in my kids school when they were in school...they were just writing down things they copied off the board it seems...seems like they were problems and how to solve them kind of thing. i think sometimes the teachers gave strategies that were not in the textbook. didnt seem like they used that method much in the lower grades. By the upper grades the kids notebooks were filled.

 

 

 

one of my daughter has a math journal through right start..

Basically a bunch of squares and she writes equations in them.

[fairy4tmama]

Thanks for the link, threeturn, it's a great one.

 

Halcyon your "math journal" sounds great! It sound like yours is a family effort? One journal that every one uses including you? That's an interesting idea!

 

Thanks for your perspective to happycc! This thread has been very useful in helping me refine my vision of what math journaling could look like. I am still digesting but hope to have some time to sit with it a bit more tonight after the kids are in bed.

[Halcyon]

[quote=fairy4tmama;3262412

 

Halcyon your "math journal" sounds great! It sound like yours is a family effort? One journal that every one uses including you? That's an interesting idea!

 

 

Yep! But after reading more about them, I'm tempted to make one for each of the kids!

[fairy4tmama]

Yep! But after reading more about them, I'm tempted to make one for each of the kids!

 

And after reading your post I now think no matter what that *I* need a math journal!:)

[nash_mom]

:lurk5:

[arliemaria]

Those with math journals, do you use a 3 ring binder or a composition style notebook? I like the composition notebooks or these http://www.amazon.com/Bienfang-2-Inch-11-Inch-Notesketch-Horizontal/dp/B001KZH1KQ/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_T1?ie=UTF8&coliid=IBX0XFZJMV80P&colid=36U6R3WHU7FS however I'm sure a perfectionist (something I'm going to have to conquer before Robby is "in school") I think I would prefer the 3 ring binder so I can only keep the best entries.

[Kathleen.]

Thanks Kathleen it is so helpful to hear how others do things. How often do your kids work in their math journals? Do you ever read back through earlier entries with your kids? Do you only solve or write about "problems" or are there other things they write/draw about in their math journals?

 

I try to do this with my younger one mostly once a week or at least every time we learn something new in math, but since my kids attend school this doesn't always happen. And yes, I do look back at the work she's done (summers are great for getting in lots of homeschool time for us).

 

Yes, we do other things in the journal like draw pictures with shapes was one, or make make patterns was another.

 

You can do anything in it, but I try to keep it short and sweet and with a purpose that helps her to understand something we're doing that's also fun. Since she really likes math, this is easy to do.

[nov05mama]

:lurk5:

 

I've seen these mentioned on the blog link above (Blog, She Wrote) and have always wanted to do one, but haven't...hopefully this thread will get me started!! We have a composition notebook for his Singapore work (textbook) as well as another composition notebook for his Life of Fred work, but I really should combine it all into one Math Journal...

[Farrar]

We've started doing one with my kid who is a math curriculum drop out. One of the things we've been doing is reading living math books then doing the math ahead in the journal on paper or doing math related to the story we just read. He's my story loving boy. I also have coin and dollar stickers and had him doing math with those in there - one of the things he did was cut up a Lego catalog and put in all the stuff he wanted for $200 and added it up and used the stickers to show how much it was. It's also just a place I can jot down simple problems for him to do.

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

We have been doing this for a week now, thanks to this thread. Here is how I am doing this with my dd (1st grade, age 6). We are using a 3 ring binder. I am not sure how I want it divided though (Blog, she wrote has some good ideas) so I am waiting to see what kinds of things we add to the binder.

At the beginning of the week I looked in the Abeka Teachers book to see what new concepts were taught over several lessons so I knew what I wanted to cover with dd.

*I had her make a page with all the math facts she knows (we did this over several days) and as we learn new math facts she will add it to her list.

*She started learning the 8 family and illistrated the new facts for these using stickers.

*Made a graph of Halloween candy and used some other fun pages I had from a Teacher's helper magazine using Halloween candy and math.

*She made up several word problems using Halloween candy and Trick or Treating as the subjects...having the 8 family as a focus

*She had stitches removed this week so I had her draw a picture of her leg with the stitches and label the order they came out. Then She narrated (as I wrote) the process using first, second... in the narration. We kept the stitches and taped them to the page.

*She practiced estimation. We raked leaves and I asked her how many was in a small pile. I had her count and see how close she came. She illustrated this for her journal. We then made piles of 10, 20, 30, ...100 leaves and counted by 10's

* I kept a list of oral addition/subtraction problems she did

* she did daily speed drills and on Friday put a sticker on the set she had the best time

 

So far I am pleased with how this is working out. DD loves to look at the pages she did and asked if we could do math like this always. She likes to write and draw so I am going to make this a big part of her math pages.

[Tawlas]

Very cool! Love what you've done. This thread has been very interesting. My ds is too young for written work, but with stickers . . . Definitely keeping these ideas in mind for future use!

[Tigger]

This sounds a bit like what we do, but I never labelled it as a math journal--i like that! We put in fun activities, steps to complicated procedures, math vocabulary that needs review, "tricks", and games. I also put notes in there about interesting things I read about (speed math comes to mind) and books to try out. I don't think it's quite what you meant, but for us, in a way, it is a math journal!

 

 

 

:iagree:

 

Us too - I haven't called what we have a "math journal" but from the links, it appears we have just that, especially since we transfer CWP's into a notebook as DS does them and also keep in there a bunch of other math things, like worksheets, timed sheets, and fun things we do (money, time, measuring silly things, etc.)....I just call it a math notebook!

[fairy4tmama]

It was fun to log in today with the intent to post an update to this thread and see it continuing!

 

I started a math journal with DS8 this week and am really pleased with how its coming along. Like Down_the_Rabbit_Hole's dc my son seems to really enjoy it! After reading what others have done and looking at many journals on-line I have decided to let go of knowing where this journal is going or what the content will be. I am going to just feel things out for now and if nothing else it will be a diary of his math studies this year. I am really enjoying the many ideas I have come across and will try to let it unfold as seems appropriate at the moment.

 

We are using a wide rule comp. book turned side ways (the lines running vertical). I have not yet separated out sections or categories (though I may in the future if it seems helpful for math definitions, facts, copy work, etc). For now we are just entering things chronologically. We have done a few entries which were essentially mom created exercises blending work from various resources we have been using and some word problems based on our current read alouds. Today he read a chapter from LOF and entered the "your turn to play" problems in it.

 

In writing this it occurs to me that even though I have let go of knowing where this is going or what we will put in to it, it will very much meet my need to pull together all the different resources and curriculum that we are using.

 

Thanks again to all who have responded this thread has really helped me bring this idea to fruition! I look forward to continuing to hear others thoughts on this topic.

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

One of the things I was sort of concerned about when I decided to do math journaling in place of a curriculum was knowing what to cover. In one of the math threads someone mentioned Maximum Math by Kathryn Stout. I got my copy yesterday and am now feeling more confident in going ahead for a few years with this style of math for dd, maybe even longer. I looked it over and compared it with the scope and sequence for 2nd grade BJU and Abeka math and everything important was listed plus more. Not only does it list objectives by grade groups (K-2, 3-4, 5-6, and 7-8) but a How to Teach the Objections section which will help if I need an assist on an objective. I thought I would mention this for anyone who is liking the math journal idea but shying away because you won't know if you are covering everything you need to cover.

[Kidlit]

My 2nd grade dd keeps a math journal as a part of RightStart level C, but I am interested read these other ideas. I'm subscribing to this thread!

[MerryAtHope]

One year I had the kids make mini-offices, and we had quite a bit of math information on it. Shapes and their names (many beyond the basic ones), vocabulary, a multiplication chart...all kinds of things. Anything type of information that they might need to refer to in case they forget how to do something or what something means. They used them a lot!

[kolamum]

We do, have for a while. :)

 

Younger ones work on a page each day that consist of writing the date, day of week, & place value as well as number words.

 

They all get a word problem for the day to work out in their book. The idea is to draw a picture to solve it and tell how and why you solved it.

 

In their math journals are also copies of a variety of things:

• Months of the year
  
• Days of the week
  
• Number words
  
• 100's Chart
  
• Rounding Chart {color coded so you know when to go up and when to go down}
  
• Vocab papers for new math words
  
• Game papers for the games we play
  

We also broke it down like this:

• Reference
  
• Notebooking Pages {yes we make these based on stuff we learn}
  
• Vocabulary
  
• Games
  
• Other {often the odd worksheet or two we do, word problems, etc.}
  

 

I'm pretty sure there are pictures of our journals on our blog. ;)

[....]

Wow, what a cool thread!! :001_smile:

[fairy4tmama]

Down_the_Rabbit_Hole what a cool resource. I just checked out Maximum Math and really like what I could read of it on google books. Thanks!

 

Wow, kolamum, great ideas. Thank you for sharing what you put into your math journals.

 

I am really enjoying all the wonderful ideas that are being shared on this thread. I plan to print them as word doc. and stick them in my math journal.;)

[Halcyon]

:iagree:

 

Us too - I haven't called what we have a "math journal" but from the links, it appears we have just that, especially since we transfer CWP's into a notebook as DS does them and also keep in there a bunch of other math things, like worksheets, timed sheets, and fun things we do (money, time, measuring silly things, etc.)....I just call it a math notebook!

 

 

We put challenging CWP questions and IP questions in there too :)

[Halcyon]

We have been doing this for a week now, thanks to this thread. Here is how I am doing this with my dd (1st grade, age 6). We are using a 3 ring binder. I am not sure how I want it divided though (Blog, she wrote has some good ideas) so I am waiting to see what kinds of things we add to the binder.

At the beginning of the week I looked in the Abeka Teachers book to see what new concepts were taught over several lessons so I knew what I wanted to cover with dd.

*I had her make a page with all the math facts she knows (we did this over several days) and as we learn new math facts she will add it to her list.

*She started learning the 8 family and illistrated the new facts for these using stickers.

*Made a graph of Halloween candy and used some other fun pages I had from a Teacher's helper magazine using Halloween candy and math.

*She made up several word problems using Halloween candy and Trick or Treating as the subjects...having the 8 family as a focus

*She had stitches removed this week so I had her draw a picture of her leg with the stitches and label the order they came out. Then She narrated (as I wrote) the process using first, second... in the narration. We kept the stitches and taped them to the page.

*She practiced estimation. We raked leaves and I asked her how many was in a small pile. I had her count and see how close she came. She illustrated this for her journal. We then made piles of 10, 20, 30, ...100 leaves and counted by 10's

* I kept a list of oral addition/subtraction problems she did

* she did daily speed drills and on Friday put a sticker on the set she had the best time

 

So far I am pleased with how this is working out. DD loves to look at the pages she did and asked if we could do math like this always. She likes to write and draw so I am going to make this a big part of her math pages.

 

 

Wonderful ideas!!! Taking notes :)

[threeturn]

I've been perusing these K-2 math resources. In the Week Essentials PDFs there are some great ideas for math journals (for first grade anyway).

 

http://mathlearnnc.sharpschool.com/cms/One.aspx?portalId=4507283&pageId=5048438

Edited November 9, 2011 by threeturn
To add link - doh

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

I've been perusing these K-2 math resources. In the Week Essentials PDFs there are some great ideas for math journals (for first grade anyway).

 

http://mathlearnnc.sharpschool.com/cms/One.aspx?portalId=4507283&pageId=5048438

This looks great. Thank you. (2nd grade looks good too)

Edited November 9, 2011 by Down_the_Rabbit_Hole

[fairy4tmama]

Thanks threeturn! This thread is really helping me maintain my comfort zone with moving a way from a single math curriculum. It is not, however, so good for my math shelf which is beginning to sag (and to think I hated math in school:lol:)

[letsplaymath]

I have a journal of favorite quotes from math books I've read, which is the only journal I've ever kept up long-term. I also at times have kept a journal for problem-solving, but it tends to get lost, and then I end up using scratch paper, and then losing that! One year my son had a journal for learning bar diagrams, where he did one problem per day (which I copied out for him from the CWP books). One of my daughters kept a journal of vocabulary and other important notes to remember.

 

My youngest is a writer, but not a journal-er (she's like me), so we tend to work things out on scratch paper or a white board. But a couple weeks back, she got stumped by a new concept and let it stew around in her mind, and then she wrote out a long explanation that would have been perfect journal fodder. She turned it into a blog post -- I guess her blog is her journal -- but I don't think she's hit the "publish" button yet.

 

A friend of hers has written several math explanations on his blog: http://climbinggecko.wordpress.com/

 

More about math journals, from my math blog:

Writing to Learn Math

 

Writing to Learn Math II

[HootyTooty]

Thank you for the links! We do a lot of math lab activities and this gives me more ideas to add to our folder.

Edited November 10, 2011 by HootyTooty

[Halcyon]

I've been perusing these K-2 math resources. In the Week Essentials PDFs there are some great ideas for math journals (for first grade anyway).

 

http://mathlearnnc.sharpschool.com/cms/One.aspx?portalId=4507283&pageId=5048438

 

 

Ooooh fun!! My laser printer will be getting a workout this weekend--thank you!

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

I just had to post one more time here. My math hating dd begged and even tried to bribe me to keep doing math yesterday. Everyday since we started this she has asked for more math when normally she groans when math is mentioned.

 

A big THANK YOU to the person who brought up math journaling last week. :D

[fairy4tmama]

Letsplaymath- your blog is wonderful thank you so much! I Love the math journal prompts. I book marked your site as I can tell I will be mining it for ideas for a looong time.

 

FawnsFunnyFarm- I love the idea for a word problem jar at the blog you linked.

 

Down_the_Rabbit_Hole- I know what you mean it is all about the math journal at our house too:D

[momto2Cs]

One of the things I was sort of concerned about when I decided to do math journaling in place of a curriculum was knowing what to cover. In one of the math threads someone mentioned Maximum Math by Kathryn Stout. I got my copy yesterday and am now feeling more confident in going ahead for a few years with this style of math for dd, maybe even longer. I looked it over and compared it with the scope and sequence for 2nd grade BJU and Abeka math and everything important was listed plus more. Not only does it list objectives by grade groups (K-2, 3-4, 5-6, and 7-8) but a How to Teach the Objections section which will help if I need an assist on an objective. I thought I would mention this for anyone who is liking the math journal idea but shying away because you won't know if you are covering everything you need to cover.

 

Thank you! I own her Natural Speller and love it, but didn't even know she had a math book!

[Walking-Iris]

Thank you! I own her Natural Speller and love it, but didn't even know she had a math book!

 

My ds has been keeping a math notebook this year. We have glued addition and mult tables in the inside cover and we use it to write down things that we don't want to forget. The steps to finding perimeter and area, the lyrics to a School House Rock Mult song, some multiplication flip books he made are just a few of the things in there. We also use it to keep a log of our Living Math books read and we write out some problems that the books inspire us to do. We also keep his daily mental math and word problems in it and any activities from Family Math. I just use a small 3ring binder and put notebook paper in it and a pocket folder to store loose leaf papers and odds and ends that need a permanent home. We also have an envelope glued to the front inside cover that keeps homemade math facts cards that we fill out as we learn them. We have regular flash cards but found that having him write out his own helped with learning.

 

I wasn't aware that I was doing anything called math notebooking or journaling---I just needed a place to store his papers and stuff honestly. :lol:

 

Also I have been interested in Kathyrn Stout for some time. Can those who use her books let me know how secular they are? Thanks.

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

My ds has been keeping a math notebook this year. We have glued addition and mult tables in the inside cover and we use it to write down things that we don't want to forget. The steps to finding perimeter and area, the lyrics to a School House Rock Mult song, some multiplication flip books he made are just a few of the things in there. We also use it to keep a log of our Living Math books read and we write out some problems that the books inspire us to do. We also keep his daily mental math and word problems in it and any activities from Family Math. I just use a small 3ring binder and put notebook paper in it and a pocket folder to store loose leaf papers and odds and ends that need a permanent home. We also have an envelope glued to the front inside cover that keeps homemade math facts cards that we fill out as we learn them. We have regular flash cards but found that having him write out his own helped with learning.

 

I wasn't aware that I was doing anything called math notebooking or journaling---I just needed a place to store his papers and stuff honestly. :lol:

 

Also I have been interested in Kathyrn Stout for some time. Can those who use her books let me know how secular they are? Thanks.

I haven't noticed any religious matter in the books. They are simply a list of topics/concepts/skills needed for each subject. However I will look them over again, being Christian I might not have noticed any religious content since I am use to seeing it (does this make sense?)

[Penguin]

This 4th grade teacher has a great blog post about math notebooks. I love the idea of the child creating a personal reference book, and I am encouraging DS11 to start this type of math journal.

 

For example, my son is just about finished with Life of Fred fractions. I skimmed through the book and listed the concepts besides fractions that he has encountered in the book. Each one would make a great entry. Here is a very incomplete list: cardinal numbers vs. ordinal numbers, symmetry, division by zero and Roman numerals.

 

From Phantom Tollbooth (a recent read) I pulled order of operations and polyhedrons.

 

Usborne's Junior Math dictionary is a great resource. Don't be too put off by the word Junior; I found great stuff in there about polyhedrons and functions! We are actually using the British Maths version, but I imagine they are quite similar.

 

I think that the process helps you take ownership of the concepts that you learn. Great thread!

[allymom]

:lurk5: Just subbing to this thread. Great ideas all around!

[ItoLina]

We do a math journal. I have gotten a lot of ideas from here.

 

I use it to review some things, to get my son to think about things in a different way. To do problem solving, critical thinking type things. I usually do it a couple of times a week.

 

I also do it to get him to write out his answer. He really fights me on handwritting practice, but he LOVES math, so he usually does it without complaint when he is writing in his math journal :001_smile:

[lorisuewho]

I'm bumping this old thread just because I thought it was a great idea and to see if anyone has any other ways they are math journaling!

[Hunter]

Thanks for bumping Lori!

 

I find that as I learn vintage math methods and vintage teaching methods in general, that math journaling becomes easier.

 

I teach copywork for math, just like I do handwriting. First we go over how to neatly write numbers and then how to neatly set up problems. Like with everything in classical/vintage style, copy first.

 

Chanting tables, and doing other oral work, and then being ALLOWED to write as a special treat.

 

When simply copying tables, apply a crayon "wash" and decorate the borders with patterns. Patterns are math as well as decorative. You can even do some skip counting in the borders, instead of shapes and colors.

 

Augsburg Drawing teaches crayon "paintings" and explains how to apply a "wash".

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/359033-augsburg-drawing-free-and-awesome-and-complete-1-8/

 

You can tape envelopes on a page and put flashcards in the envelopes. Creating their own flashcards is copywork.

[lorisuewho]

I like the idea of creating patterned borders!

[winoelle]

We use a math journal and it has helped a LOT!  I first read about it here:  http://www.rundesroom.com/2012/08/interactive-math-journals.html and I purchased her set and use it along with other things I have found or made up.  We do math journal once or twice a week depending on what we are studying.  My dd11 loves hers and looks back at it often.  I know for sure it has helped a lot with her understanding of things.