Mathematics Curriculum Support and Professional Development
MLOMSC works with local districts to align curriculum with the Michigan content standards and benchmarks and to prepare for the MME and MEAP tests.
Recent Curriculum and Professional Development Activities Include:
- Updates on the Michigan Merit Curriculum
- Methods for reaching Mastery in Mathematics (M3 Project)
- MEAP and MME Data Analysis
- Curriculum Mapping
- Professional Learning Communities
- Function-based Approaches to Algebra
- Differentiated Instruction
- E-MATHS
- Algebra for All
For information about these and other professional development opportunities, refer to the MLISD/OISD newsletter or call 757-4934, ext 146.
Common Mathematics Assessments: Grades K-8 have access to our MLOMSC-developed assessments. Data can be reviewed in Data Director.
Student Program: MATHCOUNTS MATHCOUNTS is a regional, state, and national mathematics competition for 7th and 8th grade students. We are extremely fortunate that local engineers, retired engineers, and college math instructors have collaborated with us to sponsor a local MATHCOUNTS for over 20 years. The local competition has been headed since its inception by James Nordlund, Sr. (Nordlund and Associates). Students not only compete in both team and individual rounds, but they also enjoy recreational time at the West Shore Community College (WSCC) pool, ice arena, and gym. For the past several years, WSCC has awarded a scholarship to each participant for a tuition-free higher mathematics course after the student graduates from high school.
Resources
The Center has an extensive library of mathematics information, curricula, teaching materials, videos, and sample software. Materials may be checked out.
Math Book Inventory (PDF)
Additional Math Media (PDF)
Mathematics Links:
Math Assessment
http://sln.fi.edu/school/math2/index.html
Open-Ended Math Problems - a site designed to prepare middle school students for OPEN-ENDED problem solving on standardized tests. Questions are in 5 strands: Number Theory: Measurement; Geometry: Patterns, Algebra, and Functions; Data, Statistics, and Probability. There are three levels of difficulty for each standard.
Math Skills
http://www.aplusmath.com/
Aplusmath was developed to help students improve their math skills interactively. It includes flash cards and worksheets on many math skills, a homework helper where students can enter and try to solve their own problems, and games.
http://www.harcourtschool.com/elab/index.html
Online activities for grades 3-8 that can also be downloaded for use without an Internet connection.
Assorted Mathematics Topics
http://www.mcs.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/R.Knott/Fibonacci/fibnat.html
The Fibonacci Numbers and Nature
http://www.cut-the-knot.org/content.shtml
Interactive Mathematics Miscellany and Puzzles
http://www.purplemath.com/
Purplemath, a teacher-created resource for algebra, has received several citations for excellence.
http://www.geom.umn.edu/education/calc-init/rainbow/
Circles of Light: the Mathematics of Rainbows.
http://library.thinkquest.org/16661/
Totally Tessellated – lots of information about and examples of tesselations
http://www15.addr.com/~dscher/
Geometry in Motion – illustrates geometry concepts through interaction with geometric diagrams, courtesy of Java Sketchpad
Connections to the World Beyond the Classroom
http://www.learner.org/exhibits/dailymath/
Math in Daily Life
http://www.micron.com/content.jsp?path=/Education/Math%20in%20the+Workplace
Math in the Workplace – lots of real-world math problems contributed by a variety of Idaho businesses to demonstrate the relevance of math in today's world.
http://oncampus.richmond.edu/academics/as/education/projects/webunits/math/home.htm
What Good Is Math?
Mathematics Teaching
http://www.learner.org/teacherslab/
Choose from Shape and Space in Geometry or Patterns in Mathematics.
http://mathforum.org/t2t/
Teacher2Teacher, a resource for teachers and parents who have questions about teaching mathematics: includes options of asking a questions, joining a discussion, browsing the archives or the FAQ.