LEARNING MATH DOESN’T HAVE TO BE A BEAR!  MAKE YOURS A MONSTER!

Math Monsters was developed in cooperation with the National Council of Teachers of Math (NCTM) and is designed to meet and support their national standards for K-2 Math instruction.  Every show includes:

·         Problem solving

·         Mathematical connections

·         Mathematical communication

·         Reasoning

Designed to be used as support material for the classroom teacher, Math Monsters episodes can be viewed in a series, or as stand alone programs.  A “Big (math) Idea” is covered in every program. 

Math Monsters, presented by Slim Goodbody is a fun way to teach and learn the basics of Math. Recommended for grades k-2

Program 1: DATA COLLECTION

The Monsters are enjoying a breakfast of pancakes and decide to open a pancake restaurant. They all make suggestions about what kind of pancakes to serve, but realize there are too many possibilities. They decide to conduct a survey to collect the data they need to make an informed menu selection. The Monsters go out into the neighborhood and ask what pancakes the local Monsters like best. They all take down the information but each one represents the data differently - one draws a picture for each pancake somebody names, one writes down the names of each pancake selected and one uses tally marks. Next, the Monsters must figure out how to combine their various representations of data to determine which pancakes are the favorites of the most monsters. Our field trip takes us to the zoo where we see how data is collected from the various animal houses and used to order the weekly food supply for the animals.

Program 2: STANDARD AND NON-STANDARD MEASUREMENT

The Monsters decide to build an addition on to their castle, but must let the carpenters know how big they wish the new room to be. The program explores some of the ways children can gain accuracy in measurement taking and in communicating their results. The Monsters progress from describing a room that is "sort of long" to pacing it out and figuring out the number of steps. The contractor, Annie Ant, has her own idea of the size of a step which leads to the development of a standard "Monster Step" for actual and repeatable measurement. Our field trip is to visit a carpenter who explains how human beings use standard measurements in construction.

Program 7: MAPPING

The Monsters are throwing a party and have sent out invitations. One of their guests, Binary Bill has no idea how to get to their castle from his computer shop. Multiplex draws a free form map with just a curving line and emails it to him. This doesn't work and Binary asks for landmarks. Multiplex quickly adds a few things that can be seen on route - but he doesn't draw them in the right order. This leads to confusion and a further refining of the map. Ultimately the Monsters leave the castle and go on site to label all the streets in their neighborhood. Then Mina flies up above Monster Land to compare the map to the actual territory. Our field visit is to a school bus driver who explains how he works with maps in order to pick up children.

Program 4: THE MAKING OF TENS

The Monsters decide to send boxes of fruit (gollywomples) to their relatives for presents. Gollywomples come in green and blue. The Monsters want to send out boxes of ten to each relative, but decide that no two boxes should contain the same combination of fruit. They spend time figuring out all the different combinations of ten that they can make. They begin to notice patterns forming in the different combinations, i.e. as one number goes up, the other goes down. Once the packages are made they need to be labeled and so addition and subtraction are used to help determine how many fruits of each kind are in each box. Our field trip is to a bank, where the making of tens is shown in a variety of ways.

Program 5: GEOMETRY

The Monsters decide to create a model of their town and call it Mini-Monster Land. But in order to make an accurate model they need to take a good look at the different shapes and sizes of neighborhood buildings. At first they go to the roof of their castle to get an overview and wonder why buildings so far away are so tiny. "My thumb is bigger than Aunt Two Lips Flower Shop," says Multiplex. The Monsters explore concepts of perspective and then visit the town to see buildings up close. They encounter a triangular prism, cube, cylinder, and octagonal prism and discover information about the characteristics of these shapes. Our field trip is to an architect who shows us his process for drawing, computerizing and modeling his new constructions.

Program 6: MENTAL MATH: DOUBLES AND THEIR NEIGHBORS

The Monsters are going to perform in a circus. This provides a context for exploring doubles and their neighbors. One Monsters practices juggling and doubling the balls. Another Monster lifts a barbell with equal, and sometimes unequal, weights placed on both sides. Yet another Monster does magic, doubling birds and currency in her "doubling hat" Our field trip is to a shop keeper who explains how she uses mental math to help in her calculations.

Program 11: COMPUTERS

One day, a brand new computer arrives at the castle that has been sent by Binary Bill. After unpacking and setting up the monitor, mouse and key board, the Monsters plug it in and turn it on - only to discover that Binary Bill has set certain challenges before the Monsters can log on. These challenges are in the form of exploratory math questions that get the Monsters (and viewers) seeing some of the playful sides of math. " Once the questions have been addressed, though not necessarily with the "one and only correct answer", the monsters are treated to some of the wonderful variety of communication and learning possibilities the computer provides in the form of email, the internet, calculations and games. The field trip involves a visit to a working mathematician who explains how she uses computers and other math tools in her work.

Program 8: TIME

The Monsters go outside to play and fly a kite. Since there is only one kite, they must take turns - but how long should each of these turns last? How can they be fair? At first they try to time by counting, but they soon learn that everyone doesn't count at the same speed. Then they hit upon the idea of a water clock (actually, drips from the bottom of a juice cup). They all punch holes in their cups and fill them to the same level. However, they soon discover that if the holes aren't the same size and so their time measurements are in conflict. Next they standardize the hole in the cup. But what happens if they wish to time something shorter than one cup full? Now they must learn how to break up the time into shorter and quantifiable amounts (much like dividing an hour into halves and quarters). Our field trip is to a clock maker who introduces us to the way human beings use analogue and digital clocks to tell time.

Program 9: PATTERNS

In this episode, the Monsters learn to recognize, describe, extend and create patterns. They have decided to paint a border around their living room. One Monster starts and asks the next to continue - but what exactly makes a pattern, and how can it be extended? Other Monsters decorate their rooms with flip patterns, number patterns and growth patterns. The field trip is to visit a naturalist who can help us understand more about patterns in nature.

Program 10: COUNTING AND SYMBOLIZING

The Monsters are invited to help Cousin Digit do an inventory of fish at his fish store. Because the fish are moving around, it is difficult to get an accurate count. What can they do to determine just how many fish there are? How can they avoid double tagging? A variety of counting strategies are explored to help the Monsters come to understand one -to - one correspondence. Their first attempt is to actually draw pictures of the fish on a piece of paper to represent those in the tank. Another attempt involves the use of colored tally marks. Once the exact number of fish is determined, the Monsters explore ways to symbolize the information. The field trip is to a museum where we learn how other cultures and peoples who lived in earlier times symbolized their numbers.

Program 15: AREA

The Math Monsters have just built a rocket and now must design a launch pad. But how many fire-proof tiles will they need to cover the area? Various strategies are explored to help discover how to figure out how accomplish the task. There is a video field trip to vist a tile shop whose employees work with customers to determine the area of various floors in their homes. Viewers will gain a greater understanding of the concept of, and discover helpful techniques they can apply to determine area.

Program 13: NUMBER LINE AND LAND MARK NUMBERS

The Math Monster's Castle is located on the highway between Positivity City in one direction and Negativityville in the other. The Math Monsters have opened a tow truck business to help people whose cars have broken down on the highway. Unfortunately they have no way of knowing where anybody is on the road because there are no markers. They develop a strategy to place Monster - Meter signs at regular intervals in both directions. There is a video field trip to visit a television weather man who discusses temperatures above and below zero. This episode will help viewers gain basic understanding of the number line and the helpful quality of landmark numbers.

Program 14: ESTIMATION

The Math Monsters have a challenge. They must pick and box all the gollywomple fruit in Aunt Two Lips orchard. There is no way to count all gollywomples, so the Math Monsters must learn strategies that will enable them to estimate. There is a video field trip to visit a Forest Ranger who discusses how estimation is used to monitor wild animal populations. This episode will help young viewers understand the importance and usefulness of estimation along with basic skills to help them in this task.

Program 3: NUMBER CONSERVATION, TRANSFORMATION & EQUIVALENCY

The Monsters decide to plant two gardens, each with the identical number of monster melon plants. When Aunt Two-Lips arrives to deliver the seeds, the Monsters are out collecting gardening tools. She leaves two piles, each containing the same number of seeds. However, one pile is stacked high, while the other is spread out. The Monsters argue about which pile has more seeds and then they proceed to develop strategies to discover the truth. This provides an opportunity to explore number conservation and one to one correspondence. In deciding to water their garden, the Monsters come across two water hoses - one wrapped loosely and the other tightly coiled. Again, they figure out that just because something looks different, it doesn't mean it is different. Our field trip is to a bakery, where we find out how a batch of dough that creates six rolls can actually be the same size as a batch that creates only one loaf of bread.